Official Page for CdA LODD Massed Bands

This information is for pipers and drummers ONLY

All other Honor Guard members should reach out to IAFF Honor Guard Lead Brent Jones directly and fill out this form.

If you are a piper or drummer, please fill out this questionnaire ASAP so we have the information we need to plan logistics. Each individual should fill it out separately. It should only take a couple minutes.

If your ability to attend changes, please edit your answers promptly using the link in the email you received after your first response.

Calling all Pipers and Drummers:

We invite you to help us provide a proper sendoff to Battalion Chief John Morrison and Battalion Chief Frank Harwood. The information below will be edited as information changes. Daily updates will continue to be emailed, but consider this page your one stop shop for all information.

Overview:

July 10, Call Time 6am - Funeral for CDAFD Battalion Chief John Morrison

July 11, Call Time 6am - Funeral for KCFR Battalion Chief Frank Harwood

July 9 - Massed Band Practice

4pm - Pipe Majors/Drum Majors/Drum Sergeants meeting

5pm - Massed Band Practice (Tuning and Marching)

7pm - Group Dinner (meal is provided courtesy of local businesses and the community)

At the request of the family, this Celebration of Life will be a private event for close family, friends, uniformed personnel, and hospital and healthcare professionals. This service is not open to the media or the general public. We appreciate your respect for the family’s wishes during this time.

Practice Wednesday, July 9

Music: Pipe and Drum scores are posted at the bottom of the page

Tuning Pitch: we were at 480 plus 10 cents at Thursday’s practice

Important Details:

I am expecting a large turnout, so we will need to be focused and efficient.

Please avoid talking during practice. Use your hand to indicate you have a question.

Refrain from warming up on your own. We will warm up as a group, and I have a team of official Tuners that will adjust drones and listen for and fix chanter issues.

Do not re-tune yourself once you have been tuned as part of the massed band. If something sounds off, ask one of the Tuners to take a listen and check.

We ask that pipers aim to tune to the pitch above prior to arriving at massed bands practice. We will fine tune as best we can prior to performing. As you know, it's not just about showing up: how we sound and look are important parts of the tribute we offer.

Bring the following to practice:

1. a water bottle

2. a hat so you can see in the blaring evening sunshine

3. pipers: an extra reed or two, ideally broken in

4. pipers: 2-3 extra pieces of tuning tape stuck to the top of your chanter in case they’re needed

5. pipers: a couple of corks just in case, keep them in your sporran

6. pipers: check that your pipes aren’t having maintenance issues ahead of time.

Thursday and Friday Services, July 10 and 11

Call time is 6am at Independence Point

Parking instructions and maps are coming

Arrive fully dressed (most formal uniform, please)

Bring your instrument in its case, mark your case clearly with a unique luggage tag or ribbon

Bring anything you may need between 6am and 2pm, mark your bags clearly

We will board cruise boats to take us to the venue, a 15 minute ride

Items Provided

Before boarding the boat, grab a snack bag from the scouts

Water and porta pottys will be on site

Practice and Tuning

Upon arrival at the venue, we will stage cases and gear at approved location

Musicians will quickly unpack instruments and meet nearby to assemble

We will walk and play through the full performance plan

There will be a break for snacks (in the bag you picked up) and bathroom

We will tune as a group - again refrain from talking, warming up on your own, or tuning yourself

Tunes and Marching:

There is a relatively short procession, playing the 3/4s at a slower quick march tempo

We will play Going Home in place at start of service, likely twice through

There will be 20-30 minutes to snack and use the bathroom

Amazing Grace will have a solo followed by twice through with the full band, including seconds, with the E to D ending the second time through.

Other Details

Uniform:

Make sure your uniform is in good condition. Shoes polished, hose cleaned, shirts pressed, etc. The most formal uniform you have will be most appropriate.

No sunglasses during performances.

Weather:

We are in low mountains, expect chilly mornings and evenings, hot and dry midday.

6am call time will be mid-60s.

11am service start time will be high 70s low 80s.

Practice and performance are in the sun, sunblock is advised.

Break between start of service and Amazing Grace will be seated in shade.

We will tune in shade if at all possible.

Snacks:

These are long days, with first meal not until 2pm. Performers will be given a bag of robust snacks each morning, including bags for Gluten Free/Nut Free needs. Expect a protein bar, nut bar, fruit strips, hydration packet, water, and more. Provided by Scouting America Troop 3222G and generous donations.

Meals:

Meal times are listed on the schedule above, at the top of this page. Any special dietary needs must be listed in the questionnaire.

Lodging:

We have limited access to free lodging, reach out to us ASAP if that is a need.

If you need discounted rooms, we have been told that the following hotels have agreed to offer a discount.

Coeur d'Alene Inn   (208) 765-3200

Hamptons   208-769-7900

Staybridge    (208) 676-0222

Towneplace Suites   (208) 449-0119

If you just need a hotel, the following are the nearest cities, in order of which is closest. I just checked Expedia and there are quite a lot of places that have rooms here in town. Ask them for a discount, explaining that you are part of the official Honor Guard for the firefighter funerals. 

Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Post Falls, Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley, Spokane

An Open Door:

We are still welcoming any and everyone who wants to join us. Please continue to put out the word to your piper and drummer friends, whether or not they are part of a service band. While the services are closed to the public, uniformed personnel are welcome, and that includes pipers and drummers.

Music Scores

3/4 March Set

Pipe Scores: Green Hills Battle’s O’r Balmoral

Drum Scores: Snare Tenor Bass

Amazing Grace

Pipe Score - Firsts

Pipe Score - Harmony

Going Home

All Scores Tenor Routine

Notes for Pipers:

Please know that our climate here is hot and dry in the summer, and we're at an elevation of 2200 feet. When traveling with pipes, there are a few things that can help them adjust here.

Pull out your drones and let them sit out at least 30 minutes.

Keep the chanter capped, just let the drone reeds sit out to acclimate a bit. 

At our practice Thursday, we were tuning at 480 plus 10 cents. After you’re in Coeur d’Alene, if you can play a little, try to tune yourself there so we’re closer out of the box at Wednesday’s practice.

Notes for Drummers:

The intent right now is that snares will play "chips" but that is subject to change. 

We will coordinate a "rolls" plan for Amazing Grace in person when the time comes. 

Massed Bands 3/4

The correct format is as follows. We will play top-down as written with repeats. We will then start the tune over and play the first two sections with repeats: 11 22 33 44 11 22.

Snares: We will play with "lead chips"

We will be playing this while marching and the entire piece is subject to be repeated depending on marching distance which we will iron out at the Wednesday night rehearsal and the Thursday morning run through. 

Going Home

For Tenors: There is a QR code in the corner of the music (above) that will take you to a video demonstration of the routine. The written out Tenor Routine is also above. (Thank you, Puget Sound). This is the link to see the tenor routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvTYTW48ITI

For Snares: To simplify everything and to optimize clean playing, everyone will play measures 1-8 repeated for the entirety of the piece. 

Amazing Grace

For Amazing Grace we will play a roll sequence that will be finalized at the Wednesday night rehearsal. 

Drum Sergeants

Please do your best to attend the 16:00 meeting on Wednesday night prior to the 17:00 rehearsal.

A final thought:

Our band recently performed for the Firefighter Academy graduation at our local college. During his address, the college President commented that you know the importance of your event by the number of pipers and drummers that come. Every one of you that joins us is an important asset and we are so very grateful. Thank you so much for helping us honor John’s and Frank's lives. It is my biggest wish right now to offer the families, our departments, and our community an enormous showing of support and the best possible send off for John and Frank. Thank you for helping make that possible.

Jessica Bryant

Pipe Major

Coeur d’Alene Firefighters Pipes and Drums