No, we haven't left for our Scotland trip yet. St. Thomas Episcopal School has an annual Scottish Festival at the Toyota Center. The first time we saw the Scottish Festival was at the old Compaq Center.
Each student from elementary to high school participates whether it be in dance, drums or the bagpipes. They are even awarded scholarships for these three events, though I have yet to see a girl play the pipes or the drums. It is so much part of their culture that a piper would even accompany them to their soccer games.
The elementary students usually perform a group dance. The older girls will perform a dance routine of their own.
For me, I like the marching band. Marching in formation and playing an instrument at the same time must be tough. Boys of all ages play the drums and bagpipes. And I do mean of all ages. One small boy was not much taller than the bass drum he was pounding. Watch the video closely.
I used this as a practice run for the Edinburgh Tattoo. The Canon G7 doesn't shoot indoor all that well. You can't tell from these small photos but the action photos were blurry or had significant noise. It did take good fireworks photos, and the movie mode is really nice since it is has a 1024 resolution. YouTube decreases the resolution when you upload it and the photo becomes fuzzier. Too bad I can't zoom while recording, but I can work around that.
Expect a few of the male audience to wear their kilts to this event. I find it surprising that the men's kilts have a higher hemline than the women. Many a redhead is in the audience as well as skirts with tartan patterns. The Scottish brogue can be heard as well.
