Strike said:
Granted my experience is fairly dated, but when I joined the band the usual routine was to be in training for a year before being able to parade with the band. For pipes and drums you will 'audition' for base, tenor or snare. I tried for snare and the audition consisted of basic beats - drum rolls, triplets, paraditles, etc, and reading basic music as well as following basic instruction.
Because of basic numbers equipment-wise they will only allow so many people into so many positions each year.
Kinda reviving a necro thread here, but I feel I should add my 2p.
As far as Pipes & Drums: If you have prior piping experience and can play our parade tunes, you're issued RMC highland garb pronto and put on parade. We're
always hurting for pipers.
For drums: Even with experience, you won't get a playing position on parade until
at least the end of First Year - more likely Second Year. With that said, the number of pipers we parade (in a sense) dictates how many drummers we'll take on parade. Big pipe corps on parade -> big drum corps on parade. The inverse is also true.
The sections that comprise the band, in my experience, have run in asynchronous waves - from high points to low points. When I first joined we had no choir to speak of, brass and reed was amateurish and very large (in excess of 35 on parade), the pipe corps was relatively large (~15 on parade) and very professional sounding, and the drum corps was small yet self sufficient (instruction wise). At the time we had a brand new MWO band master/B&R instructor, and a long time WO pipe instructor.
Fast forward a few years: We have a small yet talented choir. B&R is on a high point - they've gotten smaller (~25) but they now function like a well oiled machine, due to the MWO. Things also changed in P&D: The pipe corps lost the WO pipe instructor, and with him they lost the professional-like quality they once had. The drum corps gained a WO drum instructor, and the drum corps got much bigger, and better.
The band is again in the midst of a changeover - we're getting a new MWO band master/B&R instructor. We'll see how things go in the next few months.