A major highlight for pipers and drummers comes at the end of the performance. Immediately following the finale, the entire massed pipes and drums, some 250 musicians In the summer of 2019 the RCMP Pipes & Drums had the opportunity to do something that is on the bucket list of pipers and drummers worldwide – perform in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The group we took over was a composite band that included players from across Canada, from British Columbia all the way to Nova Scotia. Beginning with three days of rehearsals that went from early in the morning until late at night, the experience included 28 performances at Edinburgh Castle during the month of July, some of which were in driving Scottish rain and gale force winds (in fact, until COVID-19, not a single performance of the Tattoo had ever been in cancelled in its history, no matter what the weather). , marches off the castle esplanade and down the cobbled street of the Royal Mile. They play the rousing marches Black Bear and Scotland the Brave, which have taken generations of Highland soldiers back to barracks. Crowds of cheering spectators watch and listen as the overwhelming sound draws ever closer, the beating of the drums and skirling of the pipes ricocheting off the buildings that line the narrow street.

As a piper or drummer, the march out is spine-tingling. And for the drum majors leading each band in a file, it is magic. This is doubly so for the lead drum major at the very front of the massed pipes and drums, who sets the pace and uses his mace to direct the band. Any drum major will tell you that leading the massed band down the Royal Mile is one of the highlights of their lives, something that will stay with them forever. So it was with tremendous pride that our very own Drum Major Brad Hampson of the RCMP Pipes & Drums (National Division) was selected as lead drum major on one of those unforgettable evenings.

Brad is well known among the RCMP family in Ottawa and beyond. Having retired in 2018 after a 33-year police career (mainly with the Ottawa Police Service, but also taking in the OPP and assignments with the RCMP in Nunavut and abroad in the UN police mission in South Sudan), Brad has been a fixture in the RCMP and Ottawa Police Service pipe bands as both a bagpiper and a drum major. Many will also know him as a singer, often in joyous duet with his father, RCMP veteran Garth Hampson.

It is as drum major that Brad particularly excels, not only setting the pace in a parade, but setting the standards in bearing and deportment. As the first member of the band that spectators will see during a parade or performance, the drum major must project control, calm, and class.

That is the public face of Drum Major Brad Hampson. But the side that the spectators do not see, which is no less important, is all the work he does behind the scenes to ensure success and make everything we do roaring good fun. This includes such diverse tasks as teaching drill, acting as quartermaster, helping some of us (ahem, me) polish our parade Oxfords, singing drinking songs in the bus at the end of a long day, telling tall tales, and generously helping us finish off that last dram in the whisky bottle.

So the 2/4 March I wrote and presented to Brad during our RCMP Pipes & Drums COVID-19 virtual Christmas party not only commemorates his incredible experience of leading the massed pipes and drums of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo down the Royal Mile, it is also a recognition of everything he means to the band and to all its players. Moreover, the way it is meant to be played is reflective of the man – equal measures of dignity, fun, ease… and just the right amount of Highland swagger.