They never cease to impress. The kids learn so quickly, and it's good to see.J Reid Maxwell, visiting judgeWhen the lead drummer in a world champion highland pipe band says he's impressed with our local band talent, you should take notice.
J Reid Maxwell plays with the Simon Fraser University pipe band in Vancouver, but on Saturday was judging the side drumming at the 150th Turakina Highland Games.
It was his second visit as judge - he was here last year - but he's not unfamiliar with the drumming talent coming through the ranks of New Zealand pipe bands.
Mr Maxwell has tutored at the Christchurch summer school several times and says the talent is improving in leaps and bounds.
He should know because he has been the lead drummer for the university band which has won the world title six times, most recently in 2009.
But on Saturday, as the A-grade drummers were beating their way through marches, strathspeys and reels, he took time to explain how encouraging the talent coming through band ranks around the country was.
A record 17 pipe bands were at Turakina and many of the bandsmen and women competed in the solo events.
Mr Maxwell said he was "hugely impressed" with what he had to judge.
"The standard's very good and getting better every time. The young players in particular, some of them teenagers, are improving at an incredible rate," he said.
And he puts that down to the tutoring they were receiving.
Mr Maxwell said he saw some of those youngsters at Turakina at the summer school held in Christchurch a week ago and others he had seen at other times he had been at the school.
"They never cease to impress. The kids learn so quickly, and it's good to see."
He said the A grade classes he judged on Saturday revealed some excellent talent.
"I'd say the future for pipe band drumming in New Zealand has never looked better if you follow these kids over the next 10 to 15 years."
Excited to see the increasing number of young people committing to pipe bands, he singled out the Manawatu No 3 band as an example, which is made up of younger children, many of them not in their teens.
"There's one kid in that band who's just 20 and the rest are not close to being teenagers. When you see those kinds of numbers it's great for the future of pipe bands.
"We've got a lot of the A graders playing with those young kids and they're passing on their expertise. It's fantastic," he said.
As for sitting at a small table with a bit of shade cover and judging on a very hot day, Mr Maxwell said he was loving it.
"I had a great time last year. The folks said to me it was going to be their 150th anniversary this year and if I was down would I come and judge. I didn't need to be asked twice."
Married to a Kiwi girl, he said it was not difficult to find an excuse to get out to New Zealand.
"I get down here a lot at this time of the year. I love it, given the sort of [winter] weather we've left behind in Canada."