2018 Rule Book

The 2018 rule book is now available online at http://ppbso.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/PPBSO-RULE-BOOK-2018.pdf.

We’ve made three changes and clarifications to the rule book for this season.

1. We’ve clarified the rule regarding the number of times that a judge can judge a band in a given season. Although the text of the previous rule stated that a judge could only judge a band twice in a given season (whenever possible), for a number of years now we’ve been interpreting this to mean twice per position (piping, drumming, ensemble). As such we’ve formalized the wording in the rule book to match the interpretation. We do strive to expose bands to as many different judges and viewpoints as possible, but sometimes with our numbers it simply isn’t possible for a band to see a judge only twice within a given season.

2. Last year the Board of Directors made an amendment to the rule regarding the Professional Piobaireachd A & B classifications to provide more flexibility in the assessment process, and this year we’ve formalized the arrangement. If a competitor has a CPA grading of B or higher, we will use that grading and give the member a A classification. Otherwise the Music Committee will make an assessment of the player based on their current CPA grading (B- or C) and overall competitive record, and will apply an A or B classification to the competitor for the remainder of the season.

3. Finally, based on the vote at the 2017 AGM we’ve split the grade 1 tenor, professional tenor, and professional bass in to separate MSR and HJ events. Due to a number of constraints, we’re unable to fully separate these events for 2018. Rather than simply postpone the separation until 2019, what we’ve done is split the contest into two, but award prizes based on the combined result. This allows us to ensure that the competitors have separate score sheets for each event and to prepare for each event separately. Because the final rankings will be based on the combined result only, competitors in these events will only pay a single registration fee for the combined event.