Pipe Band at Prisoner-of-War Camp Oflag VII B

Pipe Band formed in Prisoner-of-War Camp Oflag VII B at Eichstett, Germany, in 1942. The photograph was taken on the occasion of Beating Retreat on 3 June 1943 for the King's birthday.

The music of the Great Highland Bagpipe is heard worldwide in Pipe Bands and the Pipe Band defines bagpipe music for most listeners. Conventionally a pipe band is a grouping of a number of pipers, ideally between eight and twelve, playing with a 'corps' of drummers with side, tenor and bass drums and adding a strong beat and emphasizing the rhythms of the music.

Pipe bands have been a notable cultural and social feature of life in Scotland for well over a century, particularly in the towns and villages and industrial communities of Central Scotland. Mining communities for example sustained a very strong tradition of pipe bands and music-making, particularly between the 1920s and the 1970s. The pipe band movement now spans continents, including North America, Australia and New Zealand, and involves many thousands of players across the world who come together in competition seasons where the bands are graded in increasingly rigorous and spirited contests.

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