Piper's Dojo Audio Experience
Piper's Dojo Audio Experience
Andrew Douglas and the Piper's Dojo Team
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471 - Is There A Better Way To Grade Band Contests? (Dojo Conversations Episode 141)
51 minutes Posted Sep 1, 2025 at 12:00 pm.
– Andrew’s secret gymnastics passion revealed
– Jim’s school days and flexibility struggles
– Comparing movement and body types
– The basics of gymnastics events and routines
– Artistic vs. objective elements in gymnastics
– How gymnastics is scored: D and E panels explained
– The challenge of making subjective performances objective
– Pipe band scoring vs. gymnastics scoring
– Why not just rank gymnasts? The case for point-based systems
– The problem with ordinal ranking in pipe bands
– Handling ties, large fields, and the importance of standardization
– The “big three” for judging bagpipe performances: sound, technique, musicality
– The complexity of creating a fair, repeatable rubric
– Bias, recency, and the human side of judging
– The need for more judges and the realities of competition logistics
– The importance of strong, sustainable institutions
– Innovation vs. tradition in competition systems
– Final thoughts
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Show notes
Is there a better way to score pipe band competitions?  
This week, Andrew and Jim look at an unlikely comparison for inspiration: gymnastics. From artistic vs. objective elements, to the challenge of ranking large fields fairly, to the ever-present issue of bias, the guys explore what the world of sports can teach us about how pipe bands are judged. What makes a fair system? Should pipe bands stick to ordinal rankings? Would point-based scoring bring more consistency? And how do we balance tradition with the need for innovation?  
Got a topic you’d like us to cover in a future episode? Leave a comment or email us: [email protected]  
Here’s what we cover this week:
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