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87-542: The Estonian Defence League ( Estonian : Kaitseliit , 'Defence League') is a voluntary national defence organization of the Republic of Estonia , under management of the Ministry of Defence . Its aim is to guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state, the integrity of its land area and its constitutional order. The Defence League possesses arms and engages in military exercises, fulfilling

174-566: A Finnic language rather than a variety of Estonian. Modern standard Estonian evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the dialects of northern Estonia. During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, Estonian accepted many loanwords from Germanic languages , mainly from Middle Low German (Middle Saxon) and, after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation , from the Standard German language. Estonia's oldest written records of

261-559: A feather bonnet . Competition is a primary focus for many pipe bands throughout the world. Every year, mainly in the period from spring to autumn, pipe bands around the world compete against each other at various venues, often at Highland festivals. For many, this usually culminates in the World Pipe Band Championships, held on the 2nd weekend of August. A typical season for many competing pipe bands might include ten or more of these competitions. Europe (especially

348-471: A Medley event, which consists of a short selection of music chosen and arranged by the band. The rules for the medley contest are very open, requiring only a minimum and maximum time frame (between 5:30 and 7 minutes) and a minimum of different time signatures that must be played as well as two 3 pace rolls played at the beginning of the tune (also known as an attack). In addition to performing at 'The Worlds', most internationally competitive bands participate in

435-430: A block colour. In competition, appearing smart in uniform is essential; some competitions have dress codes, for instance certain types of jackets only, ties must be knotted at the collar and so on. Pipe bands often vary the uniform worn, depending on the formality of the occasion. Very formal occasions require jackets to be worn, whereas less formal occasions do not, and only the waistcoat is worn. On semi-formal occasions,

522-455: A broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek , Latin and French . Consider roim 'crime' versus English crime or taunima 'to condemn, disapprove' versus Finnish tuomita 'to condemn, to judge' (these Aavikisms appear in Aavik's 1921 dictionary). These words might be better regarded as a peculiar manifestation of morpho-phonemic adaptation of a foreign lexical item. Article 1 of

609-434: A constant volume, it is the drum corps which adds dynamic effect to the ensemble by varying the weight of playing and the number of players playing at any given time. While standard practice in pipe bands is for the pipe section to perform the traditional or standard arrangements of the melodies, including gracenotes , drum scores are very often composed by the lead drummer of the band. The bass section (also referred to as

696-412: A different role in the music. Generally speaking, the pipers deliver the melodic and harmonic material, while the side drummers provide a rhythmically interactive accompaniment part. The tenor drummers provide rhythmic pulses and the bass drummer anchors the rhythms, providing a strong and steady beat. The bagpipers are responsible for providing all melodic material in the music. Generally speaking, all of

783-671: A fusional language is a common feature of Estonian typologically over the course of history with the development of a rich morphological system. Word order is considerably more flexible than in English, but the basic order is subject–verb–object . The speakers of the two major historical languages spoken in Estonia, North and South Estonian , are thought by some linguists to have arrived in Estonia in at least two different migration waves over two millennia ago, both groups having spoken considerably different vernacular; South Estonian might be

870-467: A machine gun or mortar platoon , or are Assault Pioneers or as a rifle platoon. (This is similar to corps of drums in an English or Welsh infantry regiment although their tradition of fifes and drums is quite separate from that of the Highland bagpipes). As a result, in addition to being musicians, members of the pipes and drums must also be qualified fighting soldiers. Unlike musicians, who belong to

957-477: A merge between harmony and melody known as ' counter-melody ' has been aired. A counter-melody is similar to a harmony part, but is distinguished because it has a melodic line of its own. Counter-melody can take a completely different thematic approach and can dramatically change the flow and atmosphere of the melodic unison. This technique is relatively new in the pipe band circuit, and in most cases require skill and timing to achieve in full unison. The drum corps of

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1044-406: A midsection) consists of a section of tenor drummers and a bass drummer . Their role is to provide rhythmic support to the entire ensemble. In this respect, the bass section allows the drum corps to delegate their timekeeping responsibilities and allows more freedom in the drum scores. Generally, the bass drum provides a steady pulse, playing on the downbeat and on the strong beats of the bar, and

1131-433: A pipe band consists of a section of drummers playing highland snare drums and the bass section. In the early days of pipe bands, rope tension snare drums were common, but as bagpipe tuning pitches became higher, a brighter tone was demanded from the drum corps. Pipe band drummers now play on drums with very tight, knitted kevlar heads, designed for maximum tension to create a very crisp and strident sound. Since today's drum

1218-462: A pipe band setting can be extremely effective. Pipe band harmony is sometimes referred to as 'seconds', although this simply refers to a second part and not to the interval of a second. In fact, intervals of a second are rarely found in pipe band harmony parts, except in passing. Instead, it is the consonant intervals which are stressed, such as perfect fourths and fifths, and even more commonly, parallel thirds and sixths. In contemporary arrangements,

1305-530: A season of events that are generally held during Scotland's summer months. While events of this type are usually held at Highland Games , band competitions in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland are often large enough to be held as events unto themselves. The grading and organization of these events is generally consistent with the World Championships and the events are typically administered by

1392-445: A soft harness, or sling, instead of the typical marching harness used by the snare drums, but shoulder harness tenors are now used by several pipe bands. Competing bands must adhere to minimum numbers requirements. Typically, a band must consist of a minimum of 6 pipers, 2 snare drummers, and 1 bass drummer with numbers varying slightly for different grades (see more on grades below). Pipe band uniforms vary from band to band. However,

1479-567: A variety of tactical transport vehicles and a small number of BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers. Estonian language Estonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family . Other Finnic languages include Finnish and some minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in northwestern Russia. Estonian is typically subclassified as a Southern Finnic language, and it

1566-733: Is an organisation within Kaitseliit. Every member of WVDO has a function/task in a case of crises (civilian or armed) The Defence League's girls’ corps – Kodutütred was established to increase patriotic feelings and readiness to defend the independence of Estonia among young girls; to enhance the love for home and fatherland; to encourage respect for the Estonian language and ways of thinking; to be honest, enterprising, responsible, and capable of decision-making; to respect nature; and to respect one's parents and others. The Defence League's boys’ corps – Noored Kotkad . The objective of

1653-593: Is augmented to include additional instruments (such as additional percussion instruments or keyboard instruments), but this is typically done only in concert settings. Pipe bands started in Scottish Regiments of the British Army, in the nineteenth century. The tradition then spread to former British colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, as well as constituents of

1740-734: Is based on central dialects, it has no vowel harmony either. In the standard language, the front vowels occur exclusively on the first or stressed syllable, although vowel harmony is still apparent in older texts. Typologically, Estonian represents a transitional form from an agglutinating language to a fusional language . The canonical word order is SVO (subject–verb–object), although often debated among linguists. In Estonian, nouns and pronouns do not have grammatical gender , but nouns and adjectives decline in fourteen cases: nominative , genitive , partitive , illative , inessive , elative , allative , adessive , ablative , translative , terminative , essive , abessive , and comitative , with

1827-539: Is given as to which pitches to use and at which times. The pitches help provide melodic or harmonic accompaniment to the bagpipes; creating a more dynamic flow between the drum corps and the pipe corps. In some cases, five or six tenor drummers have been used, providing a palette of individual pitches for use in a variety of musical situations. The swinging also known as flourishing has developed somewhat into an art form, with drummers playing and swinging in unison or sequential flows. Tenor drums are also still commonly played on

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1914-758: Is pronounced [æ], as in English mat . The vowels Ä, Ö and Ü are clearly separate phonemes and inherent in Estonian, although the letter shapes come from German. The letter õ denotes /ɤ/ , unrounded /o/ , or a close-mid back unrounded vowel . It is almost identical to the Bulgarian ъ /ɤ̞/ and the Vietnamese ơ , and is also used to transcribe the Russian ы . Additionally C , Q , W , X , and Y are used in writing foreign proper names . They do not occur in Estonian words , and are not officially part of

2001-492: Is pronounced) and in the use of 'i' and 'j'. Where it is very impractical or impossible to type š and ž , they are replaced by sh and zh in some written texts, although this is considered incorrect. Otherwise, the h in sh represents a voiceless glottal fricative , as in Pasha ( pas-ha ); this also applies to some foreign names. Modern Estonian orthography is based on the "Newer orthography" created by Eduard Ahrens in

2088-400: Is so facile as a result of its design, players are often able to execute extremely complicated and technically demanding rudimentary patterns. The pipe band drum corps is responsible for both supporting the piping with a solid rhythmic foundation and sense of pulse, often creating an interesting contrapuntal line unto itself. The line played by the drum corps (referred to as the 'drum score')

2175-642: Is the highest-ranking officer of the Defence League; though he may not be the senior officer by time in grade. The Commander has the responsibility to man, train, equip and develop the organization. He does not serve as a direct battlefield commander. The Commander is a member and head of the Chief of Staff which is the main organizational tool of the Commander. The Commander is appointed by the Commander of

2262-658: Is the second-most-spoken language among all the Finnic languages. Alongside Finnish, Hungarian , and Maltese , Estonian is one of the four official languages of the European Union that are not Indo-European languages . In terms of linguistic morphology , Estonian is a predominantly agglutinative language . The loss of word-final sounds is extensive, and this has made its inflectional morphology markedly more fusional , especially with respect to noun and adjective inflection. The transitional form from an agglutinating to

2349-416: Is usually based on rudimentary patterns and can often be quite involved, with solo, unison and contrapuntal passages throughout. A popular pattern in many scores is for the lead drummer to play a phrase, and the section to play in response. This technique is known as seconds (sometimes referred to as chips, or forte). The drum corps is also responsible for the dynamics of the band. Given that the bagpipes are at

2436-757: The idamurre or eastern dialect on the northwestern shore of Lake Peipus . One of the pronunciation features of the Saaremaa dialect is the lack of the 'õ' vowel. A five-metre monument erected in 2020, marking the "border" between the vowels 'õ' and 'ö', humorously makes reference to this fact. South Estonian consists of the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties. These are sometimes considered either variants of South Estonian or separate languages altogether. Also, Seto and Võro distinguish themselves from each other less by language and more by their culture and their respective Christian confession. Estonian employs

2523-702: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Estonian and English: Pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums , used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland bagpipe , a section of snare drummers (often referred to as 'side drummers'), several tenor drummers and usually one, though occasionally two, bass drummers . The tenor drummers and bass drummer are referred to collectively as

2610-682: The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming , in Edinburgh , Scotland. To be qualified as a pipe major or drum major in the pipes and drums of a regiment of the British Army, candidates must successfully pass a series of courses at the school. The music played by pipe bands generally consists of music from the Scottish tradition, the Irish tradition and the Breton tradition, either in

2697-708: The Commonwealth of Nations . In addition, a number of other countries have adopted the tradition, notably in areas with Celtic roots: Ireland (circa 1900), Brittany in Northwestern France (1940s), and the regions of Galicia , Asturias and Cantabria in Northern Spain. The pipe band's origins are in the military, but are obscure as contemporary historical regimental records had no direct interest in piping, giving only hints at details. The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association maintains that

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2784-712: The Germanic languages have very different origins and the vocabulary is considered quite different from that of the Indo-European family, one can identify many similar words in Estonian and English, for example. This is primarily because Estonian has borrowed nearly one-third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages, mainly from Low Saxon ( Middle Low German ) during the period of German rule , and High German (including standard German ). The percentage of Low Saxon and High German loanwords can be estimated at 22–25 percent, with Low Saxon making up about 15 percent. Prior to

2871-519: The Ksp 58 , MG3 machine guns and M2 Browning heavy machine guns. Squad level anti-tank capabilities are provided with 84mm Carl Gustav recoilless rifles. In addition, indirect fire is provided by 81mm and 120mm mortars on battlegroup level. Defence League battlegroups also include dedicated anti-tank units equipped with 90mm Pvpj 1110 anti-tank guns and FGM-148 Javelin ATGMs. The Defence League utilizes

2958-581: The Latin script as the basis for its alphabet . The script adds the letters ä , ö , ü , and õ , plus the later additions š and ž . The letters c , q , w , x and y are limited to proper names of foreign origin, and f , z , š , and ž appear in loanwords and foreign names only. Ö and Ü are pronounced similarly to their equivalents in Swedish and German. Unlike in standard German but like Swedish (when followed by 'r') and Finnish, Ä

3045-713: The Normandy beaches, and the crossing of the Rhine. The Calgary Highlanders went into action for the first time at Hill 67 in Normandy with company pipers playing; it was the only time the Regiment did so. Military pipers have also served in both Gulf Wars. Pipe bands have long been part of military tradition, most notably in the United Kingdom and its former colonies. Many of the same standard tunes are found in both

3132-536: The Proto-Finnic language , elision has occurred; thus, the actual case marker may be absent, but the stem is changed, cf. maja – majja and the Ostrobothnia dialect of Finnish maja – majahan . The verbal system has no distinct future tense (the present tense serves here) and features special forms to express an action performed by an undetermined subject (the "impersonal"). Although Estonian and

3219-682: The RSPBA , and bands can be downgraded or upgraded at the annual regrading, which takes place at the end of the competition season. A band can apply for downgrading, but will have to compete in two further contests in their existing grade. Because of time constraints, the RSPBA uses "A" and "B" designations in Grade 3, 4, and Novice Juvenile for major competitions. In doing so, bands are grouped based on prior-years' performances, and can receive promotions within their respective grade. These vary slightly throughout

3306-585: The Royal Corps of Army Music , the pipers and drummers belong to the regiment in which they serve and are combat soldiers first and foremost. Pipers in particular uphold a centuries-old tradition of inspiring soldiers in the field and this can be traced back into Scotland's clan system to the 16th century at least. In other parts of the world, military pipe bands are generally part of reserve regiments, and also draw civilian members into their ranks. The British Army runs its own pipes and drums training facility,

3393-494: The 'bass section' (or in North America as the 'midsection'), and the entire drum section is collectively known as the drum corps. The band follows the direction of the pipe major; when on parade the band may be led by a drum major, who directs the band with a mace. Standard instrumentation for a pipe band involves 6 to 25 pipers, 3 to 10 side drummers, 1 to 6 tenor drummers and 1 bass drummer. Occasionally this instrumentation

3480-524: The 1840s, when Queen Victoria's enthusiasm for all things Highland was instrumental in the War Office 's decision that each battalion of the Highland regiments be allowed five pipers and a pipe major, which continues to be all that the British Army provides funds for to this day. Any additional pipers in the battalion pipe band were and are equipped today by funds from the officers' mess fund of

3567-485: The 1870s to the 1890s) tried to use formation ex nihilo ( Urschöpfung ); i.e. they created new words out of nothing. The most well-known reformer of Estonian, Johannes Aavik (1880–1973), used creations ex nihilo (cf. 'free constructions', Tauli 1977), along with other sources of lexical enrichment such as derivations, compositions and loanwords (often from Finnish; cf. Saareste and Raun 1965: 76). In Aavik's dictionary (1921) lists approximately 4000 words. About 40 of

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3654-926: The 1930s. There are 9 vowels and 36 diphthongs , 28 of which are native to Estonian. All nine vowels can appear as the first component of a diphthong, but only /ɑ e i o u/ occur as the second component. A vowel characteristic of Estonian is the unrounded back vowel /ɤ/, which may be close-mid back , close back , or close-mid central . Word-initial b, d, g occur only in loanwords and some old loanwords are spelled with p, t, k instead of etymological b, d, g : pank 'bank'. Word-medially and word-finally, b, d, g represent short plosives /p, t, k/ (may be pronounced as partially voiced consonants), p, t, k represent half-long plosives /pː, tː, kː/, and pp, tt, kk represent overlong plosives /pːː, tːː, kːː/; for example: kabi /kɑpi/ 'hoof' — kapi /kɑpːi/ 'wardrobe [ gen sg ] — kappi /kɑpːːi/ 'wardrobe [ ptv sg ]'. Before and after b, p, d, t, g, k, s, h, f, š, z, ž ,

3741-524: The 19th century during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). The birth of native Estonian literature was during the period 1810–1820, when the patriotic and philosophical poems by Kristjan Jaak Peterson were published. Peterson, who was the first student to acknowledge his Estonian origin at the then German-language University of Dorpat , is commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and considered

3828-490: The 200 words created by Johannes Aavik allegedly ex nihilo are in common use today. Examples are * ese 'object', * kolp 'skull', * liibuma 'to cling', * naasma 'to return, come back', * nõme 'stupid, dull'. Many of the coinages that have been considered (often by Aavik himself) as words concocted ex nihilo could well have been influenced by foreign lexical items; for example, words from Russian , German , French , Finnish , English and Swedish . Aavik had

3915-744: The Defence Forces or by the Supreme Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces. The current Commandant is major general Riho Ühtegi , who assumed the position in 2019. As of 2020, Colonel Eero Rebo is the Defence League Chief of Staff. Standard uniforms of the Estonian Defence Forces are the ESTDCU issued to Defence League personnel. On some festive occasions (such as parades), white armbands with

4002-399: The Defence Forces, Police, and other state organizations. The organisation is divided into 4 Territorial Defence Districts ( maakaitseringkond ) that consist of 15 Defence League regional units ( malev ) whose areas of responsibility mostly coincide with the borders of Estonia's counties. In case of mobilization, each of the districts will form a battalion sized maneuver unit. Today,

4089-525: The Defence League has over 15,000 reservists. The affiliated organisations of the Defence League combine more than 25,000 volunteers, in all, and include the Estonian Defence League's women's corps ( Naiskodukaitse ), the Estonian Defence League's boys’ corps ( Noored Kotkad ), and the Estonian Defence League's girls’ corps ( Kodutütred ). WVDO – Women's Home Protection  [ et ] ( Estonian : Naiskodukaitse (NKK))

4176-458: The Defence League is, on the basis of the citizens’ free will and initiative, to enhance the readiness of the nation to defend its independence and its constitutional order, including in the event of military threat. The Defence League plays an important role in supporting the civil structures. Its members aid in putting out wildfires, volunteer as assistant police members, and ensure safety at various events. Units, consisting of voluntary members of

4263-819: The Defence League, also participate in international peace support operations such as in the Balkan states. The Defence League and its affiliated organisations have positive relations with partner organisations in the Nordic countries, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In 1999, the Estonian Parliament adopted the EDL Law, which provided the position of the Kaitseliit in society and national defence and also described its main tasks, structure, legal basis for operations and control and co-operation with

4350-548: The Estophile educated class admired the ancient culture of the Estonians and their era of freedom before the conquests by Danes and Germans in the 13th century. When the Republic of Estonia was established in 1918, Estonian became the official language of the newly independent country. Immediately after World War II , in 1945, over 97% of the then population of Estonia self-identified as native ethnic Estonians and spoke

4437-482: The Finnic languages date from the 13th century. The "Originates Livoniae" in the Livonian Chronicle of Henry contains Estonian place names, words and fragments of sentences. The earliest extant samples of connected (north) Estonian are the so-called Kullamaa prayers dating from 1524 and 1528. In 1525 the first book published in Estonian was printed. The book was a Lutheran manuscript, which never reached

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4524-462: The Kaitseliit. Since 2000, Victory Day parades have been organized by Kaitseliit again every June 23. The 2015 parade also saw a rising number of military contingents from NATO countries take part: Latvia, the United States, Finland, Poland and Sweden, while 2016, aside from the US and Latvian troops also featured new contingents from Lithuania and Denmark. In 2006, the first Fleet Review in Estonian history

4611-638: The UK and Ireland), North America, Australia, and New Zealand have active competitive pipe band communities, but there are competing bands from throughout the world. Since 1930, when the Scottish band association (today known as the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association or RSPBA) was formed, there has been a World Pipe Band Championship competition, known as 'The Worlds' held annually in Glasgow during August. For competitive bands,

4698-679: The Worlds are awarded in the following nine categories: In the Novice Juvenile and Juvenile categories, band members must be under the age of eighteen, with the exception of one "adult" player, often an instructor, who may serve as the Pipe Major or Pipe Sergeant. The remaining categories have no age restriction, and are instead based on proficiency. Grading and eligibility are overseen by the National Council and Music Board of

4785-410: The alphabet. Including all the foreign letters, the alphabet consists of the following 32 letters: Although the Estonian orthography is generally guided by phonemic principles, with each grapheme corresponding to one phoneme , there are some historical and morphological deviations from this: for example preservation of the morpheme in declension of the word (writing b, g, d in places where p, k, t

4872-478: The battalion. By this time, pipers were already playing together with drummers, probably modelling themselves on the fife and drum bands which had existed in Switzerland since the 15th century. Drumming itself is as ancient as the concept of formed military units, and their original purpose on the battlefield was to signal tactical movements and keep cadence on the march. By the time World War I broke out,

4959-579: The beginning of the 1990s). The basic infantry weapon of the Defence League is the 5.56mm LMT R-20 Rahe , but the majority of the memberbase is equipped with the 7.62mm G3 rifle and its variants. The G3-based rifles are being phased out in favour of the R-20 Rahe in Territorial Defence ( Maakaitse ) maneuver units while backline units will retain the G3. Suppressive fire is provided by

5046-413: The case and number of the adjective always agreeing with that of the noun (except in the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative, where there is agreement only for the number, the adjective being in the genitive form). Thus the illative for kollane maja ("a yellow house") is kollasesse majja ("into a yellow house"), but the terminative is kollase majani ("as far as a yellow house"). With respect to

5133-422: The end of the 20th century has brought the proportion of native Estonian-speakers in Estonia now back above 70%. Large parts of the first- and second-generation immigrants in Estonia have now adopted Estonian (over 50% as of the 2022 census). The Estonian dialects are divided into two groups – the northern and southern dialects, historically associated with the cities of Tallinn in the north and Tartu in

5220-417: The exploration of non-traditional repertoire, and serves as another means by which piping and drumming can present itself to the public in a modern fashion. A lesser-known type of pipe band that has already expanded the pipe band genre is the bagad , a Breton cultural phenomenon. Bagads began in the thirties to counter the widespread decay of the living Breton folk tradition. A modern-day bagad consists of

5307-465: The form of traditional folk tunes and dances or popular music that has been adapted for pipes. Examples of typical pipe bands forms include marches, slow airs , jigs and reels , and strathspeys . In recent years there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on new forms, especially the suite . A good example of a suite for pipe band is Don Thompson's composition Journey to Skye (1987). In conventional pipe band music, each section of instruments has

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5394-589: The founder of modern Estonian poetry. His birthday, March 14, is celebrated in Estonia as Mother Tongue Day. A fragment from Peterson's poem "Kuu" expresses the claim reestablishing the birthright of the Estonian language: In English: In the period from 1525 to 1917, 14,503 titles were published in Estonian; by comparison, between 1918 and 1940, 23,868 titles were published. In modern times A. H. Tammsaare , Jaan Kross , and Andrus Kivirähk are Estonia 's best-known and most translated writers. Estonians lead

5481-431: The governing Pipe Band Association . In addition to the World Pipe Band Championships, the RSPBA also typically hosts four other major championships throughout the year. These are the Scottish, British, UK, and European Pipe Band Championships. Despite their naming, these events are not limited to entrants from the region after which they are named and it is common for bands from outside these regions to enter. Prizes at

5568-402: The insignia of the given territorial unit are worn. Civilian uniforms are worn by the women's division during parades and ceremonies. Armbands have also previously been worn on civilian clothing to distinguish members of the Defence League from civilians during periods when Defence League units did not have sufficient inventories to supply every member with a uniform (during World War I ; and in

5655-399: The jacket is not worn, but a long-sleeved shirt is worn under the waistcoat. This increases the formality of the outfit, but decreases the comfort. On occasion, no waistcoat is worn, in which case the shirt sleeve must be of long length. Pipe Major uniforms are usually different, to distinguish them from the other members of the band. More traditional highland dress may be worn, sometimes with

5742-456: The language. When Estonia was invaded and reoccupied by the Soviet army in 1944, the status of Estonian effectively changed to one of the two official languages (Russian being the other one). Many immigrants from Russia entered Estonia under Soviet encouragement. In the 1970s, the pressure of bilingualism for Estonians was intensified. Although teaching Estonian to non-Estonians in local schools

5829-455: The military and civilian pipe band repertoires, and many similarities exist in terms of musical style, historical and musical influences, and dress and deportment. Military bandsmen as full time musicians in British Army bands are normally required to take on a secondary role in the battlefield as medics. However, in most cases, soldiers in the pipes and drums in a Scottish or Irish infantry regiment are fully trained infantrymen who constitute

5916-542: The organisation is to raise these young people as good citizens with healthy bodies and minds. In addition to numerous interesting activities, such as parachute jumping, flying gliders, orienteering, shooting weapons, etc., the boys’ corps also participates in numerous events, the most popular but also the most difficult being the Mini-Erna 35 km reconnaissance competition. The Estonian Victory Day (1919) has been celebrated until WWII with military parades, organized by

6003-399: The origin of military pipe bands are traced back to the early 1800s as soldiers tasked with keeping pace and morale on long marches with their respective regiments. The global spread of piping can also be directly attributed with British colonial expansion. Pipers and drummers in the employ of the British Army and Scottish emigrants brought with them traditional music and the culture surrounding

6090-555: The pipe band represented a popular image of Scotland, both internally and externally. Military pipers were killed and injured in significant numbers in the Great War, before the practice of playing in the trenches was banned. The ban was often not observed; Canadian piper James Richardson was awarded the Victoria Cross for playing in action in 1916. Pipes have occasionally played into battle, notably at El Alamein , Dieppe ,

6177-471: The pipers play a unison melody on their chanters , with their drones providing the harmonic support and filling out the sound. When harmony is written within the pipe section, it is usually a two-part harmony, and is usually scored in a 2:1 ratio (with two-thirds of the players on the melody and one third of the players on the harmony part). Because of the limited range of the chanter, the harmonic possibilities are somewhat limited, but well-written harmony in

6264-468: The practice. It is known that pipers served in regiments from the earliest times; the Royal Scots have records referring to pipers dating back to the early seventeenth century. During this time, soldiers specially employed as pipers were employed by the officers of the regiments as private pipers, although countless others were certainly trained in piping while serving. This situation continued until

6351-774: The reader and was destroyed immediately after publication. The first extant Estonian book is a bilingual German-Estonian translation of the Lutheran catechism by S.   Wanradt and J.   Koell dating to 1535, during the Protestant Reformation period. An Estonian grammar book to be used by priests was printed in German in 1637. The New Testament was translated into the variety of South Estonian called Võro in 1686 (northern Estonian, 1715). The two languages were united based on Northern Estonian by Anton thor Helle . Writings in Estonian became more significant in

6438-492: The second half of the 19th   century based on Finnish orthography. The "Older orthography" it replaced was created in the 17th   century by Bengt Gottfried Forselius and Johann Hornung based on standard German orthography. Earlier writing in Estonian had, by and large, used an ad hoc orthography based on Latin and Middle Low German orthography. Some influences of the standard German orthography – for example, writing 'W'/'w' instead of 'V'/'v' – persisted well into

6525-419: The sounds [p], [t], [k] are written as p, t, k , with some exceptions due to morphology or etymology. Representation of palatalised consonants is inconsistent, and they are not always indicated. ŋ is an allophone of /n/ before /k/. While peripheral Estonian dialects are characterized by various degrees of vowel harmony , central dialects have almost completely lost the feature. Since the standard language

6612-405: The south, in addition to a distinct kirderanniku dialect, Northeastern coastal Estonian . The northern group consists of the keskmurre or central dialect that is also the basis for the standard language, the läänemurre or western dialect, roughly corresponding to Lääne County and Pärnu County , the saarte murre (islands' dialect) of Saaremaa , Hiiumaa , Muhu and Kihnu , and

6699-533: The tasks given to it by the law. The organization is divided into 4 Territorial Defence Districts that consist of 15 Defence League regional units, called malevs , whose areas of responsibility mostly coincide with the borders of Estonian counties. The Defence League is a voluntary military national defence organisation, which acts in the area of government of the Ministry of Defence. The Defence League possesses arms and engages in military exercises. The main goal of

6786-478: The tenors support that pulse, often adding supporting beats, accents and dynamic interest. Tenor drums in their modern form are a relatively new addition to the pipe band. While pipe bands of the past would often include tenor drummers, they would usually be "swinging tenors", players who would swing their sticks for elaborate visual effect but who would rarely play. They are more known as flourishing tenors. Today's tenor drummers play pitched drums, and careful thought

6873-512: The title of World Champion is highly coveted, and this event is seen as the culmination of a year's worth of preparation, rehearsal and practice. Traditionally, the entirety of the World Championships had taken place on one day in August, on Glasgow Green . However, in more recent years, the competition has been spread over Friday and Saturday, with Friday hosting a qualifying event for the Grade 1 final. Typically, several hundred bands attend across

6960-458: The two days, traveling from all over the world. Bands arrive early and, in most grades, are required to perform in a qualifying round which takes place in the morning. The top bands at the end of the qualifying round play in a second event in the afternoon to determine an aggregate winner. To win, Grade One bands must perform in two events, a March, Strathspey & Reel event (known as a "set" or "MSR") which consists of three pre-arranged tunes, and

7047-417: The typical uniform consists of a glengarry (cap), shirt, tie, waistcoat (vest), jacket, kilt , hose and ghillie brogues . Many pipe bands wear a tartan that may reflect the area the band originated from or the history of the band. Jackets and waistcoats are usually black, and shirts are often short-sleeved for comfort. Each band also has its own tie, which can match the kilt tartan, or is sometimes merely

7134-514: The wave of new loanwords from English in the 20th and 21st centuries, historically, Swedish and Russian were also sources of borrowings but to a much lesser extent. In borrowings, often 'b' and 'p' are interchangeable, for example 'baggage' becomes 'pagas', 'lob' (to throw) becomes 'loopima'. The initial letter 's' before another consonant is often dropped, for example 'skool' becomes 'kool', 'stool' becomes 'tool'. Estonian language planners such as Ado Grenzstein (a journalist active in Estonia from

7221-464: The world in book ownership, owning on average 218 books per house, and 35% of Estonians owning 350 books or more (as of 2018). Writings in Estonian became significant only in the 19th century with the spread of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment , during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). Although Baltic Germans at large regarded the future of Estonians as being a fusion with themselves,

7308-709: The world. For example, in the Republic of Ireland and North America, Grade 4B is known as Grade 5, and in Australia and New Zealand there is no Novice grade at all. Many pipe bands perform in parades and other public events as a primary activity. These bands are sometimes referred to as "street bands" or "parade bands". Some military bands fall into this category as well, playing for regimental functions in lieu of, or supplemented by, competitions and/or concerts. In recent times, concert performances have become increasingly popular. The purely musical nature of these venues enable

7395-511: Was conducted by Kaitseliit in June in Saaremaa. In 2016, the Sakala subdivision of Estonian Defence League formed the first Estonian military pipe band and their first performance was during the yearly Victory Day parade the same year. Band uses 4 sets of drums and 12 special sets of "war pipes" made by Andres Taul. Idea for such a unit originally came from President Lennart Meri in 2001 whilst he

7482-525: Was formally compulsory, in practice, the teaching and learning of Estonian by Russian-speakers was often considered unnecessary by the Soviet authorities. In 1991, with the restoration of Estonia's independence , Estonian went back to being the only official language in Estonia. Since 2004, when Estonia joined the European Union, Estonian is also one of the (now 24) official languages of the EU . The return of former Soviet immigrants to their countries of origin at

7569-511: Was visiting the Viljandi Folk Music Festival . The idea was later revived by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2010 and Ando Kiviberg , notable local piper and head of Viljandi's folk festival, was assigned to form the band. According to Kiviberg one of the goals of the band is also to promote bagpipes amongst males, as Estonia is lacking male pipers. The Commander of Defence League ( Estonian : Kaitseliidu ülem )

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