Infanteer, how many Australian pipe bands compete on the world stage?
I served in England in 1990 with Aussie pipers and drummers, they were average guys, with one or two standouts, and really nothing military about them. Rather like the Canadians there.
Competition is not the only way to judge a good band (some good bands simply don't compete, if they are busy with other stuff - like military training), so we can both just guess as to how "good" these Aussie military bands are. It's possible they are well above average with respect to musical ability and talent, but the odds are low.
Like I said, for the reserves especially (we have no regular force Highland regiments), if you're so desperate for troops on the ground that you need riflemen from your P and D, you actually have bigger problems.
I do think that all civilian volunteers should do some form of basic training - perhaps even pay them - to ensure they are subject to military discipline. Then they will know enough to salute the Colours or the officers of the regiment, not walk around half undressed, show up for practice on time, don't do drugs on DND property, etc. You also eliminate the two-tier system we had in our band, with paid military guys getting meal money, travel assistance allowance, etc., and civvies getting squat. One NCO's solution was to extort our meal money from us and reassign it to the civilians. Not that we felt they were undeserving of compensation, but it shouldn't have come out of our pockets. We tried to protest but were told that if we didn't sign the aquitance roll for our meal money on a band trip to the US, all the money would go back. That NCO is no longer in the military. Many of us were students at the time and relied on that money as our sole source of income.
So my proposal would be, in effect, to lower medical standards and terms of service for musicians. We do it for the CIC, and probably padres and medical officers, in the interests of the service. I'd lower their benefits, though - no pension, gratuity, dental etc. Plus not having to go to war.
If you want the full deal, sign up, do your training, etc. I'm not sorry I took that route. But would be nice to elminate the "civilian" aspect of our bands, and reward those long serving volunteers. That would include people like our regimental secretary, who did two tours of duty as Commanding Officer of the Regiment. He doesn't get paid despite being at every practice and parade - because he is past CRA. And yet he contributes more time and talent and dedication to the band than many of the younger pipers who come out as a lark.