Archive
With Bratach Gorm and London Medallion MMSSRR wins and a third in the Gillies Cup piobaireachd, Callum Beaumont of Guardbridge, Scotland, took top honours across the top events at the Scottish Piping Society of London’s 86th Annual Solo Piping Competition, held at the Caledonian Club in the heart of the city.
Organized annually by RSPBA judge Jim Baxter and held at the Deans Bowling Club, the 2026 Livi Invitational combines musical excellence and fun in a casual setting to raise funds for a designated charity, this year, Enable Scotland.
Playing “Nameless – Cherede darieva,” Callum Beaumont of Guardbridge, Scotland, won the prestigious Bratach Gorm on the first day of the two-day 86th annual solo piping competitions organized by the Scottish Piping Society of London.
Kenny MacLeod can seem as omnipresent throughout the piping and drumming world as McCallum instruments and gear. He seems everywhere all the time, and we were fortunate to pin him down for a few hours in August during the Piping Live! festival. The National Piping Centre kindly provided us with their library for an exclusive pipes|drums Interview, which we bring to readers and viewers in five parts.
Remember Daniel Laidlaw, 7th Bn, King’s Own Scottish Borderers. Piped his company over the top during gas attack at Loos (1915); awarded VC. Remember James Cleland Richardson, 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion, CEF. Played pipes over the top at Regina Trench (1916), inspiring men to victory, killed while retrieving pipes; awarded […]
While everyone simply aspires to perform as well as they can, knowing who you’re competing against is generally accepted as important and useful for any competing pipe band, piper or drummer. In September, as happens every year, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association announced upgrade decisions for any bands competing […]
“You can’t build a youth band in a straight line. You’ll get a handful of standouts, a middle group holding it together and a base that’s still learning. The top-tier, the standouts, are the ones who get picked off. Which means the better you do your job as an instructor or as an instruction-based organization, the more efficiently you create your own talent drain.”
We check in with on the new PBA leader on the challenges, opportunities and goals for the organization and piping and drumming in general in the vast country
North America’s piping and drumming associations are heading into their annual general meeting season, with presidential elections, board changes, new competitions, and concerns about volunteer participation shaping plans for 2027. Associations have updated us on their activities and priorities, with some preparing for leadership changes and others looking to build […]
With any of the world’s 10 elite solo pipers going at it, predicting the final result of the Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships is literally anyone’s guess, and this year it was Chris Crawford of Gorebridge, Scotland, who got three of the five overall prize winners in their exact place, and […]
Glasvair The Nexus Project Bede Patterson, Highland pipes; Dean Garrity, saxophone; Ewan Johnston, keyboards; Roan Anderson, drums BPM Music, available on major streaming services, CD and vinyl Reviewed by Nick Hudson The first jazz record that really stopped me in my tracks was Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village. It demanded total attention. Glaisvair by Bede […]
Liam Kernaghan of Auckland has been acclaimed, unopposed, for a second two-year term as president of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association, as was Stu McHale, also acclaimed for another two-year term as RNZPBA board member. Both Kernaghan and McHale bring a seasoned competitor’s perspective to their roles. Kernaghan […]
Alasdair Henderson of Edinburgh emerged as the overall winner of the 2026 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships, the 53rd annual running of the prestigious invitational competition held in the Great Hall of Blair Castle.
Rarer still is when a synonymous tune results not only in a nickname, but is commemorated with a tune by a world-class composer
No matter the prizes, you’ve really made it as a piper when a tune becomes synonymous with your name. For at least 30 years, “Lament for the Viscount of Dundee” has been part of Colin MacLellan’s identity as a piper. Actually, it might go back further, to 1982, when he […]
The publication of The MacIsaac Collection – Volume 1 was an ideal time to check in with him, not only about the book, but also about his composing process. It’s food for thought for any creative piper or pipe band drummer hoping to try their hand at composing, or ready to take a different approach to making original music.