Archive
The British Drum Company burst onto the pipe band scene in 2018 by hiring 16-time World Solo Pipe Band Drumming Champion Jim Kilpatrick as a “Marching Specialist” and launching its Axial line of pipe band instruments. The Manchester, England-based company has now announced that it has stopped production of the […]
With the blessing and sponsorship of the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust, a new Gordon Duncan Memorial Kitchen Piping Competition will be launched at the 28th annual Skagit Valley Highland Games & Celtic Festival in Mount Vernon, Washington, on July 13th. Available to pipers competing at the Open/Professional, Grade 1, and […]
Piping and drumming firebrands Karen and Paul Warren are constantly looking at new ways to promote and build the arts in the Ayrshire region of Scotland. On April 22nd, “an incredible set of circumstances collided,” resulting in a one-of-a-kind workshop in Cumnock, with four pipers and drummers from the Royal […]
A peek inside the great Willie McCallum’s pipe case to see what items contribute to his success.
Craig Sutherland and Cameron Drummond were serious winners in the City of Edinburgh Pipe Band’s Pipe-Major’s Wheel of Fortune competition, probably the funnest piping contest in the world.
Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia’s Kerr McQuillan added on another big competition win by taking the European Solo Snare Drumming Championship held at Lochgelly High School in the Kingdom of Fife.
Ulster Scottish of Philadelphia was the overall winner in Grade 2 at the annual American Pipe Band Championships at Scope Plaza in perfect weather against four other contestants. Ulster Scottish won both the Medley and MSR events. Carnegie Mellon University was the Grade 3 winner, also winning both events.
We continue with the third installment of 10 “Castle Recordings” piobaireachd in our exclusive series of performances captured on reel-to-reel tape at Edinburgh Castle in the early 1960s by the late Captain John A. MacLellan MBE. “The Marquis of Argyll’s Salute” “The Pretty Dirk” “Too Long in This Condition” “Tulloch […]
The 1300-seat Music Hall in Aberdeen, Scotland, will be the classic venue for the return to the concert stage of St. Laurence O’Toole of Dublin, one of the world’s most musically exciting and creative bands competing at the apex of Grade 1. The show is named “Inspired 2024” and also […]
Sure, you might prefer the typical Piobaireachd + MSR template that 99% of top-tier solo piping competitions require. After all, you’re almost guaranteed to have an opportunity to hear a whole load of foot-stompin’ piobaireachds. Nothing wrong with that. Or you might prefer something not only different but genuinely unique […]
The seventh running of the American Pipe Band Championships is this Saturday, April 20th, once again at Scope Plaza in Norfolk, Virginia, and a total of eight will compete in the Grade 2 and Grade 3 events: Grade 2 Carnegie Mellon University (Gr3) City of Chicago Great Lakes MacMillan Ulster […]
We continue our series of articles on psychological matters that might impact our performance and the enjoyment of our competitive hobby
Under perfect weather at Princess Park, 29 bands competed in the 2024 Australian Pipe Band Championships in the regional town of Maryborough, site of the first Australian Championships in 1961.
The first Dollar Pipe Band & Drum-Majors Competition held in 2023 was UK piping and drumming scene’s success stories, and the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Dundee, Perth & Angus Branch has announced that the event will return in 2024 on May 26th. In a relatively unusual move, the branch […]
All too often, thanks in large part to our competition-art tradition, pipe bands from the same city have crosstown rivalries that make getting together on anything unthinkable to band members. But for the second straight year, the Grade 1 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) and Grade 3/5 Dartmouth & District from […]
Alistair Hanning, the accomplished and popular piper from Wellington, New Zealand, died from cancer on April 9, 2024, in his sixty-second year. From one of the country’s great family of pipers, he received instruction from his famous father, John, and later Ian McKay, Donald Bain and Lewis Turrell, when Hanning […]