Archive
The Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championship was first held in 1974 with the aim of bringing together the winners of the world’s most significant solo piping events to make the collectively greatest contest in the world. For 50 years, co-founder Seumas MacNeill’s vision has been realized, consistently assembling the globe’s 10 […]
Until 2020, the Metro Cup Solo Piping Competitions were one of the marquee events in the eastern United States, but a combination of the pandemic and a lack of volunteers contributed to the contest not being held for the last three years. But the competition will return over the February […]
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, was once known as “The Band City” because the city supported many community musical bands and hosted an annual International Band Festival that drew all styles of bands from across North America, including pipe bands. The Sprigs o’ Heather Girls Pipe Band and the White Hackle Pipe […]
The Lewis & Harris Piping Society continues to bring top-shelf events to Scotland’s Western Isles and will kick off their winter program with a recital by five-time Northern Meeting Clasp-winner Callum Beaumont on Friday, September 29th, at the Caladh Hotel in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. The 34-year-old Beaumont has enjoyed […]
After quickly selling out the initial printing of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – Maintiens Le Droit – Music for the Great Highland Bagpipe collection, the publishers have made the entire book available as a free PDF download “as a means of giving back to the many communities the RCMP […]
With a tie for the aggregate prize broken by the better result in the Piobaireachd event, Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, tipped Tyler Harris of Hamilton, Ontario, to win the annual Glengarry Cup Solo Piping Competition, successfully defending the title he gained in 2022 and 2021.
John MacDonald of Inverness was one of the most critical figures in Highland piping, but photographs of the great piobaireachd player, competitor and teacher are relatively rare. We are pleased to publish two recently uncovered images of MacDonald. They were taken by the late Margaret Fay Shaw, the pioneering Scottish-American […]
Since 2001, Dr. William Donaldson has been contributing his Set Tunes Series for pipes|drums readers. Now comprising more than 170 piobaireachds, the series is the world’s largest free online repository of ceol mor. Each piece includes all known published manuscripts, often from obscure publications only available from the National Library in Edinburgh, […]
After all of the entries were painstakingly reviewed, Cameron Ely of Croydon North, Australia, emerged as the winner of the 2023 pipes|drums Pick The Six contest! Cameron’s entry was one of only two that got the top six aggregate placings in the Grade 1 competition at the 2023 World Pipe […]
The Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational Solo Piping Competition was started in 1982, and the 2023 rendition of the event will see the fortieth time that the prestigious contest will be held, this year on October 7th at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville, Maryland. The event, which sees 10 of the […]
At the closing ceremonies of the 2023 Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany, Prince Harry gave an impassioned, moving speech that paid tribute to Master-Corporal James Gendron, a member of the Canadian team competing in the sporting events for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. Both […]
With the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association not publishing or responding to requests to provide further information on its decision to nullify Friday MSR judge Nat Russell’s 2023 Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship results, a source who requested their name not be divulged provided us with the outcome of […]
When the results were distilled, the winner of the 2023 Springbank Invitational Solo Piping Championship was Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland. The overall champion is determined only by the results from the Piobaireachd and MSR events. The competition is sponsored by the local Springbank Distillery and run by the Kintyre Pipers Society. It was once again held at the Argyll Arms Hotel.
Competing pipe bands, like just about any other public-facing group, are delicate things, chock-a-block with sensitive egos and strong personalities that are ironically part of the generally shy and introverted personnel who populate them. So, when a band makes a significant change, it’s crucial for things to go smoothly. Personnel […]
William “Bill” or “Wullie” Smillie was born in 1931 in Annbank, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was raised in Scotland with his nine siblings. At the age of 18, he joined the Royal Scottish Fusiliers as a soldier and piper. He had the honour of being the lone piper playing at the […]
The Grade 2 Peel Regional Police have revealed that the band will implement two thirds of its succession plan following the 2024 competition season, with Leading-Drummer Harvey Dawson and bass drummer Reagan Jones voluntarily stepping aside to allow their designated successors to take over. Cameron McKail will become the band’s […]