East Lothian chooses new pipe-tune ‘anthem’

A 6/8 march by Bruce Thomson of Crieff, Scotland, was chosen the winner of the “Tune for East Lothian” composing competition for Scotland’s East Lothian region. Thomson received £500 and a trophy for his two-part tune, “The Haddington Turnpike,” at an event at Haddington’s Corn Exchange on March 8th.

 

Runner-up in the contest Andrew Wiseman of Edinburgh with “Lothian Harvest,” and other finalists were David Murray, Tranent; Iain MacDonald, Dunoon; Donald MacFarlane, Oban; and Sandy Calder from the Isle of Bute.

 

Judging of the competition was chaired by the well known piper and BBC Scotland Pipeline presenter Gary West. Other judges were music producer Peter Kerr; David Leckie, P-M of the Haddington Pipe Band; and Rob MacKillop, musician-in-residence at Queen Margaret University.

“We were really delighted with the standard of the six tunes and by all the performances on the night,” said Leckie. “Bruce Thomson has written an excellent march which is particularly suitable for massed bands – memorable, catchy and not too complex – and this put it just ahead of the rest in the opinion of the judging team. It was, though, a tough decision.”

 

The competition was sponsored by Glenkinchie Distillery, Greentrax Recordings, ITS, Queen Margaret University, and the Waterloo Bistro, Haddington.