Bruce Gandy wins Eagle Pipers Piobaireachd composing contest (exclusive video and manuscript for p|d readers)

Renowned piper Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is the author of the winning piobaireachd in the composing contest put on the Eagle Pipers’ Society of Edinburgh.

Gandy’s “Eagle Pipers’ Society” won out against strong submissions from pipers around the world, described as a “very high standard of entry” by Euan Anderson, Iain Speirs and Tom Speirs, Eagle Pipers members who judged the competition.

The organization had planned to announce the winner at the Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner-Recital-Competition on August 26th, but the judges requested more time to go through the entries.

All of the tunes were submitted through an anonymized digital system, with Peter McCalister coordinating the competition.

In addition to the honour of winning, Gandy receives £400 for his success.

“Having our very own piobaireachd is wonderful.” – Eagle Pipers’ Society President Douglas Gardiner

“We decided to run this contest to stimulate and support the composition of new piobaireachd,” Eagle Pipers’ Society President Douglas Gardiner said. “With our historic association to Captain John MacLellan, whose own ceol mor is now part of the mainstream repertoire, we felt this was very appropriate for us as a society. Having our very own piobaireachd is a wonderful byproduct of this. We were very pleased indeed with the number of entries particularly as these came from pipers with a hugely varied level of experience, and we very much look forward to hearing Bruce play this in-person one day!”

The runner-up was a piobaireachd by Ian Cameron. His composition will be named “The Scots Guards Club,” in tribute to the Edinburgh venue where the Eagle Pipers meet. Cameron receives £200.

With the permission of both the Eagle Pipers’ Society and the composer, exclusively for pipes|drums readers, we’re pleased to share both the manuscript of the piece and a video of Bruce Gandy performing “The Eagle Pipers.”