The Ladies prepare, a Texas double and drones aplenty: Thursday at Piping Live! 2026, with Iain MacDonald

Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the epicentre of piping (and drumming) . . .

Another day, and another walk down the road to the National Piping Centre (NPC) and more pipe. Bands rehearsing for the weekend. Today I stopped by The Rose & Thistle Ladies Pipe Band rehearsal as they prepared for their Grade 4A debut at the Worlds. Made up of women from various parts of the globe who connect virtually in the winter, these ladies are looking forward to a run on the Green.

With memories of a tidy start to Wednesday, I stopped for a bacon roll to start the day. Crispy roll, Scottish bacon. Beloved Glasgow, I Leave Thee Satisfied.

The final heat of Pipe Idol was underway with a good crowd and lots of support for the players. Great sound off the stage and once again the players did not disappoint. All these young players have significant ability, and nice to see so many appreciating it. In the end, Andrew Zhao Texas won a closely contested heat and went on to win the overall later in the day. This is the second year running that a young player from St. Thomas Alumni Pipe Band has won this event.

While this was happening, I was able to catch the last half of today‘s Learn@Live! event all about solo piping at the highest level. Panellists Murray Henderson, Willie  McCallum and Callum Beaumont discussed their approaches to preparing for and performing

The lunchtime recital featured Seonaidh MacIntyre from Carnan in South Uist, who launched into some great MSR material to start, featuring Gaelic dance-style strathspeys and reels. These recitals have been a key element of the festival from the start, and we‘re seeing a subtle shift toward a wider stylistic range in piping. Given the attendance for these recitals, it appears to be a move supported by attendees. Unfortunately, we were unable to take in the whole recital because we had a plan to get to Glasgow‘s West End, but hopefully we‘ll hear more from this player ahead.

There was once again an overwhelming amount of choice for music on the day, but we decided to head to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for Ceol Nua: Continuum for Bagpipes. This featured a large group of pipers playing drones for about 30 minutes, varying the pitches, volume, and intensity of the sound, and accompanied at spots by deep bombards. Arranger Erwan Keravec had a timed score for each player, so they would know when to adjust the sounds they were

making. This happened in front of a large audience at Kelvingrove, with several people seated in the middle of the ensemble to maximize the effect. It was unusual, interesting, and oddly moving, underscoring the power of the bagpipe drone in evoking an emotional response to the instrument.

Coming out of the art gallery, the sounds of band rehearsal were still strong in Kelvingrove Park, so we wandered over to hear the last of a Ravara medley and see the band members from various bands winding their way back to residences and thinking about the two big days to come.

(With contribution from Barbara MacDonald)

Iain MacDonald is an all-too-often underappreciated treasure of the piping world. A tireless teacher, leader, competitor, judge, volunteer, writer, and all-round good guy, he has played with Grade 1 bands Simon Fraser University under Pipe-Major Terry Lee and Babcock Renfrew under Pipe-Major Iain McLeod. For many years, he was a pupil of the great Donald MacLeod. He served as pipe-major of Grade 2 City of Regina for more than 30 years, and during that time, was instrumental in starting the Conservatory Pipe Band for young learners. We could go on. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, and operates Reelpipes.com.