Archive
After a year of qualifying contests around the globe, 30 of the world’s best pipe band snare drummers will vie for the 2025 World Solo Drumming Championship on Saturday, October 18th, at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow. The contestants competed in seven events in the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s […]
Benderloch, Scotland – October 11, 2025 – Winning the Piobaireachd and placing fourth in the MSR was enough to make Magnus Stone of Natick, Massachusetts, the overall champion at the 2025 2025 Lochnell Intermediate Solo Piping Competition, an event held at the 16th-century Lochnell Castle, on Ardmucknish Bay. The event […]
Grade 1 Closkelt of Northern Ireland has announced the complete and immediate dissolution of the band, leaving the UK with only seven in the top grade. Closkelt Pipe-Major David Chesney explained the decision was “due to a combination of internal and external factors.” “While today marks a sad milestone for […]
Alex Pavlovic of Houston was the overall winner of the 2025 Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational Piping Competition against a field of nine other top amateur solo pipers from North America, held at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church. Pavlovic won the aggregate with firsts in the Piobaireachd and MSR events.
David Duncan of Los Angeles knows all about the challenges of amplifying the Highland pipes in a concert with other instruments, so he developed the Electrified Chanter Stock, the first pipe chanter stock with an integrated piezoelectric pickup, an output jack, and a volume knob designed to create a “clean” […]
The Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational Piping Competition is set to take place on Saturday, October 11th at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville, Maryland, with a full day of hammer-and-tongs, take-no-prisoners action. Actually, 10 of the most successful amateur competitors in North America will have a terrific time playing the music […]
Exclusively for pipes|drums subscribers, the double Gold Medallist takes a look at the new music compilations from the prolific Kyle Warren and the prosocial Eagle Pipers’ Society
The 10 contestants for the 2025 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championship on October 25th at Blair Castle in Blair Atholl, Scotland, have been confirmed, precisely as pipes|drums had calculated about a month ago.
Lee & Sons Bagpipes of Surrey, British Columbia, has made a strategic business move by acquiring Highland Gear of Ontario, innovators and manufacturers of bagcovers and other accessories for pipers and drummers. The deal sees Lee & Sons acquire Highland Gear’s machinery, inventory, and intellectual property, complementing the company’s popular […]
Callum Beaumont of Guardbridge, Scotland, won the biggest prize at the twelfth annual Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Solo Piping Competition for best aggregate results across the Premier Grade events. In addition to excellent prize money, he received the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Castle Trophy. Beaumont won on Piobaireachd preference in a tie with Sarah Muir of Glasgow.
On a Piobaireachd preference, Seumas Eade of Waikato, New Zealand, was awarded the 2025 Young Piper of the Year trophy at the annual event held at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts against 17 other contestants in the Under-21 category.
Craig Sutherland will strive to fill Jack Lee’s enormous ghillies as the new pipe-sergeant of the Grade 1 Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. A native of Crieff, Scotland, Sutherland has been a member of SFU since 2015, along the way winning both Highland Society of London Gold Medals and becoming […]
Forty-two contestants are entered for the 2025 New Zealand Young Piper of the Year competition this Saturday, October 4th, at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts in Nelson, New Zealand, with 18 in the Under-21 events determining who wins the title. Run by the Piping & Dancing Association of New […]
“There’s never a concern about what judges think. We play the music that excites us, and if they like it, they like it; if they don’t, then there’s nothing you can do. It’s just a human opinion at the end of the day.” – L-D Steven McWhirter
In only three years, the Caritas Banner has become one of the prominent piobaireachd competitions for young pipers. Entries are now open for the 2025 edition of the event, which will be held on Sunday, November 30th, at George Watson’s College in Collinton, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Solo pipers […]
Kris Coyle of Ballyclare, Northern Ireland, won the 2025 Northern Ireland Piper of the Year Championship, winning two second prizes and securing the award at the Adair Arms Hotel.