Archive
Alden Biesen, Bilzen, Belgium – September 9, 2022 – Ronsed-Mor of Brittany travelled to Belgium to win both the Grade 2 and the Open contests with straight first-place rankings at the Belgian Pipe Band Championships at Landcommanderij Alden Biesen in the scenic Bilzen, the home of the contest since 1994. […]
If you are a Highland piper or a pipe band drummer or simply a fan of piping and pipe bands, Geoff Ross has made a profound impact on your life. We can thank him for a flurry on innovations that would bring new levels of stability, tuning and consistency to the world’s most temperamental instrument: […]
One might assume that, after close to 3,000 entries from our faithful readers for pipes|drums’ 2022 Pick The Six contest, that several might get their prediction for the Grade 1 prize list at the World Championships exactly right. Well, you’d assume wrong. Ultimately, only Sarah MacKinnon of Barrie, Ontario, got […]
pipes|drums joins the world in mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. For all of her 70 years and 214 days on the throne, and her years as princess, she was a devoted supporter of pipers and drummers and Highland bagpipe music. It can safely be said that no public […]
Waukesha, Wisconsin – September 3, 2022 – Twenty bands competed at the Wisconisn Highland Games, a return for the full event post-pandemic. City of Chicago emerged the winner of the Grade 2 band contest, while Jimmy Bell of Batesville, Arkansas, tipped St. Joseph, Missouri’s Avens Ridgeway for best overall in […]
Pleasanton, California – September 3-4, 2022 – The 156th Scottish Highland Gathering & Games at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in the northern California town of Pleasanton returned after a few years’ absence, attracting a strong entry from bands and soloists. The top band contests were won on both days by […]
Calgary and Canmore, Alberta – September 3-4, 2022 – The last weekend to close out the competition season in Western Canada took place at both the Calgary and the Canmore Highland Games. Weather was unusually hot and dry at both events, with temperatures at Calgary on the Saturday exceeding 30C, and a […]
Blairgowrie, Scotland – September 4, 2022 – Following the Braemar Gathering, Edinburgh’s Ben Duncan enjoyed his second overall trophy in as many days with a clean sweep of all the senior events at the Blairgowrie & Rattray Highland Games. There was a large entry, weathering heavy rain in the morning […]
Bakewell, England – September 4, 2022 – The Chatsworth Country Fair got back to in-person competitions offering a total purse of £2,900, the event’s usual relatively good prize money for the senior solo piping events. Callum Beaumont of Dollar, Scotland, took the overall trophy, and prize money was awarded to […]
Braemar, Scotland – September 3, 2022 – Queen Elizabeth II couldn’t attend the Braemar Gathering for the first time ever in her long reign, but Prince Charles, several other Windsors and about a dozen pipers turned out for the senior events. Even without a first-prize, Ben Duncan of Edinburgh gained […]
Antrim, Northern Ireland – September 3, 2022 – Gareth McLees of Belfast won the first UK Solo Snare Drumming Championship, the latest qualifying competition for top-shelf players to get a bye to the semi-final of the World Solo Drumming Championships in Glasgow on October 22nd. The UK Championship was held […]
Inverness, Scotland – September 2, 2022 – The Northern Meeting solo piping competitions at Eden Court Theatre on the banks of the River Ness continued, highlighted by the prestigious Clasp, reserved for previous winners of the Highland Society of London Gold Medal and the balance of the light music events. […]
Inverness, Scotland – September 1, 2022 – The first day of the two-day Northern Meeting Solo Piping Competitions marked the return of the prestigious event at Eden Court Theatre in the Capital of the Highlands after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nick Hudson, originally from Massachusetts but […]
The annual Springbank Invitational Solo Piping Competition in Campbeltown, Scotland, was just one of many major events that was put on hold in 2020 and 2021, but the contest will return on September 17th with seven of the world’s top soloists strutting their stuff before what’s expected to be a […]
After what had to be considered a disappointing competition season, Grade 2 MacKenzie Caledonian of Dundee, Scotland, Pipe-Major Jamie Falconer and Lead-Drummer Barham Brummage have each resigned, along with several other members of the band. Falconer was appointed pipe-major after the departure of David Wilton, who subsequently became pipe-major of […]
Following the two-day Argyllshire Gathering at Oban, Scotland, the world’s top solo pipers are girding for competition at the Northern Meeting a few hours northeast at Inverness, with the other Highland Society of London Gold Medal, the Clasp, the Silver Star MSR and other historically important events featured on September […]