Archive
With straight firsts in both events in the two-band Grade 2 competition, the hometown Dominion Pipe Band was the top winner at the indoor Manitoba Scottish Festival (previously the Winnipeg Scottish Festival), held at Red River College Polytechnic.
Hot on the heels of the 2026 New Zealand Pipe Band Championships and a full antipodean summer of pipe band and solo competitions, Bound By Sound is emblematic of the commitment and charisma that permeate the Kiwi piping and drumming scene.
Jonathan Quay of Melbourne won all four A-Grade events at the Victorian Pipers’ Association’s first in-person solo piping competition of 2026. The event was held at Rupertswood Mansion on the grounds of Salesian College in Sunbury, a suburb of Melbourne.
MacMillan from Washington, DC, won Grade 2 and with it the American Pipe Band Champions title at the annual Virginia International Tattoo & American Pipe Band Championships held at Scope Arena.
Cookstown, Northern Ireland – April 18, 2026 – After what was likely an unprecedented three-way tie for first, the judges conferred and agreed that Field Marshal Montgomery Leading-Drummer William Glenholmes was the winner of the 2026 UK Solo Drumming Championship, held at Cookstown High School. Glenholmes edged out his Field […]
Bands from the Northern Hemisphere looking to conclude their winter with a trip Down Under can start planning now, after Pipe Bands Australia announced that Pipe Bands Queensland (PBQ) will host the 2028 Australian Pipe Band Championships in the east coast city of Brisbane, close to some of the country’s […]
Established almost 50 years ago, the Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming has sustained one of the world’s longest-running series of summer schools for pipers and drummers, this year comprising two week-long sessions. The familiar summer camp at PennWest-Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania (July 12-17) will be preceded by a […]
In his latest article in his “Insights into pipe band ensemble” series, Alan Jones investigates the prevalence of the S-w-M-w beat-note emphasis in pipe band MSR music.
Only a few days after being made leading-drummer of the Grade 1 78th Fraser Highlanders, Kyle Wardell won both Professional events at the annual Agnew-Harrison Invitational Solo Drumming Competition at the John Weir Foote VC Armoury.
Cameron May of Lesmahagow, Scotland, enjoyed a day for the ages with three firsts and a second to gain the overall championship trophy at the annual Scottish Pipers Association solo competitions. By winning both the A-Grade 2/4 March and the Strathspey & Reel, May competed in the Former Winners MMSSRR.
Kenneth MacLean, the accomplished Highland Society of London Gold Medallist, piping teacher and judge, passed away peacefully in Kilmarnock, Scotland, aged 93, on April 4, 2026. A longtime pupil of the great Donald MacLeod, MacLean achieved the Gold Medal in 1974 playing “The Battle of Bealach nam Brog” after placing […]
The Grade 2 Western Australia Police under Pipe-Major Chris MacDonald and Leading Drummer Brian Green were awarded the 2026 Australian Pipe Band Championship at the biannual contest hosted this year by Pipe Bands Western Australia at Subiaco Oval in Subiaco, a suburb of the Western Australia state capital.
What began a quarter-century ago quickly became and remains the greatest free collective piobaireachd resource for pipers worldwide.
A staple of the Piping Live! Festival is the Lunchtime Recital Series, a daily musical meal featuring some of the world’s greatest pipers, and Piping Live! 2026 continues the tradition with hour-long sessions by renowned soloists Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Murray Henderson of Kirriemuir, Scotland. The series […]
The third of five instalments, Elliott’s talks about his return to Ontario and becoming pipe-major of the Grade 1 Toronto & District, chasing and then finally beating the then-dominant 78th Fraser Highlanders, the rise of even more home-grown talent leading top Ontario bands, and bass drumming innovator Jimmy Stewart.
The Emmanuel College Highlanders (University of Queensland) and The Pipeband Club won the Medley and MSR events, respectively, and it was Emmanuel College that took the overall Grade 2 trophy at the annual 121st Maclean Highland Gathering, one of the world’s longest-running piping and drumming events.