Archive

The Glengarry Cup for Professional/Open grade solo pipers continues to bolster its status as one of North America’s preeminent competitions, and the 2026 edition on September 26th has attracted contestants from beyond Canada. Held in Canada’s capital just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, the event is perhaps emblematic of […]

Led by piping and drumming rights advocate and first-class piper Eilidh MacDonald, 30 young female pipers and drummers will take the Scottish Gas Murrayfield pitch as part of the sensational Scotland v. Australia Women’s Rugby International match on Saturday, September 26th, in Edinburgh. The All-Girls Pipe Band will be the […]

The Victoria Faithful Service Medal awarded in 1872 by Queen Victoria to Pipe-Major William Ross, her personal piper from 1854 to 1891, will be auctioned on October 7th, with an expected sale of between 4,000 and 5,000 GBP. The medal includes a bar attached to the ribbon in 1882 for […]

Would you like to teach piping at an exclusive private school in the rolling Renfrewshire countryside, about 20 minutes from Glasgow? You have until September 30th to apply to St. Columba’s School, which is looking to replace outgoing piping instructor Chris Gray, who has held the role since 2022. Being […]

Our fourth exclusive video is of Angus D. MacColl ripping a blazing final set, beginning with a few tunes delivered in a distinctive dance music style – trademark Angus D.

By winning the Piobaireachd, Brodie Watson-Massey of Edinburgh won the Willie McCallum Sr. trophy for best overall at the 2026 Springbank Invitational Solo Piping Competition after tying Chris Armstrong of Glasgow in aggregate Piobaireachd + MSR points.

Pipe-Sergeant Mike Cusack has retired from the Grade 1 St. Thomas Alumni Pipe Band of Houston, and longtime member and fellow Northern Meeting Clasp winner Nick Hudson has accepted the role effective immediately. Cusack had held the left-front-corner spot since 2014, working closely with Pipe-Major Jamie Gattinger and Lead-Drummer Graham […]

We uncover yet another previously unpublished gem by the genius composer John “Jock” McLellan, DCM. Here, the manuscript of “Hands Across the Water,” transcribed in McLellan’s hand, is a four-part reel, an idiom for which McLellan composed only five previously published pieces. True to the inimitable composing style that created […]

Recruitment, retention and improvement of bass drummers in pipe bands can only come through teaching, respecting and nurturing

Pipe bands have played at and to great heights: Estes Park in Colorado at 7,522 feet above sea level; impromptu (and definitely entirely sober) 35,000-foot performances on jet planes; and of course, the Grade 1 events at this year’s World Championships. But the 42 piping and drumming students from Sydney, […]

The 2026 Pipe-Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Challenge Recital was another spectacular night of incredible musical creativity and technical brilliance by five of the world’s greatest Highland pipers. Callum Beaumont, Alasdair Henderson, Finlay Johnston, Angus D. MacColl and Connor Sinclair each performed for 15-20 minutes, every second of which had the packed Strathclyde Suite at […]

Next in our exclusive 2026 Set Tunes Series by Willie Donaldson is “The Sister’s Lament,” a relatively popular tune among more seasoned piobaireachd competitors. About “The Sister’s Lament,” Willie Donaldson writes: “It is unusual that the tune should appear in so many manuscripts after being published by Donald MacDonald, which […]

In Part 1 of his “Building Leaders” series, exclusively for pipes|drums subscribers, James Laughlin stressed the vital need for pipe-majors, lead-drummers, pipe-sergeants, and anyone in a pipe band or association with a management role to have a “possibilitarian” perspective.  In Part 2, he delves into the essential aspect of effective recruitment for building and sustaining […]

After the thousands of entries were assessed, Shawn Tobin of Nepean, Ontario, was the ONLY one to get the top six Grade 1 at the World Pipe Band Championships absolutely bang-on, making Shawn our 2026 pipes|drums Pick the Six winner! For his canny prognostication, Shawn will receive $7,000+/£ 3700+ in […]

Harry McNulty, one of the pipe band world’s most accomplished and widely respected figures, died on September 8, 2026, at the age of 93. A successful pipe-major with both the Lothian & Borders Police and British Caledonian Airways, McNulty was one of only a few in history to lead more […]

The singular Raasay Restitution solo piping competition once again put the accent on Hebridean culture and fun, this year moving from the Raasay Community Hall to the Raasay House Hotel, and it was Rachel Gray who won the “Pìobaireachd Song” event and Gary West who took the Dance Music contest, each coming away with terrific prizes.