Archive

We met Finlay MacDonald and John Mulhearn for a two-part discussion on highlights and changes on tap for Piping Live! 2025, as well as some of the challenges, issues and rewards accompanying the planning and production of the world’s biggest celebration of piping.

Alan Jones of Hamilton, New Zealand, has studied and written about pipe band ensembles for more than a decade. His latest piece strives to define and clarify the Ensemble judge’s role and the qualities he believes are required of the judges themselves.

In January 2025, Scotland’s National Piping Centre quietly launched the NPC Clubs program, which allows new and experienced pipers ages seven to seventeen to learn in small groups across Glasgow and the organization’s McPhater Street facilities. With the program’s success, six new NPC Club tutors will be recruited over the […]

Twenty-six bands competed at the Co. Fermanagh Pipe Band Championships at the Broadmeadow Playing Fields, and it was St. Joseph’s Clondalkin that took straight first-place rankings to win the Grade 2 event against four other entrants. Ravara was the only entry in the Grade 1 competition. Bands could challenge up from their assigned grade if they could meet the content submission requirements.

2024 World Champions Inveraray & District started their season with straight firsts at the third annual Dollar Pipe Band & Drum-Majors Competition, organized jointly by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Dundee, Perth & Angus Branch and Dollar Academy. Inveraray won against two other Grade 1 bands and three Grade 2 bands that played up in the MSR event. Grade 1 Johnstone had entered but did not play.

Exclusively for subscribers, an in-depth look at the 102-page book of manuscripts, writings and recollections of one of the greatest Highland pipers in history

The 2025 Mid Ulster Pipe Band & Drum-Major Championships are on for June 7th on the grounds of Cookstown High School, organized by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland Branch, supported by the Mid Ulster District Council. “We are once again indebted to the Mid Ulster District Council […]

Greighlan Crossing won both Grade 3 band events, and Alastair Lee of Surrey, British Columbia, was the aggregate winner in the Open solo piping at the Victoria Highland Games over the Victoria Day Weekend. Eleven bands and 111 solo competitors took part in the two-day event.

The weekend events kicked off with the Prairie Piping Invitational on Friday evening at the Hotel Saskatchewan’s Regency Ballroom. Five amateur pipers representing three provinces competed in a medley event. Over 150 people attended, and following the competition, they were treated to a selection of tunes from Alex Gandy.

Greg Wilson won the Piobaireachd and Liam Kernaghan won the light music at the annual Colin Craig Claidhmor & Targe Invitational Solo Piping Competition at the Celtic Inn in Palmerston North on a balmy autumn day.

Often, it’s not the highly successful competing pipe band that’s the piping and drumming pride and joy of a local community but the strictly “parade” band that is more known, present, and connected with a town or city. The North Bay Pipes & Drums of North Bay, Ontario, a small […]

Amid considerable controversy over the fate of Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye, the Donald Macdonald Cuach Solo Piping Competition will return to the venue after six years on May 30th, with Alasdair Henderson, Findlay Johnston, Stuart Liddell and Willie McCallum competing for the prestigious prize. The Clan Donald […]

In 1965, a small group of young pipers and drummers in Nova Scotia formed the Dartmouth Boys Pipe Band. Sixty years later, the Dartmouth & District organization continues its tradition of teaching new pipers and drummers of all ages and fielding competition bands in Grade 2 and Grade 5. To […]

Nearly two months after they were upgraded to Grade 2 by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, the Commonwealth Pipes & Drums of Massachusetts are still awaiting a decision on their appeal to be accepted as a Grade 3A competitor at the 2025 World Pipe Band Championships. The Eastern United […]

No certified Grade 1 bands competing to start new season in Scotland, but Grade 2 bands to the fore in excellent weather

Fettes College in Edinburgh is searching for two new drumming instructors to work with the prestigious private school’s piping and drumming program, with about 120 pupils currently enrolled. The snare and tenor/bass teachers don’t have to be from the UK, and both roles are “self-employed,” with no contracts. After 30 […]