Archive

Ross Hanning of Wellington, New Zealand, reviews the latest collection from Michael Grey – “Damned Suites” – the sixth book of music from the prolific Ontario-based composer and arranger.

The tenth anniversary version of the Piping Live! Glasgow International Festival of Piping was launched officially with the promise of new venues, including the use of St. Enoch . . .

The South African Pipe Band season began at Lyttelton Manor High School in Pretoria, with Transvaal Scottish taking the top prize on the day. The hosts, Lyttleton Manor Pipe Band, won Grade 4 . . .

The annual Edinburgh Local Mod Solo Piping Competition for juniors for the first time had a tie for the Best Overall Piper younger than 18, with the Greentrax Cup split between Donald C. Stewart and Seamus O’Baoighill. Stewart gained a first in the Piobaireachd and second in the MSR, and vice versa for O’Baoighill. Organizers decided that, rather than award the trophy on piobaireachd preference, it would be shared between them. The pipes|drums Magazine trophy for best . . .

Andrea Boyd won the annual Glengarry Cup MSR competition, an event organized by the Ottawa Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario. The competition was held at the Royal Canadian Air Force Officers’ Mess in downtown Ottawa. The trophy is donated by the Glengarry Pipe Band and the contest features both professional and top local amateur competitors. Boyd recently moved to Ottawa after an extended period in Scotland, and is now playing with the Grade 2 Ottawa Police Pipe Band . . .

William Geddes emerged as the overall champion at the 86th annual Scottish Pipers’ Association Professional Competition against a strong field of 18 competitors at the College of Piping. The competition featured a new event in which competitors played a 6/8 march as part of their tuning for the Piobaireachd event.

Skype has been a familiar platform for “e-learning” for pipers and drummers for some time, but the National Piping Centre plans . . .

The Bleary & District Pipe Band of Northern Ireland will return to competition in the 2013 UK season after a seven-year . . .

raig Sked was the overall winner based on preference to the Piobaireachd event at the 100 Guineas Solo Piping Championship at King Edward’s VII High School. Eleven of South Africa’s top solo pipers competed in the event.

We continue our exclusive discussion with Roddy MacLeod, one of the world’s great builders of piping. In Part 1, MacLeod remembered his earliest years as a young piper in Cumbernauld, Scotland. In Part 2, MacLeod looks back on his formative piping years with his teacher, the legendary Duncan Johnstone. He goes into his early pipe band days with the Grade 1 Red Hackle in Glasgow under Pipe-Major Malcolm MacKenzie, leading to his long tenure with British Caledonian Airways / Power of Scotland / ScottishPower and the Spirit of Scotland, and the importance of strong soloists in the mix. He then touches on why he is not a judge with the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association.

Scott Barrie in the 15 and under 18 category and Joshua Townsley in the 14 and under enjoyed solid days at the annual Inveraray & District Piping Society’s Junior Competitions held at the town’s Primary School. All prizewinners were from Scotland . . .

Callum Beaumont emerged the aggregate winner of the 20th annual Donald MacLeod Memorial Invitational Solo Piping Competition in his first win at the event that honours the great piper’s career and compositions. Beaumont tied with Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland, and Willie McCallum of Bearsden, Scotland. The result of the Piobaireachd event, which Beaumont won, determined the prize. The list from the Hornpipe & Jig contest does not factor into the overall award . . .

Andy Ross, one of the most popular chanter reed-makers in piping history, died on April 2, 2013, after a protracted illness . . .

Canterbury Caledonian of Christchurch won its second straight New Zealand & South Pacific Pipe Band Championship, held in the small town of Timaru in the country’s South Island.

Dylan Whittemore was the winner in the A Division Piping (Grade 1 and 2) at the final of the PPBSO Toronto Branch Amateur Knockout, held at Mosspark Armoury in Canada’s biggest city’s downtown. Charles-David Mitchell won the B Division, open to Grade 3 and 4 players.

Seven years after it originally implemented it, the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has eliminated its practice of consultative pipe band judging, a topic of active debate for . . .