Archive
The Ontario piping scene has been saddened and diminished by the passing of one of its administrative stalwarts of the 1970s and ’80s. Little did Duncan McGillivray – “Dunc” to all who knew him – realize when his son Jim followed the whim of an 11-year-old in 1967 and started […]
The Grade 2 Aughintober Pipe Band is taking a major leap of faith by putting on an ambitious concert by the Grade 1 ScottishPower . . .
pipes|drums kicks off a new feature for subscribers: “One Great Day,” a series of articles by famous pipers and drummers who recall a particularly memorable day in their life. We will ask them to choose one day that stands out in their mind, perhaps because of its historical importance, or a personal achievement, or for anything else that they might choose. This year is the 25th anniversary of the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band’s World Pipe Band Championship win. At the quarter-century mark, it made sense to see what Bill Livingstone remembered from that historical day in August, when he led his 78th Fraser Highlanders to becoming the first non-Scottish band to win a World Pipe Band Championship. In fact, before then, no Grade 1 band outside of Scotland had won an RSPBA major championship of any kind.
The annual Winter Storm Competition in Kansas City, Missouri, January 11-13 will break its own entry records for snare competitions outside of the World Solo Drumming in Scotland . . .
New Year’s Day offers an opportunity for New Zealand’s pipers and drummers to compete at one of the country’s oldest Highland games. The sun was out with blue skies in the picturesque town of Waipu (a small town originally . . .
The first week of every year brings pipes|drums’ annual predictions for the 12 months ahead, and this year, rather than a long and rambling list of prognostications from numerous people around the piping and drumming world, we’re keeping things simple. Just 10. Ten straightforward predictions. All serious. All substantial. Each reflecting trends that we’ve identified that make a realistic case for them actually occurring. We’re sticking our neck out with these, and this time next year we’ll go back and see how we did. We also invite pipes|drums readers . . .
Andrew Carlisle and Ben McClamrock won the major solo piping awards, while Michael McKenna, Mike Cole and Andrew Elliott took home the top solo drumming honours at the annual Winter Storm competitions held at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom of the County Club Plaza hotel. For their efforts, Carlisle and Derek Midgley gained invitations to the 2013 Metro Cup Competition in New Jersey, which made entered into a reciprocal agreement with Winter Storm this year.
The third in our series of performances by Grade 1 pipe band leaders features Pipe-Major Doug MacRae and Leading-Drummer Drew Duthart of the 78th Fraser Highlanders. MacRae and Duthart were one of the four duos who played at the annual Pipes+Drums Recital at the 2012 Piping Live! Glasgow International Festival of Piping. The two were joined by bass drummer Johnny Rowe and tenor drummer Matt Bellia, providing an mini-band effect. The Pipes+Drums recitals are designed to showcase the talents of the leaders of the world’s top pipe bands, with . . .
The April 1, 2013, amalgamation of the eight existing Scottish police forces into a single “Police Scotland,” and the Strathclyde Police, most famous and successful police pipe band in the world, will remain intact, but under a new name. Strathclyde Police Pipe Band spokesman Iain MacPherson said that the new name for the band has . . .
Bob Worrall is one of the latest members of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario’s Music Committee to resign, according to him “the result of an ongoing lack of trust, support . . .
Two years in development, Xavier Boderiou of Brittany has expanded his offering of self-designed piping products with the introduction of four new pipe chanters, each tailored to a . . .
Since 1906 the Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon, Scotland, has offered a major pipe band competition, and until the formalization of a separate event in 1947, was the de facto . . .
When your country is the home of Field Marshal Montgomery, the idea of winning pipe bands could well become commonplace, but not so the Northern Ireland’s government which paid tribute . . .
Angus Clarke of the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band of Pitlochry, Scotland, pays tribute to the memory of one of the band’s most dedicated and celebrated members, who died on January 19th at the age of 75. Ian Cramb was the band’s president and the father of its Pipe-Major, Adrian Cramb. Gus Clarke will deliver this appreciation at Cramb’s funeral on January 25th.
With a never before published photograph of the composer, Jim McGillivray continues his exclusive series with John MacColl’s classic, ” Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque,” one of the greatest marches composed by perhaps the greatest march-creator in history. Subscribers to pipes|drums can see images of MacColl and the Loch Rosque estate, and enjoy instructional scores and sound files of McGillivray on the Deger pipe, as well as the actual manuscript of “Arthur Bignold” written by MacColl’s own hand.
Margaret Houlihan won the former winners events, and Ashley McMichae took the overall trophy in the open category at the 16th annual Irish Piobaireachd Society Indoor Competition. Tom Speirs judged all of the events.