Archive
The Western United States Pipe Band Association is marking its fiftieth anniversary this year by creating a pipe music collection made up . . .
While bands in the northern hemisphere are in the middle of their competition season, those in New Zealand and Australia are busy making plans for the future and, following Invercargill’s addition . . .
The Transvaal Scottish were overall winners at the Pretoria Boys Highland Gathering at Pretoria Boys High School, the second major championship of the South African season. “The Jocks were again the top-grade winners on a very hot winter’s day, winning the MSR and finishing second in the Medley, which . . .
Bruce Gandy was the overall winner of the 27th annual United States Piping Foundation Professional Piping Championship held at the Amy E. DuPont Music Building at the University of Delaware. Fifteen competed in the Professional events, which were judged by . . .
After a global search, Russell Esler of Glasgow has been chosen to be Leading-Drummer of the Grade ILT City of Invercargill . . .
Ed Neigh reviews the June 14, 2013, Forte concert at the Cobourg Community Centre in Cobourg, Ontario, and finds that the band was ready to take on the challenge – and then some . . . even in a hockey arena.
The annual Donald MacDonald Quaich Invitational Solo Piping Competition was won by Cameron Drummond of Edinburgh, playing the Donald MacDonald setting of “The MacDougalls’ Gathering” from the MacArthur Manuscript. The contest is organized each year by the Clan Donald Association, and celebrates the music of Donald MacDonald. Other competitors were Glenn Brown, Glasgow, “Glengarry’s . . .
The return of the Cobourg Highland Games to full piping, drumming and pipe band competition format was a spectacular success, with a packed Victoria Park on the shore of Lake Ontario in brilliant sunshine. Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia was brought in to perform in concert the night before, which they did to an audience estimated to number more than 1,000, and the band competed, winning with straight firsts in a five-band Grade 1 competition. The Ontario season continued its varied results, with Toronto . . .
A quarter century has passed since a Scottish Grade 1 band last competed in Ontario, when Vale of Atholl travelled to Canada in 1988 . . .
Bill Livingstone reviews the new, comprehensive analysis of ceol mor by the renowned Andrew Wright and finds a book that’s required repeated reading by any serious student of piobaireachd.
Harry’s been enjoying the videos from last weekend’s competition, and taking in the online chatter about the 78th Frasers’ dramatic entry and miraculous recovery. As a service to readers, Harry has assembled a few samples of how things can go terribly wrong in that one small segment of the contest. […]
Iain Speirs was the recipient of the 2013 John A. MacLellan Medal on the evening of June 8th at the Royal Scots Club, Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, the second annual version of the invitational dinner/recital that showcases four of MacLellan’s piobaireachd compositions. Speirs played “A Welcome for Patrick Struan,” which MacLellan composed on the birth of his second grandson in 1989. Also competing were Faye Henderson . . .
A hot and sunny day greeted 16 contestants in the senior solo piping at the annual Cupar Highland Games. Results were mixed, but Alan Russell had the most success in the light music, while Greig Canning took the Piobaireachd . . .
Miraculously, the threatening skies never gave way to rain at the 2013 Georgetown Highland Games, the first official outdoor event of the PPBSO season. In the Grade 1 band Medley competition, the Peel Regional Police won, followed closely by the 78th Fraser Highlanders. Grade 2 was won by a strong Ottawa Police Services Pipe Band, whose Pipe-Major, Andrew Hayes, also enjoyed Piper of the Day honours. The Professional Solo Piping was for the first time in the PPBSO history outside of the North American Championships, divided the Professional Solo Piping into two sections.
The piping and drumming world was saddened by the sudden death of piper Lochlann McKay on June 2 in Glasgow. McKay was a popular and talented member of the Grade 2 Lomond & Clyde Pipe Band, and his funeral will be on Monday, June 10. Within hours of learning of her cousin’s passing, 16 year-old Robyn McKay, also of Inchinnan, Scotland, was inspired to write an air in his honour. The tune will be played at the memorial service. A member of the Grade 3 St. Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band, Robyn McKay, like her late older cousin, is a rising star on the Scottish piping scene. She started at the age of six, taught by Gordon Walker and Michael Fitzhenry, and at age eight started instruction with Keith Bowes Sr., and . . .
In this the fourth and final installment of the pipes|drums Interview with Roddy MacLeod, we discuss the origins of the Piping Live! Festival, which just officially kicked off its tenth anniversary year with the biggest slate of programming in its history, and go into the legacy that the MacLeod has built so far. MacLeod talks about his greatest moments in piping, how he approaches his competition repertoire, and the opportunities and challenges ahead for the National Piping Centre.