Archive

Simon Fraser University Pipe Band leaders Terry Lee and Jack Lee will have more than great . . .

The College of Piping played host to the annual Atlantic Piobaireachd Challenge while the Antigonish Highland Society’s attentions were on the 150th anniversary of the Antigonish Highland Games this year. Seventeen competed in the various grades, and all contestants had to submit tunes set for this year’s major gatherings. Jack Lee judged all events and conducted a workshop the following day.

The Brandon Highland Festival this year marked the return of the event after a year off, and also the 20th anniversary of the City of Regina Pipe Band, whose first-ever band contest was the same event in 1993. The Grade 2 St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg Pipe Band was unable to make the event.

John Frater was the overall winner of the annual Royal Scottish Pipers Society Competition held at the organization’s rooms on Rose Street Lane South in the heart of Edinburgh. The event is reserved for RSPS members, all of whom do not usually compete and never for prize-money.

We take a look at 15 of the world’s most active pipe band associations and compare the dues that they charge to pipe bands and/or individuals and the charges for entry into collective competitions and/or single events. We also consider online entry and how they communicate with their members. The result is an illuminating summary of a wide array of costs, with one organization looking for a band of 35 pipers and drummers to pay more than $1,500 just to compete on their circuit during a calendar year.

The Kingston Scottish Festival continues to grow to the point of being bigger than at least two other full outdoor Highland games on the Ontario competitive piping and drumming . . .

Pat Lynch reviews “Forte – Live at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall,” the new DVD by the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band of their August 2012 Pre-World’s Concert performance

The fifth annual Kingdom Thistle Solo Piping & Drumming Championships were held again at Lochgelly High School, with competitors coming from far and wide for the event. A tenor drumming event was introduced this year. Overall Open champions were Emmett Conway in solo piping and Aaron McLean in solo snare drumming, with both competitors travelling to Fife from Northern Ireland. Organizers counted 189 combined performances and a total audience of more than 400 turning out on the day . . .

The ILT City of Invercargill of New Zealand is one of the oldest pipe bands in the antipodes and, with several years in Grade 2, was recently . . .

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 . . .