Archive
After the sudden and unexpected shuttering of the contest’s original venue at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, the first Masters Solo Drumming Invitational Competition on Saturday, January 31st, has been moved to the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises. Organizer Cam Lawson confirmed that anyone who purchased a […]
For this discussion, we stepped back entirely. No interviewer. Just four pipe band drumming experts talking candidly about why snare drummers can be scarce, why leading-drummers are so hard to recruit, what challenges today’s bands face, and what meaningful steps might reverse the trend.
Miraculously, we were able to connect with Stuart Liddell for a chat about his new album, “Garron,” between a teaching trip to New Zealand, performing at Celtic Connections, looking after Inveraray & District, and preparing to depart for a week of teaching and playing at the Celtic Arts Foundation’s Winter School in Seabrook, Washington.
The eight contestants in the first Masters Solo Drumming Invitational Competition in Glasgow on Saturday, January 31st, have been determined: Alex Buchanan, Raphoe, Ireland Glen Creighton, Livingston, Scotland Stephen Creighton, Dublin Willie Glenholmes, Cullybackey, Northern Ireland Jake Jörgensen, Edinburgh Craig Lawire, Paisley, Scotland Andrew Lawson, Edinburgh Steven McWhirter, Glasgow 2025 […]
Three years after applying in 2004, Randall May International Inc. was granted worldwide patents for a “Percussion Instrument Carrier Assembly.” Twenty years on, the major patents have expired, opening the drum harness concept to changes and new commercial products. Garth Newlands’ GANAAN company is hoping to make and launch the […]
For some, the camaraderie and good “chunes” are enough. For others, it may very well be something quantifiably deeper. Something mysterious, ancient, and spiritual. Are the pipes just a bag, a bunch of reeds and hollow sticks, or are they a connection to something we’ve lost and are about to rediscover?
Pipe bands most often fail not because they don’t win prizes, but because they lack effective leadership.
Every bit as much as luminaries like Eller and Livingstone, John Elliott is a crucial link to Ontario piping and drumming’s most formative years. His story is important, and we were pleased to work with him to let him tell it in a full-length pipes|drums Interview, which we will publish in five parts.
The 10 pipers for the fourth annual Ardmore Cup on Saturday, February 21, at St Declan’s Village Hall, Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland, have been decided: Callum Beaumont, Guardbridge, Scotland Reece Doherty, Donegal, Ireland James Frazer, Rathfriland, Northern Ireland Finlay Johnston, Glasgow Anna Kummerlöw, Kladrum, Germany Angus D. MacColl, Benderloch, Scotland […]
As the piping and drumming world emerged from the pandemic, one of the most successful developments was the RSPBA’s Solo Drumming Champion of Champions League, which was launched in 2024 as a global effort to stoke interest in the art and allow more top-flight drummers from around the world to […]
Cameron MacDougall of Orange, New Jersey, was the aggregate winner of the top solo piping events at the 22nd running of the Winter Storm solo piping and drumming competitions, held at the Marriott Hotel, Country Club Plaza.
In his latest piece, Jones explores the use of “Off-Beat Lift,” an ensemble effect in MSR music that he argues can be a powerful and positive differentiator for pipe bands at any level.
The worldwide focus on the education and regeneration of new pipers and drummers is intensifying in New Zealand right in the middle of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands Association competition season, with a call for applicants to the National Youth Pipe Band of New Zealand. Pipers and drummers younger […]
In addition to their regularly scheduled first meeting of the year on January 11th, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association held a full-day training session for its Board of Directors, covering duties when attending competitions and legal responsibilities as a Charity Trustee and Company Director. RSPBA Vice Chair Stewart Orr […]
The Competition League for Adult Solo Pipers (CLASP) held its first contest of the year, an in-person event at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises, in which Owain Woodman Carr, Anthony Kelly and Arthur Bass had the overall best days in Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 events.