Archive
The big winners at the 2026 Atlantic Canada Piobaireachd Challenge were James MacHattie from Summerside and Nova Scotia’s Bruce Gandy, winning the two Professional events at the annual competition held at the College of Piping and the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre. Brady Webb won both Grade 1 amateur events.
Our StarBox feature has focused on pipers until now, but we thought it made sense to feature the reigning World Solo Drumming Champion as the first drummer to open his drum case and any other items he might carry. Besides, he’s also a superb piper . . .
radley Parker of Glasgow was the overall winner of the 2026 Pipe-Major’s Wheel of Fortune Invitational Solo Piping & Humour Competition, held at the Danderhall Miners’ Club before the customary appreciative and lively audience. Parker won both the Medley and the MSR events.
The private, independent boarding and day school for boys from grades 5 to 12 has one of the few full-time piping/drumming teaching positions for non-College/University-level institutions in North America, and the only one in Canada. The full-time position was created in 1998.
We continue our exclusive 2026 Set Tunes Series by Willie Donaldson with “Ewin of the Battles,” a brief but challenging piece suitable for pipers of virtually every ability. Donaldson summarizes the short piobaireachd as “a spare little tune throwing much emphasis on high G, perhaps to evoke what Bob Brown […]
With straight firsts in both events in the two-band Grade 2 competition, the hometown Dominion Pipe Band was the top winner at the indoor Manitoba Scottish Festival (previously the Winnipeg Scottish Festival), held at Red River College Polytechnic.
Hot on the heels of the 2026 New Zealand Pipe Band Championships and a full antipodean summer of pipe band and solo competitions, Bound By Sound is emblematic of the commitment and charisma that permeate the Kiwi piping and drumming scene.
Jonathan Quay of Melbourne won all four A-Grade events at the Victorian Pipers’ Association’s first in-person solo piping competition of 2026. The event was held at Rupertswood Mansion on the grounds of Salesian College in Sunbury, a suburb of Melbourne.
MacMillan from Washington, DC, won Grade 2 and with it the American Pipe Band Champions title at the annual Virginia International Tattoo & American Pipe Band Championships held at Scope Arena.
Cookstown, Northern Ireland – April 18, 2026 – After what was likely an unprecedented three-way tie for first, the judges conferred and agreed that Field Marshal Montgomery Leading-Drummer William Glenholmes was the winner of the 2026 UK Solo Drumming Championship, held at Cookstown High School. Glenholmes edged out his Field […]
Bands from the Northern Hemisphere looking to conclude their winter with a trip Down Under can start planning now, after Pipe Bands Australia announced that Pipe Bands Queensland (PBQ) will host the 2028 Australian Pipe Band Championships in the east coast city of Brisbane, close to some of the country’s […]
Established almost 50 years ago, the Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming has sustained one of the world’s longest-running series of summer schools for pipers and drummers, this year comprising two week-long sessions. The familiar summer camp at PennWest-Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania (July 12-17) will be preceded by a […]
In his latest article in his “Insights into pipe band ensemble” series, Alan Jones investigates the prevalence of the S-w-M-w beat-note emphasis in pipe band MSR music.
Only a few days after being made leading-drummer of the Grade 1 78th Fraser Highlanders, Kyle Wardell won both Professional events at the annual Agnew-Harrison Invitational Solo Drumming Competition at the John Weir Foote VC Armoury.
Cameron May of Lesmahagow, Scotland, enjoyed a day for the ages with three firsts and a second to gain the overall championship trophy at the annual Scottish Pipers Association solo competitions. By winning both the A-Grade 2/4 March and the Strathspey & Reel, May competed in the Former Winners MMSSRR.
Kenneth MacLean, the accomplished Highland Society of London Gold Medallist, piping teacher and judge, passed away peacefully in Kilmarnock, Scotland, aged 93, on April 4, 2026. A longtime pupil of the great Donald MacLeod, MacLean achieved the Gold Medal in 1974 playing “The Battle of Bealach nam Brog” after placing […]