Archive
Following the band’s adoption of new Premier snare drums just before last year’s World Pipe Band Championships, the Grade 1 Dowco-Triumph Street Pipe Band of Vancouver . . .
The 2012 annual general meeting of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association could prove to be a somewhat more lively affair than usual on March 10th when the organizations convenes . . .
The final rounds of the PPBSO Toronto Branch Amateur Knockout competitions were held at a crowded Mosspark Armoury in downtown Toronto. In the piping A-Division, reserved for Grade 1 and Grade 2 amateurs, MacGregor Van de Ven was first . . .
A new pipe chanter from Ayrshire Bagpipes of Troon, Scotland, developed with the renowned piper Colin MacLellan over the last year made its public debut at a recital by MacLellan . . .
James “Jemmy” Russell of Dublin’s Black Raven Pipe Band died on March 2, 2012, at the age of 94, after a short illness. Jemmy Russell was well regarded in pipe band circles in both Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland. As a relatively late beginner, he joined Black Raven at the […]
P-M Patrick Lynch of the Grade 1 City of Chicago Pipe Band reviews the new PipeTech Precision Plus Bagpipe Tuner from PipeTech of Scotland
The 12-time North American Champion 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band on Ontario will miss this year’s Maxville competition in favour . . .
The 2012 New Zealand Pipe Band Championship went to the Canterbury Caledonian Society, which won the Medley event and finished second to Auckland & District in the MSR. Last-place marks in each event spoiled Auckland’s shot at the big prize. In Grade 2, Moorabin City enjoyed a perfect day, with eight first-place marks.
Pipe-Major Robert (Bob) Fraser of Winnipeg passed away peacefully on March 9, 2012, in his ninetieth year. Bob Fraser was Pipe-Major of the Lord Selkirk Boy Scout Pipe Band, an organization for boys under the age of 18. After immigrating to Winnipeg in 1957, the Boy Scouts of Canada approached […]
Jim McGillivray has announced that his new technical tutor, Piobaireachd Fingerwork, has arrived from the printer and is now ready to ship. The 140-plus page book is a comprehensive guide to all piobaireachd . . .
Robert Mathieson reviews the March 10th “Reignited” concert by Inveraray & District and Bucksburn & District at the Aberdeen Music Hall, Aberdeen, Scotland
Most bands that change both pipe-major and leading-drummer would be looking at a classic case of “rebuilding,” when the coming season is written-off so that new personnel . . .
Darach Urquhart, Sarah Muir, Steven Leask and Callum Moffat gained the firsts at the annual Duncan Johnstone Memorial Amateur competitions at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, an event put on by the Competing Pipers Association especially for players grade B and C.
Ian Duncan is returning to the Grade 1 Vale of Atholl Pipe Band – the group that he led to greatness – after an 11-year absence. He will rejoin Robert Wiseman Dairies-Vale of Atholl . . .
Several dozen friends helped the famed piper Bill Livingstone celebrate his 70th birthday at a beer-, wings- and cake-filled event two days before the actual big day on March 20, 2012. Piping and drumming luminaries . . .
The “Pipes & Sticks on Route 66” tour in April organized by all-star pipers and drummers Mike Cole, Jim Kilpatrick, Stuart Liddell, Angus MacColl and Willie McCallum will traverse . . .