Archive
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 . . .
The Northern Meeting at Inverness, Scotland ¨C considered by most to be the crucible of solo piping ¨C is opening its doors to solo pipers younger than 18, with a new slate . . .
By Bill Livingstone. I was poring over pipes|drums the other day, looking for news, gossip, the general down-low on piping, drumming and pipe bands. If you’re like me, you do this once or twice a day, so starved are we for regular scoopage. Sadly, our art produces little in the way of truly juicy scandals. We don’t seem to generate much in the way of the Kardashians, Brangelina, Newt Gingrich, or to be a bit parochial the scandalous machinations of the Stephen Harper government in Ottawa. My glance, however, hit upon a recent poll, where readers were asked to respond to questions about the age of the members of their various bands. The results of the poll were, at the very least, remarkable in the true sense of that word, and perhaps more accurately described as being akin to a smack in the gob. Or so it seemed to me. So here’s what was disclosed . . .
One piper’s trash is another piper’s treasure, or so the famed piper Bruce Gandy believes, as he has come up with a novel concept . . .
Graham Brown of Milton, Ontario, won his sixth Agnew-Harrison Invitational Drumming Championship in the snare category, an event put on annually by the Niagara-Hamilton Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario.