Archive
The prestigious MacCrimmon Trophy at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in Lorient, Brittany, is the latest piping competition . . .
With temperatures around eight degrees and a stiff wind all day, the annual Markinch Games were a challenge for competitors. While the Piobaireachd was judged by highly respected adjuidicators, no one was too sure of who was judging the light music . . .
After teaching piping in the Christchurch area for more than three decades, winning dozens of top solo piping awards and leading a . . .
pipetunes.ca presents . . . Tune of the Month: “Angus MacKinnon” – Master piper Jim McGillivray looks at one of the greatest 6/8 marches of all-time, its composer Donald Shaw Ramsay and the man for whom the tune was named. Included are instructional examples and audio demonstrations, as well as tips for getting the most from this simple, but evocative, classic march.
Earlier this year, pipes|drums featured a profile story on the retirement of long-time R.G. Hardie & Co. Craftsman Duncan Campbell, who has made . . .
The Peel Regional Police Pipe Band were the winners in Grade 1 of the first outdoor contest of the Ontario PPBSO season with a medley victory at Georgetown. Weather was overcast throughout the day with only one major show, but otherwise warm and very humid. Forty-two bands competed across the five grades. In the solos, Andrew Hayes was the Professional Piper of the Day and Ben Reid was on top as the Amateur Piper of Day. Professional Drummer of the Day was Scott Nicholson . . .
Brendon Eade and Stuart Easton took home the big prizes at the 59th annual Brown Cup at the Royal New Zealand Police College. The event is sponsored by the Wellington Pipers Club, and took in a record number of . . .
Alan Russell and Gordon McCready brought home the hardware from the sunny Strathmore games, which had 15 entries in the adult solo piping events . . .
The 50 tunes that were originally published in 1826 by Donald MacDonald have been painstakingly collected and analyzed in a new publication from the Piobaireachd . . .
Despite being Scotland’s second-largest city and the country’s capital, 15 years have passed since Edinburgh has hosted an outdoor pipe band competition, but the July 24th Edinburgh Pipe Band Championships . . .
We resume our four-part discussion with Gerry Quigg, a mastermind of early medley construction. In Part 3, Quigg touches on the status of pipe bands in the United States, modern medleys and pipe bands, touring the globe with the United States Air Force Pipe Band the psychedelic sixties, meeting iconic rock stars along the way and even putting up with an emergency landing when a plane’s engine caught fire in mid-flight. As one of the first truly innovative minds, Gerry Quigg adapted concepts from Celtic and rock music to pipe bands. With the City of Toronto Pipe Band he helped to orchestrate landmark selections that keyed in to piobaireachd themes, including “The Glen Is Mine,” “MacIntosh’s Lament” and “The Desperate Battle.” He would go on to help form the musical foundation that established the 78th Fraser Highlanders as a progressive leader of pipe band music. Included in this installment is a rare archival recording of City of Toronto’s “Desperate Battle” medley in competition at the 1974 North American Pipe Band Championships at Maxville, Ontario. Exclusively for subscribers who support pipes|drums.
Alex Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, won both of the professional events at the 25th annual United States Piping Foundation Piping Championships and the overall championship. The overall winner of the amateur section was Palmer Shonk of Pittsburgh . . .
Ian Conn was born in Edinburgh, raised in Galashiels, Scotland, and like many boys of his era, he started piping in the Boys’ Brigade. Ian was called up for National Service in 1951, and was a member of the KOSBs, later being transferred to the Lowland Brigade Pipe Band, along […]
David Wilton, Alan Russell and Neil Walker shared the first prizes at the Aberdeen Highland Games, which had 13 in the adult solo piping, with fairly warm and sunny weather.
With most schools it’s a championship sports team that students rally around and, while Dollar Academy also loves its athletics, it’s the championship pipe band that is . . .