Archive
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 . . .
Bram van Melle of Auckland reviews the Bagpipe Mute, a device designed to muffle the chanter of a Highland bagpipe
A pioneer of pipe band bass drumming, a legendary member of the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band, and the man for which ‘The Big Road Brusher’ was named, passes away at age 75.
Results from the 2011 British Pipe Band Championships held in overcast but mainly dry conditions.
While many were at the British Pipe Band Championships at Annan, Scotland, some stalwart solo pipers attended the 699th annual Ceres Games in Fife. George Stewart had the most success on the day with two firsts and a third in the adult . . .
After a two-year hiatus the Summerside Highland Gathering returned June 25-26 to the College of Piping & Celtic Performing Arts of Canada with a much anticipated concert by Bagad Cap Caval, the band’s first appearance in North America. The audience was a mix of Canadian Maritimes pipe band people, College families and volunteers and the local Acadian community. The band was pleased with the exuberant welcome and appreciation from the audience, which called Cap Caval back to the stage for an encore with a standing ovation. Cap Caval’s participation in the gathering gave the Acadian community its first real reason . . .
As part of its sponsorship of the Street Caf¨¦ at Piping Live!, pipes|drums Magazine has announced that it will bring four of the world’s greatest Pipe-Major and Leading-Drummer combinations in a free one-hour “ipes+Drums” concert beginning at 2 pm sharp on Wednesday, August 10th outside of the National Piping Centre . . .i
Another long winter of hard practice has passed, and the pipe band outdoor competition season is poised to begin this weekend, with . . .