Archive
Joe Noble, the legendary pipe band snare drummer, businessman, teacher, and judge, passed away on August 31, 2024, at age 82. Born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 1942, neither of his parents was involved with piping or drumming. However, five years after the Noble family moved to Glasgow in 1949, he […]
The second day of the 2024 Northern Meeting featured the Clasp for previous winners of one of the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medals that is for most, the greatest non-invitational solo piping competition there is. Nick Hudson of Houston won the Clasp for the first time, only a few years after gaining the Northern Meeting Highland Society of London Gold Medal in 2022 when he had to exit Eden Court Theatre quickly to return to Houston to enjoy the birth of his son. This time, he was able to savour the moment longer.
The first of the two-day 2024 Northern Meeting saw Craig Sutherland of Crieff, Scotland, win the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal for piobaireachd, adding to his win of the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering in 2017. He gains an invitation to the 2024 Glenfiddich Championships.
Nick Hudson has been an excellent solo piper for many years. But when he won the Highland Society of London Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in 2022, his star immediately rose to an elite level. Originally from Massachusetts, Nick Hudson started his piping when his family moved to a suburb of […]
The Argyllshire Gathering at Oban is the precursor to the Northern Meeting at Inverness for the world’s top-tier competing pipers. The sister competitions have been echoing one another for well over a century and stand as the most important non-invitational solo piping events on earth. The 2024 Northern Meeting will […]
A three-page open letter and accompanying proposal from an “Independent Working Group on Youth Piping and Drumming” comprising more than 80 youth band instructors to Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association leaders could be a first in the history of competitive pipe bands in the United Kingdom. The letter outlines the […]
Canada’s version of the Amazing Race might take in “Amazing Grace” when the program includes a stop at the Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville, Ontario, at 9 pm ET on the Tuesday, August 27th, episode on the CTV television network. The Amazing Race Canada production team visited Maxville and nearby […]
Liam Kernaghan won the third annual CPA Bronze Medal piobaireachd competition held at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street auditorium. Nineteen pipers competed in the event, which the Competing Pipers Association started to cater to members on the cusp of getting into the Silver Medal piobaireachd contests at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting. However, the events are limited to only 25, far more than those who apply to get into them.
The tenth Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner-Recital Medal was awarded to Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, held before a full audience at the Caledonian Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the heart of Scotland’s capital city. MacDonald played “For My Lass, Fair, Pretty and Highland.”
The Lonach Highland Games date back to the 1820s, and this year’s event saw a preponderance of non-Scottish pipers competing and succeeding. James MacHattie, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Washington, DC’s Andrew Donlon, and Ben McClamrock, also of Washington, won the Piobaireachd, March, and Strathspey & Reel, respectively.
Sandy Cameron of Roy Bridge, Scotland, and Auckland’s Liam Kernaghan won top prizes at the annual Lochaber Gathering, winning the Piobaireachd and MSR for pipers graded Premier or A by the Competing Pipers Association. Andrew Donlon of Washington, DC, was awarded the “Best Strathspey & Reel” prize as part of the MSR event.
Zephan Knichel of Surrey, British Columbia, won two of the three events at the annual Glenisla Highland Games, held in a farmer’s field just off the B951 near Kirriemuir. Knichel played against five others in the Senior solo piping. The field’s owner, the mysterious Major Gibb, is part of piping folklore, as he gets to judge the piping events along with more qualified people. We’re not kidding.
Calls for the resignation of several representatives of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association were allegedly made during a Zoom meeting between RSPBA officials and representatives from the 12 Novice Juvenile bands that competed in the final competition in the wake of the Novice Juvenile B results compilation catastrophe at […]
The Scotch College #2 Pipe Band of Melbourne, Australia, have reportedly emerged winners as more details regarding the Novice Juvenile B grade results debacle at the 2024 World Pipe Band Championships have come to light. Scotland’s Burntisland & District reportedly has won the drumming title, taking the prize from Dollar […]
Following the more than 150-year tradition of the event, the Argyllshire Gathering took its second day of competition outdoors to Mossfield Park where the world’s best solo pipers weather whatever the weather wanted in various light music events.
The first day of the two-day Argyllshire Gathering saw Cameron Drummond of Edinburgh win the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal for piobaireachd, adding his name again to the history books. Drummond had been second in the event at Oban and Inverness several times.