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The Piping Live! festival is calling out to pipers (including practice chanter players), pipe band drummers and drum-majors of all ages and abilities to join the 2026 Big Band in aid of the My Name‘5 Doddie Foundation, the charity founded by a legendary Scottish rugby union player and prominent campaigner […]
The second part of our exclusive series of conversations with the musical leaders of the world’s top Grade 1 bands, discussing the construction, orchestration, arrangement, and intentions behind their new medley is Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia. The band was second at the 2026 British Championship at Ingliston, on […]
Dr. Donaldson says about the tune: “Another tune whose modern popularity seems to stem from its being set for the great annual public competitions. It was first published in Angus MacKay’s collection, and its appearance there probably militated against too frequent occurrence in the nineteenth-century manuscripts, since most serious pipers probably had access to MacKay either directly or through transcriptions.”
Fifty-eight bands competed in the five grades at the 2026 Chicago Scottish Festival at a hot and sunny DuPage County Fairgrounds, where reigning World Champions Inveraray & District won both Grade 1 events, with 16 firsts from the eight-judge panels, against St. Thomas Alumni from Houston.
Jono Quay of Melbourne continued his solo piping hot streak with an overall win of the A-Grade events at Haileybury College, the third of five annual Victorian Pipers’ Association contests. Tayla Eagle was the aggregate B-Grade winner, and Michael Stewart, Dylan Tran, and Fergus McKittrick won the overall C-Grade, D-Grade and Juvenile trophies, respectively.
Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, won all four Professional-grade solo piping events, and the 78th Fraser Highlanders won the Grade 1 band competition against Grade 2 Peel Regional Police, who won the drumming.
A total of 69 bands were entered across the nine grades at the United Kingdom Championships, and it was Field Marshal Montgomery who came away with the top title in the Grade 1 MSR contest.
Jack Taylorhas been made a Member of the British Empire in the annual King’s Honours for his lifetime of service to piping. ”I am quite astonished really, and pleased that the pipes and their music is being recognized in this way,” Taylor said about receiving the MBE. “i feel that […]
We received the following plan from Colin MacLellan, a frequent contributor to pipes|drums and a famous competitor, judge and teacher. While the plan is more specific to the Senior solo piping competitions in the UK, it is both noteworthy and applicable to the worldwide piping community.
In this final installment, John Elliott discusses changes he’s experienced while judging pipe bands, the importance of having walked the talk as a judge, Ontario’s need to attract and retain more young pipers and drummers, and even his dreams for his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs.
We introduce an exclusive series of conversations with the musical leaders of the world’s top Grade 1 bands discussing the construction, orchestration, arrangement, and intentions behind their new medleys
The Portland Highland Games returned after a year’s hiatus with a new date and venue at the Washington County Fairgrounds, with a large crowd in attendance.
Thirty-three pipers entered for the senior solo events at the Markinch Highland Games in the Kingdom of Fife, and it was Ben Duncan of Edinburgh who gained the overall trophy with an MSR win and a fourth in the Piobaireachd, which was won by Jonathon Simpson, Falkirk, Scotland.
Adam Aitchison, Sophie Stringer and Robin Alderslowe were the overall winners of the Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 events at the CLASP June 2026 competition held at the National Piping Centre.
About this relatively brief piece, Donaldson writes: “The tonal family to which ‘Salute on the Birth of Rory Mor’ belongs begins with the tune Colin Campbell called ‘Brian O duffs Lament’ (elsewhere known as ‘The Frenzy of Meeting’), and continuing through ‘The Brother’s Lament’; three nameless pieces; then ‘A Glass,’ ‘Aird’s Lament,’ and what Colin Campbell calls ‘Glass Mhoir’ (which is nowadays known as ‘The Finger Lock’), ‘One of the Cragich’ (‘Hiotrotra hinbainbain’) and ‘McNeil is tighearna ann.'”
Nine bands and exactly 100 soloists competed at the South-East Asia Championships at St. Xavier’s Institution, Georgetown, attracting entries from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Australia. Rockingham City from Western Australia was the top winner in Grade 4B, capturing both the Medley and Marches events against three other bands. Lion City was the only entry in Grade 4A.