Archive
Kenneth MacLean, the accomplished Highland Society of London Gold Medallist, piping teacher and judge, passed away peacefully in Kilmarnock, Scotland, aged 93, on April 4, 2026. A longtime pupil of the great Donald MacLeod, MacLean achieved the Gold Medal in 1974 playing “The Battle of Bealach nam Brog” after placing […]
The Grade 2 Western Australia Police under Pipe-Major Chris MacDonald and Leading Drummer Brian Green were awarded the 2026 Australian Pipe Band Championship at the biannual contest hosted this year by Pipe Bands Western Australia at Subiaco Oval in Subiaco, a suburb of the Western Australia state capital.
What began a quarter-century ago quickly became and remains the greatest free collective piobaireachd resource for pipers worldwide.
A staple of the Piping Live! Festival is the Lunchtime Recital Series, a daily musical meal featuring some of the world’s greatest pipers, and Piping Live! 2026 continues the tradition with hour-long sessions by renowned soloists Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Murray Henderson of Kirriemuir, Scotland. The series […]
The third of five instalments, Elliott’s talks about his return to Ontario and becoming pipe-major of the Grade 1 Toronto & District, chasing and then finally beating the then-dominant 78th Fraser Highlanders, the rise of even more home-grown talent leading top Ontario bands, and bass drumming innovator Jimmy Stewart.
The Emmanuel College Highlanders (University of Queensland) and The Pipeband Club won the Medley and MSR events, respectively, and it was Emmanuel College that took the overall Grade 2 trophy at the annual 121st Maclean Highland Gathering, one of the world’s longest-running piping and drumming events.
Topping his own record, Greg Wilson of Tai Tapu, New Zealand, won the Murray Henderson Clasp to the Gold Medal for the nineteenth time at the Hastings Highland Games, held over the Easter weekend in New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region. Wilson went on to win the aggregate A Grade trophy.
Competitors with the last name “Gandy” did very well at the British Columbia Pipers’ Association’s Annual Gathering, with Alex Gandy winning the MacCrimmon Cairn Open Piobaireachd and Bruce Gandy winning the aggregate Open Championship with an MSR win and Piobaireachd second, punctuating his overall tally.
It was a double victory for Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia talent as Kerr McQuillan and Jill Watson won the snare and tenor drumming titles, respectively, at the 2026 European Pipe Band Drumming Championships.
The Grade 2 City of Edinburgh’s the twentieth annual Pipe-Major’s Wheel of Fortune Invitational Solo Piping Competition will attempt to defend its own title as the world’s most creative and fun contest by shaking up the inventive rules, looking to eight of the Scotland’s best players to be both serious […]
Stornoway, Scotland – April 2-3, 2026 – With two first in the the events that counted, Finlay Johnston was easily the overall winner of the 2026 Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Invitational Solo Piping Competition, the thirtieth running of the invitational event that honours the music and memory of the legendary […]
Five novice pipers from around the world submitted their recordings for the first in the 2026 series of Practice Chanter organized by the Competition League for Adult Solo Pipers, and it was Smadar Bernstein from Maccabim-Re’Ut, Israel, who gained three firsts over the four events to receive a new ES Session Chanter.
The Grade 1 78th Fraser Highlanders of Ontario have lost Leading-Drummer Drew Duthart from the position, and announced that Kyle Wardell will step into the role. The 62-year-old Duthart, who has led the 78th Frasers’ corps for 21 years, beginning under Pipe-Major Bill Livingstone in 2004 and then under Pipe-Major […]
Seven US-based bands will compete for a total prize purse of USD$7,500 at the Virginia International Tattoo American Pipe Band Championships in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 18th at the city’s Scope Plaza. Grade 2 Great Lakes MacMillan Grade 3 Carnegie Mellon University MacMillan Birtles Siren City St. Columcille United Gaelic […]
The Piobaireachd Society’s Music Committee has decided that competitors in the Highland Society of London Gold Medal and Silver Medal competitions will be free to choose the piobaireachds they submit at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting in 2027. The 25 or so accepted to play in the Highland Society […]
Even though the UK has relatively few unified rules governing how solo piping competitions are run, the common regulation that teachers should not judge their pupils and pupils should not play for their teachers is the strictest conflict-of-interest policy in the world of piping and drumming. The Competing Pipers Association […]