Archive
As a service to the many pipe band enthusiasts, fanboys and fangirls in and around Glasgow for the Piping Live! festival and World Pipe Band Championships, we’re pleased to publish the 2024 edition of our pipes|drums Guide to World’s Week Grade 1 Band Practices. Fourteen are entered in the top […]
The Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival has officially started, with dozens of events across Scotland’s biggest city. With so many options, how can you decide what to attend? pipes|drums is here to help. So, if you don’t have unlimited time, as you might have to practice with your band, […]
Field Marshal Montgomery became the 2024 European Pipe Band Champions at a warm and sunny South Inch Park at the fourth and final RSPBA major championship before the World’s on August 16-17 in Glasgow. While Field Marshal Montgomery took the event and Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathagte Caledonia won the drumming, Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia turned heads with two firsts in piping, placing fourth.
Pipe bag maker introduced sheepskin alternatives to non-UK markets
Named after Lady Maket, the first named-piper in history who lived more than 3,000 years ago in Egypt, the National Piping Centre has launched the Maket Collective, a group of six accomplished woman pipers working as “ambassadors” with a core objective of creating a focal point for content about women […]
In 2023, there were different winners of Grade 1 and Grade 2 and all major championships leading up to the World Championships, and on the eve of the European Championships, the same pattern is emerging. Only a few weeks before the RSPBA outdoor competition began, Perth, Scotland, stepped up as […]
For the second straight year, Derek Midgley of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, won the Col. Jock MacDonald Clasp for winners of the Dunvegan Medal for piobaireachd and Roy Bridge, Scotland’s Sandy Cameron won the 2024 Dunvegan Medal. Midgley was also the overall winner across all of the events held in Portree.
Melbourne, Australia’s Mark Saul is well known to most pipers and drummers as an accomplished teacher, piper, bagpipe maker, reedmaker, composer, performer, and recording artist. He’s just released Praxis, his third full album, this time with eight tracks that once again push the boundaries of Highland bagpipe music. On the heels […]
Held at Lovat Memorial Field, it was Decker Forrest of Isleornsay, Skye, who was awarded the Alasdair F.B. Roberts Memorial Quaich for best overall results in the senior solo piping at the Mallaig & Morar Highland Games. The Simon MacKinnon Memorial Trophy for best aggregate in the 18 and Under piping went to Seonaidh Forrest, also of Isleornsay.
Our final group of 4K videos from the 2024 North American Pipe Band Championships are of the Grade 2 MSR competition. Seven bands competed for the prize on August 3rd in Maxville, Ontario. Ulster Scottish from Philadelphia won the event and the overall Grade 2 title.
Jori Chisholm of Seattle has emerged as one of history’s great innovators for the Highland pipes. Recognizing the promise of internet “distance learning,” he was the first to harness the power of online teaching almost 30 years ago with the launch of BagpipeLessons.com. Numerous creations have stemmed from the teaching […]
4K videos from the Grade 2 Medley at the 2024 North American Pipe Band Championships on August 3rd in Maxville, Ontario.
We’re pleased to bring pipes|drums’ faithful supporters 4K videos from the Grade 1 events at the 2024 North American Pipe Band Championships on August 3rd in Maxville, Ontario.
The 78th Fraser Highlanders won the 2024 North American Pipe Band Championship held in warm and muggy conditions before a large crowd attending the 75th anniversary of the Glengarry Highland Games. There were only two bands in Grade 1.
Against 14 other contestants, Ben McClamrock of Washington, DC, won the Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal playing “Nameless – Hiharin odin, hiharin dro.” McClamrock welcomed the win, particularly after placing second in the event several times over the last 10 years.
According to the organizers, ticket sales for the Captain John A. MacLellan Memorial Medal Dinner-Recital on August 24th in Edinburgh have been brisk. The remaining tickets will be available for purchase only until 11 p.m. (BST) on Friday, August 16th. Held at the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian Hotel in the shadow […]