Archive
If you had the opportunity to listen to the outright artistry that achieved a combined seven Glenfiddich Championships, seven Northern Meeting Clasps, three Former Winners MSR Silver Stars and two World Solo Drumming Championships in a friendly recital setting, you’d probably go if you could, wouldn’t you? Scotland’s Grade 2 […]
After the 2022 competition season, the Grade 2 MacKenzie Caledonian of Dundee, Scotland, decided to shut down while the band sought to recruit new leaders and personnel. The expansive Mac-Cal pipe band organization continued with its lower-grade bands. But rather than ask to move down a grade or even dissolve, […]
The Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has dropped its tick-box quadrant feedback system implemented in 2004 for solo piping and drumming competitors in favour of a single option for a judge to check when he or she feels the contestant performed above the standard of the grade. The […]
At its most recent meeting, the nine members of the Alliance of North American Pipe Band Associations agreed to work toward standardizing competition-playing requirements for all associations beginning in 2027. The playing requirements would mirror those set out by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, except for Grade 5, which […]
Fifty-one bands and 10 quartets from 172 schools across Scotland gathered at the William McIlvanney Campus for the 2026 Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships, the largest entry yet over the 12 times the event has been held.
Andrew Hutton of Buffalo, New York, Mitchell Arnold from Aurora, Ontario, and John Reid, also of Aurora, were the Professional, A Division and B Division winners, respectively, at the 2026 Toronto Solo Piping Knockout Competition finals, organized by the Toronto Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario.
The accomplished Canadian scientist, politician, teacher and champion for the Scottish arts passed away January 26, 2026, age 59. We are indebted to the well-known piper, teacher and adjudicator Glenna Mackay-Johnstone for providing this thoughtful and heartfelt tribute to her lifelong friend.
On International Women’s Day 2026, with the help of the world-famous piper Jenny Hazzard, we revisit 1976 through the eyes of Anne Spalding, the first woman to compete at the Argyllshire Gathering, breaking down the wall of discrimination forever.
With a Piobaireachd win and a second in the MSR, Finlay Johnston was the overall champion at the 2026 Glasgow Uist & Barra Association’s Invitational Solo Piping Competition held at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises.
The latest “Live Online” competition run by the Competition League for Adult Solo Pipers (CLASP) was held over two days, contestants’ live performances recorded for the judges to review later. Ultimately, the aggregate awards went to Charles-David Mitchell, Ontario (Grade 1); Anthony Kelly, Houston (Grade 2); Emmanuel Bregent, Brittany (Grade 3); and Chi Kit Yeung, Hong Kong (Grade 4).
Less than three years after his appointment as pipe-major, Donald Stewart has resigned from the Grade 2 Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band, causing the group to cancel all plans to compete in 2026. As a result, Leading-Drummer Les Galbraith has also left the band. Glasgow Skye spokesperson Kurt MacKitnosh said […]
“The Road to the Isles” is one of the most-heard pieces composed for the Highland pipes, which became a certifiable, number-one-with-a-bullet, smash hit after the Scottish raconteur Sir Harry Lauder recorded his arrangement 100 years ago on March 4, 2026. The centenary of pipe music’s first recorded #1 will be […]
The shortage of snare drummers and leading-drummers is pretty much a pipe band tradition. But why? Throughout the hundred-year history of competing pipe bands, pipers and drummers have wondered why the perpetual lack exists, but has anyone ever seriously sought answers?
The first Canadian Legion for those who served and serve with Canada’s military was started in late 1925 as Canada’s arm of the British Empire Services League, and this year, the country’s mover and shaker of piping and drumming projects, Bethany Bisaillion, is spearheading a call to pipers and drummers […]
Through special resolution “notices of motion” put forward by members, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association will formally decide at its March 14th annual general meeting whether to move ahead with discussions regarding, among other matters, establishing maximum numbers for competing bands, making scoresheets publicly available, the reintroduction of Bass-Section […]
With less than six months to go before the contest, how do things look for the top grades at the 2026 Worlds? Assuming that the known operational UK-based and Irish Grade 1 and Grade 2 bands would be attending, we wanted to know about the plans of those located elsewhere. […]