Archive
The Boney Music Memorial Invitational Competition & Recital was started in 2016 by Andrew “Boney” Bonar himself when he was waging his personal battle against cancer. The eighth rendition of one of the piping and drumming world’s most charitable events is set to take place on Saturday, March 9th, at […]
Callum Douglas is the new owner of the popular ES Session Chanter business, taking over production and sales from Lindsay Ellis, who co-created the product with the late Ross Scrim, both accomplished tool makers who crafted the unique instrument from stainless steel and aluminum. Callum Douglas is the pipe major […]
pipes|drums is delighted to include the first 10 piobaireachds in our exclusive Castle Recordings series of performances played and captured by Captain John A. MacLellan MBE in the early 1960s when he was head of the Army School of Piping at Edinburgh Castle.
The historically significant recordings made by Captain John A. MacLellan MBE of 151 piobaireachds, at the time, comprising all nine books in the Piobaireachd Society’s Collection.
The thirteenth annual Redding Bagpipe Competition attracted a solid entry from across North America, and ultimately Malachi Johannsen of Modesto, California, was the Grade 1 aggregate winner, gaining an invitation to compete at the Sandy Jones Memorial Amateur Championship on November 9th at the Sun Belt Invitational in Florida.
Some 28 prospective piping, drumming and ensemble judges attended an extensive online training course run by a new-look Adjudicators Panel Management Board (APMB) under recently-appointed Convener Robert Mathieson. The board’s Adjudicators Development Group is managing the training course, which had its first session on March 1st. The piping and drumming […]
The Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has confirmed that its first-ever Drumming Summit will occur on March 30th as part of the Toronto Indoor Games. Joining the panel will be Jamie Alfred, Kahlil Cappuccino, Drew Duthart and Dave Fenton, each moderating discussions on various topics related to pipe […]
“Highland games are a partnership between the band association, bands and local organizers. Each is important to the end result, and none is more important than the others.” Dave Bruning, Pipes and Drums Chair for the Wisconsin Highland Games, discusses the challenges many of today’s competition organizers face.
The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) held its latest in-person, live-in-the-flesh-and-wool competition at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street premises. It was John Frater who won the overall trophy in the Grade 1 class, while John Nevans and Kathryn McEwan took the aggregate trophies in Grade 2 and Grade 3, respectively.
Mike Cusack is beyond measure the greatest American competitive Highland piper in history. The winner of both Highland Society of London Gold Medals (Oban 1984, Inverness 1987), the Northern Meeting Clasp (1997) and Jigs (1981), the Senior Piobaireachd at the Argyllshire Gathering (1989, ’96, ’97, 2003), the Bratach Gorm (1997), the Glenfiddich MSR (1987) and […]
Reigning World Champions Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia will take the stage for the third time in the band’s 52-year history at the annual Pre-World’s Concert in Glasgow on August 14th. The Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band will promote the “Cabar Fèidh” event, as they have every time the […]
April 14th is the date of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland’s annual “End of Year’s Concert,” at the historic Perth Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland. “It’s a critical fundraising event for . . . a truly unique program,” said NYPBS Director Steven Blake. “With the arts under so […]
If it’s springtime in Glasgow, it can only mean one thing: the annual Uist & Barra Invitational Solo Piping Competition, the unofficial traditional kickoff to a new year of significant professional events. The 10 to compete at the March 9th contest at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises and […]
We conclude our series of articles and videos from the great piobaireachd master Andrew Wright’s two-week visit to the University of California, Riverside, in May 2016 with the lecture he delivered to students and a performance of the ground and variations of “The Desperate Battle.”
In Part 1 of our discussion with Ian Whitelaw, the distinguished piper and teacher talked about his relationship with the great piobaireachd master Andrew Wright, and what led up to the 80-year-old Wright’s 14-day visit to the University of California, Riverside in May 2016. In Part 2, Whitelaw looks back […]
With a first in the MSR and a second in the Medley, Connor Sinclair of Crieff, Scotland, was the overall champion of the 2024 Ardmore Cup Invitational Solo Piping Competition at St. Declan’s Village Hall in Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland. Sinclair gained the big prize for the second straight year.