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Taking No Shortcuts, A Complete Pipe Band Drumming Reference Book J. Reid Maxwell 118 pages $75. Published by and available from TakingNoShortcuts.com Reviewed by Greg Dinsdale Imagine a reader picking up a freshly published book and seeing terms like “dead stroke,” “paratriplet,” “ratamacues” and, my favourite, “triz-a-let.” It sounds a little bit murder mystery, a […]

The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has stated to member bands that only the World Championships and the Scottish Championships have been secured for the 2024 UK competition season. The letter from RSPBA Chairman Kevin Reill, December 6, 2023,  said: To the members of the RSPBA I said I would […]

For a lifetime of “services to performance,” legendary piper Willie McCallum was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Hall of Fame at an event in Dundee, Scotland, on the afternoon of December 2nd. McCallum is probably the most successful competing piper of the last 50 years, winning virtually every top-level […]

Recognizing the need for quality instruction in Scotland’s east Ayrshire region, Karen McCrindle Warren and her husband, Paul Warren, launched an ambitious teaching program for youngsters in 2018. Five years later, the significant positive impact of their EPIC East Ayrshire Pipe Band Academy is being felt with EPIC New Dawn, […]

At a gala event at Caird Hall in Dundee, Scotland, Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia was named the 2023 Scots Trad Music 2023 Pipe Band of the Year after a public vote. The 2023 World Champions were nominated along with Grade 2 Glasgow Skye Association and Renfrewshire Schools, who […]

The well-known and dedicated Ontario piper Bruce Anderson died on November 27, 2023, at age 65. Anderson was synonymous with the Guelph Pipe Band organization of Guelph, Ontario. With more than 50 years in the band, he was the longest-serving member in their history. His tenure encompassed the band’s competitive […]

A successful business couple from Lincolnshire, England, has purchased the Husabost Estate, which includes the hallowed MacCrimmon Cairn at Borreraig, on the Isle of Skye. The new owners, Brian Barr, who was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, is the chairman of Autocraft Drivetrain Solutions, and his wife, Debra, a finance consultant […]

For more than 60 years, the drumming teacher, mentor and guru has been a quietly caring and conscientious leader in the Ontario piping and drumming scene. Too often, the stories of true heroes like Hugh Cameron are left unsung, so it’s high time we sang. Doug Stronach, Hugh Cameron’s longtime friend and fellow drumming supremo, kindly agreed to conduct this extensive pipes|drums Interview, which we will publish in five parts.

The Scottish Highland’s Plockton High School and Portree High School in Skye combined have about 170 piping and 100 drumming students, and now the program is searching for a new full-time drumming teacher for an annual salary of from about £34,000 to £45,000 (approximately CAD$58,000 to $77,000). The successful candidate […]

Charlie Martin, Brian Pollock, Iain Simpson, and Anne Spalding delve into ideas and possible solutions to help retain members and foster participation.

The groundbreaking multi-volume piobaireachd collection Binneas is Boreraig, compiled by Roderick Ross, was released in 1959 as an innovative way to communicate on paper the musical timing and intentions of Ross’s ceol mor teacher, Malcolm MacPherson. Sixty-four years later, the famous South African piper Chris Terry and his brother Pat […]

A pipe band from the historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England, has been resurrected to return full-force under the name of Banbury & District – Laidlaw Memorial Pipes & Drums, hoping to return to Grade 3 competition in 2024. The new band stems from […]

In Part 1 of our conversation with Reid and Grant Maxwell, the renowned father and son duo of pipe band snare drummers discussed Taking No Shortcuts, the new 118-page collection of nearly a thousand exercises for players of all levels. In Part 2, they discuss the writing ethic, the “secret sauce” that helps to give the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band its trademark ensemble energy, and Grant Maxwell’s impact as leading-drummer of the Vale United Pipe Band in Penticton, British Columbia.

Grade 3 Deeside Caledonia of Aberdeen, Scotland, has launched a petition, hoping to convince Aberdeen City Council to reconsider its decision to abandon sponsorship of the European Pipe Band Championships after successfully staging the event in 2023, later celebrating its success. Aberdeen City Council announced that it would discontinue its […]

One of the greatest pipe band drummers of all time, Reid Maxwell’s recently released 118-page Taking No Shortcuts collection of 900 carefully honed exercises is already in its second printing. Designed for any level of drummer, the book collects the exercises that Maxwell created, revised and continually tweaked over more […]

There’s a new pipe band in the western Canadian city of Calgary that strives to play with meticulous attention to musical and technical detail . . . but not driven by competition. The Slainte Social Club comprises local pipers and drummers, not disenchanted, per se, with the pursuit of contest […]