Archive
It was a Kiwi kind of day at the annual Airth Highland Games, with New Zealanders Callum Carn and Campbell Wilson winning the firsts, and Carn the aggregate trophy. It was Carn’s third successive Piobaireachd win, after hauling in the trophies at Helensburgh and Taynuilt games in the last few weeks.
With the band’s roots intertwined in the Kingdom of Fife’s strong tradition of piping and drumming excellence, including direct ties with the two-time World Champions Dysart & Dundonald, and decades in Grade 1 under the Fife Constabulary name, Police Scotland Fife inches ever closer to the pinnacle of pipe band excellence.
Bruce Hitchings has stepped down as chair of the Solo Piping Judges Association, effective immediately. A committee within the SPJA’s 60-odd members plans to identify an interim head to tide the organization over until its annual general meeting in November. Hitchings had held the role since November 2023. He succeeded […]
In addition to the Inveraray Highland Games’ traditional solo piping events, the popular gathering saw its second successive Solo Drumming Competition. Daniel Farrell won the contest for snare drummers ages 15 to 18, and Nathan Paul won the presentation shield for the Best Local Drummer award.
arry Evans of St. Andrews, Scotland, was the aggregate winner across the Grade 1 events run by the Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) at the 2026 Inveraray Highland Games. Andrew Robertson won the overall award in Grade 2, and Philip Duthie won the aggregate in Grade 3.
The 2026 Minnesota Scottish Fair & Highland Games were held on the idyllic urban campus of Macalester College, and the Macalester College Pipe Band won the President’s Jug, presented by Sue Rivera, Macalester’s 17th and current president, who was a great promoter of the school’s Scottish tradition and instrumental in bringing the games back to the Macalester campus in 2023.
Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland, won both light music events and was fourth in the Piobaireachd to win the aggregate Alasdair Crystal Memorial Trophy in the Premier and A Grade events at the annual Inveraray Highland Games. Piobaireachd winner Callum Beaumont of Guardbridge, Scotland, was runner-up.
In Part 2, Troy makes some pointed comments about Canadian piping and drumming, and goes into detail on piobaireachd, pipe chanters and the pipe band scene at a time when innovations such as synthetic reeds, bags and instruments were poised to change things forever.
The annual Chatsworth Solo Piping Competitions will return on September 5-6 as part of the 43rd Chatsworth Country Fair in Derbyshire, England, with more than £4,300 in prize money on offer and a £450 first prize in the Captain John MacLellan Memorial Piobaireachd. That’s a £700 increase over 2025’s record-setting […]
Helensburgh, Scotland – July 19, 2026 – With a first in the 2/4 March and prizes in the Piobaireachd and Strathspey & reel, Gordon McCready of Renfrew, Scotland, had the overall best results across the three events at the Helensburgh Indoor Solo Piping Competition. It was the second straight aggregate […]
Callum Carn won the Piobaireachd and David Bruce won both light music events at Taynuilt Games on a warm and sunny day, with 18 competing in the Senior solo piping.
Thomas Cangelosi’s two firsts and one second prize tipped Ryan Praskovich’s one first and two second prizes at the Friday Open Solo Piping Competition at the annual Ligonier Highland Games.
There are benefits that artificial intelligence might bring, but replacing human musical creativity is not one of them. If we want to safeguard pipe band creativity from machine intervention, pipers and drummers should petition associations to enact rules prohibiting it.
Dr. Donaldson says about the tune: “Given the numerous alternative titles, and the fact that the tune in its pipe versions seems manifestly a different one from the Gaelic folk song of the same title, it might be wise to proceed cautiously here.”
The 30th-anniversary Skagit Valley Highland Games & Celtic Festival featured a total prize pool of close to US$35,000 for pipe bands, solo pipers, and drummers, and Alastair Lee was the overall Open solo piping winner, Cameron Bonar won both the Gordon Duncan Memorial Kitchen Piping and the Skye Richendrfer Memorial Jig event, named for the late Celtic music mover-and-shaker and co-founder of the games. Malcolm Fuller was the overall winner of the Open solo snare drumming.
Dartmouth & District won both Grade 2 band events, James MacHattie won the Piobaireachd, and Alex Gandy won the other three Open solo piping contests at the 161st Antigonish Highland Games, held in excellent weather. The event is one of the world’s longest-running piping and drumming competitions.