Archive
Inveraray & District was the winner of their first contest of 2023 at the annual Gourock Highland Games on Scotland’s west coast against a field of three other Grade 1 bands. Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, under new Leading-Drummer Kerr McQuillan won the drumming and finished second as a band.
Sean McKeown of Bowmanville, Ontario, earned the 2023 Livingstone Invitational Solo Piping Championship overall prize with a second in the piobaireachd and a second in the MSRHP&J against a field of 10 other contestants. Of note, McKeown gained his piobaireachd prize playing “For Ranald,” probably the first time Bill Livingstone’s piece composed in honour of his late brother was performed in competition.
“No, I can’t sew your button on your shirt.” Laura Mullin takes a humourous (but many a true word . . .) look at the lighter side of being a mom in the piping and drumming world
City of Edinburgh kicked off the Scottish outdoor band competition season in perfect form by taking straight firsts in Grade 2, the highest contested event at the first outing on the RSPBA circuit. England’s City of Newcastle won the Grade 3 competition, also with four first placings, against seven other bands.
The long off-season is officially over this weekend for Scottish bands as the outdoor competition circuit returns with events at the traditional opener at Dunbar on Saturday and then Banchory and Gourock on Sunday. While each event offers a Grade 1 competition, only Gourock on Scotland’s west coast has attracted […]
The first in-person Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational Solo Piping Competition in three years on October 7th will be the fortieth staging of the world’s most prestigious amateur contest, and for the first time in Rockville, Maryland, in partnership with the Institute of Musical Traditions, an independent non-profit that “preserves and promotes […]
Telling a competitor with an anxiety disorder to “relax, stop stressing and just play” would be similar to telling someone to play their instrument despite having a huge leak in their bag.
As the saying goes, the Canadian Mounties “always get their man” and, by the looks of it, they also get their tunes, as evidenced by the 227 compositions that make up the new 260-page Royal Canadian Mounted Police – Maintiens Le Droit – Music for the Great Highland Bagpipe collection, […]
The MacCrimmon Cairn at Borreraig on the Isle of Skye is sacred ground for piobaireachd lovers and something of a piping Mecca, pipers making the trek to the site to pay some sort of homage to the dynasty credited with creating many of the greatest piobaireachds known to the art […]
For piobaireachd in New Zealand, no one contributed more to the advancement of the art than Neville and Ian McKay, and now Comunn na Piobaireachd (NZ) is launching a compositing competition to commemorate the brothers. The Sir Ian and Neville McKay Piobaireachd Composition Competition will award NZ$1,000 (about US$635) to […]
Adelaide – May 6, 2023 – With a win of the John MacDonald of Inverness Clasp, and high prizes in the A-Grade light music, Stuart Easton of Palmerston North, New Zealand, was the overall winner in the top grade at the annual R.U. Brown Piobaireachd Society Solo Piping Competition. Jonno […]
Winning both the Piobaireachd and MS events, Derek Midgley of Tinton Fall, New Jersey, was the winner of the Pipe-Major Ian Swinton Open Solo Piping Competition, a contest put on by the Midwest Pipe Band Association with a total cash purse of US$3,500. Avens Ridgeway of St. Joseph, Missouri, made a solid return to solo competition, finishing third overall. Eight pipers competed and the judges were Jack Lee and Bob Worrall for both events.
The Grade 2 City of Edinburgh has continued its successful rebuilding process under Pipe-Major David Clunie and Leading-Drummer Simon Grant by securing a three-year sponsorship deal with Unison Lothian Health Branch, a trade union that represents more than 12,000 members across the range of health professions. Terms of the deal […]
On the brink of the crowning of King Charles III, our intrepid piping and drumming historian Jeannie Campbell, MBE delves into the various coronations of UK monarchs that featured piping and drumming, including a highly inventive pipe band competition . . .
If you’re a piper younger than 21 and believe you have the chops to qualify for the 2023 Pipe Idol competition at Piping Live! in August, you have from now until June 2nd to prove it. Organizers are looking for private video submissions from any pipers interested in competing one […]
In Part 1, we got caught up on developments in MacLellan’s life over the past dozen years. In Part 2, we take a look at issues of judging, the Solo Piping Judges Association, and progress and failures he’s seen since our last interview.