Editorial

The tiebreakers we use were made for a different era. Today, they make little sense, and, like so much in piping and drumming, they’re perpetually used either out of habit or sheer laziness.

“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 Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s ability to secure all five major championships is nothing less than remarkable. The organization deserves full credit for voluntary hard work, determination, and savvy business acumen.

There’s a saying in the music industry: a good song is a good song, no matter who covers it or how it’s done. That’s true. Think of all those renditions of familiar hits you like. They may not be as good as the original, but they’re generally good and often even better. You recognize them. They immediately attract you with their familiarity. At Christmastime, we hear arrangements ad infinitum of classic carols and holiday songs done by pop stars. This is intentional. Artists and their labels know that the music-buying public will at least give them a listen.

Editor’s note: pipes|drums welcomes all fair persp …

Editor’s note: with an aging population in most pa …

Because they have not done it, they can’t appreciate it, so they treat the competitors with a cavalier, it-doesn’t-matter attitude.

I’ve spent 50 years now trying to figure out pipin …

Unless it emerges that there was some other extraordinary circumstance to make this decision obviously and irrefutably correct, it’s yet another bad move by the RSPBA – not necessarily to reject Russell’s scores, but not to be completely detailed and transparent and open about the exact reasons for their decision.

In pre-internet days, only those who heard the contest live were aware of the insidious dues-paying system of judging. Those days are thankfully gone.

A fundamental change must occur if piping and drum …

Sunset or sunrise? According to our site traffic s …

While on the surface, the loss of a major RSPBA pi …

You don’t look broke, Oscar. Oscar Wilde famously …

Lord it’s the same old tune, fiddle and guitar Whe …