Inspiration comes from many places. For G. S. MacLennan, for exampe, it was a dripping tap that inspired him to create The Little Cascade. For Donald MacLeod, it was seemingly the sound of some pipers throwing up on a bus returning from a pipe band competition that lay behind his […]
In the second part of the 2017 College of Piping Lecture, ALAN FORBES talked about the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society. At the start of Alan’s presentation, the audience was treated to a performance of Roddy Campbell’s Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society by Andrew Frater, Robert Frater and John Frater. The Scottish […]
I’ve long thought that Angus MacKay’s life would make for a great film. It has it all: sex, drugs (well, alcohol), rock n’ roll and a young death. Angus went from a childhood of poverty to an adolescence spent frequenting palaces and hobnobbing with the great and good of his […]
Where are you from and how did you get into piping?I am from the USA. I got into piping while living in the UK. I was bored with guitar, and always loved the pipes. There was a teacher close by, so it made it doable. Now I live in Thailand. […]
This year’s Duncan Johnstone Memorial Piping Competition will go ahead in person on Saturday, March 12, This popular competition is run jointly by the Competing Pipers’ Association (CPA) and the National Piping Centre. B Grade contests will be held at The National Piping Centre’s campus in McPhater Street while C […]
The first leg of the Grade 1 competition at year’s Breton pipe band championship has been cancelled. Organisers, Bodadeg ar Sonerion, cite the ongoing COVID-19 situation in France as the reason. The competition was due to take place in Nantes on February 13. The fate of other grades will be decided […]
The 2017 College of Piping Lecture, held at the Birnam Hotel on the night before that year’s Piobaireachd Society conference, considered the role and relevance of piping organisations today. Two case studies – both based in Edinburgh, Scotland – were selected. Alan Forbes of the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society spoke […]
By Alastair MacMillan One of the features I enjoy reading on Bagpipe.news is the Stories of the Tunes series. One article that took my eye recently was the one about the reel, The Black Mill – or Muillean Dubh in Gaelic – a two-part reel that remains popular with pipers. […]
Alex Duncan, the talented piper and son of pipe band legends Ian and Chris Duncan, had “sky-high levels” of cadmium in his body when he died aged 26 in September 2020. A post mortem revealed dangerously high levels of cadmium in his urine with his kidneys damaged by the toxic […]
Celtic Connections intends to run a ‘hybrid’ online version of the festival. The news comes one week after the festival was forced to cancel most of its in-person shows due to ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 safety measures in Scotland. A new programme will be published next week. Performances will be […]
1972 By Jeannie Campbell MBE For 1972 the set tunes for the Open and Clasp were Mrs MacLeod of Talisker’s Salute, My Dearest on Earth Give me your Kiss, The Lament for the Union, MacNeil of Barra’s March, MacKenzie of Gairloch’s Lament and The Red Speckled Bull. Competitors were required […]
Where are you from and how did you get into piping?I am from the USA. I got into piping while living in the UK. I was bored with guitar, and always loved the pipes. There was a teacher close by, so it made it doable. Now I live in Thailand. […]
Norman Matheson, the well known piper and piping judge, died in hospital in Aberdeen on Monday. He was 89 and had been ill for some time. Matheson, who was a surgeon by profession, was born in Inverness but lived in Aberdeenshire for much of his life. He also had family […]
When it comes to conversations about great pipers, Andrew Pitkeathly is sometimes overlooked, particularly by younger pipers today. A military man, he had modest competitive success: he won the Gold Medal at the 1949 Northern Meeting when a young Corporal, the same year in which he joined the Pipe Majors’ […]
