Piping features heavily in nominations at the 2019 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards which will be held in Aberdeen next month. Known as the Folk Oscars, the award ceremony has been held annually since 2005 to recognise excellence within Scotland’s thriving musical culture. Approximately 100,000 public votes are received […]
A discussion on the possible influence ofScottish and Irish ceòl mòr on each other By Frank Timoney And what of the strange testimony by Dennis Hempson? In 1792, the Belfast city fathers finally realised in probable grateful relief, that the ancient tradition of Irish harp playing was about to disappear […]
Theory Top-Up by Tim Cummings Piping Today #70, 2014. Piping Today published a series of articles in issues 57, 58, 63 and 64 that addressed the topic of musical keys and how they relate to our music. I understand that some readers have enrolled in therapy since trying to digest […]
James Campbell, the well known piping and pipe band judge, decided to give his Tutor Room some character by hanging portraits of some of the great pipers of the past and present. The dedication of what is now his Pipers’ Room was held last Saturday when the portraits were unveiled. […]
Bob Shepherd’s funeral took place on Tuesday in Kirkcaldy, Fife. The crematorium was, as expected, packed with many having to stand at the back of the hall. A mini band comprising some leading names – and some contemporaries – from the pipe band world played as the cortege approached. Fittingly, […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #62, 2013. I was at lunch with a work friend the other day when the subject came up: just how old is the general public’s idea of the stereotypical pipe band? You know, Scotland the Brave, Black Bear, Green Hills and yards and […]
We received quite a number of responses to the photograph that appeared on bagpipe.news recently showing the legendary actor David Niven dancing as a group of six pipers played. It seems the photograph was taken in 1947, around the time when the Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service following […]
Cowal Highland Gathering may not be the piping and pipe band event it once was but its organisers are celebrating winning a leading tourism prize. Cowal has just been awarded the Best Cultural Event or Festival title at last weekend’s The Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards. Cowal beat the HebCelt […]
• From the Autumn 1998 edition of Notes At the 1998 Donald MacDonald Cuach invitational competition at the Clan Donald Centre on Skye, Roddy MacLeod, piping director of The Piping Centre, was a spectator rather than, as in the past, a competitor. He took the opportunity to speak with Colonel […]
The RSPBA’s North of Scotland held its annual solo competitions yesterday at The Gordon Schools in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. The results are: PIPING: Ceòl MòrOpen – 1. Jeffery Lawson.15 Years & Under – 1. Jake Robertson. 18 Years & Over Hornpipe – Jeffery Lawson; 2. Scott Oliphant; 3. Owen Chalmers.March – 1. Scott Oliphant; […]
Belgravia, London, England – Callum Beaumont was awarded the Bratach Gorm and overall title today at the Scottish Piping Society of London’s 80th annual solo piping competitions. The event was held at its plush new venue, The Caledonian Club. The win means Beaumont is the second qualifier for the 2020 […]
Bagpipe.news caught up with Finlay Johnston shortly after his second Glenfiddich win last weekend. 1. You travel quite a bit. Is there anything you can’t leave home without?My pipes, my phone and headphones and maybe some paracetamol for the hangovers. 2. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?Bird saliva on […]
About 1955, Col. J.P. Grant of Rothiemurchus, then one of the most important and influential men in piping, wrote the following letter, presumably for the Piping Times, but apparently decided not to send it. Thanks to the late James Campbell, it was published in the Piping Times of September 1985. […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #61, 2012. The pipes, and maybe along with the accordion, are the poor bullied souls of the music world. So often the butt of jokes, especially in the world of “classical” music — and, by the way, that’s only from my own experience. […]
