Report from the third annual Jimmy McIntosh Piobaireachd Workshop

Thirty-four piobaireachd enthusiasts from across North America flocked to Pittsburgh over the weekend of February 21-23 for the third annual Jimmy McIntosh MBE Piobaireachd Workshop, held at Carnegie Mellon University and hosted by the Pittsburgh Piping Society.  The action-packed weekend was organized by the Pittsburgh Piping Society, a non-profit organization established in 2014 by Andrew Carlisle, Nick Hudson and Palmer Shonk.  

Instructors for the workshop were all longtime students of the late Jimmy McIntosh MBE: Gold Medalist Mike Rogers (Silver Spring, Maryland), Alex MacIntyre (Edmonton, Alberta), Peter Kent (Annandale, Virginia) and Andrew Carlisle (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).  The students were divided into three classes by ability.

The weekend started on Friday evening with over 100 people packed into the popular Pittsburgh bar The Pitch on Butler to witness around 30 pipers playing in a fun and supportive environment.  Gold Medalist Mike Rogers closed the evening with a terrific rendition of Lament for the Viscount of Dundee on a wonderful sounding set of vintage silver and ivory Lawrie bagpipes.

The weekend also saw the completion of this year’s Jimmy McIntosh MBE Piobaireachd Scholarship program where our deserving recipient was provided with tuition for eight months from Amy Garson, Ottawa via video conferencing.  On Saturday afternoon the workshop closed with this year’s scholarship winner, Meghan McElhinney, 15 (Akron, Ohio) performing a recital of two piobaireachd, The Wee Spree and MacFarlane’s Gathering that she had learned during the scholarship period. 

After eight hours of piobaireachd study on Saturday, students weren’t quite finished with piping and attended a ceilidh at Goodlander Cocktail Bar, where Pittsburgh Piping Society board member Palmer Shonk showed off his mixology and bartending skills while the attendees took it in turns to entertain with some light music tunes. 

Sunday saw the completion of classes – another four hours of study.  Throughout the workshop, each student had the opportunity to perform at least two tunes on the bagpipe for some live feedback from an instructor.  Many students remarked that they learned just as much from other people’s feedback as they did from comments about their own performances.  In addition to the Masterclass format, the classes were also introduced to new tunes on the practice chanter in the more familiar classroom setting.  There was a high level of playing during the weekend, as the workshop participants included many Open level pipers and even judges.  This was in keeping with Jimmy’s philosophy that with piobaireachd, you are never finish learning!

Applications are already being received for the 2025-26 cycle of the Scholarship, and the March 1st deadline for submission is fast approaching.  North American piobaireachd players can contact jimmy.mc.scholarship@gmail.com for more information.

The Scholarship Committee is deeply grateful for the donations received from individuals, and from The Piobaireachd Society and the Dunedin Chapter of The New World Celts.  These donations help keep Jimmy’s legacy alive for future generations of piobaireachd students.