By Dr Peter McCalister
This much-loved amateur piobaireachd contest was held on Saturday, February 28th. This was our 34th contest and for most of those years we have been the fortunate guests of the Royal Scottish Pipers Society (RSPS) in Edinburgh. Their acoustics, vintage piping photos, bar, and tuning rooms are second to none.
At the last minute there were several call-offs, so 21 pipers played. This was a pity as 32 had applied and a draw was done to see who could play. Those unsuccessful in this draw will get a “bye” for next year, if numbers are once again too great. In recent years we have opted to choose a senior judge and a senior Competing Piper to judge the contest. For the second time the judges were Derek Fraser and Darach Urquhart (it is always a two-year stint). The friendly ambience was palpable, with players travelling from various parts of Scotland, Ireland (Anthony Kelly) and our regular visitor from the USA (Andrea Jones).
I did not hear all the performances but did hear nearly everyone in the final tuning room where Colin MacNeill (son of Dugald) helped with some final set-up of the chanters and/or drones. Stewarding was done by Tom Lewin and Leslie Barrett – the latter had played earlier in the draw, and then nobly put on the steward’s badge in the afternoon. A previous winner – Gill Cairns – turned up to have a listen and got drafted in to help with various wee jobs on the day – thanks, Gill.
Results were as follows:
- Andrew Robertson – Lament for Donald of Laggan
- Tom Peterkin – Lament for MacSwan of Roaig
- Anthony Kelly – Tulloch Ard
- Stewart Allan – Melbank’s Salute
- Andrea Jones – The Marquis of Argyll’s Salute
Andrea was not happy with her tune so got changed into civvies – and then was surprised and delighted with the prize when it came.
I missed Stewart Allan’s tune but he brought his support team from Ayrshire; I note that he was fifth a few years ago, so he is working his way up. Anthony Kelly from Ireland had possibly the best bagpipe of the day, certainly a big sound from the big guy, and his Tulloch Ard was a strong contender. Edinburgh-based Eagle Piper Tom Peterkin gave one of his signature musical performances. A couple of tiny technical slips, and a questionable high G, may have stopped last year’s champ getting his seventh win.
By the way, a few more Eagles turned up to hear the afternoon performances including Iain Dewar, Allan Harper, Douglas Gardiner, Euan Anderson and Iain Speirs. The venerable James Burnett ascended the many stairs unaided aged 95, to add his gravitas to the occasion. Alan Forbes (Chairman of the Music Committee) was there for most of the day. I have probably missed out other audience members that deserve a mention, and by the end of the day the audience was considerable.
Andrew Robertson has just joined the CLASP and had not competed at a Piobaireachd contest before, but played a very musical and measured Donald of Laggan. The whole effect was a of a complete piece of music.
After the contest Derek Fraser made a short speech, telling the competitors that they had put on a very enjoyable day for him and Darach. As last year, he advised pipers to look carefully at the tuning of the chanter scale – at times this led to an out-of-tune instrument which let a few pipers down. A second bit of advice was to keep plugging away at the practice chanter for the piobaireachd technique.
The Piobaireachd Society plans to hold this contest next year as usual – probably on the last Saturday in February 2027 – and welcomes amateur players and their supporters to come along once again.
•Thanks to Dr Peter McCalister for permission to publish the results and his report which were first published on The Piobaireachd Society website