GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #75, 2015. There’s around 2.5 million apps currently available for Android system users and almost the same number for those with iPhones. You don’t need me to tell you that there’s an app for pretty much any need or task a person might […]
by BILL LIVINGSTONE. Piping Today #100, 2020. The ability to compose music, any music, for the bagpipe or otherwise is a peculiar talent and very difficult to describe or define. We know what the results of the effort are, but not much is known about the process itself. Everyone has […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #74, 2015. My Dad always said that life moves forward at a pace in tandem with a person’s age. So when you’re 10, life seems to move along at a grindingly slow 10mph. At 10 a kid feels like it’ll take forever for […]
LISTEN TO WHAT YOU SEE by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #99, 2019. “It is said that unless one can speak Gaelic, one can never understand or hope to play piobaireachd. I would not like to go as far as to say that, but before anyone could describe this ancient form […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #71, 2014. You know you’re a seriously regular visitor to Glasgow when someone stops you on the street, asks for directions and you can help – and with mostly reliable info. It’s the last Friday of the Commonwealth Games and thanks to years […]
PIOBAIREACHD TUITION by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #98, 2019. I once was judging a piobaireachd competition with the great John MacDougall and a piper performing before us had finished his tune. It had no errors, the pipe was fine, technique fine, but John turned to me and said: “Bill, I’m […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #70, 2014. One of the people I teach, a young guy, about 17, is mad as hell about piping. He eats it up. Loves the tunes, loves to play. He’s crazy about piping — a lot like you maybe. I can tell you […]
HOCKEY LESSONS by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #96, 2019. I grew up in the town of Copper Cliff in Northern Ontario, and completed my secondary education (“high school” in some quarters) in Copper Cliff High School (CCHS) which boasted a total enrolment of about 300 students in Grades 9 through […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #69, 2014. There’s one thing I know: it was the sound of the bagpipe that attracted me, that made me want to find any damned way I could to learn to play the instrument. Haunting, stirring, soulful, inspiring, soothing, ethereal; bagpipe music touched […]
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #68, 2013. Angus Mackay. He’ll be known, at least by name, to many of you. Born on September 10, 1813 — under the astrological sign of Virgo — on Raasay, an island off the north-west coast of Scotland, he was to become one […]
