Features

Geological formation called Devil's Tower against an empty sky

Bagpipes on the Devil’s Tower

Tak Tang is a CLASP competitor, but has had other passions in his life as well as piping. As you will read below, he combined both to take his pipes to the top of the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. He is originally from Hong Kong, but now lives in the […]

ADHD in an adult piper: a tale of two competitions

ADHD in an adult piper: a tale of two competitions

by VICKIE GRAY. February 2022: CLASP Live Online, Grade 4 I’d better face the wall so I’m not distracted by movement through the window. Oh crap, my sleeve is unbuttoned. I know I’m going to screw up the 3rd part of Lady Lever Park. I always do. I just don’t […]

RURA to play the Old Fruitmarket at Piping Live! 2022

RURA to play the Old Fruitmarket at Piping Live! 2022

Piping Live! is fast approaching and it’s great to see the festival returning to the Old Fruitmarket for the Friday night concert on August 12.  Located in Candleriggs and starting at 8.30pm, this year we have RURA + Ross Ainslie and and Brighde Chaimbeul who are sure to provide an […]

Jim McGillivray shares a tune

Jim McGillivray shares a tune

NINE NOTES AND MORE… by Stuart Robertson. Piping Today #46 2010. More than 20 years of international prizes in all branches of pipe music between 1971 and 1991 lend credence to Piper & Drummer magazine’s claim that Jim McGillivray is “one of the best all-round pipers – ever”.  Jim began […]

11 year old Ella learning the pipes in Saudi

11 year old Ella learning the pipes in Saudi

The National Piping Centre offers a wide range of tuition to people from very different backgrounds, and thanks to the rise in popularity of online tuition the NPC has pupils all over the world. One such student is 11 year old, Ella Stewart, who lives in Saudi Arabia and who […]

The art and mystery of composition for the bagpipe: part 2

The art and mystery of composition for the bagpipe: part 2

by BILL LIVINGSTONE. Piping Today #101, 2020. My own experience of composing music started when I was in my teens, creating rock and roll songs in the simple three or four-chord form of the times. But still I was doing it, and they gathered some local popularity. Of course there […]

Royal visit to Edinburgh 1822  – the background

Royal visit to Edinburgh 1822 – the background

PART ONE by JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE. Two hundred years ago Edinburgh was in a frenzy of Royal celebrations equal to those in London in 2022. This was to mark the visit by George IV, the first of the Hanoverian kings to visit Scotland. George IV succeeded to the throne on […]

Piping in London – part 12

Piping in London – part 12

1892 – 1894 by JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE In May 1892 papers mentioned that the Scottish Gathering at Stamford Bridge would be on June 18, but when June came the papers reported that it would be held on July 16. As usual, there would be only two open events, piping and […]

Bob Worrall shares an old tune and a new tune

Bob Worrall shares an old tune and a new tune

NINE NOTES AND MORE… by Stuart Robertson. Piping Today #47 2010. Bob Worrall is one of North America’s leading teachers, adjudicators, performers and composers and is the weel-kent face of the BBC’s World Pipe Band Championships programme.  Prior to retiring from competitive piping in 1983, Bob won the North American […]