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 […]
We received a query from a reader asking about the 1969 Scottish Pipers’ Association (SPA) competition. The contest that year was notable as a new system of judging was tried out, one that saw five judges – Pipe Majors Donald MacLeod, Peter Bain and Hector MacLean, Lieut. John MacLellan and […]
Since its inception in the 1930s the London Championship has grown in stature and is second only to Oban and Inverness in importance. In this article, by John Shone, we chart the progress of contest from idea to major championship Back in 1932 a group of very keen pipers found […]
By Stuart Letford I stood on the railway platform waiting for the train. My belly rumbled like a lion’s den. It was the postman’s fault for making me miss breakfast. He was early this morning. Despite this we had our usual intense and inspirational chat. We laughed, we argued. We […]
Iain MacInnes concludes his 2000 John MacFadyen Lecture One irony of the current pipe band situation is that, at the same time as civilian bands have carried the music round the globe, and have put down firm roots, the cultural institution that created pipe bands, the British Army, has slowly […]
Part 2 of Iain MacInnes’s 2000 John MacFadyen Lecture Competition is very much part and parcel of the piping culture here in Scotland, and its shaped not just the music, but also the style of performance. It all goes back to 1781, when the Highland Society of London started the […]
The first excerpt from Iain MacInnes’s John MacFadyen Lecture of spring 2000 entitled ‘The Ancient Martial Music’ Piobaireachd, ceòl mòr, is, I think we’d all agree, a very remarkable and distinctive music; music of the Gaelic speaking Highlands which has travelled, and has taken root in remarkable places, from Vancouver […]
By MacGregor Kennedy A round up of the 1984 Glenfiddich Piping Championships Everybody knows someone who could not organise a booze-up in a distillery, so most people who attend the Grant’s Scotch Whisky Piping Championships are perfectly well aware that the smooth-running machine which gives them so much pleasure at […]
By Keith Sanger It would be surprising given the interconnections between Scotland and Ireland over many centuries, if pipers had not crossed over between the two countries. Yet apart from a few tantalising early references, it is in the accounts of the Highland Society of London that we find the […]
Even for the experienced piper the variety of different bagpipes and prices can make buying a new, bespoke instrument seem a daunting process. Today, there are a healthy number of manufacturers and it’s fair to say that, in contrast to a generation or two ago, most are producing excellent instruments. […]
