Features

Everything that’s wrong with your pipe band medley

Everything that’s wrong with your pipe band medley

by Dan Nevans. Piping Today #89, 2018. Do you know what the first sign of madness is? It’s repeating the same actions over and over and expecting a different outcome. The second sign is hairy palms. Friends, bandspeople, country folk… lend me your reading apparatus. I am about to attempt to […]

The rise of Inveraray & District Pipe Band – Ascension 2013

The rise of Inveraray & District Pipe Band – Ascension 2013

By Fraser Bruce. Piping Today #63, 2013. It seems every generation produces a notable pipe band rise, but rarely do we see a group catapult themselves to the kind of success and distinction achieved by Inveraray & District Pipe Band. For a band who have annually made giant leaps forward, […]

AG 1983 J Wilson,G Stoddart, Walter Cowan, C Drummond, T Speirs, M McRae

History of the Argyllshire Gathering: the 1983 competition

• PART 48 • BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE. In 1983 the Gathering was held on August 24 and 25. The Gold Medal competition began at 9.15am in the Corran Halls. As had been stated in the report of the previous year the entry qualifications had been changed slightly. The rules […]

Michael Grey’s Notes: a magical winter week in Glasgow

Michael Grey’s Notes: a magical winter week in Glasgow

GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #79, 2016. I once read something somewhere about the spiritual power of making music in a group. The words I recall spoke to group music creation in a sacred sort of way. Making music with others joined energy and life forces and, well, […]

History of the Argyllshire Gathering part 47

History of the Argyllshire Gathering part 47

• 1982 • BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE. There were no set tunes in 1982. Competitors for the Senior event were to submit twelve tunes, for the Gold Medal eight tunes and the Silver six tunes. The list of tunes submitted was published and showed a total of 101 different pieces. […]

At the Glenfiddich with Rona Lightfoot and Faye Henderson

At the Glenfiddich with Rona Lightfoot and Faye Henderson

By Fergus Muirhead. Piping Today #49. January 2010. Rona Lightfoot and Faye Henderson had remarkably similar beginnings to their piping careers. Rona had the pipes on her shoulder in South Uist when she was nine-years-old. Her father, brothers and uncles all played and, in fact, at times Rona thought that […]

The Uist and Barra competition in Glasgow’s Year of Culture

The Uist and Barra competition in Glasgow’s Year of Culture

On the eve of the Glasgow Uist and Barra Invitational 2023, we look back through the Piping Times archive to the report on the 1990 competition by Jeannie Campbell, and find this was the year that it became an ‘invitational’. It was a year that Glasgow presented it’s cleaned-up, modern, […]

History of the Argyllshire Gathering part 46

History of the Argyllshire Gathering part 46

1981 BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE. The set tunes for the Gold Medal in 1981 were: The Prince’s Salute, The End of the Great Bridge, A  Flame of Wrath for Squinting  Patrick, Clan Campbell’s Gathering, The Gathering  of the MacNabs, The King’s Taxes, The Finger Lock and Black Donald ‘s March. […]