Asked about his early days in piping, Bob McFie leans back in his chair in a teaching room in The National Piping Centre Otago Street and raises his eyes to the sky. “I was six when my father gave me my first practice chanter and about nine or ten when […]
T his photo of Chris Armstrong was taken for a Q&A in issue 73 of Piping Today magazine in 2014. In the article Chris said of himself: “Generally, my friends would describe me a crabbit individual – the clean version – (laughs) who is very intolerant of stupidity. A real […]
Donald Patrick Nicholson, father of Duncan Nicholson of Glasgow Police Pipe Band, tutors a group of children on a weekly basis at Castlebay School on the Isle of Barra. Donald Patrick was born on Barra in 1941 and still lives on a croft in Ardveenish which belonged to his uncle […]
By P/M Jim Henderson John McLellan, as I remember him, was a very shy and quiet individual, not given to pushing himself or promoting the great talent he possessed. Besides being a quite outstanding bagpipe music composer, he wrote songs, was a poet of some distinction and had a great […]
The National Piping Centre is used to welcoming pipers from communities around the world but the visit of a group of monks for lessons was one of their more unusual teaching experiences. The main form of music in the Papa Stronsay community, also known as the Sons of the Most […]
