The late 1980s was a period of transition in piping. In 1987 the 78th Fraser Highlanders became the first overseas pipe band to win the World Pipe Band Championships and in 1988 Ottawa-born Amy Garson would be the first female invited to compete at the Glenfiddich. The 1988 Glenfiddich was […]
Calum Brown of Aberdeen, Scotland and Bobby Allen of Chryston, Scotland, came out top today at the annual Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Solo Competitions. Brown won all five senior events. The competition was held online due to the cornoavirus pandemic. ResultsOpen 18 Years and OlderCeòl Mòr – 1. Calum Brown; […]
One of the most hotly tipped competitive solo pipers making their way through the B grade, multiple pipe band championship-winning John Dew (a recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) presents his first solo recording effort, The High Bridge Walk. Let’s get real. John is someone I know. I […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE Some time ago, Mrs Gatens from Fife donated some piping memorabilia to the Museum of Piping at the College of Piping (now at the National Piping Centre). The items belonged to her late husband, Ernest D. Gatens. Among the books and chanters were some other interesting […]
The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland (NYPBoS) begins an online teaching programme next month for youngsters in the Hebrides, the islands off Scotland’s west coast. From Monday 12 to Friday 16, a series of live sessions, (using Zoom videoconference software), tutorials and online music making with some guest musicians […]
Our article last Saturday, ‘Pipers’ choice’, about the pieces of ceòl mòr submitted at the Glenfiddich, has proven popular with readers. We noted, you will recall, that at the 1976 competition, the tune most commonly submitted by the pipers was Lament for Mary MacLeod. In joint second place came Lament […]
Donald ‘Duaghal’ MacKay was born in the old Tongue House in Sutherland, Scotland in 1591. His father, Uisdean was the 13th chief of the MacKays and Donald succeeded him as 14th chief on Uisdean’s death in 1614. Donald was knighted in 1616 and became 1st Lord Reay in 1628, the […]
By David Murray It was on Sunday, September 3, 1939 that the Second World War began, and readers may be interested to learn what it was like to be a young piper aged 18 on that fateful day. No Scots family had come unscathed out of the Great War, which […]
Ben McClamrock of Washington DC, USA and Alex Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada came out top at the Competing Pipers’ Association’s recent online competitions for those members graded Premier or A Grade. Results: Ceòl Mòr – 1. Ben McClamrock (Ronald MacDonald of Morar’s Lament); 2. Sandy Cameron, Roy Bridge, […]
Stuart Easton and Willliam Rowe were the prizewinners at Wellington Pipers’ Club’s annual solo piping competitions held at Scots College in the New Zealand city on Saturday. The competitions were held in person due to the New Zealand government’s success in handling the cornovarius pandemic. Easton, of Palmerston North won […]
