As an unusual birthday present today, March 20, Mike Grey arranged for star of the stage and screen, Miriam Margolyes, to record a special message for Bill Livingstone on his 81st birthday — and got so much more than he hoped for. In the heart-warming video below, Miriam reveals her […]
The Pipers’ & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has announced a new bursary for solo piping. The Lillian Livingstone Solo Amateur Piobaireachd Bursary will be awarded annually to the winner of the Championship Supreme award for senior amateur piobaireachd. The winner will receive $3000 to allow for travel and other […]
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 […]
by BILL LIVINGSTONE. Piping Today #100, 2020. The ability to compose music, any music, for the bagpipe or otherwise is a peculiar talent and very difficult to describe or define. We know what the results of the effort are, but not much is known about the process itself. Everyone has […]
LISTEN TO WHAT YOU SEE by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #99, 2019. “It is said that unless one can speak Gaelic, one can never understand or hope to play piobaireachd. I would not like to go as far as to say that, but before anyone could describe this ancient form […]
In the final ever edition of the Piping Today magazine published in May 2020, a wide range of people were asked to give their 2020 vision for piping going forward. They were all sent a list of questions and asked to choose one to answer in no more than 200 […]
PIOBAIREACHD TUITION by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #98, 2019. I once was judging a piobaireachd competition with the great John MacDougall and a piper performing before us had finished his tune. It had no errors, the pipe was fine, technique fine, but John turned to me and said: “Bill, I’m […]
1975 BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE Competitors in the Open and Clasp competitions in 1975 were required to submit four tunes from this list of six: The Battle of Glensheil, The Sister’s Lament, Nameless, Hihio-tro tro, The Park Piobaireachd No. 1, The Old Woman’s Lullaby and Salute on the Birth of Rory Mor. For […]
HOCKEY LESSONS by Bill Livingstone Piping Today #96, 2019. I grew up in the town of Copper Cliff in Northern Ontario, and completed my secondary education (“high school” in some quarters) in Copper Cliff High School (CCHS) which boasted a total enrolment of about 300 students in Grades 9 through […]
1974 BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE This year there was a change in the rules for the major competitions. Competitors in the Open event at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Clasp at the Northern Meeting were required to submit six tunes from this list of twelve: Craigellachie, Lament for Colin Roy […]
