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 […]
Tag: Blog
Michael Grey’s Notes: PC gone mad!
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #76, 2015. A short note to people who don’t have a lot of height: taller adults snag jobs of higher status and, on average, earn more than other people. Yes. It’s true. Are you offended — you with the 26 inch inside leg? […]
Michael Grey’s Notes: A band, a team, is not a thing. It’s people.
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #72, 2014. If you want to make a fast million, forget trying to invent the perfect set of drones or never-fail chanter reed, like, say, a possible brand like the SkweelAway or, maybe, the NaySkirl 2000. If you’re looking for fast coin to […]
Michael Grey’s Notes: Piping in later life – no excuses
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #74, 2015. My Dad always said that life moves forward at a pace in tandem with a person’s age. So when you’re 10, life seems to move along at a grindingly slow 10mph. At 10 a kid feels like it’ll take forever for […]
Michael Grey’s Notes: Dear Old Glasgow Town
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #71, 2014. You know you’re a seriously regular visitor to Glasgow when someone stops you on the street, asks for directions and you can help – and with mostly reliable info. It’s the last Friday of the Commonwealth Games and thanks to years […]
Bill Livingstone: not the singer but the song
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 […]
Michael Grey’s Notes: Seven deadly sins
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey. Piping Today #70, 2014. One of the people I teach, a young guy, about 17, is mad as hell about piping. He eats it up. Loves the tunes, loves to play. He’s crazy about piping — a lot like you maybe. I can tell you […]
Bill Livingstone: Hockey Lessons
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 […]
Michael Grey’s Notes: Angus Mackay on trousers, life and God
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #68, 2013. Angus Mackay. He’ll be known, at least by name, to many of you. Born on September 10, 1813 — under the astrological sign of Virgo — on Raasay, an island off the north-west coast of Scotland, he was to become one […]
Survey Summary: 100 Years of Pipe Bands
Survey Summary: 100 YEARS OF PIPE BANDSby Michael Grey With over 200 respondents, a summarised view can now be passed along of the “100 years of pipe bands” survey offered last month to readers of bagpipe.news (and those of my blog). In my working life (corporate communications) I’ve always found […]