You may be planning a quiet start to daily life in 2023, but a busy January lies in store for those who want to start the year filled with bagpipes. If you are in Scotland, The National Piping Centre is offering weekend tuition for U17 pipers; adult amateur pipers have […]
Tag: Breabach
Playing the Highland pipes with other instruments part one
A Beginner’s Guide • By John Slavin. THE GREAT Highland Bagpipe is a versatile instrument capable of producing breathtaking music in the hands of the finest solo performers and Grade 1 bands, or of stirring the emotions of the listener when a pipe band parades down the street with a […]
Celtic Connections puts the bagpipes under the spotlight and onto the stage in January
The opening night of Celtic Connections is one month away, with the 30th anniversary concert beginning the festival on Thursday, January 19, 2023 in the main auditorium of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Ross Ainslie is part of a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ line-up of musicians who will perform on the opening night. […]
Willie Lawrie Gold Medal photo discovered / Hopes for resumption of band practices / MacCrimmons mark milestone
Piping and pipe band historian, Jeannie Campbell has unearthed a fascinating photograph of Willie Lawrie receiving the Gold Medal in 1910. There are very few known photographs of the Ballachulish-born piper in existence so the find is extremely valuable. It was in 1910 that Lawrie became the second piper ever […]
16 questions with … John Dew
1. How are you these days?I’m pretty well. I didn’t think I’d be missing the business of university but with restrictions in place I’m going a little mad. Other than that, I’m grand. I spent four years studying on the BMus (Traditional Music – Piping) Degree course at the Royal […]
The structure of piobaireachd, 1
By Captain John A MacLellan MBE Piobaireachd, or ceòl mòr as many pipers prefer to call it, can be classified under various headings, all of which have some effect on the production of the music. Some of these classifications are more important than others. Probably of least importance, is the […]
The Simon Fraser letters 7
From The International Piper, August 1981. April 5, 1913,“The Early History of the MacCrimmons: Related by Themselves to Captain Macleod of Gesto.” Dr. K. N. MacDonald. It appears that in 1826 the late Captain Neil Macleod of Gesto wrote a history of the McCrimmons, or McCrummens, embracing a great many […]
Northern Meeting Day 1: Liddell FW MSR; Sinclair Gold; MacKenzie Silver; McCready A Grade MSR
Stuart Liddell continued his incredible run of success in recent weeks by winning the Silver Star Former Winners MSR tonight at the end of the first day of competitions at The Northern Meeting here in Eden Court Theatre, Inverness. This contest is for previous winners of the A Grade MSR […]
Importance of concert pitch B-flat
Piper and multi-instrumentalist, Calum MacCrimmon of Scottish folk band Breabach, who were nominated for a BBC Radio 2 ‘Best Band’ Folk award of 2011, talks about the importance of having a concert pitch B-flat chanter. Calum attended Celtic Connections in 2004 as part of The National Youth Pipe Band of […]