DAN NEVANS relates last week’s in-person competitions at Oban and Lochaber from the perspective of a competing piper I’ve never really been one for vacations. I’m just not good at relaxing. I always feel like the sands of my own personal hourglass increase their irreversible passage as soon as I […]
Tag: CPA
Jimmy McIntosh, an appreciation
Jimmy McIntosh, who has just died, will be remembered as a major authority on piobaireachd. Yet, as many will know, Jimmy was quite late coming to the art. He only started to compete seriously when he was in his 40s. He was deeply appreciative of Robert Bell Nicol and Robert […]
John Wilson: pounding the beat as policeman and piper
By Fergus Muirhead That John Wilson would end up playing the pipes was never in doubt. His father William was a piper in the 8th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. His uncle, Archie, Pipe Major of the 8th Battalion, was killed, like a lot of his colleagues, leading the battalion […]
New tune marks Crieff’s 150 years / Midgley first overseas CPA President / Piper Lark
A new tune has been composed to mark the 150th year of Crieff Highland Gathering. The event would have taken place last Sunday but like every other global pipe band event this year, fell victim to the ‘lockdown’ caused by the coronavirus. The tune is a 3/4 march and its […]
‘Salute to the 51st Highland Division’ – a new tune from Niall Matheson / CPA online results, C Grade
Double Gold Medallist, Niall Matheson has composed another excellent piobaireachd, this time in tribute to the 51st Highland Division. The tune comes a few months after we aired his tribute to the late Alasdair Gillies, with whom Niall served in The Queen’s Own Highlanders. Listen to Niall play the ground […]
Simon McKerrell: Why we should abolish the Set Tunes
In his far-reaching blog posted on this site last week, Stuart Letford questioned whether the Set Tunes should continue to be set solely by the Piobaireachd Society’s Music Committee. I suggest it is time to actually abolish the Set Tunes altogether. I have spoken on this topic before. Indeed, this […]
Stuart Letford: The new piping normal
“We will not succeed in navigating the complex environment of the future by peering relentlessly into a rear view mirror. To do so, we would be out of our minds.” – Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds (Capstone, 2001). Like most of you, I have now spent eight weeks self-isolating. […]
Gill Cairns: Staying connected
On the last Saturday in February I played in the Archie Kenneth Quaich in Edinburgh, Scotland. Had I known this would be the last ‘traditional’ competition in Scotland for the foreseeable future I might have hugged my friends a little longer. I would certainly have tried to spend just a […]
Murray Henderson: Ceòl mòr journey and destination
I’d like to explore the different approaches to learning ‘appropriate’ material when starting out on the road to achieving a better understanding of Piobaireachd, our classical music. Of course, it applies to light music as well. In any endeavour, anyone wishing to reach the heights (whatever level that may be […]
Deadline for CPA grading applications approaching
Pipers wishing to be graded for the 2020 competition season must have their applications sent to the Competing Pipers’ Association (CPA) by this Saturday (November 30). The CPA’s grading committee meets on Sunday to review all applications. A spokesman said: “If members/players are late in applying this could result in […]