1935-36 By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1935 the balls and games of the Gathering were held on September 11 and 12. The Duke of Argyll, chieftain of the gathering was not present to lead the picturesque march of the clansmen from the secretary’s office in Station Road to the Gathering field. […]
Tag: Donald Shaw Ramsay
CLASP profile: David Mackenzie
Today, we feature another member of CLASP. David Mackenzie is next for shaving, as the late Pipe Major Robert Kilgour, would have put it. Where are you from and how did you get into piping?I am from Invergordon in the north of Scotland. My father was a piper in the […]
Famous pipers: John D. Burgess
John Davie Burgess died in July 2005, having achieved worldwide fame as a child prodigy on the pipes before maturing into one of the foremost exponents of Scotland’s national instrument. He was born in Aberdeen on March 11, 1934 but the family moved to Edinburgh when at a young age. […]
The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 16
1931-1932 By Jeannie Campbell In 1931 the games and balls of the Argyllshire Gathering were held on September 9 and 10. As usual, the Gaelic concert was held on the evening prior to the Gathering (Tuesday 8). Oban had been enjoying a month of glorious weather and this continued during the […]
The pipe – solo or band instrument?
David V. Kennedy from Sacramento in California had this article published in the February 1980 edition of The International Piper. Clearly, pipe bands have come a long way since 1981 and the medleys heard today are beyond those of heard in David’s day but his central theme is something that […]
Creating new bagpipe music and explaining the inexplicable
By Dr. Bruce Thomson The only way of fulfilling the mission described in our headline is to literally develop a new tune from scratch. I can only show you how I set about it, not having had the privilege of looking over another composer’s shoulder. As previously, this is being […]
Trevor Dear, 1939-2019
Trevor Dear, a long-term and well respected RSPBA judge, has died. He was 79 and died yesterday in hospital. Dear was an RSPBA adjudicator for many years, retiring after the 2014 season when he reached 75. On retiring he was made an Honorary Life Member of the RSPBA. Prior to […]
Hornpipes – from jaunty dance to finger fireworks in a few years
• From the January 2012 Piping Times. By Iain Bruce The hornpipe has had a long run in the history of music but it is not clear how long. The Oxford Companion to Music describes two meanings of the word ‘hornpipe’. In the first place it refers to an obsolete […]