The Scottish Pipers’ Association professional contest took place today, April 30, in The National Piping Centre. The results were: P/A/Open Piobaireachd William Geddes, Old Men of the Shells Steven Leask, Big Spree Ben Duncan, Lord Lovat’s LamentJudges: A Forbes, D Fraser Open Marches John Dew Steven Gray Greig Canning Callum […]
Scottish piper, John Dew, releases his first album next Friday (27th). Mackerel Sky is mainy self-composed and includes one piece of ceòl mòr (The Marquis of Argyll’s Salute, the tune Dew played at 2019 Royal National Mòd where he was the overall winner). The album was recorded during the spring […]
A powerful and emotional musical tribute with dancers spanning the length of Britain has been unveiled in memory of Manchester Arena victim, Eilidh MacLeod to support the work of the music education charity set up in her memory. The 14-year-old piper from the Hebridean island of Barra, was among 22 […]
By Stuart Letford Duncan Johnstone wasn’t really one for competitions – his 1964 victory in the Scottish Pipers’ Association’s Knockout series was pretty much his only foray into solo piping contests. As he put himself, “I was never interested in whether I could beat this man or the next. I […]
A new event to celebrate the life and works of Duncan Johnstone, the influential piper, teacher and composer, took place in early March at the National Piping Centre (NPC) in Glasgow, Scotland. The event was recorded at the National Piping Centre in strict adherence to all Scottish Government social distancing […]
Lochaber Piping Society is running an online junior piping competition for two age groups, 14 & Under and Age 15-18. There will be no ceòl mòr and MSR categories, however, only medley categories. The judges are Connor Sinclair and John Dew. The closing date for video submissions to be received […]
Two of Scotland’s leading live folk musicians are donating all their merchandise sales today to a Glasgow food bank. Pipers Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton are encouraging other musicians to do the same. In 2009, there was one food bank in Scotland. There are now 52 in Glasgow alone compared […]
John Dew, one of our leading piping talents, has produced his debut collection of pipe music. The book, titled simply Pipe Tunes, contains over 80 new compositions entirely from the Crieff-born piper’s pen. The book is available at £19.50 but this will increase to £22.00 on December 14. There will […]
John Dew’s Glenfiddich performance of Roddy S. MacDonald’s Lament for Alex Duncan can now be appreciated on demand. John, a recent graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s BMus (Traditional Music – Piping) Degree course, played Roddy’s tune at this year’s online Glenfiddich held behind closed doors in the Ballroom […]
By Stuart Letford Ever wondered what it would be like to have a private recital given by our ten best pipers? Well, that’s almost what I experienced last Friday at Blair Castle where this year’s Glenfiddich, the 47th, was held behind closed doors. By now, you will no doubt have […]
