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 it himself: “I was never interested in whether I could beat this man or the next. […]
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 […]
A few online competitions have taken place as a result of the measures brought in to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest one being the one by Aboyne Highland Games that was announced here yesterday. However, that one is for professional pipers. The first one that catered to junior competitors […]
October 12, Glasgow – John Dew from Crieff but now domiciled in Glasgow was the overall champion piper in the senior piping events held today at the Royal National Mòd in Glasgow. John won the Ceòl Mòr contest with the MSR going to Finlay Cameron. Archie Drennan won the Hornpipe […]
