Tag: Willie Ross

International Uilleann Piping Day in Glasgow / Liddell recital in deep south / Piping in London, a history / Brìghde opens COP26

International Uilleann Piping Day in Glasgow / Liddell recital in deep south / Piping in London, a history / Brìghde opens COP26

Renowned uilleann piper, Jarlath Henderson, is holding a master class for uilleann pipers this weekend in Scotland to mark the tenth International Uilleann Piping Day. The event will take place this Saturday (6th) from 1.00pm-9.00pm at the National Piping Centre Otago Street, the former College of Piping building in Glasgow’s […]

Famous pipers: John D. Burgess

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. […]

In full flow. The Clasp competition at the 2019  Northern Meeting.

Modern pitch

By Thomas Pearston The photograph of four chanters, below, is a confirmation of the rise in pitch over the past 50 years. Chanter A is a chanter from the First World War, B is about the early 1940s and C is a modern chanter as played to-day. D is a […]

Willie Ross teaching in Dundee

Willie Ross teaching in Dundee

By Jeannie Campbell MBE Some time ago, Mrs Gatens from Fife donated some piping memorabilia to the Museum of Piping at the College of Piping (now at the National Piping Centre). The items belonged to her late husband, Ernest D. Gatens. Among the books and chanters were some other interesting […]

J. B. with the practice chanter he later gifted to John Shone.

Famous pipers: J. B. Robertson

James Blair Robertson was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1905. He was for many years a living legend among competing pipers and when he died, in London on October 2, 1988, one of the last remaining links with the leading pipers of the 1920s and 1930s was gone. Competitively, his […]

Famous pipers: John A. MacLellan

Simply put, Captain John A. MacLellan MBE (1921-1991) was one of the most important pipers of the 20th century. A military man, he joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders as a boy piper in 1936. In 1941, he was appointed Pipe Major of the 9th Battalion, Queen’s Own Highlanders: he […]

PM Bill Robertson.

PM Bill Robertson, an appreciation

Vale, Pipe Major William Robertson (1932-2020) By Brett Tidswell Pipe Major William Robertson died at 12:00pm last Thursday (24th) in Auckland, New Zealand, the country he made home since moving there in 1959, and where he made a huge contribution to piping and to pipe bands. A celebration of his […]

Willie Donaldson: What are we waiting for?

Willie Donaldson: What are we waiting for?

There has been a call in recent years for change in the long-standing arrangements in the big piobaireachd competitions; that the Piobaireachd Society should stop naming its own settings as the preferred ones, or stop setting the annual tunes at all, allowing the performers free choice in which tunes they […]

Stories of the Tunes: The Edinburgh Pìobaireachd

Stories of the Tunes: The Edinburgh Pìobaireachd

Piobaireachd Dhuneideann – The Edinburgh Piobaireachd – was composed by Captain John MacLellan (1921-1991) in 1981 to mark the many piping occurrences which have taken place in Scotland’s capital city over the past couple of centuries. “At the beginning of the 19th century,” MacLellan wrote in the October 1981 edition […]

Stuart Letford: The new piping normal

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. […]