PiobSoc and SPJA open judges’ forum

The annual seminar for UK solo piping judges will be available at no charge to all who wish to attend or view on the Internet, live from the National Piping Centre on November 20th.

Put on by the Piobaireachd Society and the Solo Piping Judges’ Association (SPJA), the seminar is designed to familiarize adjudicators with various interpretations of the piobaireachds set for the annual major competitions at Oban and Inverness, as well as other sundry events that wish to adopt the lists.

The primary focus of the seminar will be on the tunes mandated for the Silver Medal competitions, taken from the Piobaireachd Society Collection Book 16, and compositions by Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod. Piobaireachd luminaries Andrew Wright and John Wilson will handle the discussion, with Wright looking after the Book 16 material and Wilson the Donald MacLeod works, with Piobaireachd Society and SPJA president and chair, respectively, Jack Taylor moderating the event.

Both Wright and Wilson were long-time pupils of Donald MacLeod, and several of the tunes will be played on the pipes.

“The Silver Medal tunes for next year seemed a good subject as they will not generally be well known,” said Piobaireachd Society Music Committee Secretary Alan Forbes. “It will be made clear that there is scope for different interpretations of the tunes and no expectation that they will be treated in any specific way. It will also be an opportunity to discuss any issues that may arise over possible errors or inconsistencies in the scores.”

Forbes added that there are no longer any printed copies of Donald MacLeod’s Collection of Ceol Mor, from which two of the tunes set for the Silver Medal are taken, and the Piobaireachd Society is working to get permission from MacLeod’s estate to make the scores available

Details of the livestream are still to be released, but the seminar will start at 1 pm GMT, and go until about 4:30 pm.