Well away! or Blooterville! – our picks for great intros and patchy mistakes from 2018

Well Away! – Still haven’t found that missing third volume of the Campbell Canntaireachd? Well, this six-part march came to light from the pen of the great G.S. McLennan, and makes an excellent addition to the repertoire of challenging solo tunes. Rising from the papers of the late Captain John A. MacLellan, this tune was unknown previously, and has been typeset and released first on pipes|drums for the world to enjoy.

Newly discovered six-parted 2/4 march by G.S. McLennan published first on pipes|drums

Blooterville! – The Internet and social media have made it easy to co-opt ideas, to steal original thinking, and co-opt it as your own, but, amazingly, the piping and drumming world largely maintains its commitment to creativity. We give credit where it’s due and ask for permission before using things that don’t belong to us. The exceptions are “aggregators” of content that love to hijack our original news stories and pass them off as their own “journalism.” Yep, imitation equals flattery, but aping or stealing our stuff and making money from it is beyond the pale and goes against traditions of piping and drumming respect. If you think we’re thinking of you, well, then, yes, we probably are.

Blooterville! – It was the 1970s when some exceptional pipers (female) finally were allowed to play in “the medals” (and no doubt still weren’t given their due), and here we are 40 years later with a scarcity of females fishing for the top prizes. The reasons for this seem to be complex and multi-layered, but the bottom line is we know we are missing out on some great tunes. As some women have suggested, perhaps females simply are not as competitive as males who might be more driven to win, win win. Even so, it’s worth investigating to see if the piping and drumming can solve any problems.

Oban and Inverness lists beg the Q: Where are the women?