Archive
Craig Sutherland of Perth, Scotland, won the inaugural Gordon Duncan Memorial Kitchenpiping Solo Piping Competition at the 28th annual Skagit Valley Highland Games at the Skagit County Fairgrounds. Sixteen Open, Grade 1 and Grade 2 pipers competed. The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust and the Celtic Arts Foundation sponsor the event.
The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland have opened for pipers and drummers ages 10 to 25 eager to join the highly successful performance-based program that brings together Scotland’s top young players. The National Piping Centre runs the program, and “provides unique opportunities for the top young players to connect, […]
If the total entry at the 2024 World Championships is an indication, the rebound of the competitive pipe band community post-pandemic shows a solid gain. 204 bands across all grades are set to compete at the August 16-17 competition at Glasgow Green in Glasgow, an increase of 14 bands over […]
Greighlan Crossing of Vancouver won Grade 3, the top contested grade at the Penticton Scottish Festival on an unseasonably hot, but increasingly normal, sunny day in BC’s interior, with temperatures in the mid-30sC.
The New South Wales border town of Albury was host to the Victorian Pipers Association’s comprehensive solo piping competition, where Jono Quay of Melbourne won four of the five A-Grade events in which he competed. Liam Nicolson, also from Melbourne, won the twice-through A-Grade March, Strathspey & Reel.
The Ottawa Highlanders made it two straight wins in Grade 2, taking the top contested band event at the Kincardine Scottish Festival. Ian K. MacDonald was best overall in the professional solo piping, and Kyle Wardell got the aggregate in the professional solo snare drumming.
In one of the closest All-Ireland Pipe Band Championships ever, St. Laurence O’Toole of Dublin won the title for the seventh time in the band’s history, tipping Northern Ireland’s Field Marshal Montgomery on MSR preference. The two bands split the overall Best Piping title.
After its cancellation in 2023, the prestigious Silver Chanter piobaireachd competition will return on August 7th, to be held at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college located on the remote Sleat peninsula on Skye. But for what would appear to be the first time in the event’s 57-year history, the […]
Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe-Major Richard Parkes and Leading Drummer Gareth McLees are on board as instructors at the annual “Sound Advice” piping and drumming summer camp from Sunday, July 7th, until Friday, July 12th, in Regina, Saskatchewan. Joining the FM leaders will be Sean Somers, Glenna Mackay-Johnstone, Jacquie Troy-Carter, Jessica Featherstone […]
We conclude the exclusive pipes|drums Interview with Mike Cusack, the greatest competitive piper in American history. In this final installment, Mike Cusack looks at judging, teaching, and what the future might bring for the history-making piper.
After co-founding Pipe Dreams with Tommy Johnston in 1997, Ronnie McShannon is retiring from making Ezeedrone reeds, effective at the end of this month. The company’s new leadership team is elite solo piper Finlay Johnston, who has worked with the organization for several years, and Major Gordon Rowan, MBE, who […]
Armed with a pipe box ready for any eventuality, Edinburgh’s Ben Duncan four-wheeled it into the 710-year-old Ceres Highland Games in Fife and rolled out with both light music firsts and a second in the Piobaireachd, which was awarded to Darach Urquhart of Glasgow.
Steven Shedden of Melbourne won the first Oceania Solo Drumming Championship held at St. Andrew’s College. Shedden and runner-up Scott Birrell qualify for the semi-final of the 2024 World Solo Drumming Championships in Glasgow in October.
The contest that spotlights only the performances, not the judging, before, during or after the event occurs is invariably the most appealing to the contestants and the audience. All they remember is the good playing and the fair result.
pipes|drums is pleased to bring readers, viewers and listeners videos of the Grade 2 MSR performances from the 2024 Chicago Highland Games, held on June 15th at DuPage County Fairgrounds in the city’s northwest. The event saw a total of 38 bands compete across all events sanctioned and organized by […]
The 90-year-old Connecticut native has been a member of the Manchester Pipe Band for 78 years and counting. Ritchie is a legend with players all over the northeastern United States and beyond.