Archive
Member bands of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association have elected Liam Kernaghan to the organization’s Board of Directors. Kernaghan has served as the association’s Promotions Group Leader since early 2022. Just in his early thirties, the Auckland-based Kernaghan is an accomplished competing solo and pipe band piper on […]
We check in with the recording superstar to hear about his massive role in Season 6 of the Netflix series and his life as a professional Celtic musician.
There was a time only a few years ago when making a pipe band album was an unattainable dream for most pipers and drummers. Today, thanks to technology and teaching, it’s within reach of virtually any piper, drummer or band. But it’s still not easy.
In Part 1 of the exclusive pipes|drums Interview, Hugh Cameron talked about his formative years and the piping and drumming scene in Ontario in the 1960s and ’70s. Here, in Part 2, Cameron goes into detail about his first encounters with the legendary Alex Duthart, which would lead to a close relationship that lasted more […]
Woo-hoo! It’s the 2023 pipes|drums Holiday Gift Guide! We asked our fabulous advertisers to highlight one or two of their great products and services as excellent gifts for your favourite piper, drummer or piping and drumming enthusiast, so check out their suggestions and the many great deals they offer. Be sure […]
If the dreams of relatives of the great composer and poet John “Jock” McLellan of Dunoon, Scotland, become reality, they will raise enough funds to create a new memorial in the Argyllshire town to be unveiled in 2025 – 150 years since he was born. Duncan MacGregor and Jim Henderson, […]
He’s known as a top competitive solo and band piper, and his compositions and records, but Ross Miller is maybe most famous for his Christmas piping videos and sound recordings, and he’s at it again with his 2023 creation, which went live on Friday, December 15th, on YouTube and Spotify. […]
The Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting at Oban and Inverness, Scotland, respectively, are tweaking their rules to address a good problem to have: too many entries and too-lengthy events. The world’s biggest top-tier solo piping competitions, held in late August and early September, will now require entry applications for the […]
Looking for a quick and inexpensive gift for your favourite piper, drummer or piping and drumming enthusiast? From now until December 25th you can enjoy 33% off a one-year gift subscription to pipes|drums! Just go here to purchase your Gift Subscription, and choose the date you would like your lucky […]
Everyone knows British Columbia’s Jack Lee as the greatest competing Canadian piper in history, the original and current pipe-sergeant of the Grade 1 six-time World Champion Simon Fraser University, and a teacher and judge in demand worldwide. But he’s been dutifully transcribing and recording piobaireachd and light music for decades. […]
Manawatu Scottish were the big winners, successfully defending their 2022 title at the annual Jeny Mair Square Day pipe band competitions, taking both the Medley and MSR events in a three-band Grade 1 contest. Canterbury Caledonian Society and the New Zealand Police did not compete. In Grade 2, Celtic also won both events in a three-band competition.
The Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario held its 2023 annual general meeting again all online via Zoom web conferencing, and about 55 members of the organization participated. Andrew Giles, a piper for four decades, was acclaimed President following incumbent Michael Grey’s resignation after one year of his second […]
The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP), based in Glasgow, will hold a new World Amateur Solo Piping Champion of Champions contest in April 2024 that “aims to showcase the best 10 amateur solo pipers in the world using an online platform where audience members can attend.” The first […]
Taking No Shortcuts, A Complete Pipe Band Drumming Reference Book J. Reid Maxwell 118 pages $75. Published by and available from TakingNoShortcuts.com Reviewed by Greg Dinsdale Imagine a reader picking up a freshly published book and seeing terms like “dead stroke,” “paratriplet,” “ratamacues” and, my favourite, “triz-a-let.” It sounds a little bit murder mystery, a […]
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has stated to member bands that only the World Championships and the Scottish Championships have been secured for the 2024 UK competition season. The letter from RSPBA Chairman Kevin Reill, December 6, 2023, said: To the members of the RSPBA I said I would […]
For a lifetime of “services to performance,” legendary piper Willie McCallum was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Hall of Fame at an event in Dundee, Scotland, on the afternoon of December 2nd. McCallum is probably the most successful competing piper of the last 50 years, winning virtually every top-level […]