Archive
It’s the return of The Style Guy, your sartorial companion to proper ensemble – the clothing kind, that is. Let’s see what’s in yon olde mailbag . . . Hi Style Guy, I’ve noticed some judges wearing their old band kilt or a band tie when they’re doing their business. It seems to be more […]
Iain MacDonald (Regina) looks back at November 11th and the poignancy of the day for him, his family and all who served . . .
Callum Beaumont of St. Andrews, Scotland, won the third annual Sun Belt Invitational Solo Piping Competition held at the Orlando Sheraton North Hotel. The professional-level competition had a prize pool of more than US$6,000. It was Beaumont’s second time winning the aggregate prize after winning the 2022 event, the first year the competition was held.
In a stunning development, Ross Harvey, pipe-major of the Grade 1 Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, has resigned only a season removed from winning the band’s first World Championship. Pipe-Sergeant Calum Watson has been appointed pipe-major. Watson has been a member of the organization for decades, and is one […]
We continue with the ninth installment of 10 “Castle Recordings” piobaireachds in our exclusive series of performances captured on reel-to-reel tape at Edinburgh Castle in the early 1960s by the late Captain John A. MacLellan MBE. “The Battle of Aldearn” #1 “The Blue Ribbon” “The Company’s Lament” “The Earl of […]
Not quite two years after taking the role, Lead-Drummer Gareth McLees is no longer with 13-time World Champions Field Marshal Montgomery. The band did not provide a specific reason for the move, but it is believed that the decision was accepted by McLees. A successor has not yet been named, […]
Alex Pavlovic and Nicolas Bowden, both from Houston, were the overall piping and snare drumming winners, respectively, of the 18th Balmoral Classic U.S. Junior Solo Piping & Drumming Championships held at the University of Pittsburgh for players 21 and younger.
A new app for pipers, drummers, pipe bands and pretty much all serious musicians is poised to launch after trial testing in Australia and New Zealand. MusoLink is designed to motivate musicians by tracking and sharing their practice sessions and routines, while creating helping to set goals and reminders for […]
The new president of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association is Liam Kernagahn after the Auckland-based top-tier competitive piper, still in his early thirties, was acclaimed to the role, taking over from Iain Blakeley, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire. Returning to the RNZPBA’s management board […]
If a campaign successfully raises less than $13,000, “The Sound of the Somme” will be a short film that tells the story of Private James Cleland Richardson, the 20-year-old hero of the Great War piper who risked everything with his 16th Canadian Scottish Battalion at the Battle of the Somme, […]
“Amazing! Wow! I can’t believe I won!”
The perhaps unlikely country of Germany boasts a fast-growing piping and drumming community, and its brightest star is 35-year-old Anna Kummerlöw. Born in Hamburg in 1989, she was initially taught by her father, Joachim Kummerlöw, a pupil of the late Duncan Johnstone of Glasgow, one of the great competitors and […]
Over the last 20 years, Jori Chisholm has introduced many products designed to improve playing experiences and quality for pipers. His latest innovation is the Endurance Practice Chanter, an instrument developed with R.G. Hardie & Co., which promises substantially longer practice sessions without interruptions and problems caused by moisture buildup. […]
Against nine other elite solo pipers, Callum Beaumont of St. Andrews, Scotland, was the winner of the 2024 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships, held again at the Great Hall of Blair Castle in Scotland’s rolling and verdant Perthshire countryside during an always spectacular autumn. It was Beaumont’s second consecutive time winning the championship and his second time overall.
Regina’s Iain MacDonald shares a memory from his days in Scotland in the 1970s
According to several sources close to the matter, the Alliance of North American Pipe Band Associations (ANAPBA) has shelved the letter of concern that it had allegedly planned to send to the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA) regarding the latter’s propensity to re-grade North American bands. In late September, […]