Archive
Bill Caudill discusses the benefits and challenges of the EUSPBA’s rule that its president can serve a maximum of two two-year terms in the role, his desire to encourage more members to become more involved with the association, and his view on the second and final year of his current term.
Under new President Andrew Giles and new Education Committee head Ross Davison, the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario is planning to hold a special summit on pipe band drumming to discuss ideas on how to “foster collective solutions to the general state of drumming and improve the current […]
Bill Caudill was elected president of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association in December 2022. Over the last year, he has settled into his role as leader of the world’s largest piping and drumming association by geography and membership. Representing pipers and drummers from Texas to Maine, with six […]
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has informed member bands of the addition of the 2024 European Championships on Sunday, August 11, in Perth, Scotland. The event falls five days before the World Championships in Glasgow and will be the third championship secured this UK season. “I am pleased to […]
Frank commentary on the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario, the chronic shortage of drummers in Ontario, and the roots of his nearly 50-year tenure on the association’s Music Committee. Fellow drumming leader Doug Stronach – also one of the world’s great contributors to the pipe band drumming art – conducts the fascinating and historically important conversation..
According to several reliable sources, Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Chief Executive Colin Mulhern has resigned from his role with the world’s most powerful piping and drumming organization. If the reports are accurate, the move comes about six weeks before the RSPBA’s annual general meeting on March 9th and at […]
Grade 2 Rocky Mountain of Calgary has decided to sit out the 2024 competition season due to an inability to put enough players on the field. The band has struggled to maintain its numbers since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown years. “We’ve had some tough and considered conversations, and sadly, a […]
One Great Circle is the name of the new nine-track album by the piper and multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield, who gets together with the duo of Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and Celtic harpist Catriona McKay to create another evocative recording. It’s the tenth album from Fifield, and follows his acclaimed Piobaireachd […]
Stuart Easton of Palmerston North, New Zealand, was the overall winner of the Open solo piping competitions at the Turakina Highland Games on New Zealand’s North Island. Easton won both light music events, while Rura, New Zealand’s Brendon Eade won the Piobaireachd. It was the 159th staging of the event, making it one of the world’s longest-running Highland games.
The National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street, Glasgow, auditorium will be the venue for the venerable Scottish Pipers’ Association’s annual Professional Solo Piping Competition on April 6th. There will be three Piobaireachd events. One for those classified as Premier or A-Grade in ceol mor by the Competing Pipers Association and “non-CPA-graded […]
This Robert Burns Day, we resurrect a brilliant parody of the bard’s “Address to a Haggis” by the redoubtable Iain MacDonald of Regina, Saskatchewan. Initially published in 2010 with “Anon.” as the author, it’s another example of the thousands of excellent pieces from hundreds of contributors to pipes|drums over our […]
Joe Baschnagel uncovers exciting information about Mona Ross, one of the first successful female pipers in the United States
There’s a saying in the music industry: a good song is a good song, no matter who covers it or how it’s done. That’s true. Think of all those renditions of familiar hits you like. They may not be as good as the original, but they’re generally good and often even better. You recognize them. They immediately attract you with their familiarity. At Christmastime, we hear arrangements ad infinitum of classic carols and holiday songs done by pop stars. This is intentional. Artists and their labels know that the music-buying public will at least give them a listen.
The funeral for George Lumsden, who died on January 9th will be held on Monday, January 29, 2024, at the Kingdom Hall, Cowden Park, Stirling Road, Alloa, Scotland at 2 pm. Afterwards, there will be a reception at the Alba Restaurant & Claremont Hotel, 23 Kellie Place in Alloa. “Geordie” Lumsden […]
John Hughes, the vice-chairman of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, died suddenly on January 20, 2024, 15 days after celebrating his sixty-eighth birthday. Hughes was a lifelong contributor to the association and was awarded an Honourary Vice President for his many years of service as a board member representing […]
Did you know Hugh Cameron was the piping and drumming world’s first full-time dealer of exclusively pipe band percussion instruments? He was also the first full-time teacher of pipe band drumming, and he played a massive role in developing the modern pipe band snare drum. Our must-see / must-read interview continues.