Archive
Sandy Jones, one of the greatest figures in American piping and the only American-born piper so far to receive the Balvenie Medal for Services to Piping, died on March 5, 2023, in his eighty-fifth year. Born in Idaho in 1938 to parents with Scottish heritage, Jones started piping in 1946 […]
Glasgow – March 4, 2023 – Craig Sutherland of Perth, Scotland, emerged the overall champion at the 2023 Uist &Barra Invitational Solo Piping Competition held in the auditorium of the McPhater Street National Piping Centre headquarters. Piobaireachd 1st Craig Sutherland, “The Park Piobaireachd” (#2) 2nd John Mulhearn, Glasgow, “Queen Anne’s […]
Since 2001, Dr. William Donaldson has been contributing his Set Tunes Series for pipes|drums readers. Now comprising more than 170 piobaireachds, the series is the world’s largest free online repository of ceol mor. Each piece includes all known published manuscripts, often from obscure publications only available from the National Library in […]
Oscar Wilde famously wrote, A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Now, those of us who have the piping and drumming affliction appreciate the priceless value of what we do. The camaraderie, the never-ending quest for excellence, the competitions highs and […]
When the pandemic hit, the Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Invitational Solo Piping Competition had become one of the favourites on the calendar for both the world’s elite pipers fortunate enough to gain an invite and the piping-loving Hebridean community at which the event is held. After three years of not […]
On the heels of a grass roots petition signed by more than 10,000 supporters worldwide, Finlay MacDonald and Simon McKerrell appeared at a Scottish Parliament hearing on the “BBC: Impact of the Digital-first Agenda.” MacDonald, Director of Piping at the National Piping Centre, and McKerrell, Professor in Media & Music […]
In March 2020, the venerable Uist & Barra Invitational Solo Piping Competition was one of the first significant events to be cancelled because of the pandemic, and now the contest is back on it’s usual schedule as one of the first big competitions of the solo calendar on Saturday, March […]
Blenheim, New Zealand – February 25, 2023 – The annual Canterbury Provincial Championships were held on the same day as the Wellington-Hawkes Bay Centre competition about four hours away, and the Grade 1 event was also uncontested, as was Grade 3, but Grade 2, Grade 4 and Juvenile had a […]
Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland – February 25, 2023 – In a tie broken by the MSR result, Connor Sinclair of Crieff, Scotland, was the winner of the first Ardmore Cup Invitational Solo Piping Competition in the village of Ardmore in Waterford. For his achievement, Sinclair earned an invitation and travel and […]
Wellington, New Zealand – February 25, 2023 – Manawatu Scottish and Wellington Red Hackle won the Grade 1 and Grade 2 events at the annual Wellington Hakes Bay Centre competition. Wellington Red Hackle’s Grade 4 band took that contest against two others. Cyclone Gabrielle prevented the Grade 3 Hawkes Bay […]
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has issued its 43-page Order Paper in advance of the organization’s annual general meeting, showing assets increasing to £631,000 and cash liquidity of £323,595, following a return to a more familiar competition season after a two-year pandemic-induced shutdown that paralyzed most of the pipe […]
In Part 1 of our conversation with Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe-Major Ross Harvey and Leading-Drummer Kerr McQuillan, they discussed McQuillan’s move to take on such a prestigious role with one of the world’s elite pipe bands. At only 18 years old. Kerr McQuillan is by all accounts […]
Twenty-twenty-two was a year of regrouping and restoration after a two-year shutdown of pipe band competition through most of the piping and drumming world, with an expected general decline in the number and size of bands competing at the World Championships. As it turned out, the total number of bands […]
Dunedin, Florida – February 18, 2023 – Blair Beaton, Derek Cooper, Alex Kuldell, and Eric MacNeill each qualified to go through to the semi-final round of the 2023 World Solo Drumming Championships in Glasgow this October by taking one of the top four places at the Intercontinental Solo Drumming Championships. […]
Happy World’s Solstice – the day when we’re half a year from the World Pipe Band Championships, the day when the sun rises exactly over the tip of the obelisk at Glasgow Green, the day when pipe bands fish or cut bait and decide if they’re going or not. Safe […]
Since 2001, Dr. William Donaldson has been contributing his Set Tunes Series for pipes|drums readers. Now comprising more than 170 piobaireachds, the series is the world’s largest free online repository of ceol mor. Each piece includes all known published manuscripts, often from obscure publications only available from the National Library in […]