Archive

In a show of support for new Leading-Drummer Kerr McQuillan, Peoples Ford has extended its sponsorship agreement with the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia organization of Bathgate, Scotland, for another two years. The deal covers title sponsorship of the group’s Grade 1 and Novice bands. The move coincides with Peoples Ford’s […]

In line with the organization’s policy of requiring all pipers and drummers performing with a band in competition to be properly registered, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association will be checking the rosters of randomly-chosen bands as they come off from the contest circle at the UK Championships at Lurgan, […]

The families of about 120 young piping and drumming students at Larkhall Academy and 10 associated schools in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, will have a far easier time of it after the Scottish Schools Pipes & Drums Trust (SSPDT) awarded them £30,000 (about $50,000) for their pursuit of the art. Larkhall […]

The UK Championship on June 10th at Lurgan, Northern Ireland, is the first of four major events in the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s 2023 competition season and, despite tough economic challenges of post-pandemic Britain, the indomitable spirit of pipers and drummers A total of 80 entries across all grades […]

At a time when pipers, drummers and bands are concerned for the future for competitions being a primary performance platform, the City of Sacramento Pipe Band is getting the finger out, taking things into their own hands in an attempt to capitalize on new creative opportunities for players and public alike.

Greighlan Crossing Grade 3, the top contested band event, and Alastair Lee of Surrey, British Columbia, won the aggregate in the Open solo piping grade at the annual Bellingham Scottish Gathering. Weather was warm and dry on the unusually dusty grounds.

Glasgow – June 3, 2023 – The National Piping Centre was the venue for the latest in-person contest for the Competition League of Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP). Ultimately, Theo Pratt, Donald Morrison and James Acheson were the aggregate winners in the Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 categories, respectively. […]

On a sunny but chilly day under the trees, 13 competed in the senior solo piping events. Ultimately it was Ben Duncan of Edinburgh who gained the most aggregate points.

Brendon Eade of Auckland was the overall winner of the King’s Birthday Solo Piping Championships (formerly the Queen’s Birthday Championship), host to the New Zealand Open Solo Championships, with Greg Wilson of Tai Tapu, New Zealand, the runner-up.

Field Marshal Montgomery was the Grade 1 winner of the Mid-Ulster Pipe Band Championships, held on the grounds of Cookstown High School in a three-band medley competition. St. Laurence O’Toole took the drumming. It was the first competition for Field Marshal Montgomery, and the first under the band’s new leading-drummer, Gareth McLees.

The 2023 Scottish Fest at Costa Mesa, just south of Los Angeles, saw 15 bands and more than 130 solo contestants competing for the prizes. Ultimately, the Silicon Valley Pipe Band took both top-level events, and Californian Seamus Coyne took the aggregate Professional Solo Piping. Grade 1 overall went to Malachi Johannsen, Grade 2: Noah Mittwer, Grade 3: Lars Lund, Grade 4 17 & Under: Logan Gorsuch, Grade 4 18 & Over: Andrew Reynolds. Crowd attendance exceeded expectations and the weather was typically Southern California excellent all weekend.

A fundamental change must occur if piping and drumming is to thrive or even survive in any meaningful way. In short, we have to put the performance – the entertainment value for non-players – first and clinical precision second. For more than 35 years, we’ve called for a musical change […]

Ten talented amateur Grade 1 solo piping competitors will earn a place in the brand new World Amateur Champion of Champions Solo Piping Competition to be held on April 27, 2024, in a “live online” format run by the National Piping Centre’s Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP). How […]

According to both BBC Scotland and Glasgow Life, the live-stream, radio and television coverage of the 2023 World Pipe Band Championships on August 18-19 in Glasgow are still to be determined. A spokesperson for Glasgow Life, the organization that licenses the competition from the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and […]

The Peel Regional Police of Ontario won Grade 2 both days with straight first placings at the annual Alma Highland Festival, traditionally held over the American Memorial Day weekend. Seventeen bands in total competed in warm and sunny weather with a good crowd gathered to take in the music. There were no Grade 1 or Grade 3 competitions.

Under bright sunny skies, the first significant Scottish outdoor solo piping competition of 2023 was held at the annual Atholl Gathering in the shadow of Blair Castle on the Duke of Atholl’s estate. Roddy MacLeod of Glasgow had the most success overall, winning the Premier & A-Grade Piobaireachd and taking second in the Open MSR, while Edinburgh’s Ben Duncan and Angus D. MacColl of Benderloch, Scotland, took the MSR and Hornpipe & Jig, respectively. Due to the large entry, the Open light music was run in heats, judged by the judges who made up the benches for the finals, with one on each heat.