Archive

Edith MacPherson, the first woman to win significant solo prizes in Scotland, died in Inverness on September 4, 2024, in her ninety-seventh year.

After 43 years, 25 Ulster Championships, 27 All-Ireland Championships, 17 Scottish Championships, 13 European Championships, 12 Cowal Championships, 12 British Championships, five UK Championships, 15 RSPBA Grade 1 Champion of Champions titles, and, most famously, 13 World Championships, Richard Parkes has retired as pipe-major of Field Marshal Montgomery. Matt Wilson […]

With a Piobaireachd win and a third in the MMSSRR, Callum Beaumont of St. Andrews, Scotland, was the overall winner of the 2024 Springbank Invitational Solo Piping Competition held at the Argyle Arms Hotel and organized by the Kintyre Piping Society.

We get together with former members Brian Lamond, Davey McRobert, Ian Morris and Gordon Stafford to talk about a historically significant band that, at the time, won competitions, made musical waves and did things differently, all while having a whole lot of fun.

The Competition League of Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) is expanding further with the addition of online practice chanter competitions for pipers 18 and older. The new class completes all amateur categories from Grade 1 to Practice Chanter familiar with competing pipers in North America, though adults infrequently compete in practice […]

Argyllshire has probably produced more great solo pipers than anywhere on earth in the last 150 years, and eight of Scotland’s best will strut their musical stuff at the 2024 Springbank Invitational in Campbeltown on September 14th at the Argyll Arms Hotel. Callum Beaumont, St. Andrews, Scotland Alasdair Henderson, Edinburgh […]

There’s nothing unusual about holding a solo contest, but the inaugural Raasay Piping Competition at the Raasay Community Hall on the island adjacent to the Isle of Skye was devised by the well-known multi-instrumentalist piper Hamish Moore in an effort to strengthen the instrument’s connection with its “Gaelic roots.”

We continue with the eighth 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.

After the success of Mackenzie Caledonian’s first of a series of recitals last April with the legendary Willie McCallum, the Dundee, Scotland-based pipe band organization is bringing Callum Beaumont, another solo piping legend, to the Woodlands Hotel stage in Broughty Ferry on Friday, November 29th. “The recital at the Woodlands […]

After all entries were considered, and we waited long enough to be comfortable that the prize list would not change, Ryan Kenndy of Carnoustie, Scotland, emerged the winner of the 2024 pipes|drums Pick The Six context! Ryan’s canny pre-conclusions netted 14 points (while also picking the correct World Champion), tying […]

The Rising Sun Collection is Naismith’s analysis of the first written description of piobaireachd theory and notation. This Compleat Theory was written around 1760 by the 20-year-old Joseph MacDonald from Durness on Scotland’s north coast, en route to India.

While the handover of power in a pipe band is rarely as cut-throat as what we see on TV, the lack of a cohesive and clear succession plan can bring disaster to a once-thriving and homogeneous family of pipers and drummers.

A testament to the trend of pipers and drummers playing at a high level into their seventies and beyond, the music of Breton-based Highland piper Jakez Pincet is showcased on Volume 5 in the Art du Solo de Cornemuse (Solo Piping Art) series that becomes available the weekend of September […]

Willie McCallum won three of four of the light music events to secure the overall championship and a good share of the total prize fund of more than £3,500 that awarded eight cash prizes in each event at the annual Chatsworth County Fair, held in sunny weather on the grounds of the magnificent Chatsworth House. Ed McIlwaine won the Piobaireachd, and Neil Esslemont was first in the 6/8 March.

Joe Noble, the legendary pipe band snare drummer, businessman, teacher, and judge, passed away on August 31, 2024, at age 82. Born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 1942, neither of his parents was involved with piping or drumming. However, five years after the Noble family moved to Glasgow in 1949, he […]

The second day of the 2024 Northern Meeting featured the Clasp for previous winners of one of the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medals that is for most, the greatest non-invitational solo piping competition there is. Nick Hudson of Houston won the Clasp for the first time, only a few years after gaining the Northern Meeting Highland Society of London Gold Medal in 2022 when he had to exit Eden Court Theatre quickly to return to Houston to enjoy the birth of his son. This time, he was able to savour the moment longer.