Archive
The Internet – November 12-December 14, 2022 – The latest Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) competition was held online, with contestants performing live on November 12th and videos of their performances are emailed to judges who had a month to assess them. Each receiving a glorious silver medallion, […]
After the success of the inaugural Sun Belt Invitational Solo Piping Competition (“An Crios Gréine”) in Maitland, Florida, last November, the contest’s organizers plan to add a Grade 1 Amateur section, with 10 pipers to be invited. According to organizer Eric Stein, overall Grade 1 and aggregate champions will be […]
According to research, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on September 19, 2022, was watched live by more than four-billion people worldwide, making it the most-viewed event or program ever televised. At the culminating moment, when the Queen’s casket was lowered to her final resting place at King George VI Memorial Chapel, […]
Reigning and 13-time World Champions Field Marshal Montgomery of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, are making their biggest leadership change in 20 years, as Lead-Drummer Keith Orr has decided to retire from competing. Long-time Field Marshal Montgomery corps member and many-time prizewinner at the World Solo Drumming Championship Gareth McLees is taking […]
Palmerston North, New Zealand – December 10, 2022 – In addition to the pipe band events at the 2022 Jenny Mair Square Day, 12 top-flight snare drummers from across New Zealand competed in the Open Solo Drumming Championship at the Celtic Inn, and Georgia Eagle, leading-drummer of the St. Andrew’s […]
Solo piping competition impresario Eric Stein has put his organizational and sponsorship talents to work for a new invitational solo piping competition in Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland, on February 25th next year that promises to feature 10 players from Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland: Glenn Brown, Glasgow Kris Coyle, Carrickfergus, Northern […]
Palmerston North, New Zealand – December 10, 2022 – Manawatu Scottish were awarded all first-place rankings by the Grade 1 judges at the first major competition of the 2022-23 New Zealand season. In Grade 2, St. Andrew’s Brisbane made the six-hour flights from Australia to Palmerston North worthwhile by winning […]
Grade 2 Wallacestone & District of Falkirk, Scotland, is in the market for a new leader after Pipe-Major Neil Henderson decided to step down after 11 years at the helm of the 135-year-old group, the world’s longest running civilian band. Under Henderson, Wallacestone went from Grade 4 to Grade 2. […]
A new ceol mor workshop in Pittsburgh will launch February 24-26 in commemoration of the late great piobaireachd teacher and performer Jimmy McIntosh, who died in February 2021 at the age of 95. Put together jointly by the Pittsburgh Piping Society and Carnegie Mellon University, the inaugural Jimmy McIntosh MBE […]
The MacEoin-Ramsay Pipe Band was originally formed in the Ottawa area in 1981, and under Pipe-Major David Clyde established itself as a successful competition Grade 4 group. The band has lain dormant for almost two decades . . . until now, with the group being resurrected under Pipe-Major Kris Bawden […]
The critically acclaimed alt-rock / “jangly pop” band Alvvays in a brief Instagram interview with the influential Pitchfork magazine has admitted they owe their signature sound to the Highland pipes. Alvvays is fronted by Molly Rankin, whose father, the late John Morris Rankin was a member of the famous Cape […]
In Part 1 of the exclusive pipes|drums Interview with Jim Sim, the 40-year drumming leader and president of the Midwest Pipe Band Association for the last dozen years talked about his pipe band origins and influences. Now, in Part 2, he takes us through the genesis of the influential, regionally iconic Midlothian Scottish Pipe Band […]
At a gala event at Caird Hall in Dundee, Scotland, Grade 1 Inveraray & District of Inveraray, Scotland, was named Scottish Pipe Band of the Year in a public vote in the 20th annual Scots Trad Music Awards. The band beat out fellow nominees Kilchoman Distillery Isle of Islay, the […]
About 50 of the approximately 1,100 members of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario met online for the organization’s 2022 annual general meeting on December 3rd. Association president Michael Grey reported on the activities of the society as it returned to in-person events after two years of making […]
Bill Caudill of North Carolina was elected to a two-year term president of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association at the world’s largest piping and drumming organization’s annual general meeting on the morning of December 3rd. Caudill ran against Derek Cooper of Pennsylvania in a vote that was reportedly […]
In Part 1, Liz Sheridan discussed her symptoms and her road to diagnosis. In Part 2, she takes us through her treatment and makes suggestions for learning more about similar difficulties if you also suspect you might suffer from more complicated dexterity problems. The complexity and risks of playing the […]