Archive

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.

The first of the two-day 2024 Northern Meeting saw Craig Sutherland of Crieff, Scotland, win the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal for piobaireachd, adding to his win of the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering in 2017. He gains an invitation to the 2024 Glenfiddich Championships.

Nick Hudson has been an excellent solo piper for many years. But when he won the Highland Society of London Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in 2022, his star immediately rose to an elite level. Originally from Massachusetts, Nick Hudson started his piping when his family moved to a suburb of […]

The Argyllshire Gathering at Oban is the precursor to the Northern Meeting at Inverness for the world’s top-tier competing pipers. The sister competitions have been echoing one another for well over a century and stand as the most important non-invitational solo piping events on earth. The 2024 Northern Meeting will […]

A three-page open letter and accompanying proposal from an “Independent Working Group on Youth Piping and Drumming” comprising more than 80 youth band instructors to Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association leaders could be a first in the history of competitive pipe bands in the United Kingdom. The letter outlines the […]

Canada’s version of the Amazing Race might take in “Amazing Grace” when the program includes a stop at the Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville, Ontario, at 9 pm ET on the Tuesday, August 27th, episode on the CTV television network. The Amazing Race Canada production team visited Maxville and nearby […]

Liam Kernaghan won the third annual CPA Bronze Medal piobaireachd competition held at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street auditorium. Nineteen pipers competed in the event, which the Competing Pipers Association started to cater to members on the cusp of getting into the Silver Medal piobaireachd contests at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting. However, the events are limited to only 25, far more than those who apply to get into them.

The tenth Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner-Recital Medal was awarded to Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, held before a full audience at the Caledonian Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the heart of Scotland’s capital city. MacDonald played “For My Lass, Fair, Pretty and Highland.”

The Lonach Highland Games date back to the 1820s, and this year’s event saw a preponderance of non-Scottish pipers competing and succeeding. James MacHattie, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Washington, DC’s Andrew Donlon, and Ben McClamrock, also of Washington, won the Piobaireachd, March, and Strathspey & Reel, respectively.

Sandy Cameron of Roy Bridge, Scotland, and Auckland’s Liam Kernaghan won top prizes at the annual Lochaber Gathering, winning the Piobaireachd and MSR for pipers graded Premier or A by the Competing Pipers Association. Andrew Donlon of Washington, DC, was awarded the “Best Strathspey & Reel” prize as part of the MSR event.

Zephan Knichel of Surrey, British Columbia, won two of the three events at the annual Glenisla Highland Games, held in a farmer’s field just off the B951 near Kirriemuir. Knichel played against five others in the Senior solo piping. The field’s owner, the mysterious Major Gibb, is part of piping folklore, as he gets to judge the piping events along with more qualified people. We’re not kidding.