Month: December 2015

PP Editor’s Blog: Canntaireachd Explanation/ RACPADS Donation etc

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Reader Thomas Mitchell asks about canntaireachd: ‘Thank you for posting the link to the Piping Press Shop for the Gesto Canntaireachd PDF book which I just downloaded. I remember watching a video years ago of interviews with pipers. One gentleman discussed the merits of pipers learning to sing canntaireachd as it was his contention that the singing could show subtleties of phrasing that are more difficult to put into standard musical notation. Have…

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New Recordings Added to Archive/ Letter from Falklands Veteran

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Two new ceol mor recordings have been added to the PP Audio Archive. They are Lament for the Children (ground and Var.2) played by John MacDonald, Inverness, and the Earl of Seaforth’s Salute played in full by Jimmy McIntosh (pictured). Check out both here. Listening figures on the archive prove how popular this free facility is on Piping Press. The statistics vary depending on how long a recording has been published….

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PP Ed’s Blog: Tuition Funding/ Vale Recruiting/ Govan Pipers/ SFU/ FMM Tickets

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Both Les Hutt and Barry Donaldson make some very good points about the demise of our mining communities and their contribution to piping and pipe bands and the lack of recognition thereof. It is apposite that their comments should come in the week that we saw the closure of the last deep coal mine in the UK – an industry which at its zenith, in 1913, employed a million men, men who fuelled an…

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P/M Alasdair Gillies and Gordon Duncan Remembered

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Our ‘Famous Pipers’ column today has the first part of our look back at the life and times of the late, great P/M Alasdair Gillies, renowned solo piper and last Pipe Major of the Queen’s Own Highlanders. Alasdair passed away aged only 47 in 2011. The first excerpt in the series is the obituary written for him by PP Editor Robert Wallace which appeared in the national press shortly after…

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Wheel of Fortune Date Announced as Edinburgh Band Remembers its Mining Roots

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The ninth annual ‘Pipe Majors’ Wheel of Fortune’ competition will be held on Saturday 13th February 2016 in Danderhall Miners Club, near Edinburgh.  Hosted by the City of Edinburgh Pipe Band, the event is a well-established and highly popular fixture on Scotland’s solo piping calendar. Some facts: The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band competes in Grade 2 and is the senior band in Scotland’s capital. The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ competition provides…

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