Wheel of Fortune: Unique Allan MacDonald Tune Offer for Auction

city of edinburgh logoOrganisers of the prestigious ‘Pipe Major’s Wheel of Fortune’ competition have sent the latest on the competition auction which includes a very generous offer from supremely talented piper, composer and singer, Allan MacDonald…..

ALLAN MACDONALD PUTS HIS SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL FOR CAPITAL BAND

By Paul White

Piper and multi-instrumentalist Allan MacDonald is set to boost the City of Edinburgh Pipe Band’s fundraising efforts by donating a tune for auction in the run-up to the band’s annual Pipe Major’s Wheel of Fortune competition.

A winner of the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in 1984 and the Clasp in 1989 and 1990, Allan is perhaps best known for his skills as a composer and for a bold style of playing shaped by Gaelic culture and history.


Pipe Major Barry Donaldson welcomed the significance of Allan’s contribution to what is now an established event on Scotland’s piping calendar:

Allan MacDonald
Supremely talented…Allan MacDonald

‘Allan dropped in to our band practice just before we finished for the Christmas break.  Our band secretary asked Allan if he might be willing to donate a tune for auction at the Wheel of Fortune and we were delighted when he said yes. We are sure there will be worldwide interest in bidding to have a tune composed by a musician of Allan’s pedigree.’

Compiler and composer of The Moidart Collections Volumes 1 and 2, a number of Allan’s tunes are established in the piping canon, with The Road to Loch Nam Bairneas and Lord McConnell of Lough Erne and Lochend featuring in Greater Glasgow Police Scotland Pipe Band’s Ceolry concert in 2014.

Allan’s prize offer at the Wheel of Fortune is a two-parted composition in a musical idiom of the auction winner’s choice.  The person who submits the winning bid will also be able to name the tune.

The opportunity Allan is presenting is just fantastic,’ continued Pipe Major Donaldson. ‘His tune might mark a happy occasion – a birth, engagement or wedding – or be in remembrance of an event, person or place.  The only limit is the imagination of the pipers and piping enthusiasts who bid in our auction.’

Online bids for a tune by Allan can be made from 3rd February until 4.00pm on Saturday 13th February.  Look out for further information nearer the time in Piping Press.

‘We will announce the winner of the auction just before prize-giving at the ~Wheel of Fortune competition,’ concluded Pipe Major Donaldson.

‘If our initiative works as well as we think it will, we’ll be encouraging other top composers to follow Allan’s generous lead in future years.’


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