New Competition for Original Piobaireachd Works Offers Substantial Prize Money

The Shasta Piping Society (US) and the Burley Bagpipe Company (BC, Canada) have announced the following:

Original Piobaireachd Music Competition Sponsored by Shasta Piping Society and Burley Bagpipe Company

This competition calls for copies of original piobaireachds to be submitted by composers to a panel of qualified judges, Mike Cusack (USA), Bill Livingstone (Canada) and Robert Wallace (Scotland – chair).  The piobaireachds must be original to the composer(s), of any style, and cannot have been published before.  Prize awards for the top three compositions will be £500/£250/£100.  Submissions must be received by April 1, 2017, and winners will be announced in May 2017.

Piobaireachd Competition Rules

  1. Composers must have reached the age of 21 by the final submission date.
  2. Piobaireachd submissions must be original to the composer(s), and not been published before.
  3. Submissions may be of any form (Lament, Salute, etc.) preferred by the composer(s).
  4. Only one submission is allowed from each composer.
  5. Submissions must be unmarked PDF files of the music score, attached to an introductory email with the composer’s contact information.  No indication of the composer’s identity or composition name on the score is allowed.
  6. Submissions must be generated by computer in a recognizable arrangement format (PS, Binneas, McIntosh).  Hand-written scores or written notations on the score are not accepted.
  7. Submissions must also include an audio electronic file of the composition played on pipes or practice chanter, with no voice or identifying markers.
  8. Complete submissions must be submitted to the email address:  shastapipingsociety@gmail.com  by April 1, 2017.
  9. Composers will retain all copyright, but must agree to grant the sponsors free right to publish the score in a music collection and use recordings of the arrangement to advertise future competitions.
  10. Composers must have the ability to receive monetary awards from the sponsors by PayPal account.
  11. All decisions made by the representatives of the sponsors are final.

Judging
Piobaireachd submissions will be catalogued, provided individual identification, and sent under blind cover to the panel of judges.  Results of the competition will be announced to each of the composers during May, 2017, and announced on pipingpress.com shortly thereafter.  Awards will be distributed within 30 days of the winner’s announcement by PayPal payment. The judges, Mike Cusack, Bill Livingstone and Robert Wallace, are three of the most respected figures in world piping. Between them they have amassed multiple awards. All are double Gold Medallists and holders of the Northern Meeting Clasp, the senior piobaireachd event. Each has a lifetime of playing and teaching ceol mor.

shasta-logoShasta Piping Society
The mission of the Shasta Piping Society is to foster interest and proficiency in the traditional music of Scotland.  The main function of the SPS is to provide a program that enables disadvantaged youth to receive refurbished instruments, so the financial burden of bagpipe purchase does not prevent them from becoming active musicians.  Another goal of the SPS is to encourage existing players to expand their repertoire to include musical scores and settings not often heard by players or audiences.

burley-bagpipe-logoBurley Bagpipe Company
Graham Burley produces high quality bagpipes in Penticton, British Columbia.  Graham started learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipe at the age of seven, and as an adult he also took a keen interest in Irish uilleann pipes. The rarity and challenge of uilleann pipes led to his pursuit of pipe making, and with the help of his father, a retired machinist, he started producing Scottish and Irish instruments in 2003 during his machinist apprenticeship.  Burley Bagpipe Company began full-time production in 2013 to provide pipes with quality of tone, stability of sound, and beauty of craftsmanship well suited for the player of ceol mor.