Reminiscing further about his early days, Ian tells me he learned on a home-made, aluminium soled practice chanter made by his tutor Alex Ibell. Ian’s first African blackwood chanter came as a prize when he won his first solo contest. Of his Army days in the Argylls Ian tells me: ‘P/M Andrew Pitkeathly put me in charge of the pipe band store. In there there was a huge chest full of stuff. I raked about and found a full set of Robertson ivory mounted pipes minus only the chanter. I got them going. They were a brilliant set and I played them with a Lawrie pipe chanter. Unfortunately I didn’t get to use them for very long. When the regiment moved to Cyprus some of the band’s pipes split in the heat and they went to someone else!’
Ian relates that the only piobaireachd prize he ever won was in the Army in a competition run by the Seaforths. It was held at their HQ in Munster in Germany in 1960. ‘Jim Henderson and I from the Argylls played in it and the judges were Captain DR MacLennan, P/M Donald MacLeod and Captain John MacLellan. My tune was the Lament for the Only Son which I had been given by Andy Pitkeathly.
‘I blew up the pipes to play and stopped the middle drone to tune the others. I put my finger in the top of the middle drone to start it a few seconds later and it flew out and landed on the floor a couple of yards away. Laughs all round but I was allowed to stop, replace it and tune up before continuing. I ended up second, got second in the MSR and won the Jig so a pretty good day all round.’
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Solo wise there are games at Markinch on Sunday so get along and support this long-established Fife event if you can. Forecast is good and the solo piping starts at 10am. There is also a band contest at Markinch and at Girvan in Ayrshire the same day (June 3). Bands at Shotts and at Cookstown in Northern Ireland tomorrow (June 2).
I liked this photograph snapped in the Cafe Royal, Edinburgh:
The fine picture below (by John Kelly) is of the current Vale of Atholl snare line and it got me thinking about the numbers of drummers in bands these days. Here we have 11 all under the guidance of L/D Adrian Hoy. Is this number really necessary? 
Don’t they overwhelm the pipes? I’m told not and that by playing with less force the additional numbers thicken the sound but do not increase the volume pro rata. Can anyone confirm this or explain the complex dynamics at play?
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