Month: March 2022

Be a Better Piper: Learning Canntaireachd, the Piper’s Language

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The non piobaireachd player may be wondering what this ‘canntaireachd’ (pronounced approximately ‘can-cher-ach’) is. No mystery, no big deal. It’s just mouth music, a sort of formulated diddling common in folk traditions the world over. In Scotland, when we had a sense of humour, it has been characterised in the music hall as ‘heedrum-hawdrum’, or, when inverted for comic effect by the Glasgwow folksinger Matt McGinn, ‘you haw der um…

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Pipe Band Workshop: Some Tips on Competition March, Strathspey and Reel Tune Selection

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A general rule of thumb for tune selection in March Strathspey and Reel competitions, more especially in the lower grades, is to avoid six-parted tunes. With them you increase the potential for error and you will succeed just as easily with four-parters. Check on the most popular pieces – the RSPBA programmes from Major Championships are good source. There you will find all the tried and tested, quality tunes. Lower…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipe Band Season/ Solo Season/ NZ Contest/ Stonehaven Disband/ Scots Wha Hae

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Cheering news from the Chairman yesterday and I hope bands respond similarly by supporting the 2022 majors and, in particular, the minor contests. Use them or lose them. The concession Mr Reilly talked about, the lessening of strictures, will, I hear rumours, centre round own choice in Grade 1 and 2. Bands will still have to submit the required number of MSRs and Medleys but at the line they will…

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Upbeat Message from RSPBA Chairman Augurs Well for Forthcoming Pipe Band Season

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The Chairman of the RSPBA, Kevin Reilly, has issued a stirring rallying call to all competing bands encouraging them to pull out all the stops for the forthcoming season. Mr Reilly said it was time to put the past two years behind us, time to repair the damage, time to rediscover the music and friendship inherent in the pipe band movement. He spoke as the Association announced the availibility of…

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Rolling Back the Years – The Geoff Hore Legacy

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Readers may recall that here in New Zealand we’ve been working on the ‘Geoff Hore Legacy’ by amassing his rather large collection of articles he wrote for the NZ ‘Pipeband’ magazine. The works have now been digitised and are available on the NZ Piping Centre website. The work is primarily of local NZ interest but the inclusion of the histories of Logans and Pattersons publishers will be of more universal…

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