As Piping Press readers may know, Comunn na Piobaireachd (CNP) NZ is running a competition for the composition of ceòl mòr. Entries are open from anywhere in the world.
We want to put out one more round of publicity before entries close on February 29th. The full title of the competition is the Sir Ian and Neville McKay Piobaireachd Composing Competition. Ian (top) and his brother Neville are pictured in the poster above.
The McKay brothers made a significant contribution to the development of piobaireachd in New Zealand in performance, teaching and administration.
As a commemoration and celebration of this, and with the kind support of the McKay family, we have launched this competition in their name.
Click here CNPNZCOMPETITION@gmail.com to submit your entry to Richard Hawke, who is kindly managing the event. I am one of the judges, and we will all be judging ‘blind’.
Have you ever composed a piobaireachd? or is there one floating around inside you, just waiting to be written down? Bring out your inner MacCrimmon!
Here is a chance to share your tune, and win $NZ1,000 [just under £500 at current rates]. You need to submit it in a printed/written version, as well as a taped/videoed performance by the composer or someone else.
Entries close February 29th 2024. Give it a go! Contact CNPNZCOMPETITION@gmail.com for more information.
- Iain Hines was taught by Henry Hobbs, Frank Mackinnon, Sir Ian McKay and Donald Bain. In Scotland in the 1980s, he had further tuition in piobaireachd from Jimmy McIntosh. He was runner-up to Jack Lee in the 1981 Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting and also runner-up for the Braemar Gold Medal the same year. He was a member of the City of Wellington Pipe Band in the ’70s and ’80s.