Well what a wonderful weekend that proved to be. The Piobaireachd Society Annual Conference is always an enjoyable mix of history, research and camaraderie, but this year at the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling has to be rated right up there with the best.
Maybe delegates were determined to make it a roaring success following the last minute decamp from the fire-stricken Royal George in Perth. Whatever the reason, we left on Sunday with a host of good tunes and thought provoking ideas swirling in the head, all bound together in a spirit of bonhomie.
By Robert Wallace, Piobaireachd Society President
Friday afternoon saw the hard-working Music and General Committees coming together for important decision making (2027 set tunes imminent).
That evening we had a meal in the hotel and then the pipes came out. Five tunes were heard: Lament for Glengarry (RW), Wee Spree (Allan Hamilton), Red Speckled Bull (Peter McCalister), Unjust Incarceration (Mike Cusack), Carles wi the Breeks (Jack Taylor), King’s Taxes (Keith Bowes).
Saturday, and day visitors started arriving early on and I welcomed them to the appropriately named (some thought) Wallace Suite where, thanks to Vice President Peter McCalister, the walls were adorned with huge blow ups of tunes from PS Book 1.
We had just over 50 in the room and it was encouraging to see more competing pipers than hitherto: Iain Speirs, Darach Urquhart, Keith Bowes, Peter McCalister, Angus MacPhee, Bill Geddes, Dan Nevans, and not forgetting our Hon. Treasurer, Karen McCrindle Warren.
The first paper was on the origins of the music, and Professor Hugh Cheape talked of the geographical requirement to consider the Gaeltacht, the home of piobaireachd, east to west and not the other way around as we usually do. The musical influences that honed ceòl mòr probably came by sea – one misguided presbyterian minister describing the folk of the islands and north west as barbarous, with a cultural outlook more in tune with Paris, Rome and Madrid. Something of an oxymoron if you ask me. Peter McCalister demonstrated with considerable force the theme and variation principle alive and thriving in Europe at the time our great MacCrimmon compositions were made.
Next up we had Michael Grey all the way from Toronto. Mike’s talk was on his teacher, the late Bill Livingstone. This was a heartfelt and perfectly pitched paean of appreciation for a man who set new standards of professionalism in competitive piping. A long way to come Mike, but I hope you thought it worthwhile. Your audience was touched.
Soup and sandwiches, then on with the lectures. John Mulhearn from the Piping Centre talked of his new book, ‘Let Piping Flourish’, and proposed the establishment of a ‘piobaireachd composer in residence’ post to look at new ways of developing and encouraging interest in the music. There was concern from the floor that the traditions had to be taught properly before pipers started branching off into what might be termed ‘new music’.
Following John we had Jack Taylor and John Frater celebrating 100 years of the Society’s remarkable collection of tunes. Jack led us through the various books and settings, highlighted the astonishing work of Sheriff Grant of Rothiemurchus and Archibald Campbell of Kilberry, and concluded with more on the revision 2020-25.
John Frater then took the stand. A self-confessed piobaireachd nerd, John focussed on one tune from Book 16, the Nameless from the John MacDougall Gillies MS. This is a sparkling piece of music which deserves to be set for competition, Gold Medal I would suggest. Now the ’Nameless’ title was all we had until John’s nerdiness took him to the MS of Robert Meldrum, born when Angus MacKay was still Queen’s piper. There in black and white, and recognised immediately by John, was the ‘Nameless’ tune – but with a name!
Meldrum, from the whisky country (Tomintoul), had settled on the Rout of Glenlivet, a bloody encounter dated 1591. Cue loud applause from the audience for John’s eureka moment. All of this is well detailed in the revised Book 16.
The talks over, we held our afternoon piobaireachd ceilidh where the tunes were Farewell to the Laird of Islay (Karen McCrindle Warren), Old Men of the Shells (Peter Candy), the Earl of Seaforth’s Salute (Keith Bowes), Hail to My Country (Walter Grey), Ronald MacDonald of Morar – John MacDonald setting (Duncan MacGillivray), Earl of Antrim (Mike Cusack) and One of the Cragich (Jack Taylor).
After this it was on with the glad rags and a sumptuous meal, the loyal toast to our Patron HM The King, then great music from three young pipers Andrew Pattison, Ealla Niamh McIlhiney, and Arran Brown (below), and on into the small hours with fiddle, harmonica, small pipes and whistle…..
- A version of this report first appeared on the Piobaireachd Society website.
Bagpiper’s Handbook – Handy Maintenance Tips
A concise yet complete handbook for all pipers. Learn how to tie in a stock, adjust your reeds, test your bag and much, much more. A handy size, the book can be kept in the pipe case for easy reference. The book comes complete with a set of video instructions which help explain each lesson. Access them: here.
‘It is beautifully presented and full of wise tips for pipers’….Fred Kew, Hong Kong
