Reader Michael Dunn has alerted me to his excellent collection of early, re-mastered, piping recordings. Click on the picture of Willie Ross to hear the maestro play Captain Norman Orr Ewing and the link below for many other tunes.
There’s music from the likes of JB Robertson, Robert Reid, Henry Starck (bagpipe maker), John Macdonald, Inverness, Glasgow Police under P/M John MacDonald (1945), and many more. Full play list here and well done to Michael for his many hours of work restoring these important recordings. He’s clearly mastered the re-mastering process.
On another note, Michael, who competes in Grade 2 in North America, writes regarding Jeannie Campbell’s book ‘Highland Bagpipe Makers’.
‘In addition to my work on old recordings, I have had a deep interest in the history of bagpipe makers – particularly Peter Henderson and related Glasgow firms. Over the years, I have repeatedly encountered references to Jeannie’s work.
‘The difficulty is a practical one: I am blind, and the book has never been available in an electronic or audio format. Because ‘Highland Bagpipe Makers’ is out of print and exists only as a physical book, purchasing a copy would not make it accessible to me.
‘I am hoping for guidance on whether any accessibility-focused options might be possible, such as a private audio recording of the book, or parts of it, for personal study.’
If someone in our community could help Michael please let me know and I’ll pass on the information.
Mull Games
One month to go until the games at Tobermory. The committee has been doing a great job in upping its publicity with a whole series of posters going out on social media. Here’s one:
If you’ve never been then I think you would enjoy it – and I mean pipers and followers. Thankfully the ferries seem to be running smoothly at last.
The piobaireachd board is in a pleasant situation under a tree. The light music and juniors down the hill a bit. Both are outside the busy main arena.
Piping judges are myself, Robert Barnes and Iain Hurst and it’s three tunes in the seniors.
- Don’t forget Ceres Games and also Drumtochty Games this weekend: 27th June Ceres, Fife; Jnr./ Snr. solos; P, M,S&R; entry on field; 27th June: Drumtochty, Aberdeenshire; light music only; entries on field
Neil’s Award
Thanks to those who brought to my attention the award of the MBE to Neil Clark in the King’s Birthday Honours List. Neil, from Falkirk, is a well-known piper, ex-Scots Guards and Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. He does significant work teaching piping and raising money for charity. Hearty congratulations Neil. Very well deserved.
Worlds Tickets
Entries for the Worlds (August 14/15) close on July 1. Last year we had 207 bands about a quarter of them from overseas. Be interesting to see if we can beat that total this year.
Tickets are now on sale. For the Grade 1 arena it is £42.50 if bought in advance and £47 on the day. There is also a transaction fee to add if bought online or over the phone.
I’m not sure how prices compare with last year but here are the rates for the Saturday (you can hear G1 from outside the arena):
As Glasgow Green will be a licensed event, no drinks, alcohol or soft, or water, will be allowed past security. Take an empty flask to fill it at water stations and plenty of money if you are buying other drinks on site. Ticket info here.
A superb digital book of pipe music… click on pic to order
Order by clicking on picture…
What little, or not so little, maybe, I know about playing the practice chanter I learned from Neil’s YT lessons. My best wishes on this well deserved honour, Neil Clark, MBE. With your extensive charity work, we might yet be referring to you as Sir Neil in the future. I sincerely hope so.
Michael K Dunn has don a great job with these old recordings, making them listenable and showing the quality of the old masters’ playing, which I’ve never heard before – all other versions have not shown that, and one had to assume the old pipers must have sounded better than the recordings (except for John MacDonald, Inverness who always sounded good on the old records for some reason).
Thanks! That’s the best complement I’ve ever received! For me, warping, clicking and crackling that was never in the original recording bothers me a ton, so I try to go to great lengths to eliminate it for sure. However, noise remover ruins the entire audio spectrum, so I never use noise remover because otherwise the drones would be inaudible so to speak. With my perfect pitch skills, I can remaster most recordings as long as I have a clear unaltered direct digitization.
Thanks for this! I’m so glad to be recognized for the recordings I’ve remastered! Now I feel famous! I’m definitely looking forward to remastering a ton more of these in the future! I’d definitely appreciate everyone’s help with the digitizing process. Once it’s digitized without any modifications whatsoever, I’ll take care of the rest.
A new edition of Highland Bagpipe Makers is at present being printed. Material from all the previous editions is included, with colour pictures, additional information on makers already covered, plus several more makers, bringing the total number of makers covered to 213. The book will be available very soon.
That’s awesome, but that doesn’t quite mean anything if it won’t be in an accessible format particularly for blind people. Blind people simply can’t read regular print anyways, and I’ve never seen it available to a Kindle or an EReader.
Congratulations to Neil on a well deserved honour
I echo entirely Rab’s views on Mull Games. I’ve stewarded the piping there with Torquil Telfer for many years. The setting at Erraid Park above Tobermory is stunning with views over the Sound of Mull to Morven.The piping boards have their own dedicated areas away from the sports pistols with plenty space for tuning. If you are a competing piper come along for the experience even if only once. The Australian pipers who came last year had a ball of a time and once you have left the boards then you can relax and listen to Oban High School Pipe Band throughout the day.
The ticket prices for the Worlds this year are generally similar to last year’s prices, with the cost of family tickets actually being slightly less than in 2025. Following exorbitant price increases in 2025 (15-23%), it appears that Glasgow Life have listened to feedback from Piping Press and others. By effectively freezing most of the ticket prices, they should encourage a good attendance on Glasgow Green. Well done Glasgow Life.