Entries for the major solo piping competitions at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting close on January 31, we have been asked to point out. The dates for each of the contests are, respectively, August 25/26 and Sept 2/3. Despite fears over pandemic cancellation, almost 80 pipers have signed up already. However this figure would normally be well over 100. Organisers are keen to stress that if pipers intend playing…

We continue today with more of the brilliantly edited historic photographs from Ronan Maguire of St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band, Dublin. The picture above is of Alexander Glen and a young David Glen in their workshop in Edinburgh circa. 1880. The original black and white image was cleaned up and enhanced before being colourised. Glen was the biggest name in bagpipe manufacture and music publishing in the late 19th and…

An update from the Lockdown Piping Club project, writes Craig Muirhead.  Going by my calculations, over a thousand people have now had their first chanter lesson with me in lockdown either via the live classes or the pre-existing online tutorials – I am seriously chuffed! We are working through a few pages of a little PDF I’ve put together. Not the most conventional way of teaching bagpipes, but the idea behind the…

Press release from The Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust……..  A schools’ pipe band competition is going ahead in March – even if schools stay shut. Normally hundreds of players and supporters converge for the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships – but this year it is going online.  Prizes total over £2,500 from a judging panel made up of some of the biggest names in traditional music.  The event is being…

Thanks to the technical wizardry of St Laurence O’Toole piper Ronan Maguire, Piping Press is now able to publish enhanced and coloured images of important historical figures in piping and pipe bands. Two examples of Ronan’s work are published today with more to follow. To give readers an idea of the expertise involved Ronan says of the picture above: ‘The band pic is SLOT from 1956, before restoration (below) and…