Congratulations to the amazing Steven McWhirter for his tenth World Solo Drumming title, clearly now the Alex Duthart or Jim Kilpatrick of today. Only one Scot in the top list, so well done too to Grant Cassidy of Uddingston Strathclyde for flying the flag. Grant is a protégé of the late Bert Barr, brilliant drummer, brilliant teacher and Alex’s loyal sidekick. A word for all the pipers who slaved throughout…

Thanks to Yahya Hussein in New York for this unique picture of a piper from WW2. Yahya: ‘Here’s a photo of the intrepid Pipe Major Rob Roy of Tobruk who survived the war and whom Jimmy McIntosh told me was a very good piper. His daughter wrote a book on him.’ The blurb: ‘This book is about Pipe Major Robert Roy MBE DCM of the Black Watch who became known…

The link for the piping at the National Mod is : https://youtu.be/TpLE7cv2tEg

I am in a quandary. I don’t want to demote the guy, but MacStig is under pressure. We’ve had quite a few representations from bandpeople in Grade 3A asking why they are being neglected in our coverage. Grade 1, as expected, gets the bulk of our pipe band space. With MacStig’s popular input, G2 has been riding high for the past few years. But is it time to give 3A…

By Robert Wallace Whatever happened to the pleasant tuning phrase, the melodious trill of notes as the piper settles himself before the off? Where are the measured tones, the little parcels of tunefulness by which he tests his drone tuning, his chanter intervals? There seems to be no rhyme or reason to much of what we hear today. Often is a machine gun like rattle of triple grace-noted birls, a…