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…

Trevor Dear’s funeral will be on Thursday, October 10, at 2pm at the Church of Scotland, Castle Street, Dingwall, and thereafter to Urray Cemetery on the A832 road between Marybank and Muir of Ord. Read more of his life here and I recommend readers take time to read the contributions in our comments section from those who knew Trevor well. A synopsis. From Gordon Ferguson: ‘I met Trevor in 1974…

The death has been reported of Trevor Dear, pipe major, pipe band adjudicator, teacher and pipe music collector. Trevor, who was 79, had been ill for some time and died in hospital yesterday evening. He had been due for discharge but collapsed and could not be revived. Trevor was born in Forfar, Angus, and began piping aged seven being taught by P/M Norman Meldrum of Invercauld, Braemar. After what he…

One of the great advantages of the piping ‘off season’, if there is such a thing these days, is that it gives us the chance to look back through old competition and recital programmes and newspaper clippings, and publish interesting articles which would otherwise be lost to posterity. This is from a recital promoted by the Eagle Pipers’ Society in 1966: There must have been quite a turnout for P/M…