Christmas has come early for UK bagpipemakers with the announcement that from March next year they will not have to apply for a Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) certificate for every instrument they sell. The ruling, in place since January 2017, meant that all manufacturers had to charge up to £60 on each set to pay for a licence to export their African blackwood (ABW) pipes. The process…

The Editor writes: Following yesterday’s Vale news I wonder if there will be sufficient Grade 1 bands at the Worlds to justify the Friday Qualifier? Possibly not.  We’ve recently had three bands downgraded from Grade 1: Denny & Dunipace Gleneagles, Buchan Peterson and Cap Caval. I understand that no New Zealand bands will be coming over next year nor will Toronto Police – and we have already had the sad news of…

My point on Monday about the quality of timing and phrasing in P/M Donald MacLeod’s 6/8 march can be illustrated by comparing this recording with Donald’s playing: This is from a leading prizewinning piper who shall remain nameless. Click here to brush up your 6/8s. Here’s an excerpt from the article: ‘The left and right beats are shown clearly. We give a little more to the left than we do to…

One event conspicuously absent from the November piping programme this year has been the ‘Echoes of Oban’ concert, writes the Editor. Started originally by Seumas MacNeill and Tommy Pearston at the College of Piping in the 50s, I revived it circa 2008 using their format – though in the early years they invited winners from Inverness too. Luckily we always had sufficient players to be able to keep it true…