Author: Robert Wallace

Editor’s Notebook: Lochaber/ Bessie MacKinnon/ Henderson Pipes/ SPA Professional

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Occasionally we must extract a negative from what was clearly a happy, successful event. I refer to the Lochaber Junior Piping competition held last Saturday in Fort William. Yet again we saw very few pipers or drummers from the local schools coming forward to take part. Why is this? There is a full time piping tutor in Lochaber (for the past 20 years anyway) and I believe he/she has a…

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Editor’s Notebook: Henderson’s Shop/ Highland Games/ Sir John MacDonald/ Stuart Easton/ Campbeltown Book

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On a pleasant perambulation through Glasgow city centre the other day I passed the Atholl Arms pub in Renfrew Street. They’ve this old picture in the window. If you look closely you can see bagpipemaker Peter Henderson‘s shop next door at number 24. This was where John MacDougall Gillies held court of a Saturday, passing on his great knowledge to those crowding in. It was here too that RG Hardie…

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Be a Better Piper: Learning Canntaireachd, the Piper’s Language

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The non piobaireachd player may be wondering what this ‘canntaireachd’ (pronounced approximately ‘can-cher-ach’) is. No mystery, no big deal. It’s just mouth music, a sort of formulated diddling common in folk traditions the world over. In Scotland, when we had a sense of humour, it has been characterised in the music hall as ‘heedrum-hawdrum’, or, when inverted for comic effect by the Glasgwow folksinger Matt McGinn, ‘you haw der um…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipe Band Season/ Solo Season/ NZ Contest/ Stonehaven Disband/ Scots Wha Hae

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Cheering news from the Chairman yesterday and I hope bands respond similarly by supporting the 2022 majors and, in particular, the minor contests. Use them or lose them. The concession Mr Reilly talked about, the lessening of strictures, will, I hear rumours, centre round own choice in Grade 1 and 2. Bands will still have to submit the required number of MSRs and Medleys but at the line they will…

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Editor’s Notebook: Jim Butler/ Weekend Contests/ Patricia Grant/ Captain John Contest

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It is with sadness I report the passing of piper and artist Jim Butler, North Ayrshire. Jim was a head art teacher and a painter of renown, so much so that he was able to hold successful exhibitions of his work. He also taught pipes in North Ayrshire schools for seven years and was a staunch member of Irvine Burns Club. He was a regular visitor to the College of…

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