Author: Robert Wallace

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

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

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…

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

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

Posted on      by      5 Comments

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…

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

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

Posted on      by      4 Comments

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…

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

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

Posted on      by      1 Comment

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…

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

Editor’s Notebook: The Never Decreasing Circle/ Develop the Worlds Medley/ Bob McFie/ Miscellany

Posted on      by      3 Comments

For all the detailed, cogent explanation given by Alistair Aitken for judging inconsistency in pipe band competition the main culprit, in my view, is the circle formation used virtually unchanged by the RSPBA for not far off 100 years. I’ve droned on about this long and weary, but with judges wandering about the playing area seemingly at random, different walking patterns for every band, is it any wonder there’s a…

More Editor’s Notebook: The Never Decreasing Circle/ Develop the Worlds Medley/ Bob McFie/ Miscellany