We’re Not All Doomed but Piping Needs to Plan Ahead for 2021

By Robert Wallace There were a few points I missed in my ‘nightmare scenario’ comments last week. The first is the plight of our bagpipe making/ Highland supplies industry. Orders are slowing. Without pipe band competition, and to a lesser extent solo contests, the future does not look good. The blow to these companies is being offset at the moment by the UK government’s furlough scheme which guarantees 80% of…

Editor’s Notes: Nightmare Scenario/ Tam’s Chanter/ MacLennan Piper/ Florida Academy

If you were unimpressed by my earlier comments on a nightmare scenario and the possibility of a blank 2021 piping season then you may like to consider the latest scientific findings that the trumpet and clarinet worst of instruments for spreading coronavirus.The bagpipe might not be far behind. We need a proper study to determine risk. Could the virus remain in the bag and for for how long? How do…

Piping Live! Events Livestreamed

The promoters have sent this… After a summer of cancelled events, Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival have announced they’ll be live-streaming a mini-programme of this year’s event between 8 – 14 August. In April, festival organisers had to cancel this year’s event due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  But after months of careful planning, the festival board decided that if audiences couldn’t come to Glasgow, then they’d bring Piping Live! to millions of pipers…

Editor’s Notebook: Nightmare Scenario/ Robin Fleming/ Classic S&Rs/ Piping for Trams

UK Government scientists this week predicted a ‘reasonable worst case scenario’ of 119,000 deaths in January and February next year during a second wave of Covid-19. As we all recoil in horror, it is worth bearing in mind that there are opposing views in the scientific community about all this, the lack of unanimity among boffins a feature of the pandemic. But if this unlikely and disastrous circumstance were to…

The Army School Cancels 2020 Captain John MacLellan Championship but Classes Resume

The Director of Army Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming, Major Gordon Rowan, has cancelled the 2020 Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Piping Championship. The Army School of Bagpipe Music & Highland Drumming (ASBM&HD) has now opened for the first time since lockdown, welcoming all staff to prepare for a return to normal teaching within Inchdrewer House. Major Gordon Rowan: ‘The current AA Class 1 Piper’s course is now able to…