Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition Details Announced

The Annual Donald MacLeod MBE Memorial Piping Competition 2016 details have been announced. The contest, featuring some of the leading pipers in the world, is to be held in the Caladh Inn, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, on 8th April 2016. The piping begins at 10.15am, and, as last year, may be livestreamed over the internet. Competitors are as follows: Callum Beaumont, winner of the 2015 Northern Meeting Clasp Finlay Johnston,…

PP Editor’s Blog: Highland & Islands Festival/ Sandy Hain’s Music/ Old Results

Riona MacInnes of the Highlands & islands Festival has sent this: ‘We now have a Facebook page which is being regularly updated and if you have a look at that you will see that the syllabus is now available and the entries are to be in for 14th March. We are trying to be a bit more rigid this year about pipers changing their tunes at the last minute and I…

PP Editor’s Blog: Wheel of Fortune/ Falkirk Piping/ RSPBA Entries/ S. Florida Expands/ Pipes Donated

Get along to the Wheel of Fortune contest this afternoon if you can. Top class solo piping in a relaxed and good-humoured atmosphere guaranteed.   The pipers are Finlay Johnston, Douglas Murray, Callum Beaumont, Chris Armstrong, Angus Nicholson, Brian Lamond, Jonathan Greenlees and Alasdair Henderson. Venue is Danderhall Miners Club south of Edinburgh. Neil Clarke of the Falkirk Trinity Piping Society has sent this: ‘The Society is very much in…

Be A Better Piper: Selecting a Good Instrument – a Very Important Decision

Forget the house or the car. The most important decision a piper has to make is the instrument he buys. Get it wrong and face years of  wasteful and expensive plumbing trying to make something out of a very bad situation. Get it right and you can have hours of musical satisfaction from an instrument that is easy to reed, steady, and an all round pleasure to play. In short,…

PP Editor’s Blog: Schools Funding/ New Letters/ Donald McKillop

The annual 214 Glasgow Co. BB Reunion is on March 4.) Three new letters added today on Willie Ross, Norrie Gillies and old pipes in North America. Read them here. If anyone is any doubt about the amazing work being done by the Scottish Schools Pipe & Drum Trust have a look at their website to see the amount of cash that is being invested in young pipers and drummers….