Category: Blog

PP Ed’s Blog: Ian’s Birthday/ Florida Sell Out/ New Piobaireachd/ Patrick Mor

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Firstly congratulations to P/M Ian McLellan BEM on his 80th birthday. It hardly seems anytime at all that we used to see him marching off with his brilliant Strathclyde Police Pipe Band and yet another Worlds trophy. Ian remains the most successful Worlds winner of all time though the equally brilliant Richard Parkes and FMM are running him close. Whatever; no one can change history and the music Ian’s band…

More PP Ed’s Blog: Ian’s Birthday/ Florida Sell Out/ New Piobaireachd/ Patrick Mor

PP Ed’s Blog: Inveraray-Kemper Concert/ Jimmy on Camel/ Poll Findings/ David Murray

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The big event today is the joint Celtic Connections concert being given by Stuart Liddell’s Inveraray & District Pipe and Bagad Kemper from Brittany, France. Tickets have sold very well and there will be a large crowd at the event which kicks off at 12.30pm in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, but some places are still available. Here’s the link. Writing about Jimmy Anderson last week I forgot to mention his…

More PP Ed’s Blog: Inveraray-Kemper Concert/ Jimmy on Camel/ Poll Findings/ David Murray

History: The Origins of the Modern Day Pipe Band Part 3

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The late piping historian and military music expert Lt. Col. David Murray continues his examination of the origins of the pipe band. You can read earlier excerpts here and here. The influence of John MacAdam’s road surface also had its effect on the music. On the line of march, the Pipes and Drums and the Military Band played alternately, the Military Band usually being stationed half way down the column. The…

More History: The Origins of the Modern Day Pipe Band Part 3

PP Ed’s Blog: Pipe Cases/ Neil’s Run/ Glasgow Tattoo/ Band Indoors/ SA School

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Noticing the advert for the new RG Hardie pipe cases I was wondering what happened to the old wooden pipe box. I mean what do pipers sit on these days when they are waiting for a bus? Sorry, I forgot; they don’t do that any more. If you turn up at your band practice in anything less than a Ford Fiesta Titanium you get frowned on. Taking the boat to…

More PP Ed’s Blog: Pipe Cases/ Neil’s Run/ Glasgow Tattoo/ Band Indoors/ SA School

PP Ed’s Blog: Article on Pipers in Action in WW1/ Ban on Post 1947 Ivory Pipes Being Sold

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A WW1 article in the Scotsman at the weekend made poignant reading – five hundred pipers killed and six hundred wounded. It read: ‘London-born Sir Philip Gibbs (1877-1962), one of five official reporters during the First World War, wrote about the effects of the pipes and the extraordinary bravery of pipers and Highlanders among the British forces at the Battle of Delville Wood near the village of Longueval which raged…

More PP Ed’s Blog: Article on Pipers in Action in WW1/ Ban on Post 1947 Ivory Pipes Being Sold