Shotts Concert – An Interview with Leading Drummer Andrew Lawson

August 9 will see a packed house at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for the annual Worlds Week pipe band concert sponsored by Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band. Providing the music this year are the legendary Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band under P/M Ryan Canning and Leading Drummer Andrew Lawson. Andrew has given a short interview to Piping Press about the concert, his corps and working with Ryan….. How is the drum corps shaping…

US Piping Foundation Results

Mike Rogers reports: Congratulations to all the participants in the 31st annual United States Piping Foundation Amateur and Professional Piping Championships, held in memory of founder Maclean Macleod on 17 Jun 2017, in the Amy DuPont Music Building at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. In the Amateur events there were 8 pipers from throughout North America, and 14 in the Professional events. The adjudicators for the Amateur Competitions were…

Craigavon & District Pipe Band Championships

Yesterday the Craigavon & District Pipe Band Championships took place in Lurgan on what can only be described as a sweltering hot day, writes Gilbert Cromie. The Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, Alderman Gareth Wilson, was the Chieftain of the Day and in his remarks he congratulated everyone involved in putting on a great day’s entertainment and singled out RSPBA NI Branch Trophy Officer Roy…

History: P/M William Fergusson, Dornie Ferry and Loch Duich – Part 1

We are grateful to piping adjudicator John Don MacKenzie for this feature on one of the great pipers and composers of yesteryear, P/M William Fergusson. The above picture is of Loch Duich and Glen Shiel and is dated 1907. Willie Fergusson (1885 – 1949) was born in Arbroath. As a youth, and now living in Glasgow, he became a pupil of Farquhar MacRae. He firstly was in a Boys’ Brigade band but…

Piobaireachd by the Sea/ New England Pipe & Drum Academy Workshop

The organisers of the ‘Pibroch by the Sea’ event have announced a masterclass by Jimmy McIntosh and Herve Le Floc’h. Other details: This will be the 13th year of the popular event held at the Breton seaside. Dates are September 16 and 17. The Saturday Masterclass begins at 9.30 and costs €30. Venue is the Ecole de mer Hériot – Port-Mer (direction camping municipal). Lunch included in fee. Cheques to Christian VILLEJIQUEL…