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Details of the Bratach Gorm and London Championship for 2021 Announced

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Presale tickets, players and judges for the prestigious Bratach Gorm piobaireachd competition on the Friday night of this year’s London Competition are summarised as follows, writes Stephanie Supranowicz. The Scottish Piping Society of London is delighted to open ticket registration for the Bratach which is to be held on Friday 5th November 2021. They are available now via the SPSL website at http://www.scottishpipingsocietyoflondon.co.uk/  This year’s competition sees a healthy entry of 11…

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Be a Better Piper: When Choosing a Bagpipe, It is Vital that You Get it Right

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Forget the house or the car. The most important decision a piper has to make is in the instrument he/she 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…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipes Difficulty/ Muirheads Articles/ Paddy Moloney/ Jim Murdock/ John MacLellan Recital

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In a recent poll covered in the national press the pipes came on top as the hardest instrument of all to play. The order given was 1 Bagpipes 2 Piccolo 3 French horn 4 Violin 5 Oboe 6 Flute 7 Cello 8 Accordion 9 Organ and 10 Drums. I’m not sure who conducted this survey or what the criteria were, but it seems spurious to me – no mention of…

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Memories of Muirhead & Sons Pipe Band and the Great P/M Robert G Hardie – Part 2

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As the competition season approached, practices became more frequent and intense.  The week before ‘The Worlds’ would involve several extra practices. I remember one night having just completed a gruelling MSR comprising a six part march, an eight part strathspey, and an eight part reel. Hardie made no comment but casually said, ‘We’ll try that again’!  By Gordon Ferguson Yes, these were solid practices and we were ‘match fit’ by…

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Memories of Muirhead & Sons Pipe Band and the Great P/M Robert G Hardie

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I have been asked by the Editor to reflect on my time playing with the Muirhead and Sons Pipe Band and in particular what it was like being led by the maestro that was P/M Robert G Hardie. Though I have lived in Queensland, Australia, for many years now, my time with the band when we won a civilian band record of five World Championship wins in a row 1965-69…

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