If, like many, you enjoy piping history, you will read the following with avidity. It is from P/M Sandy Hain, formerly of Fife and now domiciled in Ohio, USA. Sandy ‘did the course’ at the Army School of Piping, Edinburgh Castle, 1950 -51. He has many stories of his time there with P/M Willie Ross, great piper and a great character (as you will see). We asked Sandy if he would…
The PP database of Gold Medallists at Oban and Inverness has now been updated and includes all of the tunes played by all of the winners since the competitions resumed after WW2. The lists make very interesting reading and show a remarkable breadth of tunes played. When we consider that at the turn of the last century there were probably no more than a handful of tunes heard round the Highland games…
Gradings for 2016 have been issued by the Competing Pipers’ Association to all their members. These are important for those wishing to gain places to play at Oban and Inverness. The promoters at both need to squeeze a lot of events into two days and as a result have to restrict numbers in the Gold & Silver Medals. Last year thirty got to play at Oban and 25 at Inverness….
Drummer Willie Paterson featured in a photograph of the Rutherglen Pipe Band (in pic below, top right in civvies) a few weeks ago. An old edition of Pipe Band magazine has this about him: ‘Not a great deal is known about Willie’s early days in the pipe band movement. ‘Alex McCormick met up with him in Glasgow in the early 1940s and they remained friends for many years. A very knowledgeable…
Two new recordings today. The first is from Jimmy McIntosh who has added part of Donald MacLeod’s composition, A Son’s Salute to His Parents to his audio archive. This is one of the set tunes for the senior piobaireachd competitions at Oban and Inverness this year and may be of interest to contestants. It is one of Donald’s more difficult tunes. Of it, Donald writes: ‘A tribute to my parents,…
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