PP Ed’s Blog: St Thomas Job/ World Drumming/ Patrick Molard/ Angus Nicol/ George’s Pipes

The newspapers here are reporting: ‘The Outer Hebrides is the happiest part of the UK, according to the latest wellbeing analysis released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ‘The data reveals people living on the islands off the west coast of Scotland and in certain districts of Northern Ireland ranked their happiness higher than any other part of the country, while people in London reported having the most anxiety. The findings – taken from…

PP Ed’s Blog: Capt. John Contest/ Florida Hurricane/ Three Wise Men/ Austria School

The Captain John MacLellan Memorial Competition is being held at the Army School, Inchdrewer House, Edinburgh, tomorrow. All grades are covered and I hope the Edinburgh piping fraternity turn out to support this worthwhile contest in the Captain’s good name. Here are the draws:                     I hope my friends and students in South Florida have battened down the hatches in preparation…

Silver Medal Tunes/ James Campbell Letters/ Composing Competition/ John Wilson

The third part of Duncan Watson’s article on the value of James Campbell’s Masters of Piobaireachd letters is published today. Of consideration are the playing of crunluath breabach, the ‘strange’ crunluath found in Battle of the Pass of Crieff and MacKays’ Banner, Variation 1 of the Prince’s Salute and the ‘chelalho’ movement found in the Lament for the Viscount of Dundee. Read Duncan’s piece here. Slight tweaks to the rules of…

PP Ed’s Blog: Former Winners’ Tunes/ Logan’s Publishers/ Uist & Barra History

Listening to part of the Former Winners’ MSR at the Northern Meeting this year I was struck by the number of comparatively easy tunes some pipers are submitting. All great tunes of course, but is Mrs MacDonald of Dunacht suitable for this level? And whilst I love Donald MacLeod’s music I’m not sure that some of the reels such as Drumlithie are as much of a test as, say, eight parts…

New Recordings from John MacDonald, Inverness

Piobaireachd lovers will enjoy the new additions to the PP Audio Archive added today, writes the Editor. They are of the playing of the celebrated master piper John MacDonald, Inverness. He gives us the ground and first variation of the Lament for Donald Ban MacCrimmon, and the grounds of the Wee Spree and MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart. Of the latter, I think it is fair to say that we would seldom hear the…