Editor’s Notebook: Concert Formation/ Col Sutherland Award/ Scots Guards KO/ Florida Games

Not for the first time the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association is showing the way. They have enshrined into ‘law’ that bands competing indoors must do so in concert formation. Their rules now state: ‘When approved by the Executive Committee, a band may form on a stage or field in a semi-circle formation facing the audience. ‘If at all possible, this contest will be held on a stage with…

Famous Pipers: Remembering John Scott, South Uist – Part 2

The concluding part of these reminiscences by Tony Daniel a pupil of John’s in London….. Then came the time I went to his home and was told he was in hospital in Croydon. I went to visit him; he was surprised but happy to see me but he couldn’t talk as he had had a tracheotomy. He would write notes to me instead. But I soon learnt to understand him…

Famous Pipers: Remembering John Scott, South Uist

John Scott was a larger than life character in the Glasgow piping scene in the ’60s and ’70s, writes the editor. A fine piper himself, he regularly stewarded at the Scottish Pipers and Uist and Barra competitions and kept the audience entertained with his wild brogue and pawky humour. He was also a noted composer. Readers will probably know his reel Dolina MacKay (Dolly was the Treasurer of the SPA…

Lochore Pipe Band and Legendary Drumming Tutor Robert McLaren

I previously prepared an article about the history of pipe bands in the East of Scotland, which was published on Piping Press in October 2023.  Included in the article were the names of many pipe band leaders and individuals no longer with us who were from the East, or were based there, and who greatly contributed to the development of the SPBA/RSPBA and pipe band music in general.  The article…

Kilberry Book of Ceol Meadhonach-‘Middle Music’- Now Available in Digital Format

A digital version of the historic ‘Kilberry Book of Ceòl Meadhonach’ is now available for purchase on Piping Press. First issued in 1909, the book was compiled and edited by Captain John Campbell, Kilberry, and his brother Archibald. The book has 43 tunes each with a note on its provenance. The music is neither piobaireachd nor simple slow march but somewhere between both – hence the title. The tunes are…