Category: Letters

1st Port Trophy/ Piping Live/ Results from Ireland

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The successful dinner and piping recital held in 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1st Port Glasgow BB pipe band winning the 1972 World Juvenile championship raised a significant amount of money, writes Donald McRae. This has now been distributed. The two remaining Boys’ Brigade companies in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, each received £150 to further their good work, and the remaining sum was used to purchase a trophy…

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Northern Ireland Report: FMM’s Outstanding Tribute to P/M Frank Andrews

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On Friday April 28th the eagerly awaited Frank Andrews Tribute Concert took place at the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena. There was an attendance of 600 and it was an outstanding success. I have attended the majority of the big pipe band concerts over the years, at the County Hall or the Waterfront Hall, and I would venture to say that this was amongst the absolute best. The star act was…

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Editor’s Notebook: Willie Ross and Robert Reid/ Book Plea/ Gordon’s Tune/ Clan MacRae and Glasgow Skye

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I am sure P/M Willie Ross did seminal service to piping when he streamlined the playing and writing of our ceòl beag technique. Gone were the doublings on C with the two D gracenotes, the open style of taorluath writing, the heavy D throw, the gracenoted birl. His six books also provided a catalogue of standard settings of many of the classic competition tunes in versions that everyone agreed were…

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End of Year Recitals for Piping Students/ Black Watch Tune Search

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Students on the Royal Conservatoire / National Piping Centre Traditional Music degree course take to the stage for their end-of-year recitals on 1st and 2nd June, writes John Mulhearn. These public recitals are a major component of the course assessment and are part of the wider RCS Traditional Music Recital Festival. Commencing on Tuesday 30th May, the festival takes place at Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts and is free to attend.  Piping…

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Were Wallacestone Pipe Band the First World Champions 120 Years Ago?

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We have received this intriguing information from expert piping historian and author Jeannie Campbell: ‘In 1903 a contest was held in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh. ‘Thirteen bands took part and the contest was reported in the papers as the World’s First Pipe Band Championship. The winners were Wallacestone and their opening march was Bonnie Anne.’ The band is pictured above with the handsome trophy with all the personnel clearly named….

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