P/M Ben Duncan of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is the winner of the prestigious international piobaireachd composing competition organised by the Shasta Piping Society of California in conjunction with the Burley Bagpipe Company and Piping Press. P/M Duncan’s tune, ‘Salute to the Duke of Brax’, a tribute to his pedigree spaniel, was a clear winner from 18 submitted. We believe it may be the first piobaireachd named for a…

Composer Roddy S MacDonald has sent this new piobaireachd he has composed for the late Alex Duncan. It is a fine tribute to the piper, son of Ian and Chris, who died tragically young last month. Here is the full score of the tune: You can download a copy of the tune here: And here is an audio file of Roddy playing the tune: New John Dew Album Winner of…

The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland begins its online programme for 2020 with this month’s Hebridean outreach project, writes Helen Urquhart. There will be a series of live Zoom sessions, tutorials and online music making with some exciting guest musicians as well as the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. The sessions will run from 10am – 4pm, from Monday 12th to Friday 16th. Open to 10-18 year olds…

After our recent appeal for information about Donald Morrison, Piobaireachd Society Treasurer and solo judge Roddy Livingstone has kindly forwarded this article. Roddy writes: ‘Re your recent reference to Donald Morrison on Piping Press, I attach some scans from the ‘Highland Piping Society of Canterbury’ (Christchurch, NZ) history of their first 50 years published a few years ago. In the same book, there is also a brief reference to Sam…