Last week RSPBA Chairman John Hughes issued a spirited rallying call to all pipe bands now inactive for the rest of 2020 thanks to the coronavirus epidemic of April and May. Today Chief Executive Ian Embelton re-affirms the Association’s commitment to the 2021 season and talks of the financial security which underpins that commitment. There is nothing we can do right now except sit tight and wait for the Scottish…

A couple of weeks ago we ran a humourous Pipe Band Magazine article in which a pipe major wrote about the trials, tribulations and toil of running a Grade Four band. Today we have an equally humourous response from those pre-mobile phone days. Forty years on the writer’s concluding sentiments still ring very true for all devotees as we endure the worst period in the history of the pipe band…

The Argyllshire Gathering and the Highland Society of London have agreed that the first leg of this year’s MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd contest for pipers aged under 22 will be conducted via online video submission. The MacGregor is one of the most prestigious ceòl mòr contest in the world and always attracts an international field. The winner is usually guaranteed a place in the following year’s Silver Medal at Oban but…

The iconic tune, Lament for Mary MacLeod, was the subject of a Piobaireachd Society tutorial given by PP editor Robert Wallace last month. There was a good discussion during the talk, some of which centered on the playing of high A instead of high G in the variation doublings. I’m most probably in a minority, but Mary MacLeod with the high A is my personal preference. To me, the high A…

Mull-based artist John Archbold has submitted the above for our lockdown painting challenge. John writes: ‘A piper friend of mine wondered if I would be interested in entering. So here it is. Title – The Chief’s Piper at Duart Castle; Medium – Mixed Media; Size – A2 (59 x 40 cm approx.). The piper is Calum MacLean, Tobermory.‘ John’s bio reads: ‘John Archbold DA (b. 1954) Studied at Glasgow School…