The adjudicator placings across the four Grade 1 competitions were in the main consistent, apart from some wide differences between drumming and ensemble in the Saturday MSR competition.  I would have expected these placings to have been closer as both adjudicator disciplines should be considering, among other aspects, the influence of the drumming on the piping.  The consistency of piping results has improved markedly since the start of the 2019…

SPA President Tom Johnstone (above) has sent this: Firstly, to remind you that the SPA , founded in 1920, is now in it’s 100th year!Knockout Contest – 3rd Heat   The third heat of the Knockout featuring Steven Leask and Sarah Muir is this Saturday, 7th September, at NPC Otago St starting at 7.00pm for 7.30pm. This promises to be a great evening of piping as these two fine young players battle…

It was a pity Cowal Senior Solo piping was cancelled this year due to the clash of dates with the Northern Meeting competitions – but it couldn’t be helped. Just to rekindle some memories I have attached a photo [above] which might interest piping historians. It shows four Pipe-Majors taking a break from judging duties at Cowal. They are (l – r) Ronnie MacCallum (Inveraray), my father John Maclean (North…

The SPSL have sent this…. The weekend of Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd November marks the 80th Annual Competition of the Scottish Piping Society of London. The SPSL Committee has been very active over the last six months planning this year’s Annual Competition, and is delighted to announce that entries are now open, via the online entry form on the Society’s website: http://www.scottishpipingsocietyoflondon.co.uk/ The Committee took the decision to streamline…

The Grade 1 Medley competition as always produced a varied range of tune selections, ingenuity, innovative approaches, intricate piping and drumming, quality playing to a very high level, and varied musical impacts.  For me the best musical performances were those which included a blend of traditional and contemporary tunes (melodic ones), tunes which fitted well together and avoided too long and complicated transitions, avoided complex harmonies and counter melodies where…