I understand that this year both Oban and Inverness will have first prizes in excess of £1,000 for their senior ceol mor events, the Senior Piobaireachd and the Clasp, with a pro-rata for the other placings. Well done to the promoters and sponsors. Professional piping should be just that – well rewarded and at a level commensurate with the effort required to take these top awards. In return the pipers…

Gilbert Cromie reports…St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band (above) are doing an amazing amount of publicity for the restaging of their ‘Turas Ceoil Resume – Live in Ireland’ concert in Armagh City. Here is an extract from the recent blurb: ‘St. Laurence O’Toole (current Grade 1 UK and Scottish Champions) are taking last year’s pre-Worlds concert to Armagh City Hotel on 27th April this year. ‘The primary purpose of this concert is to…

As announced at the recent RSPBA AGM, ther Association have now formally advertised for applications for the post of Principal of Pipe Band Musicianship. A statement reads: ‘The Board of Directors have considered the structure of the RSPBA Pipe Band College that was approved at the 2018 Annual General Meeting and have agreed to recruit a Principal of Pipe Band Musicianship. ‘A key function of this role will be to promote…

The Northern Winter School 2019 opened for registration on March 11 and was sold out in two and a half days. Prior to that I was feeling very positive about the school because I had been receiving lots of personal messages with nice comments from past participants but also a lot more enquiries from potential students.  In the event I was so overwhelmed I had to close registration on the same…

By Allan Chatto OAM This article is abridged from a paper written by the respected pipe band authority Allan Chatto in 1995. Based in Australia, Allan was a leading drummer of renown, adjudicator and pipe band educator of international standing and we are grateful that he has made his paper available to Piping Press readers. The drum corps’ responsibility within pipe band performance is to provide the rhythmic and dynamic…