A new teaching item has been aded to the Piping Press Shop, writes the Editor.  Classic Strathspeys & Reels features many of the standard competition tunes. Each is played by myself at practice tempo and then closer to performance tempo on the practice chanter. This means the student can play along with the recording and get a good idea of how the tune should be presented. Here’s a free sampler:…

Planning for your summer of piping and pipe band music can begin! Today Piping Press publishes our first draft of our Highland games and solo piping contests – the Guide to the Games. Also published is the RSPBA calendar of pipe band events including the five major championships. Pictured top are Canada’s 78th Fraser Highlanders at the Worlds. The Association have split their calendar into monthly sections for convenience. On…

Fifty years ago P/M Donald MacLeod was intoning against learning piobaireachd ‘parrot fashion’. (See the advert he ran in the ‘Piping World’ magazine issue we highlighted last week.) This is the great danger in relying on CD or archive recordings as the sole source of your study. Almost as bad as following printed scores to the letter. Rote learning can only ever take you so far. An educated ear will…

RSPBA HQ have published the following: The Music Board met on Saturday 12th January 2019 and approved the third changes for the 2019 season, all changes can be found below: Upgrades January 2019Grade 4B to Grade 4ARothesay & District – by request Downgrades – January 2019Grade 4A to Grade 4B: Ullapool & District – by request New Bands – January 2019Grande Prairie & District Pipes & Drums, Canada, granted Grade…

Margaret Dunn reports from the Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) competition held at the National Piping Centre, Otago Street, 12th Jan 2019…. Please find attached results from Saturday’s CLASP competition. We had a good turn out and the events were judged by Dr Simon McKerrell and Alastair Dunn. The group picture above is of the overall winners in their grade (l-r): David MacKenzie Grade 1, Bill Copland Grade…