One of the pleasant things about doing overseas piping trips is getting to to know your teaching colleagues better. Brian Lamond has been with us this week at the Northern Winter School in Germany. On a quiet evening I was able to ask him about his early career and how he ended up with lessons from Captain John MacLellan. Brian had been started on the chanter by a local man,…
The Eastern United States Pipe Band Association offers an interesting model on how to create a pathway between amateur and professional grades. EUSPBA operates competitions across a unified grading structure from novice to professional with players graded according to skill and previous competition results – but I am not suggesting that Scotland simply copies that. The Scottish piping tradition, competition structure and history are different. By Adam Aitchison But there…
CLASP currently publishes set-tune lists for its in-person competitions, while online competitions and the World Amateur Solo Piping Competition operate on an own-choice basis. I understand the practical reason for this. CLASP is an international organisation. Asking an overseas competitor to travel to Scotland for an in-person competition and preparing a prescribed repertoire is one thing; requiring an overseas competitor competing remotely to learn a set-tune list may be considerably…
I am writing this not as a criticism of any individual organisation, judge or competitor, but because I believe there is a wider issue concerning the development of adult amateur solo piping in Scotland and the pathway from amateur competition into the professional circuit. I am a Grade 1 CLASP competitor and have progressed through the CLASP grading system from Grade 3 onwards. Like many adult amateur pipers, I have…
The Glenfiddich Champion for 2026 is Alasdair Henderson. He was placed third in MSR and first in Ceòl Mòr. Runner-up was Stuart Liddell, with Iain Speirs in third. There was a large audience in the great hall at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl. Piobaireachd placings:1 Alasdair Henderson, Red Speckled Bull2 Finlay Johnston, Donald Gruamach’s March3 Stuart Liddell, Lament for the Laird of Anapool4 Alan Bevan, Mrs MacLeod of Talisker’s Salute5 Iain…
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