Category: Piobaireachd

Be a Better Piper: When Choosing a Bagpipe, It is Vital that You Get it Right

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Forget the house or the car. The most important decision a piper has to make is in the instrument he/she buys. Get it wrong and face years of wasteful and expensive plumbing trying to make something out of a very bad situation. Get it right, and you can have hours of musical satisfaction from an instrument that is easy to reed, steady, and an all round pleasure to play. In…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipes Difficulty/ Muirheads Articles/ Paddy Moloney/ Jim Murdock/ John MacLellan Recital

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In a recent poll covered in the national press the pipes came on top as the hardest instrument of all to play. The order given was 1 Bagpipes 2 Piccolo 3 French horn 4 Violin 5 Oboe 6 Flute 7 Cello 8 Accordion 9 Organ and 10 Drums. I’m not sure who conducted this survey or what the criteria were, but it seems spurious to me – no mention of…

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Donald Morrison Archive: How ‘Donald, Willie and His Dog’ Got Its Name

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This article from Donald’s archive is from the Oban Times newspaper. No date is given but it is believed to be from the 1970s. A few weeks ago when reporting on the Northern Meeting competitions [writes their piping correspondent] I speculated on the name of Donald Morrison’s jig ‘Donald, Willie and His Dog’. The name fascinated me in the same way as Willie Ross’s tune ‘The Old Ruins’ did after…

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2021 Nicol-Brown Amateur (USA) Results

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This was an online competition held on October 9. Overall Champion1 Stuart Marshall, receives MacCallum Pipe Chanter and $1000 travel expenses2 Jessica Bain3 Callum Bevan4 Henry Paluch5 Trevor DeMass Piob1 Callum Bevan, Corrienessan’s Salute (receives a bound volume of the Piobaireachd Society Collection)2 Trevor DeMass, Lament for the Viscount of Dundee3 Stuart Marshall, MacLeod’s Salute4 Jessica Bain, Piper’s Warning5 Scott Long, Caber Feidh gu Brath MSR1 Henry Paluch, receives engraved…

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Scotland County Highland Games A Huge Success As Live Competition Returns In the American South

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Held in a region which was densely populated by Highland Scots beginning in the 18th century, the Scotland County Highland Games, in Laurinburg, North Carolina, USA, returned in great fashion after a two year hiatus.  A record crowd of almost 7,000 attendees witnessed a full day of events. It is a small Highland Games but this year quite significant as, if all our research proves to be accurate, which I…

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