In Search of Piping on the Beautiful Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides

This past week saw me take a visit to the Inner Hebridean islands of Eigg and Muck with my bagpipe for company. Eigg is small but there is plenty of walking and quite a few historical places of interest to visit. It’s mainly a farming community with a few other enterprises which keep everyone employed. Once part of Clan Ranald lands, the island was the subject of a community buyout…

Nashville Rocks Stone Mountain/ World Online Piping and Drumming Championship Entries Open

A bright sunny day greeted crowds who turned out for the 49th Annual Stone Mountain Highland Games, in Stone Mountain, Georgia last Saturday, October 16.  This second major competition of the Southern USA fall season saw 16 bands in competition and a slightly reduced, yet still healthy, turnout of soloists.  A new layout of the Games site to reduce crowding due to COVID concerns was well received. By Bill Caudill…

New Victorian Era Trophy for Northern Meeting

News from a very generous Piping Press reader……. My name is Robert Baker, I live in Maclean, New South Wales, Australia. In 2018 I acquired, from Colin Ross, Ontario, Canada, two antique snuff mulls, belonging to his ancestors. I have included pictures. I am a piper, as were my sister, father, great-grand father and great uncle (Murdo Mackenzie, Gold Medallist 1895). Much as I enjoy my mulls, I also felt…

Details of the Bratach Gorm and London Championship for 2021 Announced

Presale tickets, players and judges for the prestigious Bratach Gorm piobaireachd competition on the Friday night of this year’s London Competition are summarised as follows, writes Stephanie Supranowicz. The Scottish Piping Society of London is delighted to open ticket registration for the Bratach which is to be held on Friday 5th November 2021. They are available now via the SPSL website at http://www.scottishpipingsocietyoflondon.co.uk/  This year’s competition sees a healthy entry of 11…

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

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…