Donald MacDonald Cuach – Update on Last Friday’s Contest

  Press release: Winners have been announced for two prestigious traditional music competitions held at Armadale Castle, Gardens & Museum of the Isles last weekend. The winner of the 32nd Donald MacDonald Cuach piobaireachd competition (15 June) was  Iain Speirs. Iain’s tune was ‘An Gròta’ or ‘The Groat’. Iain has won the prize twice previously, in 2009 and 2016. Adjudicator Allan MacDonald praised the high quality of all the players. The…

BC Highland Games

Rob MacNeil, President, BC Pipers’ Association: In sunny and hot weather, the 2018 BC Highland Games and Scottish Festival was held on June 16 at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam, BC. 108 solo players and 13 bands competed. Jori Chisholm, Grant Maxwell, and Mackenzie Webster won the aggregates for Open Piping, Snare Drumming, and Tenor Drumming, respectively. On the previous evening, the Open Piping Piobaireachd was held in the new TD…

United States Piping Foundation Results 2018 (Updated with Pictures and Comment)

The 32nd annual United States Piping Foundation Amateur and Professional Piping Championships, held in memory of founder Maclean Macleod on 16 Jun 2018, in the Amy DuPont Music Building at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Pictured above are Professional Piobaireachd Champion Derek Midgley Overall Champion Andrew Carlisle. In the Amateur events there were 10 pipers from throughout North America, and 15 in the Professional events.   The adjudicators for the…

Saturday Morning Update/ Iain Wins Cuach (updated)

A big day of piping on both sides of the Atlantic. At Stormont, Belfast, the UK Pipe Band Championships are already underway. This is the second major of the pipe band season. PP correspondent MacStig reported: ‘From a cloudy sky and intermittent sun in Belfast, the early contests are off and running. A healthy crowd for the Juvenile contest kicked off at 1030am. Tuning might be tricky and showers are…

PP Ed’s Blog: Band MSRs/ Aberdeen Games/ Honours/ New Books/ Renfrew PB

I have some sympathy with the views of Calum and Stewart who commented on ‘The Analyst’ piece on MSRs – some sympathy but not too much. It is one of the problems of pipe band competition that the legislators, those who have the power to effect positive change, seldom sit through the events in need of an overhaul. Nor do bands people, the competitors, those on whose views the RSPBA…