Three new letters added today. Guest blogger Duncan Watson has sent this in response to the response to his original post: Embellishments in ceol mor are undoubtedly an important aspect of the music irrespective of setting or style of playing and I suppose there is danger in going on ad nauseam on this subject and forgetting about the music. Undoubtedly the methods of writing those embellishments has changed over the period…
Your favourite web magazine, pipingpress.com, is open to all those who wish to blog about some piping or pipe band matter and who feel a shorter letter would not do their opinion justice. Today we turn a page over to piper, teacher and adjudicator Duncan Watson….. I read the letter from Jimmy McIntosh regarding the reference to piobaireachd embellishments and was reminded of, and amused with, the reference to ‘The Three…
The highlight of this year’s Piobaireachd Society Conference had to be the playing of Iain Speirs, writes PS Vice President Robert Wallace. Iain, the consummate professional, was asked to illustrate a paper given by John Shone on the life and career of one of the greatest pipers of all time, Donald MacPherson. With a beautifully set pipe, Iain thrilled the large number of attendees with outstanding performances of ceol beag, the urlars…
SFU lead drummer Reid Maxwell is to be honoured for his work as a performer and teacher in his home province. Band and BC Pipers President Rob MacNeil has sent this: ‘It has been announced by British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Keith Mitchell, chair of the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, that Reid Maxwell, Lead Drummer of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and Director and Life Member of the…
Reader Nicholas Taitz has sent a copy of a letter he has submitted to the Chicago Tribune following their recent controversial comments on piping and pipe bands: ‘I am a keen piper, and I was very much offended by your article as above. The article is pejorative in the extreme about the bagpipes, which those of us who know them call the ‘pipes’. Your writer clearly has limited acquaintance with piping,…
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