History: Pipers, Piping and Pipe Music in the Seaforth Highlanders 1778 -1924, Part 2

Today we continue with our abridged excerpts from the above book by Ian Hamilton Mackay Scobie. The book was published in 1924 and is now out of print. This excerpt talks of regimental dress and has an interesting take on piobaireachd, with the suggestion that it can only be played properly by pipers from the ‘North’. Above is a picture of Seaforth militia pipers in 1880 under P/M Ronald MacKenzie…. …

A Look Back at the London Championship 2017 and a Review of the B Grade Piobaireachd

I read the comment on yesterday’s results post  with a little concern. Organisers and stewards giving of their free time and effort can take these things cruelly. However I do feel the London contest needs a bit of pruning if it is to maintain its mojo. Prizemoney looked modest and the number of prizes could do with an increase. Any more than 12 entrants and there needs to be a…

PP Ed's Blog: London/ Critiques/Bellows Collogue/SPA/ Florida

To London today for the annual solo championships. A huge number of events with around 100 pipers taking part. The judges will have their work cut out for sure. Kensington Conference Centre is the place to be from 8.30am tomorrow and I’ll have results here as soon as I get them. ‘Charlie’ comments again on Glenfiddich asking if I could review the performances via the videos. Not something I do…

History: Pipers, Piping and Pipe Music in the Seaforth Highlanders 1778 -1924

Today we begin abridged excerpts from the above book by Ian Hamilton Mackay Scobie. The book was published in 1924 and is now out of print. It contains interesting details on the origins of titles such as ‘Pipe Major’ and the author also comments on drums drowning out pipes, questions whether playing in a band helps the piper’s playing and gives a date for the formation of the first pipe…

PP Ed's Blog: Glenfiddich/ B Cal Airways Band/ Harry McNulty/ Joe Wilson

Thanks for all the comments regarding the Glenfiddich competition. I hear that the tuning wasn’t too bad this year and that may have been something to do with the positioning of a clock by which the competitors could perhaps gauge the time spent adjusting the drones. Only one small step now and we could have lights and a huge improvement in listeners’ enjoyment. In particular, think how the livestream experience…