Category: Pipe Bands

PP Editor’s Blog: Analytical Article/ George McIlwham/ Worlds G1 bands/ Cancale

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Thanks to those who commented on the ‘Analytical Theorising’ post last week, particularly to Bill Livingstone, Steve Rooklidge and John Dally. Yes John, rhythm and melodic flow are vital. Like you, I have been interested in alternative settings for a long time (I did the Lady D’Oyly MS recordings for the BBC some 30 years ago) but they have to make musical sense. The Donald MacDonald competition you mention gets good financial…

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Pipe Band Magazine – Latest Edition Available Now

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The July 2016 edition of Pipe Band Magazine, the official publication of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, is now available. The magazine comes free courtesy the RSPBA. It features an interview with P/M Ross Harvey the new pipe major of Grade 1’s Boghall & Bathgate. Other features look at the judging of drumming and ensemble, go behind the scenes at a major championship. There’s an obituary for Fred Walker…

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P/M Alen Tully Talks of His Important Victory at the European Pipe Band Championships

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P/M Alen Tully is one of the new breed of Grade 1 pipe majors. Still aged only 33, P/M Tully has already secured two major championships for his band, St Laurence O’Toole, Dublin – and this in less than three seasons in charge. His latest success was at the European Championships at Forres last Saturday. Here he talks of what that meant to the band, of their meticulous preparation before every major…

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PP Editor’s Blog: Band Judging/ Bass Drummers/ Braemar/ Chatsworth

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A couple of points on yesterday’s report on the European Pipe Band Championships. Firstly I noticed the judges enjoying a friendly confab between performances and wondered if this was part of the consultative judging pilot scheme being trialled at both the UKs at Stormont and at Forres. There was certainly a welcome unanimity in the results – despite the piping judges wending very different and varying paths round the circle….

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European Pipe Band Championships – a Review of the Juvenile and Grade 1 Contests

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I arrived early enough at picturesque Grant Park, Forres, to hear the whole of the Juvenile grade. The young bands taking part were asked to play a March, Strathspey and Reel and all did so with considerable aplomb. Even in my day the Juvenile grade was always very demanding. This brought you on and invariably, once you reached 18, you were ready for Grade 1. So it is today, and…

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