Famous Pipers: John D. Burgess/ Calum Campbell Concert

It is hard to believe that it is ten years since the death of one of the great pipers and characters of the recent past, P/M John D. Burgess. Today we mark this anniversary with a feature on John in our Famous Pipers column. Read it here. A concert is being held in Balivanich Hall, Benbecula, tomorrow night to celebrate the launch of a book of music ‘Ceol Chaluim’ by…

Shotts Junior Piping & Drumming Championship – Pictures Added

World Champion Pipe Band, Shotts & Dykehead, held their Annual Junior Piping and Drumming Championship in the town’s Calderhead High School today. There was a very healthy increase in competitors from 103 last year to 154 this. Pipe Major Ryan Canning and Leading Drummer Blair Brown were in Canada on a teaching trip but the event went like clockwork in their absence. North Lanarkshire Council, the local authority, are very…

Richard the Third – Concluding Part of Our Interview with P/M Parkes of Field Marshal

IN this, the concluding part of our interview with P/M Richard Parkes MBE of Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, we hear of his early influences, what he thinks of the players in his band, and the support he gets from his family and employer. Read the earlier excerpts from this interview here. PP: Who would you say were your biggest influences? You mentioned Ian McLellan and Strathclyde Police and what they…

78th Fraser Concert/ Fred Recital/ John MacLellan Contest etc

The organisers of the 78th Frasers  Concert at Celtic Connections next January have sent the announcement below. The above picture shows the band under P/M Bill Livingstone in 1987, the year they created history by becoming the first ever overseas band to win the World Pipe Band Championship:  Superstar Percussionists Added to Cast of Glasgow’s 2016 Celtic Connection Festival’s Celebration of the Music of ‘Live in Ireland 87’  A group…

New Drumming Appointment at Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon University launched a worldwide search for a leading drumming/percussionist last summer and have now completed the appointment. Professor of Music at the university, Andrew Carlisle has sent this: ‘Carnegie Mellon University is pleased to announce that the new Drumming Instructor for its Pipes and Drums is Dr. Richard Baughman. Richard, who has been based in Los Angeles, CA, for several years, makes the two and a half thousand mile…