Category: Reviews

Editor’s Notebook: Old Recordings & Jeannie Book/ Mull Games/ Neil Clark/ Worlds Tickets

Posted on      by      5 Comments

Reader Michael Dunn has alerted me to his excellent collection of early, re-mastered, piping recordings. Click on the picture of Willie Ross to hear the maestro play Captain Norman Orr Ewing and the link below for many other tunes. There’s music from the likes of JB Robertson, Robert Reid, Henry Starck (bagpipe maker), John Macdonald, Inverness, Glasgow Police under P/M John MacDonald (1945), and many more. Full play list here…

More Editor’s Notebook: Old Recordings & Jeannie Book/ Mull Games/ Neil Clark/ Worlds Tickets

Review: ‘Around the Worlds’, a New Book on the Development of the Grade 1 World Championship

Posted on      by      1 Comment

In October last year I was contacted by the author Iain Duncan seeking some assistance with regard to Northern Ireland’s Grade 1 bands for a project he was working on relating to the World Pipe Band Championships.  As the months went by Iain’s project developed into a publication entitled ‘Around the Worlds’. It focusses on the development and evolution of the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship and also the…

More Review: ‘Around the Worlds’, a New Book on the Development of the Grade 1 World Championship

USPF: Review of the Piobaireachd and a Trial of Colin MacLellan’s Judging Proposal

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

I judged the United States Piping Foundation Professional Piobaireachd with Paula Glendinning on Saturday 20th June. It is one of the major US competitions and continues in memory of its founder, Maclean Macleod.   By Dr Jack Taylor MBE It has moved from Delaware to Maryland, and is superbly organised now by Peter Kent, Michael Rogers and their committee. You may have read Michael’s report and full results on Piping…

More USPF: Review of the Piobaireachd and a Trial of Colin MacLellan’s Judging Proposal

Editor’s Notebook: Judging & Teaching/ Plaid Brooch/ Iain Bruce/ World Cup

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

I cannot see any reason why Colin MacLellan’s judging/teaching proposal should not be given at least a pilot run, a properly monitored assessment over several events. If it doesn’t work, well, fair enough, it’s back to the drawing board. But gather the evidence, examine the pros and cons, and make a fact-based decision. If approved, we then leave it up to the promoters as to whether or not they wish…

More Editor’s Notebook: Judging & Teaching/ Plaid Brooch/ Iain Bruce/ World Cup

A Spectator’s Look Back at the UK Pipe Band Championships in Belfast

Posted on      by      9 Comments

I was at the UK pipe band championships in Belfast on 13th June, 2026, where the music was enjoyed by a large crowd. Other arrangements were not so good. The competition was held at the Grove Playing Fields, a very large park with no public vehicle access and very limited access to buses and cars from the surrounding roads. The roads were restricted to basically one-way traffic with ‘only stop…

More A Spectator’s Look Back at the UK Pipe Band Championships in Belfast