Editor’s Notebook: Piobaireachd Society Conference/ Three Tenors/ Ian Green/ Northern Meeting/ Band News

Places are filling up well for next weekend’s Piobaireachd Society Annual Conference, March 22 – 24 in the Royal George Hotel, Perth. Fees are £200 for a single room and £300 for a double. This includes two nights bed and breakfast, and lunch and dinner on the Saturday. Day tickets are £15 and include lunch. We will meet on the Friday for informal drinks, a meal and perhaps a tune or…

A Short History of Piping and the British Legion Golden Jubilee 1971

The following article is taken from a programme published for a Massed Pipe Bands and Beating of Retreat on Edinburgh Castle Esplanade in May 1971. The occasion was the Golden Jubilee of the Royal British Legion. The note may have been written by Captain John MacLellan, one of the main organisers of the event. Antiquity obscures the precise origin of the sophisticated modern bagpipe but it is known that it…

Uist & Barra 2024 Review: Giving Tunes a Week Early Does Not Help Pipers or Listeners

Most highlights of the day came in a four hour period between 9am and 1pm when the ten invited pipers performed their piobaireachd. They had been given their chosen tunes, selected by the promoters from six submitted, a week in advance. I’m not sure this is a good idea. Yes, it allows a programme with prescribed tunes to be printed (costly and is it really necessary?) and it reduces the…

Uist & Barra 2024 Results

This competition was held today, March 9, at the old College of Piping building in Otago Street, Glasgow. Pipers were given their tunes one week in advance. There was a large and appreciative audience throughout the day. Ten invited pipers competed. Ceòl Mòr, Glasgow Highland Club Medal1 Callum Beaumont, £220, (above), Donald Gruamach’s March2 William McCallum, £175, Earl of Ross’s March3 Alasdair Henderson, £110, Bells of Perth4 Iain Speirs, £85, Nameless-Cherede…

Editor’s Notebook: Campsie Book/ Piping Times/ NZ Drumming/ Argyllshire Gathering/ Uist & Barra/ Balmoral Camps

Anybody take a look at the blurb for Alistair Campsie’s ‘Madness of Angus MacKay’ book currently on sale at Amazon and mentioned here a couple of weeks ago? Someone needs to write to them. I think the late Alistair, never short of hyperbole where piping was concerned, must have written it himself and the gullible at the retail giant have swallowed it whole. Here’s a taster…‘This book, which hit the…