London: B Grade Piobaireachd Review

[easyrotator]erc_75_1413484305[/easyrotator] Scottish Piping Society of London Competition, Nov 1, 2014, ‘B’ Piobaireachd Review By Andrew Wright Competition reports and feedback, as a rule, tend always to centre on the very top level, with lower grade events mostly by-passed other than for the recording of the results. It is, however, at the lower level that the apprenticeship for the top is served, where performing skills are learned and honed toward the…

London: 12 Hours of Capital Piping

Robert Wallace reprises the London Championship held on Saturday at Kensington Conference Centre: This was a long, but ultimately successful, day of piping. I have to applaud the committee of the Scottish Piping Society of London in managing to cram 120 pipers, hundreds of performances and a wheen of events into 12 hours – a credit to their organisation and the hard work of the stewards. However, it doesn’t need to be…

Northern Ireland Piper of the Year – Critique

This contest, run by the Northern Ireland Piping Society, was held in the ballroom at the Adair Arms Hotel in Ballymena, and despite a hum from the cooler behind the bar, it proved an ideal venue for a piping competition; plenty of floor space, plenty of audience space and a draughtless ambience. There were very few listeners in for the piobaireachd in the afternoon  (not unusual, even in Scotland) but the…

John MacLellan Memorial (Update 3 – critique and pix added)

Robert Wallace reports: Faye Henderson won the overall trophy at today’s Captain John MacLellan Memorial competition held at the Army School of Piping at Inchdrewer House, Edinburgh. This was a superb day of piping organised with perfect precision by the Director of Army Bagpipe Music, Major Steven Small, and his assistant P/M Scott Methven. The standard was extremely high with the judges declaring Faye Henderson’s performance of Donald Gruamach’s March…

A Different Take on Piping Centre Recitals

Following the review earlier this week by Bill Robertson of New Zealand, Nicholas Taitz of South Africa has weighed in with his own critique…. Nicholas writes: Here are a few of my notes on the excellent series of recitals, during Piping Live, which were all of amazing streaming and sound quality.  Thanks must go to the National Piping Centre for this wonderful set of recitals and their successful efforts to…