Category: Reviews

Story on John Ban MacKenzie the Athlete and Reaction to Calum Fraser’s Article on Piobaireachd Performance

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Reader Dugald Macleod: This is a story my father Murdoch Macleod (1893 – 1964) had which involved John Ban MacKenzie: One August afternoon in 1822, the whole district of Kilmuir, Skye, was en fête. The occasion was the final reclaiming of thousands of acres of rich agricultural land by the draining to the sea of the expansive sheet of water known as St. Columba’s Loch. Notables from far and near…

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A Classical Musician’s Take on Piobaireachd

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When asked to offer some thoughts about piobaireachd as an art form, I was delighted to oblige. This is not least because I was brought up as a flute-playing Scot in England by a piper for a father. With my career now in the performing arts as a conductor specialising in working with singers, I have regularly looked upon piobaireachd with a great deal of interest, even if my knowledge…

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Editor’s Notebook: Circle Formation/ Royal Piper/ NZ Judges/ Band Medleys/ 1st Port Poem

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Those bands getting themselves into a tizzy over the prospect of a change to the circle formation can rest easy. It ain’t ever going to happen. There has been considerable huffing and puffing since my last foray into this forbidden zone. The ‘we love the circle campaign’ is in full swing. Like us all, bands are change averse and are happy with the status quo. Why should pipers and drummers…

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Readers Respond to Article on RSPBA’s MSR Rule Change

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A mixed bag of response to yesterday’s article by Ian Forbes. (Read it here.) Before we get to them the Editor writes: ‘I was interested in the comment in the rule change which states that four part tunes should be ‘where the tune was written as a four parted tune’. ‘This is misleading. If we look through our older collections we see that many standards we accept today as four…

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Composer Niall Adds Another Success to his Growing Catalogue of Pipe Music

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Niall Mathieson of Easter Ross has a reputation as a composer of merit and two weeks ago added yet another tune to his burgeoning oeuvre when he won a competition for a tune to commemorate the 170th anniversary of Pitlochry Highland Games, writes our Special Correspondent. Mr Matheson’s prize was £500 and he attended the games on September 10 and performed the tune for the first time in public before…

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