Review: The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Collection of Bagpipe Music

What a year it has been for Argyll piping: Inveraray winning the Worlds, Alasdair Henderson taking the Northern Meeting Gold Medal – and now a superb collection of bagpipe music courtesy the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The book represents a 200 year long musical journey of one of the iconic Scottish regiments, perhaps no longer with the identity of yesteryear but with a corpus of pipe music which will ensure…

Pipe Band Magazine Now Available for Download/ Balmoral Classic Announcement

The october edition of the RSPBA’s official magazine is now available for download: Organisers of the Balmoral Classic competition in the US have sent this: The Balmoral School Invites Young Pipers and Drummers to its 2017 Competition On November 18, 2017, the 11th annual Balmoral Classic, the US Junior Solo Bagpiping and Solo Snare Drumming Championships for entrants 21 years of age or younger, will take place in Pittsburgh, PA. [wds id=”2″] Pipers will compete in…

Pipe Band Magazine/ Archie Kenneth Quaich Amateur Piobaireachd

The autumn edition of Pipe Band Magazine will be available for free download this weekend. The magazine is the official publication of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and is provided gratis as a service to the pipe band community worldwide. October’s features include: All the World Champions from Glasgow Green back in August Part 2 of an interview with adjudicator David Brown A historic look back at 70 years…

Dress at Oban and Inverness and the Standard of Play in B Grade Events

A last look at the piping at the 2017 Northern Meeting today. Before that a word about Oban and its dress code. Pipers at the Argyllshire Gathering are permitted to play without jackets. The rooms get hot at times and the laudable aim of the organisers is to make the competitors as comfortable as possible in the pressure cooker atmosphere of the small theatre at the Corran Halls and in…

Review of Bill Livingstone’s Book ‘Preposterous: Tales to Follow’

This book shows glimpses of delicious interactions, thought processes and history, writes our special correspondent MacStig. It should become a standard read for anyone interested in the piping art, pipe bands and humanity. It is all there, fame, failure, family, humour, heartache, and hard work. The long anticipated reminiscences of renowned piper, lawyer, husband and now author, Bill Livingstone soar immediately from the opening paragraphs of his book ‘Preposterous: Tales…