Category: Reviews

Top Piper Queries Tune Selection Comments By the Editor

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Top professional piper Alex Gandy from Halifax, Nova Scotia, has written regarding a recent blog post by the Editor concerning the selection of tunes for Former Winners’ MSR contests….. Alex wrote: I wanted to get a little clarity on what maybe the judges are looking for with regard to tune selection, as it appears you weren’t 100% enthused with Mrs. MacDonald of Dunach. I’ve played the same marches two years…

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PP Ed’s Blog: Angus’s Funeral/ Shotts Contest/ Fergie Book/ Trad Awards

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The dates for Angus Nicol’s funeral in Oban and mass in London have now been set: Tuesday 18th October – Oban RC Cathedral: Funeral Mass: 11.30am followed by Kilninver interment and Knipoch Hotel wake . Friday 21st October – Brompton Oratory: Requiem Mass: 11am with wake afterwards at St Wilfrid’s Hall. Angus, a great lover of piping and self-taught Gaelic speaker, died last week after a long bout of ill health. Throughout his life he did a great deal…

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The Northern Meeting Highland Society of London Gold Medal 2016 – A Review

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Today, in the second of our reports from the 2016 Northern Meeting piping competition, editor Robert Wallace reviews the contest for the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal…. At 8.30am on the big day I parked my backside in the main auditorium at Eden Court Theatre for an eight-hour listen to one of the most important contests in world piping. On first (not easy) was Dr Peter McCalister playing the Lament for MacSwan…

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Judging, the Media and the Need for Fairness and Transparency

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Well, we are where we are. But where are we? And are we where we want to be? Shouldn’t we be somewhere else? And if so how do we get from where we are to where we want to be? Don’t worry I’m baffled too, and I offer this writhing gobbledygook as an example of the sort of Rumsfeldian (known knowns etc.) mash talk ‘prose’ you will not find in the pages…

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Northern Ireland’s Blackthorn Pipers’ Society Meet in New Venue

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The new season of Northern Ireland’s Blackthorn Pipers’ Society gatherings, previously held in Dromore, Co Down, got off to a great start last night, 21st September, in a new Belfast city centre venue, the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre in Gordon Street, writes John Kelly.  Grahame Harris, who has succeeded Andy Wilson as the Society’s Secretary, welcomed the piping enthusiasts to the new venue.  Taking part in the great evening’s craic were the main recitalist Kris Coyle…

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