Skye Gathering Entries Open

Entries for this year’s Skye Gathering piping – on August 5/6 – are now open. Entry form and contest information below. Places in the Dunvegan Medal are limited to 25 and entries close on May 31. A list of successful applicants will be circulated to all entrants in early June. In drawing up the list, the Skye Piping Committee will take CPA gradings and previous attendance and placings at the…

Royal Regiment of Scotland’s New Book of Pipe Music Celebrates 20 Years of SCOTS

Well, the wait is finally over and I’m pleased to say the SCOTS Pipe Music Collection Vol 1 is ready! The Royal Regiment of Scotland are proud to announce the release of its first pipe music collection to mark the 20th anniversary of the regiment founded on 28 March, 2006.  This landmark publication brings together, for the first time, the full collection of regimental music, including all battalion tunes and…

Editor’s Notebook: Band Sizes/ Atholl Gathering/ 214 BB/ Duncan Johnstone/ PS Conference

The RSPBA are now taking the issue of band sizes seriously. There was a commitment at last weekend’s AGM to take the matter forward via the Music Board and a consultation with the bands. The proposal is that piper numbers be cut to 22 and side drummers to 11. No apparent mention of bass and tenors. The thrust of the argument put forward was one of fairness, always an emotional…

Editor’s Notebook: Band Sizes/ Piping Centurions/ SPA Professional/ Duncan Johnstone/ CLASP Results

I hope the RSPBA AGM devotes a good bit of time to a serious discussion on band sizes…or at least appoints a working group to examine properly the reasons for the decline in the number of pipe bands in Scotland. With only six Grade 1 bands and reductions further down the pecking order, this is not something that should be dismissed lightly under the banner ‘it’s all been tried before…

Review of the 2026 Uist & Barra Professional

Pity those who weren’t at Otago Street last Saturday for the 79th Annual Uist & Barra Professional. We heard two piobaireachd that would have won any competition anywhere – and I’m talking senior events at Oban/ Inverness – and some flowing ceòl beag that wasn’t to be sniffed at either. By Robert Wallace The two tunes I mention were from Callum Beaumont and Finlay Johnston. There wasn’t a gossamer strand…