Category: Solo Piping

Braemar Results and Report/ Blairgowrie Results

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The Braemar Gold Medallist for 2025 is John McDonald, Aberdeen, (above). He gave a fine rendition of the supposedly MacCrimmon tune, the Glen is Mine, on a steady, tuneful instrument, writes the Editor How appropriate that a local man should win the medal with this tune. The first few bars of it are inscribed on the memorial cairn to the Bobs of Balmoral only yards from the piobaireachd board. As…

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Editor’s Notebook: Ensemble Judges/ SPA Nights/ Inveraray Show/ MacLean request/ Peter Bain/ Cancale

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This week’s anonymous contributor should be thanked for raising the matter of wandering ensemble judges. Personally I felt that he wrote well but was guilty of pipe band overthink. Get up close to the tenor drummers to see if they are integrating with those around them. Really? What is ensemble if it is not an assessment of the entire package, pipes and drums, and how well they work together? I…

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Games Round Up: Braemar, Blairgowrie, Birnam

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We are heading into the penultimate weekend of Highland Games piping with Braemar (Sat.) and Blairgowrie (Sun.). Entries are closed for both. At Blair, a graded event, there are 16 in the P/A Piob. Here is the draw: 1 Darach Urquhart 2 Cameron MacDougall 3 John McDonald 4 Eireann Ianetta-MacKay 5 James McPetrie 6 Sandy Cameron 7 Steven Leask 8 Andrew Donlon 9 Gordon McCready 10 William Rowe 11  Jacob Dicker 12 Sarah Muir 13 Matt Pantaleoni 14 Cameron May 15 Ben…

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Reflections on the Argyllshire Gathering – Part 2

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Argyllshire Gathering Day 1. I judged the Silver Medal with Robert Barnes and Donald MacPhee. We started at 9am sharp and finished at 4.30 with a short break for some lunch. The winner was Kyle Cameron, now a son of Tobermory on Mull. His tune was the shortest in the list, You’re Welcome Ewen Lochiel. The pipe was rich-toned and as rock steady as the finger. Kyle’s only fault was…

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Reflections on the Argyllshire Gathering – Part 1

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I think it would be fair to say that everything went off very smoothly over the two days of the Gathering held in Oban last week. It is no easy task to organise more than 100 highly motivated pipers and more than 30 judges and stewards, so all credit to John Campbell, Kilberry, Piping Steward, and Assistant Steward Torquil Telfer and their team. Conditions could have been kinder on Games…

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