Entries are now open for Aberdeen Games on June 18. Prizemoney has been increased. There are three senior events and three junior and a new open grade chanter contest. Entries close June 8. Enter here. Aberdeen’s Highland Games attracts between 8,000 and 15,000 people annually. Outdoor catering will be available with a public bar with a beer garden. Before Aberdeen there is solo piping at Gordon Castle (May 21) and Atholl…
I am sure P/M Willie Ross did seminal service to piping when he streamlined the playing and writing of our ceòl beag technique. Gone were the doublings on C with the two D gracenotes, the open style of taorluath writing, the heavy D throw, the gracenoted birl. His six books also provided a catalogue of standard settings of many of the classic competition tunes in versions that everyone agreed were…
We have received this intriguing information from expert piping historian and author Jeannie Campbell: ‘In 1903 a contest was held in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh. ‘Thirteen bands took part and the contest was reported in the papers as the World’s First Pipe Band Championship. The winners were Wallacestone and their opening march was Bonnie Anne.’ The band is pictured above with the handsome trophy with all the personnel clearly named….
There can be few companies around that have done more to support piping than William Grant, the independent whisky distillers, writes the Editor. True to the wishes of their founding philanthropist Sandy Grant Gordon, the company continues to pour money into our art, these days through its charity wing, the William Grant Foundation. It states: ‘William Grant & Sons has always taken a long-term view to support its people, its…
I am fortunate to have in my possession an army piper’s manuscript book. It is dated August 1941 and it belonged to Corporal W.E. Grieve, 6th Battalion of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. It contains many competition tunes well beyond regimental basic requirements. As I was searching for tunes relating to WW2, one four-parted 6/8 march, Crossing the Odon, by the well-known Willie Bryson (pictured), caught my eye immediately. The River…
Recent Comments