RT Shepherd & Sons Officially in Liquidation

The liquidation of the once world-beating bagpipe and reed manufacturers RT Shepherd & Sons has been announced. It will be a sad day for all friends and followers of the founder, P/M Bob Shepherd, who started the company in the 1970s following his Worlds-winning spell with Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band. Bob died in 2019. The company’s chanters and reeds were played worldwide and it was responsible for some outstanding…

The Piobaireachd Society Annual Conference 2025 – Another Outstanding Success

It is not often you get to hear two superb, vintage sets of pipes in the one day. The first was John MacDonald, Inverness’s played by Duncan MacGillivray and the second, Bob Brown’s played by Dan Nevans. Neither disappointed. The occasion was the annual conference of the Piobaireachd Society held last weekend in the Royal George Hotel, Perth. Society committees met on the Friday night. The General Committee approved grants…

Piobaireachd Society Announce Recommended Set Tunes for Oban and Inverness 2026

The Music Committee of the Piobaireachd Society has recommended the following set tunes for next year’s Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting: GOLD MEDAL – Four (4) tunes to be submittedThe Finger Lock* Pride of Barra *Lady MacDonald’s LamentMacDonalds Are SimplePort UrlarLament for Airds*Fare Thee Well DonaldLament for Captain Donald MacKenzie* Crunluath a mach required. SILVER MEDAL – four (4) tunes to be submittedLament for the Castle of DunyvegNameless, Hiharin dro…

John MacColl’s Missing Piobaireachd – Part 2

Thanks to permission from the National Library of Scotland we are now able to publish a copy of the hitherto ‘lost’ Lament for Donald MacPhee by John MacColl. Donald MacPhee (1841-1880) was a prominent professional piper and bagpipe maker during his short lifetime; he published a bagpipe tutor book and bagpipe music. By John Frater This from Seumas MacNeill’s ‘Masters of Piping’: ‘…at Bonawe Games young John [MacColl] had heard…

New Music Book from John Mulhearn

I have produced a new book of tunes, ‘Let Piping Flourish: A Musical History of Highland Piping in Glasgow’. It will be launched at Piping Live in August with pre-orders available from early May. Nowhere has shaped modern Highland piping as profoundly as Glasgow (motto ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’). Given the city’s unique history – its cycles of economic expansion and migrations – it is no surprise that its impact on piping…