The highlight of the 45th annual Piobaireachd Society Conference was, for me, the talk given by John Shone. John has been a faithful at the conference for decades and in a cosily busy room at the Birnam Hotel late on Saturday he regaled us with tunes and tales of his teachers. What a list. From beginnings in the Croydon BB there were lessons from JB Robertson, Donald MacPherson, Bob Nicol,…
The New South Wales Pipers Society held their annual Silver Chalice competition last Saturday at what is considered a superb location, the Presbyterian Ladies College in Sydney, Australia. The contest was the strongest for a number of years with the ‘A’ grade entry of 10 competitors including pipers making the journey from interstate for the prestigious event. The guest piobaireachd judge was Brett Tidswell from Adelaide. Photo above shows: Garry Barker…
The RSPBA have announced that registration for all major championships for 2018 is now available online. Chief Executive Ian Embelton says on the RSPBA website: ‘Online entries are now open for the 2018 championship season. ‘Entries for bands and drum majors will only be available online. We introduced this facility three years ago and in 2017 almost all entries were made online so we have now decided to remove the…
I snapped this picture in a bar known as the ‘Tilted Kilt’ in Boca Raton, Florida, last month. What intrigued me was that the piper is playing a two-drone pipe. Given that the poster is calling on Irishmen to join up it must have been before the formation of the Irish Republic, and circa the outbreak of WW1. I seem to remember a reference to a regiment called the Irish…
Over the last few weeks we have been running the interview our Editor Robert Wallace conducted with Duncan Johnstone, master player, teacher and composer, in 1996. This is the final instalment of that interview …… When did you start teaching? I didn’t start teaching until the 1970s. I opened the school in Robertson Street in 1976 and when it closed in 1979 I started teaching in the house. I must…
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