The AGM of the RSPBA will be held in Glasgow on March 10 with proposals allowing judges to discuss band performances with their colleagues and a revamp of the Association’s College the major changes up for agreement. There is also an important proposal that Grade 4 band leading drummers should also be allowed to register with another band. At the moment this dispensation only covers the Pipe Major. The re-vamp…
Just back from a very enjoyable weekend on Mull teaching the kids at Tobermory High School. Calum MacLean is the local schools teacher and given that he only has two days a week to cover the whole island and neighbouring Iona it is remarkable that he can turn out a band at all. In total he has 48 boys and girls all learning pipes. It augurs well for the future…
Organisers of the European Pipe Band Championships ‘Piping at Forres’ are creating a short film featuring young pipers and drummers. The film will include interviews with the under 25s explaining how and why they got involved in a band. The documentary will be used to promote the European Pipe Band Championships which will be held in Forres for the last time in June 2018 after a six-year run in the Moray…
Our Guide to the Games is proving very popular even after only one day. It gives me the opportunity of running the picture above from the collection of reader Duncan Watson. It is of a young Alasdair Gillies playing at Cawdor Castle games in the 1980s. Alasdair was a supporter of the games even after he achieved what you might call piping’s equivalent of superstar status. Too many of our…
I think it is a bit far-fetched for yesterday’s Sunday Mail newspaper to say there is a boycott of the Worlds over band sizes. Quite the opposite with record numbers signing up every year. Still, good that they picked up on the Wall Street Journal story and gave the issue some publicity as best they could. Shouldn’t expect the SM to get everything right and I had a laugh at the…
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