Category: Tuition

Winning the Worlds 50 Years Ago – 1st Port Glasgow BB Celebrate in Style

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

The 1st Port Glasgow Boys’ Brigade Pipe Band won the World Juvenile Championship in 1972.  The Golden Jubilee was to be celebrated by a parade and dinner on Friday 30th September.  When the day dawned it was raining, only as it can in Inverclyde.  To make matters worse a gale was blowing.  It seemed that Hurricane Ian (their spelling, not mine) had taken a detour from Florida to pay a…

More Winning the Worlds 50 Years Ago – 1st Port Glasgow BB Celebrate in Style

Editor’s Notebook: Band Search/ Royal Tune/ Livingstone Bursary/ Piping Times Archive/ Jori’s Contest

Posted on      by      2 Comments

Ulf Schönberg of the Stockholm Pipe Band: ‘Can you help me identify the band in this photo? The historic interest (to me) is that it is the very first time a Swedish audience could see and hear a pipe band – at the Gothenburg Exhibition in August 1923.  ‘The band travelled to Sweden by ship together with the Royal Artillery Band and played in Gothenburg and in Stockholm. It was much…

More Editor’s Notebook: Band Search/ Royal Tune/ Livingstone Bursary/ Piping Times Archive/ Jori’s Contest

History: Pipe Major RU Brown, Balmoral, and His Final Journey Home

Posted on      by      2 Comments

We conclude the report from the special edition of the South Australian Pipe Band Association Newsletter which outlined RU Brown’s 1972 tour of South Australia and Tasmania, his teaching, his recitals and his illness and death. This excerpt contains touching details from air hostess Helen Aitkenhead who cared for P/M Brown on his final journey home…… Pipe Major Robert U Brown flew from Melbourne to Sydney where I joined him….

More History: Pipe Major RU Brown, Balmoral, and His Final Journey Home

History: Bob Brown and that Final Teaching Tour to Australia

Posted on      by      1 Comment

We continue the report from the special edition of the South Australian Pipe Band Association Newsletter which outlined RU Brown’s 1972 tour of South Australia and Tasmania, his teaching, his recitals and his illness and death. The newsletter contained many tributes including this from Sir Lyall McEwan, Chieftain of Adelaide Highland Games. The picture above was taken in South Africa in 1970 when P/M Brown was on another recital tour………

More History: Bob Brown and that Final Teaching Tour to Australia

Editor’s Notebook: Band Medleys/ Mod Piping/ Hector’s Tune/ Barry Brougham

Posted on      by      1 Comment

How many of you can add a nod of agreement to this statement from Danish piper Bernard Bouhadana? It was forwarded to PP the other day from social media: For next season he would like to see bands, ‘Throw the concept of reprise in every single medley into the garbage. All bands sound the same. Is it really much fun? Play the same tune again after the last tune. Play…

More Editor’s Notebook: Band Medleys/ Mod Piping/ Hector’s Tune/ Barry Brougham