Piping Press

Former RSPBA Adjudicator Alistair Aitken concludes his excellent look back over his three decade career as a pipe band judge. Piping Press wishes to express its gratitude to Alistair for sharing his highly entertaining and informative reminscences with the international pipe band world via our pages. One year I was judging at the Melrose local competition the day after the World Championships.  The Harwich Pipe Band from England competed at…

The Director of Army Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming, Major Gordon Rowan, has cancelled the 2020 Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Piping Championship. The Army School of Bagpipe Music & Highland Drumming (ASBM&HD) has now opened for the first time since lockdown, welcoming all staff to prepare for a return to normal teaching within Inchdrewer House. Major Gordon Rowan: ‘The current AA Class 1 Piper’s course is now able to…

One thing struck me when looking at and listening to some of the recent online competition submissions was how much more of an occasion it was when the pipers were dressed properly. In the last one I watched (the USPF) there was a decided lack of dress sense and not a kilt in sight as far as I could see. Earlier this year Andrew Carlisle’s contest at Carnegie Mellon set…

By Ian McLaren Below are details issued on behalf of Aboyne Highland Games about its decision to move some of its piping competitions online this year following the event’s cancellation due to COVID-19.  Aboyne is believed to be the first Highland games in Scotland to introduce virtual piping competitions this year, a move that will provide solo pipers with a platform to play competitively.  Demand from pipers led to the number of…

Around 2004 there was concern among some members of the RSPBA Adjudicators’ Panel about the positioning of adjudicator tents.  The main concerns were about placing them in a position which would reduce the amount of time necessary to walk to and from the tent, and thus maximise the limited time available for completion of critique sheets.  There were also concerns about more than one adjudicator being in each tent to…