MacStig Takes a Look Back At Some Highlights of 2018

Some say that winter is just too long without this guy. Well, ever responsive to the needs of our readers we tracked him down to one of the shiftier hang outs on the Spanish Main. We found him sipping – well you don’t really don’t want to know (whatever he says below), and there he sat in the tartan budgie smugglers (photo on application). And you will be pleased to…

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The Highland Light Infantry Tunes and History

We are grateful for these two comprehensive responses to the request for tunes associated with the Highland Light Infantry regiment of the British Army. They followed a request for assistance from Andrew Reid the piper for the regiment’s veterans association. The picture above shows the regiment pipe band parading in Cairo, Egypt, in 1946. Reader David Livingstone: For what it’s worth, my 1932 potted history of line regiments lists HLI…

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PP Ed’s Blog: Composing Contest/ Historic Cowal Pictures/ Tune Search

Welcome back! I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had an enjoyable and fulfilling time. I can say, festivities excepted, that the judges for the John Cruickshank VC composing competition have been hard at work. P/Ms Ian McLellan, Stuart Liddell, Richard Parkes and myself have narrowed the 42 entries down to three finalists and will be spending the next couple of days identifying the best tune for the £1,000 first prize….

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PP Ed’s Blog: Practice Chanter Tuning/ Alt Piob Club/ Angus Lawrie/ Diary Dates

Bruce Beavis in Chicago: ‘I’m the P/Sgt for a start-up Grade 5 band and I was thinking about tuning practice chanters.   ‘I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the general topic of musicianship in bagpiping and wonder what your thoughts are.  ‘It seems odd to me that we treat the bagpipe like a musical instrument but spend most of our time practicing on a practice chanter that has…

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New Light Music Australian Championship

Pipe Bands South Australia and the RU Brown Piping Society of South Australia have released details of an Australian Solo Piping Championships for light music and associated events in Adelaide on 13 and 14 April 2019. Pipe Bands Australia granted the South Australian branch permission to hold the solo piping championships for light music following the branch’s request for approval of the initiative in commencing the nation’s premier solo piping…

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