The Progress of the Pipe Band and the Importance of Learning from History – Part 2

Some of the concerns over ensemble, drumming prizes, tempos and judges in tents, have of course been remedied over the years since the 1950s.  Adjudicators of RSPBA pipe band competitions for many years have no longer been hidden in tents (although that has generated new concerns regarding whether they should be static or move around the competing bands; and whether they should be allowed to share tents and confer with…

Order of Play for Captain John Contest/ Lochnell Intermediate Championship Official Preview

The draws for the Captain John MacLellan Memorial competition have been announced. The competition will take place the Army School of Piping at Inchdrewer House, Edinburgh, this Saturday October 2. It has a attracted a very high quality field with Piobaireachd and MSR competitions for all CPA grades and an Open Jig event. The order of play is as follows (use arrows to scroll through from P Grade to C):…

Editor’s Notebook: RSPBA Appointments/ Early Days of the 214/ Norman Matheson/ Book Search

I see that the RSPBA are holding elections for the jobs of Piping and Summer School Principals. This is a statutory procedure which will be carried out at the first Pipe Band College AGM in November. I understand John Nevans is standing again for the summer school job. In my view it would be remiss of the Association’s member bands and branches not to re-elect him. In John they have…

History: P/Sgt John Maclean, Scots Guards, the 1930 Northern Meeting and a Tribute to Mary Queen of Scots

I was interested in the Piping Press article (6th Sept. Donald Morrison Archive) regarding the Northern Meeting piping competitions 1930, which mentioned my father John Maclean (North Uist). Only minor error in the newspaper’s report was that my father was in fact Pipe-SERGEANT, not Pipe-Major. He was later Pipe-Major 2nd Btn. HLI. In the Gold Medal he, like Nicol, played Cille Chriosd (Glengarry’s March). His fellow Guardsman, Malcolm ‘Baggy’ MacMillan was…

The Progress of the Pipe Band and the Importance of Learning from History

In any organisation it is always good practice to study its history before attempting to make changes or further develop its structure, policies or procedures.  History has a habit of repeating itself on a cyclical basis, so it is always worth considering the background to previous decisions to avoid repeating previous mistakes.  It is also always worth considering whether seemingly new ideas have actually been tried before and failed.  The…