Tag: great highland bagpipe

Is it Not Time that we Capped the Numbers of Pipers in Pipe Bands?

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Pipe bands seem to have settled on a ‘no more than 25 pipers’ rule in the past couple of seasons. Before that we had showmen P/Ms turning out with nearer 30. Now they realise the difficulties this means for unison and control. There was a time when the optimum size of a pipe band was considered to be 12 pipers, four side drummers, two tenors and a bass. Among the top bands…

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PP Ed’s Blog: Oz Summer School/ Canada on Blackwood/ Malcolm’s Funeral

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P/M Douglas Murray of Fife Police will join his brother James, Ian Lyons and Brett Tidswell as the main piping instructors at the Pipe Bands Australia summer school in Melbourne later this month. Lead Drumming Instructor is Steven McWhirter, the current World Solo Champion, ably supported by Dean Hall and others. Here’s the link. I hear that Douglas has had to pull out of the Wheel of Fortune contest owing…

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Lecture on Robert Reid/ US Blackwood Instrument ‘Passport’

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Perfect for whiling away part of a winter’s evening would be a trawl through the PP Audio Archive. Added today is our copy of the lecture on the life and times of P/M Robert Reid made for BBC radio in the early 1970s by Seumas MacNeill as part of his ‘Masters of Piping’ series. The delivery and musical illustrations are superb, the piping by Reid’s pupil, P/M RG Hardie. Robert Reid…

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PP Ed:’s Blog: Steven Small/ PP Million/ Bob Frater/US Blackwood Info/ Results

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Congratulations to the former Director of Army Bagpipe Music Major Steven Small on his recent award of the MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List. Steven retired from his post last year after nine years in charge at the Army School at Inchdrewer House, Edinburgh. Steven served for 35 years in the Army and has now taken up a new job with the Edinburgh Tattoo. His successor is Major Gordon…

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Have Pipes, Will Travel: How to Deal with the New Blackwood Legislation

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Since our articles on the new CITES regulations covering pipes made from African blackwood there has been a growing concern among pipers about how they may be affected when travelling abroad with their instruments, writes the Editor. In particular ‘what about the hundreds of pipers who travel here for the Worlds?’ has been a familiar cry. Before I get to that, I need to repeat that at the moment travel within the EU…

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