Notice anything strange about this pic? Check out the bass drone. This was how the pipes were pictured in an auction catalogue by a Devon-based company. They were expected to go for £60 – £80 but sold for close on £6,000. The auction house and the seller clearly knew next to nothing about the national instrument yet the blurb read: ‘An important set of bagpipes have found their way home…

We continue today with more of the brilliantly edited historic photographs from Ronan Maguire of St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band, Dublin. The picture above is of Alexander Glen and a young David Glen in their workshop in Edinburgh circa. 1880. The original black and white image was cleaned up and enhanced before being colourised. Glen was the biggest name in bagpipe manufacture and music publishing in the late 19th and…

An update from the Lockdown Piping Club project, writes Craig Muirhead.  Going by my calculations, over a thousand people have now had their first chanter lesson with me in lockdown either via the live classes or the pre-existing online tutorials – I am seriously chuffed! We are working through a few pages of a little PDF I’ve put together. Not the most conventional way of teaching bagpipes, but the idea behind the…

I wanted to mention that I have a small, at-home podcast. It is specifically about Lady Pipers and is called the Lady Pipers’ Podcast. I tell the stories of some remarkable women, Rona MacDonald (Lightfoot), Bessie Watson, and some ladies bands. We’ve also had articles on Annie Grant, Ann Johnstone and Rose Fletcher. I try to keep to one subject at a time, simply for the storytelling. A lot of the…

Press release from The Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust……..  A schools’ pipe band competition is going ahead in March – even if schools stay shut. Normally hundreds of players and supporters converge for the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships – but this year it is going online.  Prizes total over £2,500 from a judging panel made up of some of the biggest names in traditional music.  The event is being…