Mystery Reel Played by Bob Nicol Revealed as a Composition of GS McLennan

We had a very good response to to yesterday’s story on the playing of RB Nicol and in particular the unidentified tune mentioned. Thanks to everyone who took the trouble. Duncan Watson: Aha! That reel that Bob was recorded playing is called Anon and is a composition of GS McLennan. Anon spelled backwards comes out as ‘Nona’ which was the name of GS’s wife. He also composed a slow air…

More Light Music Recordings of Bob Nicol Courtesy Patrick Molard, Brittany

Following the article of a couple of weeks back, we asked Breton piper Patrick Molard how he came to have such excellent recordings of Bob Nicol, Balmoral, playing light music. Patrick responded promptly and, we are delighted to say, also supplied us with several other recordings from his archive. Thank you Patrick! He wrote: It is such a long time ago (51 years!) that it is difficult for me to…

Atholl Gathering 2023 Results: Updated with Juniors, Pictures and Comment

The Atholl Gathering was held today (May 28) in the grounds of Blair Castle, Perthshire. More than 60 solo pipers, junior and senior, competed. There were graded senior contests for piobaireachd. Light music events for March, Strathspey and Reel and Hornpipe & Jig were open. The ceòl beag was split into four heats with four pipers in each progressing to the final. Three tunes were asked for in ceòl mòr…

CLASP May 6th ‘Live Online’ Competition Results

This was another well attended ‘live online’ CLASP competition. For Grade 1 CLASP competitors there was one final chance to win an invite to compete at the inaugural amateur invitational competition at the Sun Belt in Florida in November 2023. By Margaret Houlihan Eric Stein, who runs the Sun Belt Professional Invitational Competition in Florida, has expanded this event to include an amateur invitational and Eric is kindly sponsoring flights…

Editor’s Notebook: Practice Time/ Low G Taorluath/ Sgian Dubh/ Internship/ Coronation Tune/ Results 1996

How many of you come close to following the guidance in this practice table? I suspect not many will manage the five hours a day. The maximum I could ever do, in say the run up to to Oban and Inverness, would have been two hours. For my pupils I recommend a minimum of an hour a day. This can be split into three sections: 20 minutes on the practice…