Tag: piping competitions

Be a Better Piper: When Choosing a Bagpipe, It is Vital that You Get it Right

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Forget the house or the car. The most important decision a piper has to make is in the instrument he/she buys. Get it wrong and face years of wasteful and expensive plumbing trying to make something out of a very bad situation. Get it right, and you can have hours of musical satisfaction from an instrument that is easy to reed, steady, and an all round pleasure to play. In…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipes Difficulty/ Muirheads Articles/ Paddy Moloney/ Jim Murdock/ John MacLellan Recital

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In a recent poll covered in the national press the pipes came on top as the hardest instrument of all to play. The order given was 1 Bagpipes 2 Piccolo 3 French horn 4 Violin 5 Oboe 6 Flute 7 Cello 8 Accordion 9 Organ and 10 Drums. I’m not sure who conducted this survey or what the criteria were, but it seems spurious to me – no mention of…

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Memories of Muirhead & Sons Pipe Band and the Great P/M Robert G Hardie – Part 2

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As the competition season approached, practices became more frequent and intense.  The week before ‘The Worlds’ would involve several extra practices. I remember one night having just completed a gruelling MSR comprising a six part march, an eight part strathspey, and an eight part reel. Hardie made no comment but casually said, ‘We’ll try that again’!  By Gordon Ferguson Yes, these were solid practices and we were ‘match fit’ by…

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Memories of Muirhead & Sons Pipe Band and the Great P/M Robert G Hardie

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I have been asked by the Editor to reflect on my time playing with the Muirhead and Sons Pipe Band and in particular what it was like being led by the maestro that was P/M Robert G Hardie. Though I have lived in Queensland, Australia, for many years now, my time with the band when we won a civilian band record of five World Championship wins in a row 1965-69…

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Donald Morrison Archive: How ‘Donald, Willie and His Dog’ Got Its Name

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This article from Donald’s archive is from the Oban Times newspaper. No date is given but it is believed to be from the 1970s. A few weeks ago when reporting on the Northern Meeting competitions [writes their piping correspondent] I speculated on the name of Donald Morrison’s jig ‘Donald, Willie and His Dog’. The name fascinated me in the same way as Willie Ross’s tune ‘The Old Ruins’ did after…

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