Tag: Scottish music

Some Reflections on Changes at the Worlds

Posted on      by      3 Comments

Thank you to all those who have contributed to the debate over the recently announced changes at the Worlds, the main one being the decision to hold Juvenile and Novice grades on the Friday. I have a few thoughts to share in response. The problem with making the Friday of the Worlds ‘heats’ day – as has been suggested by a number of correspondents – is overseas bands. By the…

More Some Reflections on Changes at the Worlds

Editor’s Notebook: Piobaireachd Society Conference/ Uist & Barra/ Tribute Band/ Scottish Pipers

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

One of the highlights at tomorrow’s Piobaireachd Society Conference will be a tune from Duncan MacGillivray. Duncan will be playing on John Macdonald, Inverness’s bagpipe (as above). It will help illustrate my talk on John Shone’s new book on Macdonald entitled ‘Life, Times and Music’. (Available this weekend on the PS webshop.) Duncan got the pipes from his father Donald. Donald was a student of Macdonald’s and the maestro gifted…

More Editor’s Notebook: Piobaireachd Society Conference/ Uist & Barra/ Tribute Band/ Scottish Pipers

Worlds Controversy: Readers Have Their Say

Posted on      by      5 Comments

The decision by the RSPBA to separate Juvenile and Novice contests from the main Saturday event at Glasgow Green was announced on Piping Press on Monday. It has aroused considerable feeling in the pipe band community. Here is a selection of readers’ views to add to the comments already made. Jonathon Simpson: I have experienced the Worlds as a competitor, a pipe major in the juvenile grades, as an adult…

More Worlds Controversy: Readers Have Their Say

John MacColl’s Missing Piobaireachd – Part 2

Posted on      by      8 Comments

Thanks to permission from the National Library of Scotland we are now able to publish a copy of the hitherto ‘lost’ Lament for Donald MacPhee by John MacColl. Donald MacPhee (1841-1880) was a prominent professional piper and bagpipe maker during his short lifetime; he published a bagpipe tutor book and bagpipe music. By John Frater This from Seumas MacNeill’s ‘Masters of Piping’: ‘…at Bonawe Games young John [MacColl] had heard…

More John MacColl’s Missing Piobaireachd – Part 2

Found! A Missing Piobaireachd by Master Composer John MacColl

Posted on      by      1 Comment

I recently had another very enjoyable and productive session in the Special Collections reading room of the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in Edinburgh.  The main purpose of this visit was to take another look at Robert Meldrum’s manuscript, where, in January, I had found a score entitled the Rout of Glenlivet, which I realised was the same tune the Piobaireachd Society had published in its Book 16 as Nameless…

More Found! A Missing Piobaireachd by Master Composer John MacColl