The annual Highland Games weekend saw the 703 RCACS Pipes & Drums from Regina win the Grade 5 Championship, and they won the “Gordon Findlater Memorial Award” named in honour of a great piper and instructor from Saskatoon who contributed so much time to developing pipe bands.
Grade 4 went to the Conservatory of Performing Arts Pipe Band of Regina. Congratulations to all the bands and soloists on their performances over the weekend, and thanks all the organizers and volunteers who make the weekend so successful.
Archive for May, 2007
May
21
2007
 
2008 Clasp, Gold Medal and Silver Medal set tunes AnnouncedPosted by: Pipe Major in News16 May 2007 - Greg Wilson, the Music Committee Secretary of Comunn na Piobaireachd NZ today released the 2008 Clasp, Gold Medal and Silver Medal tunes. Click here to view the tunes. Click here to view the 2008 Silver medal tunes. Entry to the Silver Medal competition is restricted to pipers who have not previously won the Silver Medal event and who are pipers with a P&D Assn ‘B’ Grade or lower, or pipers with a CPA(NZ) ‘B’ Grade for Piobaireachd or lower. The 2008 Clasp and Gold Medal tunes will be posted as soon as they are available (the delay is caused by the fact that they are based on the Scottish Piobaireachd Society tunes, which haven’t been announced yet). The 2006 World Pipe Band Champions, Field Marshal Montgomery, will wear brand new kilts at the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in Dumbarton, Scotland, on May 19 with a tartan designed especially for the band. The new “Drumalig” tartan was designed for the band by R.G. Hardie & Co. and is based on the Royal Stewart tartan that the band has worn for decades.
The RSPBA are very happy to announce a new working relationship for 2007. The company has been set-up with one primary purpose and that is to provide top quality products at realistic prices to the pipe band player and enthusiast. They are also keen however, not to saturate the marketplace and will not at this time be recording all grades at all events, but if successful the turn of all grades for DVD production will come around. The first project PipeDream-Studios have taken on will be The 100 Pipers Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park, Dumbarton on Saturday 19th May. Available for Pre Order NOW! For this first project two events will be recorded, this will be the complete Grade 1 event, which will be available on dual format DVD (NTSC and PAL) and on CD. - Full Story Click Here
May
16
2007
Event’s bagpipes and brawn recall Delaware’s Highland historyPosted by: Pipe Major in News
The gathering ground may sit in Cecil County’s lush hills off Md. 273, but Saturday’s Colonial Highland Gathering is as First State Scottish as the roots of the University of Delaware. Delaware is home to 26,816 folks citing Scottish ancestry in the U.S. Census 2000, or 3.4 percent of residents. That may seem like a small figure, but it’s four times the number who cited roots with the Swedes, who (with Finns) made the state’s first permanent European settlement… While no place like the games in Maryland gives such a taste of Delaware’s Scottish culture, non-Scot newcomers may want to tote earplugs and opt for funnel cake over haggis. Kilts optional. The Colonial Highland Gathering starts 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Fair Hill, Md., race track off Md. 273, west of Newark. Admission is $15, under 12 free. For more information, visit www.fairhillscottishgames.org. NEW YORK — It’s the sound of the city laughing or crying, celebrating or mourning. For 45 years, the bagpipes and drums of the fire department’s Emerald Society Band provided a New York soundtrack in good times and bad: along Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick’s Day, alongside caskets at hundreds of Sept. 11 funerals. The band celebrated its 45th anniversary this week, after decades of performances in Yankee and Shea Stadiums, City Hall and Carnegie Hall. Its renditions of traditional Celtic music have reverberated beyond the city limits, too: The firefighters performed at President Bush’s inauguration and in the Irish Parliament. The kilt-wearing musicians even once earned a spread in the fashion magazine Vogue. And while that thought may bring a smile, the pipe-and-drum corps is no laughing matter … Piobaireachd March, Strathspey and Reel Hornpipe and Jig JOHN MCLEAN ALLAN AND HIS CELTIC ROCK BAND, STAND EASY RELEASE NEW CD The popular Celtic Rock band, Stand Easy, has announced its new CD release, “Tainted.” The band’s newest CD,“Tainted,” includes 11 tunes, ranging from the powerful “Western Thunder” to the haunting “Leaving Lismore.” More details and MP3s are available on the website: www.standeasy.org or myspace. Stand Easy is a Celtic Rock band led by the Los Angeles-based John McLean Allan, an award-winning bagpiper, singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist musician. John has appeared playing bagpipes in numerous feature films and television shows, including the Oscar-winning Best Picture, “Million Dollar Baby,” “Open Season,” “Austin Powers 2,” “West Wing,” “Primary Colors,” “Judging Amy,” and “Providence,” among many others. Stand Easy also features Jeff Cullen on highland pipes, whistles and vocals, Ken Lasaine on guitars, Paul Trutner on bass, and Chris Razze on drums. Stand Easy came together to share in John’s vision of creating a landmark fusion of commercial songwriting, Celtic music, and Rock & Roll. A powerful crowd-pleasing band, Stand Easy performs original songs, traditional songs and instrumentals. They have performed at many prestigious Festivals and Fairs, and numerous bars and pubs. Stand Easy has also performed at the Grover Beach Stone Soup Festival (2005). John McLean Allan has performed with the Chieftains, Korn, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Tonight Show Band and at the Coachella Music Festival. As a member of the L.A. Scots Pipe Band, John has performed and competed all over North America and Europe. Stand Easy has also performed and recorded John’s compositions. John’s compositions have been used for such diverse applications as a Honda Commercial, in performances by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and considered for MTV’s the Real World. In addition to composing and his work with Stand Easy, John also performs frequently at special events and gives bagpipe lessons. Stand Easy’s self-titled first CD has been heard on over a hundred radio stations in the U.S.A., Scotland, Canada and Mexico. John McLean Allan also has released “Family Favourites” which features thirty-four classic tunes performed solo on the Great Highland Bagpipe. FIRST EVER MONTEREY COUNTY CELTIC WEEK TO BE HELD JULY 1-8, 2007 A very special event-filled first ever “Monterey County Celtic Week” will be held the week of July 1-8, 2007 in Monterey, California. This exciting week will kick off with a Caber Parade featuring Scottish dancers, bagpipers and drummers on Sunday, July 1st in Carmel along Ocean Avenue. Photos are available here July 1 – 6 - Followed by the 40th Annual Monterey Scottish Games & Celtic Festival July 7 -8, - Friday night Celtic Concert on July 6, 2007 At this prestigious Piping & Drumming School, come and learn from the World’s Finest Pipers and Drummers
Drumming Instructors:
For online registration and more details, visit www.thepipingcentre.co.uk or
May
09
2007
SPBA to Auction Fred Morrison Smallpipes at Highland Games!Posted by: Pipe Major in NewsMcCallum Bagpipes have once again stepped forward to support the SPBA Sound Advice summer school, this time with a donation of a set of Fred Morrison The annual Highland Games weekend is almost here, and registration has closed. In the wake of recent SPBA Board and Annual General Meeting, we have posted the Revised Games Rules, with recent changes highlighted. Carved Hip of Beef Dinner with traditional Burns format with a Dance and Ceilidh to follow dinner. Cover charge for just the dance is $5.00, after 8:30 pm. For tickets or more information contact 452-PIPE (7473). Presented by the Dartmouth and District Pipe Band Association
The Associazione Pipers Italiani (API) is extending an open invitation (subject to availability of places) to pipers anywhere in the world to attend its “Italian Spring Piping School” in the central Italian town of Isernia at the end of March 2007. Four star hotel accommodation is available from 65 Euros per day per person for a double bed room (2 beds and breakfast plus lunch or dinner). The opening night launch concert taking place on 24th May aims to showcase the piping talent that will be on display during the festival itself, and whet you appetite for the events to come! The show features the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland performing their new show “Outside the Circle” which is the concert title. This promises to be an exciting new show featuring the best of Scottish youth piping and drumming. Pipe band Music but performed in a spectacular way! The other act for this great show are TNT - The New Tradition. They are ‘boy band’ of the piping world! This amazing young group recently won the Danny Kyle Open Stage Award at Celtic Connections 2007 and they plan to release their debut album later this year. The Concert will be held at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 24th May 2007 at 7.15 pm. Tickets are £15 adult and £10 Concession. They are available from the SEC Xtra Piping Hotline - 0141 564 4242 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Box Office - 0141 353 8000 or online at Silver Medal Former Winners Piobaireachd Piobaireachd March Strathspey and Reel Hornpipe and Jig The Grade 5 band competition has been changed to a March competition (5001) from the Medley competition. Please note a grade 5 March is a tune/combination of tunes of any time signature, minimum four parts. They may play a two part tune twice or two-two part tunes once. Click for the MS Word or PDF for the Moncton Games Application. Wetootwaag’s Podcast of Bagpipe - Bands, and Uilleann pipes, and Bagpipes by Sean Wetootwaag’s Podcast of Bagpipe Power Episode 17 Enjoy! — Jeremy Kingsbury The Piobaireachd Society’s intention when it included eight piobaireachds written in the last 50 years in its Senior list was to provide a mix of styles from some of the great pipe-music composers . . . |
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