Bagpipe News

This week’s ASO season kickoff features yet another departure from orchestral tradition with the world premiere of a concerto for bagpipes by 31-year-old composer Robinson McClellan. It will be part of a program inspired by the British Isles that includes Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture, folk songs arranged by Benjamin Britten and Hadyn’s Symphony No. 104 “London.” The three-performance run starts tonight in Saratoga Springs and continues Friday in Troy and Saturday in Pittsfield, Mass.

Strictly speaking, McClellan’s new piece is not for the bagpipes that we normally associate with parades, which are properly known as the Highland pipes. Instead, the concerto is written for the uilleann (pronounced “ill-inn”) pipes, which appealed to McClellan because of their quieter sound, broader range (two octaves instead of just one) and a variety of other capabilities, including the ability to turn off the drone and just play a melody.

Entire Article at TimesUnion.Com

Men proudly wear kilts, toss cabers at the Oklahoma Scottish Festival.
Men in kilts.

Everyone mentioned in this article matches that description.

Or at least they did Saturday, when they as well as thousands of other people descended on River West Festival Park to get in touch with their inner Scot.

The occasion was - and is - the Oklahoma Scottish Festival, which will conclude Sunday.

It’s the kind of event where the consumption of haggis is discussed openly, where cabers are tossed with impunity, and, yes, men wear skirts with pride, albeit with varying degrees of confidence.

Barry Anderson, 42, said Saturday was the first time he had been out in public while sporting a kilt. The early returns were positive.

“I walked into QuikTrip and no one giggled,” Anderson said.

Of course, one would have to be rather foolhardy to snicker at a man whose skills include being able to use a pitchfork to hurl a heavy burlap bag over a horizontal bar.

That’s known as the sheaf toss, one of the Scottish games on display this weekend.

Read the Entire Article 

Check out the Comix on the Voice

James Stewart and Carl Lenny are the new Pipe-Major and Leading-Drummer, respectively, of the Grade 1 Windsor Police Pipe Band of Windsor, Ontario, taking over from Bill Baird and Michael Crawley.

WPPB AGM - Sunday October 14, 2007 - 12:00pm

St.Clair College Cafeteria - New members welcome

1960’s set of blackwood and imitation ivory Sinclair pipes. Very Good condition. New EZ drone & Ross canister system. New McCallum pipe chanter.

Visit Bagpiper.Com Classifieds

The Bunker Hill Pipe Band Knights of Columbus #62 will be starting a new fall class for bagpipe and drum lessons. we will be dividing the pipe lessons in 2 classes one will be for ages 12 and over. The second will be solely for our younger students ages 9-11. the classes will be starting the third monday in October.

If you would like any information please stop by the K of C any monday night at 7 pm from now until the third monday in October. also our first nightof lessons for the younger folks will start of with an information and open house for parents to get to know what will be involved in lessons. as always (ALL CLASSES ARE FREE!!!)

For further information please email us at gibbamc@msn.com or call 781 944 0994. Thank you and hope to see you there.

Pipeband Website

The pipes are calling: Workshop spotlights challenging instrument with loads of charm

What could be sweeter than the sound of one set of bagpipes resounding in the streets of New Bedford? Why, more than one, of course! If you were in the area of William Street one recent Sunday, you would have heard several pipers at play around a little shop called Joe Piper Celtic and World Musical Goods. Owner Joseph Mone hosted the all-day bagpiping workshop, taught by veteran piper Nate Silva.

Mr. Silva, 26, has been piping since he was 11 years old and loves to share his experience with others.

“Doing something like this in New Bedford is a real treat,” he said. Mr. Silva, who lives in the city and grew up in Taunton, plays with the Boston Kiltics, a Cape Breton-style group that includes a fiddler, guitarist and two stepdancers. … Read the Entire Article

… The public is invited to stop by his shop at 106 William St. New Bedford, MA 02740 on AHA! nights — this Thursday and the second Thursdays of every month. “TGIF Sessions” are held at 5:30 p.m. every Friday and are open to the public. For more information, visit www.joepiper.com or call (508) 984-1330.

Midlothian Scottish Pipe Band is actively seeking pipers and drummers to
fill out their ranks for the next season and into the future.  We are a top-ranked Grade 2 band focused very strongly on competition and attend seven to eight competitions per season.  Midlothian offers top-notch instruction and is very driven toward excelling in Grade 2 with an ongoing push toward Grade 1.

If you live in or around the Chicago area (or even outside the area - we currently have band members from four states)  and would like additional information on joining the band please contact either Adrian Melvin at adrianmelvin@sbcglobal.net or Jim Sim at jsimmie@sbcglobal.net.

Sound/video files of the band can be found at our website at www.midlothianpipeband.com.

This is one of the more reasonable approaches to Great Bagpipe history I have seen.  “The bagpipe, alongside the drum and the harp, shares the claim to being the oldest of musical instruments and attempts to establish a reasonable history have met with little success.” (From the Ulster-Scots agency site)

The antiquity of the Great Pipe seems to be a problem for many historians. Bagpipes are so old that they fell out of favor with the fashion minded upper classes very early on and so were not well chronicled in the written histories but they are found quite readily in the culture of the folk. … Read the entire article on Bagpipe history by Clicking Here

The NYPD Pipes and Drums Band Memorial Concert will hold its 6th annual Memorial Parade at 1200 hours (formation time) Friday SEPTEMBER 7th at Wagner Pavilion (Battery Park). Parade starts at 1300 and will end at Police Memorial Site. A short service will be followed by a luncheon at the promenade.

CONCERT
On Saturday September 8th they will also hold a memorial Concert at Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street), 1900-2200 hours (tickets are $40.00), followed by a post-party, in which the Masses Band will march to the Grand Ballroom of the Park Central Hotel (live music, drinks, food and special guests) and all are invited

The Sixth Annual Concert will feature the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, The Cleveland Police Pipes & Drums, The Police Pipes & Drums of Bergen County, NJ, Nassau County Police Dept. Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, The Boston Police Gaelic Column, The Quantico Marine Band, Detective Randy Snider, United States Coast Guard Academy Glee Club, and a special performance by famed Irish tenor, Dr. Ronan Tynan.

The Cowal Highland Gathering is a Highland games held in Dunoon, Argyll in Western Scotland. Better known as Cowal Games, it is the largest highland gathering in the World. The date of the games is always the last Friday and Saturday in August.

• Cowal Gathering Website
• Complete Solo Piping Awards for 2007 Cowal Games
• Complete Pipe Band Awards for 2007 Cowal Games 

‘A’ Piobaireachd

1. Chris Armstrong
2. Andrew Hayes
3. John Angus Smith
4. Robert Barnes
5. Jori Chisholm
6. Goron McCready

‘A’ March

1. Alasdair Gillies
2. Gordon Walker
3. Ryan Canning
4. Andrew Hayes
5. John Angus Smith
6. Allan Russell

‘A’ Strathspey and Reel

1. Allan Russell
2. Gordon Walker
3. Alasdair Gillies
4. Chris Armstrong
5. Douglas Murray
6. John Angus Smith

‘B’ Piobaireachd

1. A Hall
2. N Drysdale
3. S Easton
4. A Boyd

‘B’ March

1. A Henderson
2. C Lee
3. D Beattie
4. K Bowes

‘B’ Strathspey and Reel

1. A Hall
2. S Watterson
3. A Henderson
4. C Lee

Thursday 30th August and Friday 31st August 2007
Aviemore Highland Resort, Aviemore

The Northern Meeting has been called “the worlds” of solo bagpiping. Established at Inverness in 1788, the Northern Meeting is known today for its annual piping competitions. The purpose was to promote “social intercourse” in the aftermath of the tragic events at Culloden and the depressing conditions faced by those living in the north during that era.

These competitions are the most prestigious solo events in the piping world. The most famous competition is the pìobaireachd competition, which is organized in three tiers. Entry is restricted to less than 100 of the world’s top pipers, who must re-apply each year.

The entry level competition is the Silver Medal and is restricted to 30 players. Winners of the Silver Medal (and sometimes runners-up) are usually offered a spot to compete for the Gold Medal the following year, which is restricted to 30 players. Only previous winners of the Gold Medal are allowed to compete for the Clasp.

Among pipers, the world’s most prestigious solo piping award is the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting.

The competition has become more and more international each year, with only 11 pipers from Scotland (of 30 players) in the 2005 Gold Medal competition. Pipers come from other countries such as the USA, Canada, New Zealand, England, Ireland, and Germany.

Click Here for the History of the Northern Meeting

Gold Medal

1. Iain Speirs
2. Niall Stewart
3. Neil Smith
4. James Murray
5. James MacHattie

Silver Medal

1. Margaret Dunn
2. Gareth Rudolph
3. Jamie Forrester
4. Andrew Douglas
5. Steven Watterson

‘A’ Grade March, Strathspey and Reel

1. Niall Stewart
2. Greg Wilson
3. James Beaumont
4. Iain Speirs
5. Glenn Brown

‘B’ Grade March

1.  Alan Johnston
2. Ryan Canning
3. Marion Horsborough
4. Peter MacGregor
5. Fiona Manson