Bagpipe News

The Seven Pipers Scottish Society Pipes & Drums will perform a 25-minute piece with pyrotechnic theatre dance troupe Flam Chen as part of the Solstice Festival. www.sevenpipers.org We performed with them in 2007 at a Chalk Art Festival in Tucson. The weather was hot and the tuning was thus somewhat not, but you can get the idea from a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi5PbrzDeMA

Celtworld Dance! Spectacular 

ROYAL THEATRE, Victoria July 5th

CeltFest SUMMER SCHOOL:
Piping, Drumming, Fiddling, all Celtic Music and Song: 
July 6-11
Highland Dancing, Irish Dancing and Celtic Step Dance:
July 7-11

Sunset & Stars Gala Concert
PORT THEATRE, Nanaimo, July 12th

***Summer School*** 
REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!!! 
Early bird discount deadline: April 16 
Registration deadline: June 16 or until programs full

1-866-301-2358

Website - Click Here

The Niagara Regional Police Pipe Band will host an evening of Scottish music and dance at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 479 on Spring Street in Niagara Falls on April 12.

The show will run from 8 p.m. until midnight and will include two pipe band performances along with Scottish and Irish dancers. Food and refreshments will be on sale.

A deejay will round out the night’s entertainment with a performance.

Tickets are $20 a couple and are available at the legion or by calling Peter MacKenzie at 905-353-8771.T

TRADITIONAL sounds of the Emerald Isle will come to Cleckheaton tomorrow.

The Music Room will host a series of workshops with Becky Taylor, one of the few female exponents of the Uilleann, or Irish pipes, in England today.

Becky is a respected performer and teacher who has appeared at folk festivals in the UK and Europe for 20 years.

She will conduct workshops, perform her material and launch her second CD Ireland Bridge.

Becky is known for her ability to give a distinctive interpretation to traditional tunes on a variety of instruments: whistle, Uilleann pipes, fiddle, Northumbrian pipes and duet concertina.

The shop will be open all day as usual and there will be special offers including a book and CD sale.

Tony Dixon, whistle and flute maker, will arrive around noon with a full range of his instruments and

There will be a beginners’ workshop with Becky from 2pm to 3pm. Those who don’t have their own whistle can buy one at discounted price.

From 3.30pm to 4.30pm there is a Technique Toolbox workshop for more advanced players.

Workshops cost £10 each, with numbers limited to 10 participants for each session.

The workshop cost includes a free ticket to the launch party at 5pm.

This will feature a performance by members of Heretique, with the Music Room’s own Murray Grainger.

The Becky Taylor Band plays at 5.30pm and at 6.15pm there will be wine and food.

To book workshop places visit the shop or go to the Music Room website at www.themusicroom-online.co.uk and search for Whistle Workshop.

Alternatively contact Mark or Terry on 01274 852020.

The Music Room
St.John’s Works
St. John’s Place
Cleckheaton BD19 3RR
Tel +44 (0) 1274 879768

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On Thursday 17th April we are pleased to welcome a quartet of pipers from world champions Field Marshall Montgomery to play at the National Piping Centre Recital Series.

This will be avery exciting evening of piping with them playing together and individually. So come along to hear the reigning world champions perform!

The event starts at 7.30pm and tickets ar £8 adults/ £6 concession. They are available from the shop at the National Piping Centre or by calling 0141 353 0220.

This year the National Piping Centre have added a third Summer School in Atlanta, Georgia to our USA programme.So the dates of the USA summer Schools are:

• Atlanta, Georgia - 15th - 20th June 2008
• Winchester,Virginia - 22nd - 27th June 2008
• Monterey, California - 28th June - 4th July 2008

Early Bird Booking Discounts are Available!!For more information go to: http://www.thepipingcentre.co.uk/schools/ We also are running the Summer School programme here at the National Piping Centre.The dates for these schools are Spring School: 7th -11th April (you can still sign up for this!)

• Summer School 1: 30th June - 4th July
• Summer School 2: 21st -25th July
• Summer School 3: 28th July - 1st August
• Autumn School: 13th - 17th October

More information about these schools is available from: http://www.thepipingcentre.co.uk/tuition/courses/seasonal-piping-schools/

Highlights, reflecting this year’s special ‘Crossing Borders’ theme, include Friday evening’s gala concert with music from the Scottish and Welsh borders including Ceri Rhys Matthews, player of the intriguing Welsh bagpipe, and local Border ballads from Mike Tickell; Saturday’s pageant with Ellington Band, miners’ banners created by local schoolchildren, morris and rapper dance teams and the return of the Dodgy Clutch Theatre giant figure of much-travelled roguish Northumbrian piper Jamie Allan; a special film show on Bohemian bagpiping by American producer Jefe Brown who will be calling in en route between Prague and the United States; the afternoon battle based on a English Civil War skirmish from the Welsh border area (staged on both Saturday and Sunday); Saturday’s Barn Dance with the Castle Band and guests; and Sunday’s range of events to launch Morpeth’s year of activities commemorating the 500th birthday of William Turner, Father of English Botany culminating in a grand concert of Tudor music by costumed supergroup of the early music scene, The York Waits.

Read the entire article at Morpeth Herald

About the Morpeth’s Bagpipe Museum

Housed in Morpeth’s medieval Chantry buildings since 1987, the Bagpipe Museum his home to a unique collection , the foundation of which is the bagpipe collection of William Alfred Cocks (1892 - 1971), a clockmaker from Ryton, near Newcastle.
The pipes collection belongs to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Museum is supported by Castle Morpeth Borough Council.

For more information on Morpeth’s Bagpipe Museum

Dolly Foster recently celebrated her 90th birthday with a family party at the Mary Spitzmiller home on Lorimier Street in Cape Girardeau. Foster has been a resident of Chateau Girardeau for eight years…

Bagpipe player George Gerules provided musical entertainment and honored Foster’s Scots-Irish heritage. Read entire article at SE Missourian Newspaper

Southern Branch Workshop (March 29-30, in Greenville SC) -

“Unfortunately,the Southern Branch Workshop has been cancelled. If you were registered to attend, we will contact you directly concerning a refund. Please contact the hotel directly to cancel your room reservation as soon as possible.

Thanks for your support.”

http://south.euspba.org

TNPC in the USA

The National Piping Centre has just completed its first overseas school of the year in New York. There was a great week of piping and drumming tuition. Thank you to all who attended and special thanks to Margaret Dunn for all her organisational efforts.

Additional Schools

If you missed this school however, there are three more coming up this year. Firstly we have a new school in Atlanta, Georgia 15th -20th June, then Winchester, Virginia 22nd -27th June and Pebble Beach, California 28th June - 3rd July so their are plenty more opportunities to receive great piping instruction in the USA this Summer.

Red Hot Chilli Pipers

From the Comunn na Piobaireachd NZ

Greg Wilson, the secretary of the CNP Music Committee, today announced half of the 2009 tunes

College of Piping - “We are pleased to be working with MusicaliTee as our suppliers of commemorative clothing for the College at Carbisdale, 2008. We will receive a commission from Musicalitee for every top you buy so, as well as having a Collectors Item of the first College at Carbisdale Course, you will be helping towards the cost of the course.”

Full Details Here

The popular lecture previously run by the John MacFadyen Memorial Trust is to be promoted by the College of Piping for 2008. The lecture will be given by Robert Wallace. His subject will be the ‘Celebrating 60 years of the Piping Times’.

Music on the night will be supplied by Stuart Liddell and Iain Speirs.

The venue is the Fisher’s Hotel, Pitlochry, Perthshire on Friday the 14th of March at 7:30pm.

Tickets are £10 and this includes refreshments. Click Here for Tickets

Dear friends,
I will teach a free tin whistle workshop for absolute beginners from 12:30 to 1:30 on Sunday, March 16 at the Irish Arts Center, 553 W. 51st St. in Manhattan. Bring your own whistle in the key of D or purchase one for $10 at the workshop. Reservations are recommended as space is limited.

To reserve a spot in the workshop, please email me at billochs@pennywhistle.com or call me at 212-247-3231.The workshop is part of the Irish Art Center’s annual pre-St. Patrick’s Day Open House. A full schedule of events will be posted at www.irishartscenter.org by early next week.My group tin whistle classes at the Irish Arts Center start on Tuesday, April 1. I will offer Absolute Beginner, Advanced Beginner and Intermediate classes this spring. For a description of my IAC classes, please see:http://pennywhistle.com/iacclassinfo.html

To register for these spring classes, contact Rachael at the IAC: 212-757-3318, ext. 209 (10 AM to 6 PM, M - F).I also offer individual private lessons on the tin whistle, uilleann pipes, Irish flute and low whistle at my studio in mid-Manhattan. I teach all levels, from absolute beginners through advanced. My teaching hours are Monday through Thursday from 4:00 to 10:00 PM. My fee is $45 for a 45-minute private session.If you can’t travel into Manhattan at those times, I also give online private lessons using Skype, the free phone and video chat software (www.skype.com). For video lessons you need a webcam, a fast broadband connection and a fairly recent computer.

Students with older computers can usually take audio-only lessons with Skype. I can also give lessons via speakerphone if your current hardware is not Skype-compatible. Please contact me if you have questions about this.Sincerely,Bill Ochs

Bagpipe Instruments and Concerts Sell Out As Global Interest Rises Article featuring news on the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and their 2 Million Dollar Recording Concert,  Red Hot Chilli Pipers Concerts, and demand for increased bagpipes from makers Kilberry Bagpipes See Full Story and Video on ABC NEWS. 

Piping Live! 2008 will take place at George Square, The National Piping Centre and many other venues around the city between 11th-17th August 2008. But if you cant wait til then for all the fun and piping excitement, go to www.pipingfestival.co.uk to look at the new Gallery section for all the photos from the last two year’s events. If you go to the home page, click on “The Festival” tab and then go to the gallery link you will be able to choose from 2006 or 2007 and remember all the fun of the festival. Also we have a few events listed, but keep checking for announcements about artists and a great NEW VENUE for the After Worlds  Shindig on Saturday 15th August!
There will be a fun new look to the website, more great events than ever before and the same amazing quality of artists all throughout the week!  

We have some very exciting news about a series of Recitals we  have planned for the Spring of 2008 here at The National Piping Centre. First up on Thursday 6th March are Fred Morrison and Finlay MacDonald. On Thursday 17th April a Field Marshall Montgomery Quartet will be playing, with solo performances and Quartet recitals included in the evening. Then on Thursday 1st May we have recitals by John Wilson and Allan MacDonald. Lastly on the 22nd May we have lined up Angus MacColl and the 2007 Glenfiddich Champion Gordon Walker to complete a great recital series. These events all start at 7.30 pm Tickets are £8 adults and £6 concessions and are available from The National Piping Centre reception in person, or by calling 0141 353 0220   or email info@thepipingcentre.co.uk

San Diego State University, San Diego, California

20th - 27th June 2008  

The California Summer School of Piping offers intensive instruction by seven Scottish and American expert piping teachers in the playing and maintenance of the Great Highland Bagpipe. The school is open to all ages and to pipers of all levels of skill from raw beginners to competition players. Each student is placed in a class of 8 to 10 students within their level of experience and skill. Emphasis is placed on marches, strathspeys, airs, reels, jigs and hornpipes. Optional classes are offered in the afternoon, such as piobaireachd, reedmaking, pipe band techniques, and bagpipe maintenance. Nightly lectures and recitals are offered by the instructors demonstrating prize-winning piping and presenting some interesting history about bagpipes and piping.To register for the school click here.