News

The organizers of the Glenfiddich Invitational Solo Piping Championship confirmed earlier that the contest would be streamed live on the Internet, and now have firmed up details of the broadcast . . .

The Western United States Pipe Band Association helped to rejuvenate a flagging Grade 2 category by moving up two bands, Prince Charles and Bushmill Irish Pipers, both from the San Francisco . . .

The annual Livingstone Invitational Solo Invitational Piping Competition will tweak things again for the 2013 rendition of the event by . . .

Angus J. MacLellan, one of the great figures in modern Highland piping, died on October 12, 2013, at the age of 77, after many years of declining health. In piping, “Angus J.” was . . .

Eleven amateur solo pipers from Canada and the United States have accepted their invitations to compete at the 18th annual George Sherriff Memorial Invitational Competition on Saturday, November 16th, in Hamilton, Ontario. The players are nominated by their home associations as the top represenatives in the amateur Grade 1 category. The event is often a swansong contest for pipers moving into the Professional grade, and past winners have included Glenn Brown and Faye Henderson, both of whom have gone on to with Highland Society of London Gold Medals for piobaireachd. This year’s George Sherriff Memorial lineup: . . .

Because “the majority go to a pipe band concert and tend to judge instead of just listening and enjoying the performance,” the . . .

The fortieth rendition of the Glenfiddich Invitational Solo Piping Championships on October 26th will again be streamed live on the Internet, organizers have confirmed. According to Liz Maxwell, longtime coordinator and director of the event with . . .

Terry Lee, the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band’s only Pipe-Major in its existence in Grade 1, has retired from the position, giving way to Alan Bevan, a member of the band for more than 15 years and who is well known as a successful solo . . .

The Grade 1 Toronto Police Pipe Band have confirmed that Mark Passmore has been appointed Leading-Drummer following the departure of Ken Constable on late-August. Passmore in his . . .

Murdoch Maclean “Mac” Macleod, the well-known pipe …

A stalwart pillar of the greater Montreal Scottish …

The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has relegated three of their bands to Grade 2 status bringing the number of member Grade 1 bands to an all-time low of 11, eight being from Scotland. Following the organization’s Music Committee’s recommendations, which still need to be ratified by the RSPBA’s Board of Directors, Scotland-based Kilts & More-Dysart & Dundonald and Torphichen & Bathgate, and Seven Towers of Northern Ireland will have to contend with Grade 2 status in 2014. None of the organization’s Grade 2 bands were recommended . . .

Two things are perhaps surprisingly uncommon when it comes to piping and drumming in Toronto: there are few pipe bands actually based within the actual city of four-million people; and there . . .

The latest in the off-season leading-drummer changes in the top grades is the Grade 1 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) appointing Jeremy Keddy . . .

The Grade 2 City of Regina Pipe Band of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada has accepted the resignation of Leading-Drummer Roland Reid and appointed Willie Currams to the post. A resident of Winnipeg – some . . .