Pipes|Drums

The first major championship of the 2012 UK season will again take place at Dumbarton, Scotland, when more than 160 bands compete at the Scottish Championships at Levengrove Park, including 16 in Grade 1. The first weekend of competitions in Scotland proved to be disappointing at the premier-grade level, with a two-band contest at Dunbar and a cancelled event at Gourock due to numerous withdrawals due to poor weather at the Sunday competition. It was in Grade 2 where two bands emerged victorious . . .

The group of world famous pipers and drummers who hit the road in early-April on the "Pipes & Sticks on Route 66" tour have embarked on a one-of-a-kind journey, and members of the team have offered to provide pipes|drums Magazine readers with an exclusive travel log on the adventure. Drummers Mike Cole and Jim Kilpatrick and pipers Stuart Liddell, Angus MacColl and Willie McCallum are taking three weeks to traverse the old US Highway #66, playing recitals and conducting workshops along the way. In this final installment, Mike Cole, Willie McCallum and Stuart Liddell fill us in on the exploits of the gang on the last three days of the adventure.

When the legendary piper Robert Reid died in 1965 he notoriously was said to have requested in his will that all of his piping manuscripts and recordings be buried with . . .

The Scottish season's first outdoor west coast competition of 2012 was the traditional Sunday event at Gourock, which was the victim of horrendous weather. Several bands pulled out of the competition when they saw the forecast.

The Grade 1 Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band of Fife, Scotland, has secured a new three-year sponsorship agreement with the Kilts & More . . .

The Grade 2 Denny & Dunipace Gleneagles won the Grade 2 event at Scotland's first outdoor contest of 2012, and, for good measure, played up and won the Grade 1 contest against Grade 1 Torphichen & Bathgate. The Grade 1 Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band had . . .

The previous week it was all Benoni, but the Transvaal Scottish came back strong to take both Grade 2 events at the Celtic Fest held at the Champetre Estate in Modderfontein . . .

The annual Adjudicators' Seminar of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario attracted 34 from the organization's panel to the all-day . . .

With three second-prizes at the World Championships and a raft of firsts at other majors, many people agree that Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia holds the unofficial title of "Best Band Not Yet to Win a World's," . . .

A recent news story on Scotsman.com may have created a stir with pipers who read it, but the article got important points wrong, especially when it insinuated that makers of . . .

The first sanctioned PPBSO Champion Supreme event of 2012 took place here as part of the large Kiwanis Music Festival. The event was organized by the PPBSO's Western Branch and featured a full slate of amateur solo events in the morning and a small mini-band contest in the afternoon. The contest was open to non-members of the PPBSO or affiliates to compete, but only members are eligible for Champion Supreme points. In addition to PPBSO scoresheets, competitors received feedback . . .

New York Metro Pipe Band Pipe-Major Michael Mahoney reviews the May 4, 2012, concert at Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

We bring subscribers to pipes|drums our archive interview from 2005 with the late Donald MacPherson. Piping scholar Barnaby Brown originally assembled the historic piece with the legendary piper, who passed away on April 21, 2012, at the age of 89.

Gordon McCready of Renfrew, Scotland, enjoyed a first and a second in the A-Grade events at the annual Highland & Islands Festival competitions . . .

For competing pipers and drummers in the know, "ScottishPower" means the top-tier Grade 1 pipe band from . . .

Approximately 100 people paid their last respects to Donald MacPherson, the legendary piper who died on April 21st in his ninetieth year. The service was held in Edinburgh at Mortonhall Crematorium . . .

Richard Payn won the top piobaireachd prize and was second in the major light music event at the South Coast Highland Gathering Solo Piping and Drumming competition held at Hutchison Park . . .

The Piobaireachd Society has announced the tunes that the world's best solo pipers will have to choose from for the top competitions at . . .

Benoni MacTalla dominated the 2012 South Coast Highland Gathering held at Hutcheson Park . . .

Six-time World Champions Simon Fraser University are staring down a two-hours-plus show at the legendary Lincoln Center in Manhattan on Friday, May 4th, that will . . .

Pipes|Drums