With “World’s Week” (August 11 through 16 for the uninitiated) only six short weeks away, it is time to begin preparations for the trip. Several eastern U.S. pipe bands will be making the journey to Glasgow Green this year and with them, a likely entourage of family and friends. What better way to make your trip easier with the newly updated and full color “Traveling Piper & and Drummer’s Essential Map of Glasgow.”

There is no other time in Glasgow where so many pipers, drummers, musicians, and enthusiasts converge as during the week leading up to the World Pipe Band Championships. It is the week of full immersion in all things bagpiping. Venues citywide take advantage of the influx of visitors and host piping concerts, recitals, lectures, and other events for the eager visiting pipe band competitor. Many spots will be capitalizing on the Piping Live! festival taking place in the city that week. The Summer 2006 issue of The Voice featured “The Traveling Piper & Drummer’s Essential Map of Glasgow.” The 2008 version is updated and in full color, and free to download here. The map features handy locators and descriptions as a quick reference for piping hot spots and plain old getting around. Enjoy!

The Toronto Police Pipe Band debuted their new medley in the Grade 1 contest at the Georgetown Games. Oh, my goodness. Sometimes there can be great affection for music that will make curmudgeonly Scottish judges spit bile back into their tea. This medley is one of those pieces of music. Original, bold, and courageous. The natural evolution of a pipe band medley.

We can all sit on the grass at the Worlds or at Maxville and lament how pipe bands always sound the same. It’s dang good, but always the same music and no risk-taking. As Toronto’s medley gets more air, we just might end up on the cusp of a new wave of change in pipe band music. One can dream. This is the same kind of risk that propelled the great bands of the 80s and 90s forward. However, some are not so impressed. As YouTube commenter templeofsuuund mentions in the comments:

Medleys do need an overhaul. But this is what I imagine would be played while the antichrist was being born…

Yes, indeed! Repent and weep, dogs! Black hose = eviiiil! Thanks to YouTube user pipebandjunkie for the video.

Has the familiar pipe band competition worn itself out? Is it time to give the whole thing another look?

It’s easy to take it all for granted and settle in to the familiarity of it. We lament season after season that the eastern U.S. has been slow to produce a body of quality pipe bands to compete squarely with our counterparts in Scotland, Ireland, or even Ontario. But what if the format is as much responsible for the progress (or lack thereof) of pipe band-ing in general here in the U.S.?

The “Cut-Off” in the Winter 2006 issue of The Voice spoke of expectations. From that issue:

It is natural for us to adapt to meet whatever expectations are placed on us—whether those expectations are at work, come from family or friends, or, in this case, from competition performance. When the only venue or stage for a U.S. Highland piper is the competition boards, the expectations are not only implicit, they become the core of any preparation and education. Given this relationship, what can you expect? Poor quality piping makes a statement about the nature of the venue as much as any teaching.

One might feel we are thus “locked in” to our fate in the format we have for pipe bands. But as is evident in a variety of “supplemental” pipe band venues, bands will rise to the challenge when given it.

The Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, going into its twenty-first year, has consistently provided a format that is both challenging and exhilarating. Anyone who has had the pleasure to play in a band invited to this event will speak positively about the experience. Beyond this though, the performances one hears in each of the four performances over two days is always at an extremely high level. The format this competition provides consistently requires “more” of pipe bands. And pipers and drummers in invited bands consistently find that it’s there to give and deliver.

There could be many reasons for this rise in single-contest performance standard, but what is clear is that the Celtic Classic format—an unusual break from the staid and familiar—produces results on the field. Perhaps it is time to take a cue from an event like this to inject some additional spark to American pipe bands.

The relaunched EUSPBA Pipe Band Championships provides a similar change in format and gives pipe bands a welcome change of pace. Here, there is a framework for tweaking the format and offering bands a reason to give “more.”

Just as soloists are finding a variety of new venues that demand just a wee bit more of them as performers, and bringing up the standard of play in the process, perhaps it is time to address pipe band competition as well and think about what kind of quality could result if small changes were made in format and/or venue. More premier-style events such as the EUSPBA Championships just might provide the platform to inspire more of bands in general.

Pipe band contests are the same across the circuit and provide clear boundaries for all competitors, a good thing for sure. But what is clear is that something “new and different” provides a level of interest that draws on the passion we all feel for our chosen art. It’s time to tap that passion rather than let it stagnate in routine. Routine can be comforting, but if pipe bands are to evolve and prosper, their fields of performance must demand more of them than what is expected season after season.

Young Regina, Saskatchewan piper Gordon (G.A.) Taylor has compiled an impressive collection of original music in One Tone Over the Line, Sweet Mhairi. Each tune was apparently “rated” by a collection of premier pipers whose scores determined whether a tune made it into the collection or ended up in the reject pile. With such a pool of opinions to draw from, it is no wonder the tunes contain true spark, with clear melodies and driving rhythms that speak to the piper’s ear.

Now, through the magic of the internets, G.A. has posted audio files of some of his crackerjack tunes. Listen to some of his tunes from this and other collections at Gatayor.com.

The Spring issue of The Voice is due to hit the international mails. Highlights of this issue:

• “Basics: A Stronger Promise” Synthetic drone reed set up.

• “Tools of the Trade” Your vital piping equipment – the hands.

• “Workshop: The Inner Adjudicator” You are your own best piping judge.

Plus reviews of Knight Time by the St. Andrews Presbyterian College Pipe Band, One Tone Over the Line by G.A. Taylor, a new Pipehacker, and a new tune by young piper Dan Pisowloski! Download a sample at right.

There are many pipers out there who, well, simply don’t like pibroch and can’t abide it. Allan MacDonald feels your pain. He would say it’s because the modern renditions of the repertoire one typically hears on the competition boards is just plain boring and unlistenable. Anyone who has heard Allan MacDonald talk about his approach to the music, one that rests in the older traditions of Gaelic spoken word and song, will soon learn that there is “meat on those bones.” In Dastirum, MacDonald finally shows us all what he’s been talking about. “Dastirum,” as in “Dastirum gu seinnim piob” (I am proud to play a pipe) simply means “be proud.” But it is pride of character and of personage, something that comes through in these tune renderings that feature Allan MacDonald singing some very old piobaireachd and reviving the forgotten but at the time common, rhythms that went with some of these melodies.

MacDonald continues to interpret pibroch from the perspective of a lover of music. In this he continues to develop that connection with the audience that is so lacking in modern competition ceol mor. The renditions on Dastirum continue the work of connecting pibroch with the listener by linking it with its origins, work that MacDonald began with his innovative pibroch recitals at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival, most recently in 2004, and in his recordings, such as Fhuair Mi Pog with Gaelic singer Margaret Stewart. Dastirum is an elegantly produced book/CD package that is befitting the stature of this music. The package blends a scholarly approach with the more subtle aspects of the music. In contrast to some other “upscale” pibroch releases such as Andrew Wright’s Whispers of the Past, as well as Siubhal’s first release A Living Legend by Donald MacPherson, Allan MacDonald offers in Dastirum a variety of style and feeling where “he does not tie himself rigidly to the score for the simple reason that, before the nineteenth century, good players reworked their material like storytellers.” The tunes literally speak their tale in MacDonald’s capable voice and hands. The well prepared write-ups accompanying each tune by MacDonald, Barnaby Brown, and Hugh Cheape, provide historical context and musical analysis that will enhance any piper’s understanding of the form, throwing light onto areas of the music that would otherwise stay dark. Dedicated listeners will find themselves yearning for further research. Listening and reading in tandem, pibroch should begin to make a lot more sense to those pipers who claim to “hate it.” The renditions here do not fit the competition mold. As stated in the commentary of “Hihorodo hao:” “Although competitions were intended to save pibroch from decline, the irony is that their single-tune format suffocates a third of the repertory.” Listening to MacDonald’s evocative interpretations in song and on pipe, it is easy to see how it is not only the tunes that are suffocating, but artistic expression as well. MacDonald rescues the powerful character of these tunes and comes as close as anyone to their origins.

Other tunes offer a more stark contrast to the familiar interpretations and serve up some of the stylistic variety that has been lost in the last 100 to 150 years. “Lament for Alasdair Dearg” shows where some of this variety can add a whole new flavor. MacDonald returns the familiar cadences to their place as part of falling arpeggios in contrast to the extended cadences one hears in modern renderings. The melody notes are thus better highlighted as part of the overall language of the tune. The result is a gripping musical journey through this relatively short tune. Dastirum offers a huge step forward and stands to revive the living tradition that is pibroch. Siubhal and Allan MacDonald can certainly “be proud.” Order Dastirum from Siubhal.com or pibroch.net.

Everyone likes to kick the U.S. economy these days. Reuters reports that Highland bagpipe exports to the U.S. are down, while exports to Asia are up.
Some makers of Scotland’s traditional bagpipes are feeling the squeeze of the credit crunch in the U.S. market, but have found new customers and a growing market in Asia.

If a piece like this isn’t simply to reinforce conventional wisdom, then I don’t know what is. Oh yes, the U.S. economy is down and China’s is up – bagpipes sales proves it! I always love how, whenever bagpipes and business coincide, journalists always ask Kilberry Bagpipes of Edinburgh for their thoughts. Last time I checked, there were quite a few makers throughout Scotland that are known and bought by U.S. pipers, and I don’t seem to see Kilberry well represented in band circles here in the east. Granted, MacCallum is also quoted in the article, but Kenny MacLeod says that U.S. business is “better than ever.”

Sure, U.S. bagpipe sales are down (anecdotally mind you) but maybe U.S. pipers are just smarter? After all, when we shell out 5 grand on a stand of drones, we’re going to make sure it’s worth it. Add to that the fact that there are many Canada- and U.S.- based makers turning sets that are just as good as any out there. Hm. Free enterprise is a funny thing, and quality sells.

A happy day of wearin’ o’the green to all pipers and drumming in today’s festivities. Here is a bit of Irish pipe band-ing from the St. Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band and their 2005 All Ireland performance, as well as a quartet of members in their winning performance at last August’s Piping Live! quartet competition courtesy of YouTube user fdnypiper.

ABC News has a short piece and video on the “resurgence” of Highland bagpipes.

It’s the typical piece where the journalist expresses shock and amazement when confronted with the notion that Highland bagpipes are anything but a novelty. Good focus on the Army school of piping and the Dragoon Guards, who just secured a $2 million contract for an album that has hit the top of the British classical charts. Not a bad deal for a pipe band. Although to anyone “in the know,” bagpipes have been resurgent for a while. I mean, why do the lazy journalists not bother to contact the National Youth Pipe Band if they want a glimpse into the health of the art? Plus, a lazy walk doon the street from the castle and our correspondent takes the word of Kilberry bagpipes as an example of demand? Cool pic of Stuart Cassells though.

The Winter issue of The Voice is due to hit the international mails. Highlights of this issue:

• “Speaking the Same Language” Giving tenor drummers a universal language.

• “Blackwood Down, Part II” Further explorations into the wood that drives the art of Highland bagpiping.

• “Workshop: The Happy Piper and Drummer” Make 2008 the year you are most pleased with your music.

• Controversy of Composers contest winners announced (finally!) with appearance of the first winning tune.

Plus reviews of Dastirum by Allan MacDonald, a new Pipehacker, and more! Download a sample at right.