Well the Echoes was, I feel, another outstanding success – thanks entirely to the expertise of the pipers and the CoP staff who ran the bar, set out chairs and generally kept things moving. I’ve recorded all the tunes for CoP Radio so if you didn’t make it listen out in the coming months. Also some shots recorded for CoP TV. There was a suggestion that we might do a live streaming but there  just wasn’t time to get it all together. Maybe next year. Certainly the Echoes would make an eminently watchable webcast with no gaps for tuning, the whole thing run like a concert. Last Saturday we started at 7.30pm sharp and the crowd who didn’t want to hang around at the end for a drink were homeward bound, show complete, by 9.45. There was not a bad pipe on the night. A big thank you to the following champions: Angus J MacColl jnr., Jonathan Graham, Dr Innes Smith, Dr Peter McCalister, Finlay Johnston, Alastair Dunn, P/M Gordon Walker and P/M Stuart Liddell.
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A lot of well known pipers attended: Donald MacPhee, Fiona Manson, Nils Michael, Alasdair Henderson to name a few. Fiona tells me she is headed back to the Antipodes after 12 years in Scotland. Her many fans needn’t worry – she says she’ll be back each summer to compete.
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More top piping at the CoP in March. The Uist & Barra Professional Contest is on  Saturday 9th  2013 at 9am; £8  pay at door.
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Wednesday saw us all gather in the Pearce Institute for the ‘world premier’ if that is not a too grand title of the winning tunes in the contest run by the PT for the Govan Centenary marking their joining the city of Glasgow. It was a great occasion with scrumptious food provided by Gleneagles Hotel and lovely music from the Govan Gaelic Choir. The two tunes placed first and second were performed perfectly by Strathclyde Police PB under P/M Duncan Nicholson. Hear them on December’s CoP Radio. Winning composer Dr Bruce Thomson made a nice speech and both he and the second placed composer Angus Lawrie were heartily applauded by the 250 guests.
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Talking of police pipe bands, I was sorry to hear that Lothian and Borders Police PB were to be wound up. Anyone who remembers the band in their heyday under DS Ramsay and Iain MacLeod will have serious pangs of nostalgia. Still, nothing is forever and I am sure another Grade 1 band will emerge in the capital city in the not too distant future.
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For those that didn’t get the link to Stuart Gardiner’s web photos here it is again http://clanweb.org.uk/pipebandarchive.html

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Dirk-Boris Rödel reports from south Germany: ‘On the 17th and 18th of November the Kilts & More Academy in the small town of Muehlhausen in southern Germany held a weekend-seminar with three great bagpipe players. Andreas Hambsch and Greig Canning, both members of Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band, as well as William McCallum taught small groups of piping enthusiasts from Germany, Switzerland and even from the United States. Pipers were divided into three groups of beginners, intermediate and advanced players. The participants enjoyed the opportunity to receive tuition from these three top-musicians who took great care that everyone understood the essence of their teachings. They didn’t allow anyone to get away with inaccurate technique or phrasing. Everyone received a proficient feedback with advice on how to improve on ones individual playing and practising. As a result, everyone left the workshop with considerable progress in his or her piping-ability. A special treat for everyone was the recital of Andy Hambsch, Greig Canning and Willie McCallum in the rather unusual location of a Chinese restaurant in which the participants and teachers had their dinner on Saturday night. The Kilts & More Academy in Muehlhausen near Heidelberg offers professional bagpipe-tuition and organizes workshops with world-class pipers, drummers and reed-makers such as Willie McCallum, Keith Bowes, David Chesney, Ronnie MacShannon, Jim Kilpatrick and Rory Grossart and Thomas Zoeller. The workshops and seminars are attended not only by pipers from Germany, but also from Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. For more information, go to www.kiltsandmore-academy.de.’ Kilts and More? Judging by the recital pic it’s a case of kilts no more!
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As I said in my last bulletin the Comann na Mara composing contest deadline has been extended by request to December 31. The response has been worldwide and overwhelming. I am sure we are going to get some fine tunes. Here is an ad. for the contest which appeared in the free Highlands & islands newspaper ‘Island News & Advertiser’. I think the piper is Jamie Forrester:

 

 

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