Archive for the ‘Results’ Category

The first ever Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championship was held in Broughton School, Edinburgh, on March 10. The day was considered an outstanding success by all involved and plans are already being made for a similar event next year. Chairman Angus Tulloch and his Steering Committee are to be congratulated on their vision in seeing the potential of such an event and for their organisational skills in bringing it to fruition. Worthy of particular praise are Sgoil Lionaleit, Benbecula, who made the winter journey from the Western Isles to take part and won the debut section.RW.

1. George Watson’s College Juv
2. Dollar Academy Juv
3. George Heriot’s School Juv

1. George Watson’s College N/J
2. Erskine Stewart Melville Schools
3. Dollar Academy N/J

1. Merchiston Castle School
2. George Watson’s College Junior
3. The High School of Glasgow

1. Sgoil Lionaleit Benbecula
2. Queen Victoria School
3. George Watson’s College Training

1. Beath High School A
2. St Agatha’s Primary School B
3. Beath High School B

The annual contest was held today at the Piping Centre in Glasgow.
B Piob: 1 Steven Gray 2 Darach Urquhart 3 Donald MacLeod 4 George Stewart 5 Robert Gibb
C Piob: 1 Matt Fraser 2 Kris Coyle 3 Chris Gray 4 Hayley MacInnes 5 Ross Hume
B MSR: 1 Sarah Muir 2 Alex Scougall 3 Graham Drummond 4 Kris Coyle 5 Steven Leask
C MSR: 1 Stuart MacCallum 2 Andrew Gray 3 Mael Sicard-Cras 4 Ross Hume 5 Glenn Ross
B&C Jig: 1 Bradley Parker 2 Connor Sinclair 3 Graham Drummond 4 George Stewart 5 Kris Coyle

See pix from today’s event here

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=bd614c5b7a72297c&id=BD614C5B7A72297C%211731&authkey=!APTeCg4kWxCS10M#cid=BD614C5B7A72297C&id=BD614C5B7A72297C%211735&authkey=%21APTeCg4kWxCS10M

 

The annual Uist and Barra Professional Piping contest was held today at the College of Piping. A good crowd heard a high standard of playing in the piobaireachd and a varied standard in the light music. P/M Gordon Walker swept all before him, winning first in all events.  Gordon is pictured receiving the prestigious Glasgow Highland Club medal from Club representative James Beaton. Two pipers who had never before been invited to the U&B made it into the piobaireachd prizelist: Jonathan Greenlees and David Wilton.

Ceol Mor:
1 Gordon Walker, Lament for the Children (The Finlay MacKenzie Challenge Trophy,£200 and the Glasgow   Highland Club Silver Medal)
2 Jonathan Greenlees, Lament for the Earl of Antrim (£160)
3 Iain Speirs, The Prince’s Salute (£100)
4 Finlay Johnston, Battle of Auldearn No 1 (£80)
5 David Wilton, Old Men of the Shells (£60)
Judges: S Shedden, W Morrison, R Wallace; 11 played; contest started 9am and finished 12.30pm. The music resumed at 2pm with the Ceol Beag.

MSR:
1 P/M Gordon Walker (£150)
2 Callum Beaumont (£100)
3 Finlay Johnston (£80)
4 Iain Speirs (£70)
5 William Geddes (£60)

Hornpipe & Jig:
1 P/M Gordon Walker (£125)
2 Callum Beaumont (£100)
3 William Geddes (£75)
4 Iain Speirs (£65)
5 Euan MacCrimmon (£55)
Ceol beag judges: B Donaldson, W Morrison, S Shedden

At the end Beathag Mhoireasdean proposed a vote of thanks thanking in particular the U&B Piping Committee under the guidance of Seumas MacLean, the College of Piping  and Jeannie Campbell for her general assistance and stewarding.

Nicholas Taitz reports: This year’s Pipe Major Alexander ‘Sandy’ Mallen Memorial Solo Piping Competition was held at King Edward VII School, Johannesburg, on Saturday, 2 March 2013. The competition is named in memory Pipe Major Mallen, a leading tutor for many decades in South Africa, and his pupils and their pupils in turn form part of the foundation of South African solo piping today. Pipe Major Mallen was taught by, amongst others, Pipe Major Willie Ross of Edinburgh Castle, as well as by George Yardley, who was a double-gold medallist and a leading pupil of the great John MacDougall Gillies. The competition was held at King Edward VII School, where Pipe Major Mallen taught piping to the school band for many decades. In the Open section, leading South African solo competitor Joshua Hogg played up to his usual standard, taking a clean sweep of all the senior events save for the jig, which was won by Nicholas Taitz playing the classic, The Banjo Breakdown. Joshua Hogg won the piobaireachd competition, playing an excellent rendition of that great tune, Beloved Scotland.  In the Junior section, special mention should be made of the young Alex Jeanrenaud, who took a clean sweep of all the Junior events,  piobaireachd, marches and strathspey and reel competitions.

Open Piobaireachd 1. Joshua Hogg 2. Nicholas Taitz 3. Chris Couperthwaite 4. Peter Holgreaves
Open Marches 1. Joshua Hogg 2. Chris Couperthwaite 3. Nicholas Taitz
Open Strathspey and Reel 1. Joshua Hogg 2. Nicholas Taitz 3. Chris Couperthwaite
Open Jig 1. Nicholas Taitz 2. Joshua Hogg  3. Donovan Koekemoer 4. Alex Jeanrenaud

Alan Forbes, Secretary to the Music Committee of the Piobaireachd Society, the organisers, reports:  The 21st Archie Kenneth Quaich competition for amateur piobaireachd players was held in the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society rooms in Edinburgh on Saturday 2 March.   The competition is sponsored by the Piobaireachd Society.   The Archie Kenneth Quaich was won by Andrew Park from London playing a nice steady Lament for Mary MacLeod on a solid bagpipe.   The full list of  prize winners and their tunes were as follows:

1 Andrew Park, London:   Lament for Mary MacLeod

2 John Frater, Darlington:   The Black Wedder’s White Tail

3 Susy Klinger, Germany (left):   The Groat

4 Kirsteen MacDonald, London:  The Company’s Lament

The judges were Bill Wotherspoon and Stuart Samson and the prizes were presented by Dugald MacNeill, former Secretary of the Piobaireachd Society, who had jetted in from holiday a few hours earlier.   RSPS Secretary Alan McGhie kindly took on the task of steward and announcer, and did an excellent job in getting the competitors in front of the judges on time and with minimum stress. Thanks are due to the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society who once again contributed the use of their rooms and bar.   This is an ideal venue for the competition and makes for a relaxed congenial atmosphere, although competitors have to play with the great pipers of the past frowning at them from the array of old photographs which lines the walls. On this occasion there were 24 competitors from Scotland, various parts of England and overseas, around a third of them appearing for the first time in this competition.    Alex Dougal and Cecily Grant travelled  all the way from Canada and Susy Klinger and Christian Grosser from Germany, to take part. Last year’s winner, John Frater, played the seldom heard ‘Black Wedder’s White Tail’ and was going well, but his drones drifted out later in the tune and his usually reliable execution lost definition a bit in the latter stages.   Good tunes were anticipated from James Beaton and two-times winner Tom Peterkin, but both had drones stopping early in their tunes and gave up.   Susy Klinger and Kirsteen MacDonald gave musical renderings of ‘The Groat’ and ‘The Company’s Lament’ respectively. As always, everyone gave of their best.   Despite the inevitable nerves, this is one of the more relaxed occasions in the piping calendar and seemed to be enjoyed by all.

 

 

Inverness Music Festival held its Annual Piping Contest at Inverness High School on 2^nd March. Adjudicators were Tom Speirs, and Dr Angus MacDonald

Under 10 Chanter: 1 Eoin Cumming 2 Kern Robertson 3 Angus MacDonald
Under 11 Chanter: 1 Ross Nicholson 2 Lewis MacDonald 3 Nicola Rattray 4 Morgan Henderson Under 12 Chanter: 1 Tom G. Evans 2 Sam Conolly 3 Kenna MacDonald
Novice (Under 13): 1 Angus F. MacPhee 2 Rhona Urquhart 3 Louis Peteranna 4 Ross MacLean March Strathspey and Reel (Under 15): 1 Cameron Macdougall 2 Andrew Howell 3 Alasdair Gibson
Piobaireachd ( Under 16): Cameron Macdougall
March Strathspey and Reel (Under 18): 1 Donald Macinnes 2 Scott Hay 3 Matthew MacKay Piobaireachd (Under 18): 1 Scott Hay  2 Donald Macinnes
Jig: 1 Scott Hay  2 Cameron Macdougall 3 Donald Macinnes

Stuart Liddell of Inveraray Pipe Band was crowned Champion Piper at today’s ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contest held in Danderhall Community Hall, Edinburgh. The auditorium was packed with enthusiasts and they were treated to six hours of piping mastery from some of the best players in the world. The audience themselves get a vote in the outcome and this added to the interest. The full result was: 1 Stuart Liddell (£500) 2 Callum Beaumont (£300) 3 equal Gordon McCready and Brian Lamond (£150 shared). The separate MSR contest was won by Gordon Walker (£100), 2 Stuart Liddell (£75), 3 Callum Beaumont (£50). Judges: Barry Donaldson, Gordon Campbell and Robert Wallace. The contest is unique in that some of the sets chosen for the pipers are decided by a spin of a wheel, so they must come prepared with music from a wide variety of genres. The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band is to be congratulated for organising such a well run event and for attracting so many top players.

Bryan Sinclair reports: The Boys’ Brigade has a time honoured tradition when it comes to piping and drumming.
Some of the greatest players from yesteryear and top performers of today all learned their trade through the “BB”. With the recent success of bands like 1st Troon it’s great to see that the Boys’ Brigade is still producing top competing bands and players. On Saturday 24th November the Glasgow Battalion hosted its annual Chanter and Solo Piping contest. Boys from all over the greater Glasgow area gathered at South Shawlands Church to take part in this event. Former 108th Glasgow member Peter Maxwell (Milngavie Pipe Band) adjudicated and commented that “The competition was very difficult to judge and there is a lot of promising young talent”. A special thanks goes to Wallace Bagpipes for their kind donation and continuous support of the Glasgow Battalion and their efforts to raise the profile of piping and drumming within the Boys Brigade. The next event in the Glasgow Battalion’s musical calendar is the annual mini band and full band contest being held on 23rd February at Stamperland Parish Church. For further information please contact Bryan Sinclair, Music Panel Convenor at:
[email protected]. The competition winners as follows:

Chanter Contest: Murray McFall 128th Glasgow
Junior Section Piping: Andrew Bell 5th Glasgow
Intermediate Piping: Scott McPherson 145th Glasgow
Senior Piping: Ewan McLachlan 145th Glasgow
Open Piping: Callum Clark 284th Glasgow

Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band
East Lothian Solo Piping and Drumming Competition

Lee Moore reports: Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band in association with East Lothian Pipes and Drums Trust hosted the first East Lothian Solo Piping and Drumming Competition on Saturday 24th November at St. Gabriel’s Primary School. The event was a huge success attracting an entry of 75 competitors, most of whom had never competed before, across nine different categories, and there were a large number of spectators who came along to listen to some great music. In the piping events Clare Boothman of Preston Lodge HS took top spot in the Open Piping, Saul Sweeney from St. David’s HS won the Junior Piping and Carys Grieve was first in the chanter competition. Each received a £250 voucher for Wallace Bagpipes. In the drumming events Daniel Luby was first in the Open Drumming, Charlie Rafferty won the Junior drumming and Shawnissay Millar was first in the Drumming Stick and Pad Event. All the drumming winners were from Preston Lodge HS and each received a “Radpad” drum-pad and a pair of KP2 Drumsticks courtesy of Scott Currie Percussion. Casey Wilson and Kimberly McQuade won the Open tenor drumming and Junior Tenor drumming respectively, and Hannah Yorkston won the Bass Drumming Event. Gordon from Gordon Bell Photography was on hand all day to take professional portrait pictures selling his framed prints, and kindly donating the profits to Preston Lodge High School. Some of the pictures that Gordon took of the prize winners are below and framed A5 prints are available from Gordon for £5 each or 3 for £12. Please get in touch with Gordon on 0755 461 5371. Again any profits will go to the Pipe Band. We would like to thank all those who donated prizes and/or sponsored this event and our adjudicators for the day who were Barry Donaldson and Craig Munro for Piping, Mick O’Neill and Paul Brown for Drumming and Alison Gardiner for Tenor and Bass Drumming and Peter MacKenzie for presenting the prizes.  See the full prize list below.

Event A – Chanter 11 yrs and under
1st	Carys Grieve – Prestonpans Primary School	Medal and a Voucher for £250 from Wallace Bagpipes
2nd	Jack Rigby – Law Primary School	Medal, R.G. Hardie Practice Chanter
3rd	Shannon Harkness – St. Mary’s Primary School	Medal, CD from Greentrax Records

 

RSPBA West of Scotland Branch annual Graeme Johnston competition for Juvenile Piping held at the College of Piping on November 17
Under 14 4 part March, 2 part Strathspey, 2 part Reel.
1. Donald Stewart, 2. Harris MacLennan, 3. Alastair Hutcheon, 4. John Campbell.
Under 18 4 parts MSR.
1. Calum Watson, 2. Chris Coates, 3. Rebecca Tierney.