5 PIPING WORLD

USING THIS SITE
Welcome to the world’s only independent on-line piping magazine. This site is devoted entirely to news and articles about piping and is broken down into SUB DIRECTORIES which cover all of the different facets of the art. There are also other major SUB DIRECTORIES which are in the process of being added which will ensure that the site continues to develop. Each directory contains a mix of archived articles from our print publications since 1986 and new articles added every month.
This is a FREE-TO-VIEW site and will remain that way. It is also independent of any affiliation - as we have been since 1986 when it all began.

Dateline ..... Friday 15 July 2008

TIME DOESN’T STAND STILL, EVEN FOR AN EDITORIAL?
THE WORLD of piping is constantly changing. Sometimes those changes aren’t readily apparent and often you have to stand back from a distance to fully recognise the full vista of those changes.
Currently I am working on a historical project which makes those changes all-too obvious. ..... READ MORE

LOCHABER GATHERING FESTIVAL OF PIPING
This year’s Lochaber Gathering Festival of Piping will take place on 1st and 2nd August.

PIPERS TO BATTLE AT BANNOCKBURN
“Dancers, Pipers and others are set to battle for supremacy at Stirling Highland Games which this year moves to a new venue at Bannockburn Heritage Centre,” reports John Boswell.
“On Sunday 13th July the event will take place under the watchful eye of Robert the Bruce instead of that of our other national hero Sir William Wallace.
“A packed programme of competitions, together with displays in the main arena including duck herding, massed pipe bands, re-enactment and parachute displays will entertain the crowd from 11.30 until 5.30 or thereabouts.”
Stirling Council & National Trust for Scotland have been very proactive in supporting this move to Bannockburn which being just of the motorways at Junction 9 is very accessible.
Children accompanied by their parents have FREE admission whilst their parents can pay the concessionary £4.00 instead of £6.00 if they bring this article. Free parking is close to the venue.

CONTROVERSY IN PRINT
There was a time when books
on any bookshelf on the subject
of piping were few, they were
generally old, and, in any
event, written by non-pipers
so that the content was full of
obvious errors.
..... READ MORE

CHANGING FADS IN PIPE MUSIC ...... READ MORE

STUART SHEDDEN is one of Scotland’s leading solo pipers. A former winner of the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal, he also lists the Donald MacDonald Memorial Quaich as one of his successes. He is pictured here with the trophy at the Clan Donald Centre on the Isle of Skye. The contest itself has been topical over the years and has generally failed to inspire public performance of the settings of Donald MacDonald which were based on the teaching of the MacArthurs.
PIC Derek Maxwell

PRODUCT REVIEW:
MG REEDS & McCALLUM’s McC2 PIPE CHANTER

NEW DRONE reeds are nothing
new in today’s global piping scene,
and neither, frankly, is a new
model pipe chanter. It is obviously
just plain good business sense
for any bagpipe maker to try and
stay ahead of the game and with
the ever increasing shifting of
pitch in pipe chanters the only
certainty is that this will not be
the last of a new series of pipe
chanters on the market.
Likewise, drone reeds of the
synthetic variety of which there
are more than enough choices in
a market which is eager for
innovation and gadgetry. But when these latest innovations from Kilmarnock-based bagpipe making company McCallums arrived there was a keener than usual sense of anticipation. Over the last few years the firm has really scorched the heather with a number of new ideas and so the Rory Grossart
designed reeds and Willie McCallum designed chanter could yet prove to be the perfect combination. Time, and a through testing, would tell.
I decided that a session in the recording studio would be as good a test as any. Firstly it meant that I had six weeks to work on the new products and then over the next 12 weeks a series of sessions would give me a
prolonged opportunity to see how they stood up under the spotlight. Finally, I would have the perfect chance to sit back in the mastering studio and hear the proof of the pudding, as it were.
Firstly, I set about introducing the MG Reeds into my pipes. I have always shown a reluctance for new innovation and decided to adopt a tentative approach, looking to introduce the new reeds one at a time.
I was dismayed when I read the instructions which came with them which told me that they would perform under ‘factory settings’. In fact, I think the ‘dolly the Highland sheep’ approach of reed making,
in which one-sound-suits-all, has been the bane of the piping scene. One sound doesn’t suit all - and neither does blowing strength or pitch. I was looking for something different to replace my current set-up and it looked fairly obvious that this was not going to be the answer.
Tentatively, I took out my two tenor reeds and replaced them with the two tenor MG Reeds. I then corked .... READ MORE