Pibroch Teaching Weekend 24th and 25th April 2021
This is the fourth year that the LBPS is sponsoring a weekend teaching event to help promote a greater understanding of this special musical form.
This event is now FULLY BOOKED! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS BOOKED, SEE YOU AT THE WEEKEND!
Hosted by committee member Christopher Bacon, and once again with Allan MacDonald as our tutor, the weekend will explore the grounds of selected pibroch with the aim of unlocking the great beauty in this music. Pipers will work together with smallpipes in A and look back to the earliest sources and explore the music outside the usual genre of competition.
Pipers who have not had any previous experience of playing pibroch are encouraged to join the group. We will be playing smallpipes in A and even the new long practice chanters which work perfectly along with smallpipes. There is no requirement to be able to play a beautifully rippling crunluath but a good standard of playing will get the best from the weekend; at the moment the course is not for absolute beginners.
The course will be held virtually by Zoom and the teaching will take place each afternoon from 3 pm to 7 pm.
The event is open to all members and non-members with smallpipes in A or the new long practice chanters also in A.
Participants and tutor at the LBPS Pibroch Weekend, April 2019, at Wooley High Hall, Allendale. Many thanks to Ian MacKay for the photo.
For reviews of the LBPS Pibroch Teaching Weekend in 2019 please click here.
For the tune list, please see Read more.
The LBPS YouTube channel
There is now a new official LBPS YouTube channel. Please do have a look and PLEASE SUBSCRIBE.
At the moment the channel is mostly made up of archive footage, but all LBPS members are now invited to submit videos for others to enjoy. As recent Zoom events have shown, we are an international community of enthusiastic pipers and we would like the videos on YouTube to reflect this too!
Please see below for guidelines for submission:
LBPS Annual Competition – Saturday 27th March 2021
We are pleased to announce the results of this year's annual competition, held via Zoom:
RESULTS OF THE LBPS ANNUAL COMPETITION 2021
|
SEASONED PIPERS CLASS (Judge: Lee Moore) |
||
|
1st |
Pete Stewart |
Wo Betyd Thy Wearie Bodie (Skene, MS, 1615) An Old Man Is a Bed of Bones (Playford 1651 arr Stewart) I Am a Silly Old Man (Balcarres MS as ‘Gin the kirk would let me be 1695) |
|
2nd |
John Kelly |
Mary Scott the Flower of Yarrow Linkcumdoddie |
|
3rd |
Jody Lynch |
Teddy o Neill (Air) The Clare jig and The Nora Crionna hornpipe The Wonky Table |
|
INTERMEDIATE CLASS (Judge: Iain MacInnes) |
||
|
1st |
Alexander Sime-Scott |
The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow, Lassie Gae Milk on My Cow Hill |
|
2nd |
Ruari Black |
The Rose of Allendale / Knucklehead Johnny the Tree Wrecker |
|
3rd |
Caroline Barden |
Wee Totum Fogg Pawkie Adam Glen |
|
PIPE AND SONG CLASS (Judge: Iain MacInnes) |
||
|
1st |
Ian Crane |
Tha Mi Sgith |
|
2nd |
Pete Stewart |
The Ballad of Jock Elliot |
|
SCOTTISH SMALL PIPES CLASS (Judge: Hamish Moore) |
||
|
1st |
Stuart Letford |
John Anderson My Jo / Jack Latin (from Dixon) Lassies o’ Melrose |
|
Joint 2nd |
Norman Macleod |
Dark Lowers the Night (3/4 Retreat), Hacky Honey (9/4 from Dixon, tune #4) |
|
John Charles Bauschatz |
Shuidh Mi air Cnocan an t-Siùil A Bhean Ud A-staigh Hì Rì a Bho Horo Hug Gur e an Latha He Mo Leannan, Ho Mo Leannan Clo Mhicllemhiceil |
|
|
3rd |
Bill Bennett |
My Home Town, Scarce of Tatties, Drops of Brandy Aye Walkin O |
|
LOWLAND & BORDER PIPES CLASS (Judge: Gordon Mooney) |
||
|
1st |
Stuart Letford |
Rowan Tree (arrangement by Mark Stewart, Crieff) The Lasses Bushes Brawly (from Dixon; the first four parts only) Dixon’s Highland Laddie (from Dixon but I shall miss our parts 6 and 7 due to time constraints). |
|
2nd |
David Faulkner |
Joyful Days Will Come (David Faulkner) Dorrington Lads (Rook manuscript) |
|
3rd |
Ian Crane |
Wat Ye What I Got Late Yestreen Kiss'd Her Under the Coverlet |
Ian Crane Stuart Letford
David Faulkner
Videos of the prize-winning entries and others have now been uploaded onto the LBPS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LowlandBorderPipersSocietyOfficial
Nigel Richard, 1948–2021
We are sad to announce the death of Nigel Richard. Nigel was a leading light in the bellows piping revival. He was 73 and had been fighting cancer for a few years. He died on the evening of New Year’s Day in an Edinburgh hospice where he had only just been admitted.
Nigel was the proprietor of Garvie Bagpipes of Pathhead in Midlothian, Scotland. His business was formerly based just off Easter Road in Edinburgh. The company ceased trading one week before Christmas.
Nigel was born in London, England and moved with his wife, Heather to Lochaber in Scotland in the early 1980s. Professionally, he worked in accountancy and in the navy before, in 1985, enrolling in a two-year musical instrument repair course at Stevenson College in Edinburgh. He then started making bagpipes professionally in 1987 and never looked back.
Nigel was Convenor – Chairman – of the Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society from June 2003 till November 2006. Current Convenor, Stuart Letford, said: “This is sad news. We knew Nigel hadn’t been well these last few years. He will be remembered for his enthusiasm, his depth of knowledge about reeds and tuning etc, and the quality of his instruments.”
Finlay MacDonald, Director of Piping at the National Piping Centre and who has played Nigel’s instruments for many years, said: “Nigel was a great innovator, a brilliant musician and pipe maker, but most of all a great friend.
“I used to love going to visit Nigel at his workshop of a Saturday morning, spending the day foutering with pipes, talking about music and writing tunes. We’d inevitably end up in the pub playing tunes and having great craic for hours on end. That’s what I’ll remember most about Nigel; his generosity of spirit and infectious enthusiasm for life.”
Although he made bagpipes, Nigel himself wasn’t a piper. His musical interests were in playing cittern and playing Indian music. His style of guitar playing was influenced by Davey Graham.
Nigel was a frequent visitor to India and Thailand, where he met his partner Penn.
We offer our condolences to Nigel’s family.
Stuart Letford, LBPS Convenor
(This piece published in Bagpipe.News, January 3, 2021.)
Dr Peter Cooke, 1930–2021
We are sad to announce the death of Dr Peter Cooke. Peter Cooke was a highly respected ethnomusicologist. He was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1930. His music teaching career began in secondary schools and as a lecturer at Redland College of Education in Bristol. He moved to Uganda in 1964 to work as head of music at Makerere College School then to establish the new music department at the National Teachers’ College at now Kyambogo University.
In 1969 he was appointed to lead research into the traditional music of Scotland at the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh University. Whilst there he gained a doctorate and initiated ethnomusicology courses.
Peter made over 1,000 field recordings during this time, including investigations into older styles of piping around Scotland and the music traditions in the Western Isles and Shetland Islands.
Peter wrote many scholarly articles on piping for the Piping Times and The International Piper. Stuart Letford of Bagpipe.News (and the last editor of the Piping Times) said: “Peter wasn’t a piper himself but played piano, viols and recorders. In fact, he was Musical Director of the Birmingham Branch of the Society of Recorder Players.
“Outside of music, sailing was a much-loved pastime. With his family, he explored the coastal waters of Scotland. It was always fascinating to speak with him.
“I last heard from him in August 2020, shortly after he celebrated his 90th birthday. He thanked the team at Bagpipe.News for re-publishing his International Piper series on the changing styles in pibroch playing. He said: ‘I suspect the message still needs to reach home to some pipers and to competition judges in particular.’”
Dr Simon McKerrell said: “The attention he paid to Scottish music is a marker of how many ethnomusicologists approach research, viewing it comparatively in relation to other musical traditions around the world. That characteristic is something worth celebrating, and has not always been a facet of the more parochially-inclined researchers of Scottish music who haven’t looked beyond their primary interests to understand the music of others (and thereby learned more about ourselves).”
Peter retired in 1989 but continued to lecture and undertake archival work. He took a part-time post as a lecturer in Practical Ethnomusicology and Scottish Music, at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. He returned there in 2002 when he spent six months there as a consultant. Peter was also an External Examiner for the BA (Scottish Music) course.
In 2019 he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame for his services to traditional music.
Stuart Letford, LBPS Convenor
(This piece published in Bagpipe.News, January 5, 2021)
December 2020 Issue of Common Stock
The latest issue of Common Stock is available to members HERE
To download the issue, click the 'Open' button at the bottom right of each double-page and use the bottom link of the menu pane on the left side
The Declaration of Arbroath
The LBPS committee held a Zoom session for members on 12 October 2020 as a get-together and to introduce and play the tune ‘The Declaration of Arbroath’, originally written by Pete Stewart for the celebration of the 700th anniversary of The Declaration of Arbroath that should have taken place in April this year, and which had to be postponed till next year.
The committee are delighted to announce that the session went very well. Under Stuart’s excellent direction, members enjoyed discussing and playing the tune ‘Declaration of Arbroath’. We look forward to repeating the exercise in a few weeks, and members will receive a newsletter with the details and Zoom link to confirm the date.
The music and soundfile for the tune can be accessed here:
June 2020 Issue of Common Stock
The latest issue of Common Stock is available to members HERE
To download the issue, click the 'Open' button at the bottom right of each double-page and use the bottom link of the menu pane on the left side
December 2019 Issue of Common Stock
The latest issue of Common Stock is available to members HERE
To download the issue, click the 'Open' button at the bottom right of each double-page and use the bottom link of the menu pane on the left side
LBPS Funding Applications
Applications are invited from individuals for funding for projects related to Scottish bellows blown bagpipes which accord with, or complement, the Society’s own aims as per the constitution published at www.lbps.net
For full details of the award and the types of project for which you may apply, please see the terms and conditions below.
Please submit your completed application form to the Treasurer by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in time to meet one of the two annual deadlines of 1 March or 1 October.
LBPS Competition 2018 Video
Ian Mackay's video of the 2018 competition held at the College of Piping, Glasgow earlier this year, is now available here and on the LBPSoc Youtube channel
