Author Archives: Jim McGillivray

Drama is not a word you hear much in piping circles and I’m not sure why. The best pipe music is dramatic, and good pipers and pipe bands use drama all the time, whether they are aware of it or … Continue reading →

This is a bit of a rant, but I hope it can be seen as instructional as well. I’ve been judging solo piping competitions for a very long time. In the last decade or so I’ve judged fewer. In the … Continue reading →

The old adage about re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic is so cliché I would normally never use it, but for the fact that it applies perfectly to the direction of the Pipers’ and Pipe Band Society of Ontario for … Continue reading →

I recently discussed the issue of women having pipes that are too hard to blow because they were being given reeds that didn’t suit their physical strength. A corollary of this misguided approach to teaching pipers is the pipe major … Continue reading →

When I was 15 years old, my teacher, Ed Neigh, took me to a summer piping camp that was presided over and taught solely by John MacFadyen of Glasgow. One of the famous MacFadyen piping brothers, along with Duncan and … Continue reading →

Over many years of teaching summer schools and workshops, I’ve come across some sad things in piping. The saddest is women who can’t blow their pipes. What’s sadder is that often it’s not their fault. I see this pattern play … Continue reading →

Here endeth the seven-part practice strategies journey. There are a number of final points that bear mention but aren’t complex enough for each to warrant separate articles. Here they are, in no particular order: 1) Record yourself. You can be … Continue reading →

The passing of the great player and gentleman Donald MacPherson in the Spring made for much conversation on the quality of this piper’s near miraculous instrument. I might guess that in no other musical discipline did the quality of one … Continue reading →

The need to maintain a useful repertoire became apparent to me very early, when I was in my teens and going around to competitions and other piping events. Gatherings after the events were commonplace (are they still?), and if you … Continue reading →

My high school pipers are an interesting bunch, and listening to them practice in their inexperienced way is an education in what many people lack in their practice sessions. Usually in class we work on one or two pieces, or … Continue reading →