External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
The College of Piping was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1944 by Seumas MacNeill and Thomas Pearston to pass on the art of the Great Highland Bagpipe to all who wanted to learn Scotland's national instrument. As well as teaching, the College's aims were/are to preserve the heritage of the bagpipe by collecting piping artefacts, manuscripts and memorabilia and by providing a focal point for pipers the world over. College lessons are subsidised by profits from the College Shop which sells instruments, music, Highland wear and bagpipe accessories. A charity, the College often teaches students of low means for free.
The College of Piping Tutor Book 1, by the then Joint Principals Seumas MacNeill and Thomas Pearston, was first issued in 1952, and is easily the biggest selling book on the bagpipe ever issued, selling to date (2011) 400,000 copies. This book is also available in Scottish Gaelic, French, German and Italian. In 2008 it became available in digital format and in 2011 available on iPad and iPhone.
Since 1948 the College of Piping has published the Piping Times monthly magazine, once described by Captain John MacLellan, former Director of the Army School of Piping at Edinburgh Castle, as the biggest single repository of bagpipe knowledge in the world. The magazine has a current worldwide readership estimated in 2011 at 10,000. That same year it became available on iPhone and iPad having previously been available in digital format since 2008. The PT as it is affectionately known adheres to the highest standards of journalism and is often provocative and fearless in its criticism of what it sees as contrary to the interests of pipers and pipe bands. In 2005 it campaigned successfully to have the World Pipe Band Championships televised by the BBC and three years later fought to save one of the leading pipe bands in the country, the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band, from budget cuts imposed by a new Chief Constable.
The College pioneered outreach teaching of the bagpipe when, in the early 1950s, Seumas MacNeill established schools of piping in North America. This undoubtedly led to an upsurge of interest in Scottish bagpiping on that continent and in no small way contributed to the high standard of piping in Canada and the United States currently enjoyed there. In 2007 the College established the first outreach teaching school on the European mainland when it launched its Winter School in Germany in association with the Pipers Corner shop at Brüggen. This school has since relocated to Homburg in Saarland. The College has two annual school in the US in California and New England in June and July each year. The College of Piping is a registered charity in the United Kingdom.
In March 2018 The National Piping Centre took over The College of Piping which then ceased to exist. The premises at Otago Street are used by the National Piping Centre for teaching, competition and recital and is known as 'The National Piping Centre Otago Street, Formerly known as The College of Piping.'
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
The great Highland bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the great Irish warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world.
Pibroch, piobaireachd or ceòl mòr is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning 'piping' in Scottish Gaelic, piobaireachd has for some four centuries been music of the great Highland bagpipe.
The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming is a British Army training establishment that provides instruction on Scottish pipe band music to military pipers and drummers.
Canntaireachd is the ancient method of teaching, learning and memorizing Piobaireachd, a type of music primarily played on the Great Highland bagpipe. In the canntairached method of instruction, the teacher sings or hums the tune to the pupil, sometimes using specific syllables which signify the sounds to be produced by the bagpipe.
Gordon Duncan was a Scottish bagpiper, low whistle player and composer, born in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
Jori Lance Chisholm is an American professional bagpipe player and teacher who lives in Seattle, Washington. Chisholm is a successful solo competitor winning the United States Gold Medal four times and has placed in the top three in Scotland's Argyllshire Gathering Gold Medal competition. He played with the six-time Grade One World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and was a featured solo performer for the band on multiple occasions. Chisholm has performed in front of sold-out audiences with The Chieftains and with ex-Grateful Dead rocker Bob Weir and his band Ratdog, and has been featured as a soloist or band member on over 20 recordings. His debut solo album Bagpipe Revolution was nominated for Album of the Year by Pipes|Drums magazine. He writes the "Sound Technique" column for the National Piping Centre’s bi-monthly Piping Today Magazine. The New York Times featured Chisholm's online teaching program, BagpipeLessons.com, and described him as a "top-tier teacher" in a front-page story about the growth of Skype music lessons. A cover story in American Profile Magazine named Chisholm one of the "world's elite pipers."
This article defines a number of terms that are exclusive, or whose meaning is exclusive, to piping and pipers.
Pipe Major Donald MacLeod was a Scottish bagpiper, British Army Pipe major, composer and bagpipe instructor.
The MacCrimmons is a Scottish family that served as pipers to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod for several generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. At Borreraig the MacCrimmons conducted one of the best known "piping colleges" in the Highlands of Scotland.
The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada, established in 1990 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, is an international school teaching Highland bagpiping, Scottish-style snare drumming, Highland Dancing and Island step dancing. General (Ret'd) John de Chastelain was a director at the college. The College of Piping is the most prestigious piping organisation on Prince Edward Island. The college has won 5th place in Grade 3B at the 2012 World Pipe Band Championships and 4th place in Grade 3b at the 2007 World Pipe Band Championships. In addition to these accomplishments are numerous awards from Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the Eastern United States. Many of the members of The College of Piping Pipe Bands are also award-winning soloists, bringing home local, regional, national and international prizes for their respective grade.
John Davie Burgess was a Scottish bagpipe player.
Duncan Johnstone was a Scottish bagpiper and composer.
Gordon Walker is a Scottish bagpiper.
John Grant was an amateur aficionado of the Great Highland bagpipe who, for over fifty years, composed piobaireachd and Ceòl Beag for members of the British Royal Family, important noblemen and women, and contemporary statesmen; wrote and published books on the Great Highland Bagpipe and its music; and taught students under the auspices of the [Royal] Scottish Piper's Society.
Callum Beaumont is Scottish bagpipe player.
Pipe Major John MacDonald was a Scottish bagpipe player.
Donald MacPherson was a Scottish bagpipe player, and one of the most successful competitive solo pipers of all time.
Angus MacKay was a Scottish bagpipe player and the first Piper to the Sovereign. He wrote collections of pibroch and ceol beag written in staff notation, which became the basis for standardised settings of music which had previously been shared by singing of canntaireachd.
The City of Dunedin Pipe Band is a Grade 1 pipe band out of Dunedin, Florida. It is led by pipe major Iain Donaldson and drum sergeant Eric MacNeill.
Gail Brown is a Canadian musician who was the first female bagpipe player to play in the World Pipe Band Championships. She is also the first female bagpiper to win the highest level competition in the World Pipe Band Championships in 1973, with the Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.
