Western Piping News

May 15, 2000 Jack Lee second overall at Dr. Dan Reid Memorial

Many thanks to Robert MacNeil for the following information:

Jack Lee placed 1st in the Hornpipe & Jig, 2nd in the MSR, and second overall in the Dr. Dan Reid Memorial Competition in San Francisco on May 13. Willie McCallum was the overall winner.

Overall
1. Willie McCallum
2. Jack Lee
3. Bill Livingstone

Piobaireachd
1. Bill Livingstone
2. Willie McCallum
3. Roddy MacLeod

March, Strathspey & Reel
1. Willie McCallum
2. Jack Lee
3. Roddy MacLeod

Hornpipe & Jig
1. Jack Lee
2. Willie McCallum
3. Bill Livingstone

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May 15, 2000 Colin Clansey third overall at Livingston Memorial

Many thanks to Robert MacNeil for the following information:

Colin Clansey captured second in March, Strathspey & Reel, Hornpipe & Jig event and third overall in the William Livingstone Senior Invitational Piping Competition on May 13, 2000 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Results
-------

Overall
1st Alasdair Gillies, Pittsburgh, PA
2nd Andrew Hayes, Ottawa, ON
3rd Colin Clansey, Comox, BC

Piobaireachd
1st Andrew Hayes
2nd Alasdair Gillies
3rd Ian K. MacDonald, Toronto, ON

March, Strathspey & Reel, Hornpipe & Jig
1st Alasdair Gillies
2nd Colin Clansey
3rd Andrew Hayes

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April 9, 2000 - West Coast Drummers do well at Kirkwood contest

The John Kirkwood Sr. Memorial Solo Drumming Contest (probably the most prestigious Professional Drumming contest in North America) was held this past weekend in Illinois.

14 professional drummers entered and all of the top 5 finishers are from the West Coast:
1) J Reid Maxwell Vancouver, British Columbia (CA)
2) Carl Lenny Costa Mesa, California (US)
3) Duncan Millar Bainbridge Island, Washington (US)
4 ) Eli Fugate Encinitas, California (US)
5 ) Andre Tessier Burnaby, British Columbia (CA)

While the amateur classes are quite small at the Kirkwood, Washington and BC were well represented there too:
In Grade 1 there were 4 competitors, with Cameron Bullis (BC) and Tenille Brown (BC) finishing 1st and 2nd.
In Grade 3 there were 3 competitors and Melissa Maxwell (Wa) was one of them.
In Grade 4 Christopher Hutchinson finished 3rd in a class of 6.

Full results are available at the IPBD Magazine web site:
http://www.concentric.net/~drmmrboy/IPBD/

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March 12, 2000 Professional Knock out final and the Annual Dinner

In the concluding event for the BC Pipers' Professional Knock Outs, Colin Clansey finished first, James MacHattie finished second, Alan Walters and Jori Chisholm tied for third. All four finalists received the Donald Ross Memorial Medal, and as th ewinner Colin is awarded a trip to Ontario for a piping contest.

In the drumming final Duncan Millar finished first, with Andre Tessier and Gregor Merry tying for second. As the winner Duncan is also awarded a trip to Chicago to compete in the John Kirkwook Senior Memorial Contest.

Once again the event was very well attended (I don't know the actual number, but our group of 9 was sitting at table 29 - and there were more tables), and great fun. The evening included dinner, and a short recital by the Grade 1 piping and the Grade 1 Drumming Mini-Gathering aggregate winners (Alison Dunsire, Kristen Coulson). Each of the top 5 aggregate winners, from each competitive class, from this past winter's mini-gatherings was recognised, as was the RMM Juvenile PB and Simon Fraser University PB for their World Championship wins last summer.

(It was an inspiring sight: to see Reid Maxwell give the Grade 2 Aggregate Drumming award to his son Grant, and to see Jack Lee give the Grade 4 Aggregate Piping award to his son Colin, and the Grade 2 Aggregate Piping award to his son Andrew)

A wonderful evening, I heartily suggest you put it on your social calendar for next year.

(Later this week I will post many photos from the evening onto the BCPA Photos page)

Bob

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The February Piobaireachd Club Meeting

PIOBAIREACHD CLUB
February 25, 2000.
Ron & Eileen Sutherland again welcomed members of the Club into their home
for an evening of ceol mor. It was, indeed, a wet and stormy night but the
weather inside was great!

Robert Bruce got the affair underway with, I Got A Kiss of the King's Hand.
This tune celebrates an occasion before the battle of Worcester in 1651
when Padruig Mor MacCrimmon, the King of Pipers, was introduced to King
Charles I and played for him. In the custom of the time he was given the
honour of kissing King Charles' hand. The legend goes that Padruig Mor
composed the tune more or less 'on the spot', adapting an ancient Gaelic
folk song to his need.

Ed McIlwaine followed with The Unjust Incarceration. Seth Walker played
Lament for James Macdonald of the Isles. Chris McCaulley played The Finger
Lock [Glas Mhearu], composed [circa late 1600's or early 1700] by Ranald
Macailean Og Macdonald, he of The Vaunting and The Red Speckled Bull. A
heather myth suggests that the tune celebrates the 'unlocking' of the stiff
fingers of a young and careless student of piping with a wonderfully
musical ear, Calum MacRaibeart, who experienced an awakening and became a
noted piper of his time.

Jori Chisholm filled in for Colin Clansy as Piper-of-the-Month. Colin had
to cancel because of unexpected duty commitments at his airforce base at
Comox. Jori stepped up with Hector MacLean's Warning, a tune that
celebrates events in the latter half of the 16th century. The times were
tumultuous and murderous, rife with clan warfare and behavior not likely to
win good citizen's awards. Hector's grandfather, for example, is reputed to
have abandoned his first wife [a daughter of the Earl of Argyll] on a tidal
rock in the expectation that the incoming tide would do her in. As it
turned out, she was rescued by kinsmen who happened to be passing by.

Alex Galloway closed the evening with The Earl of Seaforth's Salute, a tune
composed by the Earl's piper, Finlay Dubh MacRae. For the writer, this tune
invariably invokes an image of the exiled Earl digging peat in Spain with
his piper appealing through the tune for his master to return to his
rightful home.

The next meeting, featuring James McHattie as Piper-of-the-Month, will be
announced in the fullness of time. Call Ron Sutherland at 988-0479 or Ron
MacLeod at 538-5709 for information.

(Many thanks to Ron Macleod for this report.)

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Great showing by BCPA Drummers at World Solo Drumming Championships

SFUPB Lead Drummer J. Reid Maxwell captured second place at the World Solo
Drumming Championship in Scotland on February 26. This was his highest
placing in the competition in which he had previously won several fifths
and sixths. Other SFU drum corps member Duncan Millar made the final and
placed eleventh. The results were

1. Jim Kilpatrick, Shotts and Dykehead
2. J. Reid Maxwell, Simon Fraser University
3. Gordon Brown, Boghall and Bathgate
4. Barry Wilson, Shotts and Dykehead
5. Eric Ward, Strathclyde Police
6. John Scullion, Scottish Power

Cameron Bullis, previously a lead drummer of the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band Grade 3 (which won the 1999 World Juvenile Pipe Band Championship), won the Juvenile 2 section in the World Solo Drumming Championship in a field of 30. This was his first time competing in the Juvenile 2 section.

(Many thanks to Robert MacNeil for this information)

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Queen Mary Qualifying Championship for Festival Lorient

On Saturday, February 19, the Queen Mary Scottish Festival in Long Beach California hosted a competition to choose three pipers to represent Canada and the United States in the Interceltic Festival Lorient, in France, in August 2000.

That piping event was made up of two competitions, a MSR set in the morning, and and Irish Jig set in the afternoon. Recordings (video and audio) were made, and I think they be wonderful (We ordered one). The hall was most impressive, and the playing was superb.

Ten of the top solo pipers from North America competed in this contest which was judged by Richard Parkes and Bob Worral. Representing the BCPA were Alan Bevan, Andrew Bonar, and Colin Clancy. The other competitors were John Cairns, Seamus Coyne, Mike Cuask, Alasdair Gillies, Michale Grey, Ian K. MacDonald, and Adrian Melvin.

Overall the results were:

1) Alasdair Gillies
2) Alan Bevan
3) Mike Cusack
4) Ian K. MacDonald

(The top three finalists receive an all expense paid trip to Lorient to represent their continent)

It was a great weekend for the BCPA pipers attending the Queen Mary Scottish Festival & Games:

Alan Bevan also won the Saturday evening Invitational, and the Professional MSR on Sunday.

Andrew Bonar received a second in the Professional MSR on Sunday.

Colin Clancy received a second in the Professional Jig/HP on Sunday, and he won the Sunday evening Kitchen piping contest with an inspired, and amazingly fast set of tunes.

The audience (we stayed for this and started our 1400 mile return trip late that night) was treated to some very memorable piping Sunday evening, and it is audience voting that determines results. Imagine; kitchen piping with Alasdair Gillies, who took third; Steve Megarity was second, but he conceded, in an entertaining fashion, to Colin, and that didn't even cause Colin to miss a beat of his 180 (or so) BPM jigs; Andrew Bonar doing amazing things while he played - you had to see it; Neil Dickie played whiledancing and having lots of fun; and there were more- it was a great and very enjoyable evening.

Actually the whole two day Queen Mary competition is great, very well run, and very well attended. It is a worthwhile trip, even if you drive there from 1400 miles away.

Bob

(PS: Alison won all 4 G1 events, Liz took 1st in G3 March, and 2nd in S&R )

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A DAY OF SCOTTISH CULTURE - March 25, 2000

The B.C. PIPERS ASSOCIATION is presenting a "Day of Scottish Culture on
March 25th at the Scottish Cultural Centre, 8886 Hudson Street [at 73rd
Avenue], Vancouver, 9:45 A.M. to 3 P.M. This continues a long-standing
series of lectures and musical entertainment for Scots and those who choose
to be Scots for a day.

Dr. Ian Ross, Professor Emeritus, UBC, will lead off with an intriguing
subject entitled "The Adventures of Pickle the Jacobite Mole". Echoes of
Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Rising of 1745 reverbrate in the chambers of
the mind.

"The Event Which Shocked Britain" is the subject of one who contributed to
that shock-wave. Gary Vernon will speak about the repatriation of the Stone
of Scone [the Stone of Destiny] by himself and friends in 1950. A bold raid
on Westminster Abbey by young Scottish patriots literally raised eyebrows
throughout Britain. Scottish patriots cherish the Stone as a symbol of
Scottish nationhood for, as the ancient Gaelic rhyme suggests:
Unless the fates shall faithless prove,
And prophets voice be vain,
Where'er this sacred Stone is found,
The Scottish race shall reign.

Donald Grayston of the Centre for Scottish Studies, SFU, will speak on
"Oswald and Friends - Celtic Christianity from Iona to Whitby". The Celtic
Church of St. Patrick, St. Columba and their successors has been credited
with keeping the light of learning burning throughout Europe during the
Dark Ages.

Richard Hill, Past President of the Gaelic Society, Seattle, will sing
"Songs of the Scottish Gael". A fluent Gaelic speaker with a fine voice,
Richard will sing in the ancient mother tongue of the Gaelic people.
Angus Macpherson will be there to pipe in the guest speakers.
The B.C. Pipers' Association, a non-profit organization, has a dual purpose
in sponsoring these events: to present opportunity to keep in touch with
things Scottish; and, to raise funds to assist young pipers compete
Internationally.

A fee of $20.00 is charged [half price for seniors and students]. Tea and
coffee are served.

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Jan 3, 2000 - The December Piobaireachd Club Meeting

(Sorry this is late - I was away from a computer for more than 2 weeks)

Report from Ron MacLeod:

Ladies and gentlemen: my version of a wonderful evening...Ron

PIOBAIREACHD CLUB
DECEMBER 3, 1999

The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming! That was the way of it
the evening of Friday, December 3rd. The home of Randy and Lynn Bullis was
overtaken by an invasion of Seattle haggis eaters. Fortunately, a goodly
contingent of Canadians were on hand to neutralize the invaders and divert
them into being down home entertainers.

Rich Hill, President of the Seattle Gaelic Society, he of the great voice
and talent, launched the evening with three vocal versions of Macintosh's
Lament. There was a substantial contrast in the songs as Rich moved from
the mainland of Scotland through Skye and on to Lewis. It is tempting when
listening to the island versions to think about the Norse skaldic influence
on the development of ceol mor. That influence was substantial in the
Western Isles for several hundred years and it is not unreasonable to think
that ceol mor could well have flowed from the Norse Skalds through the
Gaelic bards and thence to the families who inherited the music and the
poetry and transformed them into what we loosely refer to to-day as
piobaireachd.

Rich also sang the Isle of Lewis version of The Cave of Gold, a story of a
piper and his dog who follow music that seemingly is coming from the
ground. They follow it into a cave from which only the dog emerges. Rich
finished with Maol Donn, a piper's search for his cow, the lost brown
hornless one.

Seth Walker played The Bicker, a tale about a drinking cup. Jori Chisholm
played The Groat, a tune possibly composed by Donald Mor MacCrimmon's
father, Iain Odhar on the birth [1562] of Uilleam, Rory Mor MacLeod of
MacLeod's older brother who died young.

Tyrone Heade played Lady Margaret MacDonald's Salute, in praise of a
beloved lady of Skye of whom it was said that common folk would run before
her to clear the stones from the road lest her horse stumble and she be
harmed.

And then the Canadians took to the floor, Iain Bullis with that great,
haunting piobaireachd The Massacre of Glencoe followed by Andrew Lee with
Cabar F�idh gu Br�dh, a Donald MacLeod tune. It is a great joy indeed, to
observe young lads such as these progressing so well. The talent is there,
time will tell if it is fully realized.

Although he did not have his own pipe, Jack Lee could not resist the
temptation. On a borrowed pipe, he gave a sterling rendition of Macintosh's
Lament. No doubt at all that inspiration came from Rich Hill's singing.
There are probably as many heather myths trailing that grand tune as any
other in our legacy. One not often mentioned is that the young chief was
murdered by a kinsman Malcolmson and two cohorts. After the dirty deed,
they hid out on an islet on a small loch. The chief's kinsmen discovered
them there and meted out swift and horrible justice.

The next meeting, featuring Colin Clansey as Piper-of-the-Month, will be
announced in the fullness of time. Call Ron Sutherland at 988-0479 or Ron
MacLeod at 538-5709 for information and you may get what you want if it is
at hand.

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Jan 3, 00 - Mastery of Scottish Arts - Concert

CONTACT: NEIL HUBBARD 425-444-3622
E-MAIL: neil.hubbard@bmge.com

CONCERT OF VIRTUOSO SCOTTISH HIGHLAND MUSIC
FEATURING A STELLAR LINEUP OF THE WORLD�S BEST
HIGHLAND BAGPIPERS, DRUMMERS AND DANCERS

MASTERS OF SCOTTISH ARTS CONCERT
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2000 7:30 PM
TOWN HALL
8TH AVE. & SENECA St. SEATTLE

SEATTLE - December 29, 1999 - The Masters Of Scottish Arts Concert returns
world class Scottish Highland bagpipers, drummers, and dancers to the
Northwest. This third annual event, in a new location for the year 2000,
features performers acknowledged as living virtuosos in the field, the
equivalent to Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman or Vladimir Horowitz. This
is not Riverdance. It�s better!

The timing of the concert capitalizes on the presence of the Mastery Of
Scottish Arts Winter School's star-studded faculty, composed of artists who
have repeatedly won the major world competitions in highland arts. The
pipers are, from Scotland, honored by Queen Elizabeth for his service to
piping, Pipe Major Ian McLellan, B.E.M., Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies
(Director of Carnegie Mellon University�s Piping program), and Pipe Major
Roddy MacLeod (Director of Glasgow�s Piping Centre). Canada�s two best
soloists, Pipe Major William Livingstone (78th Fraser Highlanders) and Jack
Lee (Pipe Sergeant of the reigning World Champion Simon Fraser University
Pipe Band from Vancouver BC), will also appear. And from Houston, Texas,
the only American ever to win the Gold Medal in Scotland, Michael Cusack,
Jr.

Performing Scottish style drumming will be, from Scotland, eleven time
World Solo Drumming Champion Jim Kilpatrick. He has also led the drum
corps of the Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band to a record thirteen World
Championships. Canadian drummers John Fisher, Craig J. Colquhoun and Tyler
Fry will also perform. Featured Highland dancers will be 1999 World Adult
Champion Natalie-Ann Hall and Peter Archibald, both of Canada.

The concert promises a spectacular showcasing of the best talent in the
world in this genre, thus the title Masters Of Scottish Arts. The music
will range from Scottish Regimental standards, to current popular
compositions, to the classical music of the Scottish bagpipe, the centuries
old style called piobaireachd (pronounced pea-brock). All dances will be
accompanied live by the pipers. Ensemble performances will combine the
pipers and drummers.

Tickets ($18) can be purchased in advance at all Ticketmaster ticket
centers including select Rite Aid Drug Stores, The Wherehouse, Tower
Records/Video and online at www.ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets by
phone, call 206-628-0888. Tickets are also available at The Scottish
Shopper, Tartan Thistle, Dusty Strings and Galway Traders. Parking is
available next to Town Hall.

The Mastery of Scottish Arts Winter School for piping, drumming and dancing
is being held at the Seabeck Conference Center the week of February 1-6,
2000. For further information, call 206-444-4344, or write Masters of
Scottish Arts, PO Box 1751, Seattle, WA 98111-1751. Visit our web site at
(www.masteryofscottisharts.org)

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