It's been a huge weekend of bagpiping and I'm almost out of hot air. At the inaugural Ipswich Piping and Drumming Solo Championships, following a mountain of running around as part of the organising team, I played for 11 drummers performances - including multiple pre-contest runs. Particular congratulations to Carlie for winning both D and C grade bass! I also watched on as our Greater Ipswich College of Piping (GICOPAD) students took their first steps into competitive piping and drumming, with a big shout out to Hamish (1st) and Euan (2nd) in the learner chanter and Jackson (3rd) and Abbey in ..read more

The next contributor for our composition goes a little bit out of our comfort zone - talking to a drummer! But, considering the dynamic a good drum score can add to piping, it is important to understand aspects of drumming - even as a piper. Dean Hall is the owner of 'DrummingMad' (www.drummingmad.com), a teaching program developed specifically for pipe band drummers of all levels, to provide quality, affordable and easily accessible resources and tools that promote an increase in the uptake and musical skill level of Pipe Band Snare Drumming across the globe. Dean also has a world class Pipe ..read more

Merry Christmas and welcome to the first post in our composition series. Our first contributor is Bob Worrall - one of the worlds most recognisable piping identities. Could you think of a better Xmas present than some advice from Bob? Bob Worrall (Photo Credit: PPBSO) Bob has published three books through his "International Collection of Bagpipe Music", with the third being released with reprints of the first two books at this years World Pipe Band Championships, with Bob's compositions being played by numerous Grade 1 bands. Bob's influences from the likes of Donald McLeod and John Wilson (2 ..read more

Over the last few months I have been considering getting a new bagpipe case, with my 8-year-old case looking a little worse for wear. So, I spent some time looking at the various cases available on the market. My initial thought was to get something with wheels since, as you know, carrying the Original Bagpiper Case for long periods, on planes or through airports can be awkward and lead to quite a strain on your back and shoulders. I was however not too keen on the idea of taking my drones apart every time I put my pipes away (those maintenance fanatics will be telling me I should be doing thi ..read more

Here at Brisbane Bagpiper, we believe in doing whatever we can to promote musical development. As part of this, we will be releasing a number of free original tunes with accompanying audio recordings for you to add to your collection. This particular tune, Fiona's Obsession was written for Fiona Brown's birthday. The name 'Fiona's Obsession' came about because of her obsession with Jigs (and some other things!) Fiona's Obsession was played by St Andrew's Pipe Band in the competition Medley, including the performance at the 2014 Australian Pipe Band Championships. The jig set included The Haiti ..read more

It’s probably easiest to start this one with a disclaimer – both sheepskin and synthetic bags have their strengths and weaknesses. I play both a sheepskin with Manawatu Pipe Band and a Ross synthetic pipe bag with St Andrew’s Pipe Band – both choices carefully chosen by the respective Pipe Majors as to what is the best medium for each band to get the most out of our instruments. I have also tried many other brands of pipe bags. For those new to synthetic pipe bags – they relieve the need to periodically season a bag. This allows a piper to pick up and play an air tight pipe bag out of the box ..read more

Brisbane Bagpiper - Nick Tomkins - recently travelled to the land of the long white cloud, to Wellington and Palmerston North NZ to compete with the Grade 1 Manawatu Scottish Pipe Band (known as "the 'Tu") at the Square Day competition. Nick can be seen in the front rank on the left next to Pipe Major Stewart MacKenzie. Square Day begins the competition season for the 'Tu which Nick is a part of, culminating in another trip to Glasgow Green to fight it out with the Worlds Best Bands! As you can see from the picture above, Gr 1 bands tend to have larger numbers than the average bands. However ..read more

Brisbane Bagpiper - Nick Tomkins - is Pipe Sergeant of St Andrew's Pipe Band, Brisbane. In August 2015 the band travelled to Scotland to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships. St Andrew's spent the first week practicing in famous Stirling - home of Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, and Stirling Bridge; the site of the Battle of Stirling in the Scottish War of Independance. St Andrew's competed at North Berwick and Perth, coming 1st place at North Berwick. Unfortunately, we ran out of luck on our way home when our bus broke down in a town with no pubs - what are the odds in Scotland ..read more

It's been a huge weekend of bagpiping and I'm almost out of hot air. At the inaugural Ipswich Piping and Drumming Solo Championships, following a mountain of running around as part of the organising team, I played for 11 drummers performances - including multiple pre-contest runs. Particular congratulations to Carlie for winning both D and C grade bass! I also watched on as our Greater Ipswich College of Piping (GICOPAD) students took their first steps into competitive piping and drumming, with a big shout out to Hamish (1st) and Euan (2nd) in the learner chanter and Jackson (3rd) and Abbey in ..read more

The next contributor for our composition goes a little bit out of our comfort zone - talking to a drummer! But, considering the dynamic a good drum score can add to piping, it is important to understand aspects of drumming - even as a piper. Dean Hall is the owner of 'DrummingMad' (www.drummingmad.com), a teaching program developed specifically for pipe band drummers of all levels, to provide quality, affordable and easily accessible resources and tools that promote an increase in the uptake and musical skill level of Pipe Band Snare Drumming across the globe. Dean also has a world class Pipe ..read more