Washington Pipers’ Association

The Northwest Collection of Music for the Scottish Highland Bagpipe is now available, directly from author John Dally or through The Tartan Thistle.

150 tunes by pipers from the Northwest, both past and present. Contributions are included from D.C. Mather, Donald Sutherland, John Sutherland, Kenneth MacDonald, Kevin Auld, David Lanigan, Barry Shears, Ian Hardie, Dave Richardson, Anna Murray, and Tim McCarthy.

136 pages, 10 1/2 x 8 paperback and includes history of piping in the Pacific Northwest and photographs of the Seattle Pipe Band in its earliest days as well as some of the classic old pipers whose influence is still felt in our area.

Click the image for more information on the book.  $25 plus $4 shipping and handling through John.

Solo Competition signups are available for the Whidbey Island Highland Games at this link>>. Deadline for sign up is August 1st, 2010.

The event location changed this year to Langley Middle School in Langley, Washington on August 14th.

Have you seen these bagpipes?

They’re a custom set of Soutar DS-3b pipes with blackwood projecting mounts.

A student piper’s home in Portland was broken into and his pipes and practice chanters were stolen.

The Portland case # is 10-41347
Filed by Officer Trent Wiest.

Portland Police Department -  503-823-3333

503-823-HELP (4357) – Crime Stoppers of Oregon

Many thanks to all of the judges and the competitors who made time for our events this year!  This month, we had a miscommunication with our drumming judge and unfortunately needed to cancel drumming competitions. Thank you William Nichols for coming down from  Blaine to judge our piping events. Will started piping in Alaska at the age of 6 and travelled down to Washington for the Mastery of Scottish Arts Winter School (Now Celtic Arts Winter School), and to Canada for Piping Hot Summer Drummer regularly.

Will has won prizes at Oban for the past 2 years, including 2nd in the B-grade march.  He won second place in the Kansas City Winter Storm Silver Medal this year.  He won the BCPA Knockout in 2007 at the age of 17, and played with Robert Malcolm Memorial Grade 3 and Grade 2 winning two juvenile World Championships and the 2006 Grade 2 World Championships. Since 2006, Will has been playing in SFU and is currently finishing a Cellular Biology Degree at Western Washington University.

Finally, thanks so much to the Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band who travelled up from Portland / Vancouver to perform a great set of tunes for us, and we learned a little bit about their short history and teaching program led by the Grade 2 Portland Metro Pipe Band musicians, and Pipe Major Mark Tomasetti.

Continue reading ‘Washington Pipers’ Association May 15 Season ending results’ »

From the Seattle Times Obituaries - additional information added 5/7/2010

Ron OSWELL Age 62, passed away May 1st in Seattle where he was born on August 7, 1947. A Const. Supt. for 39 years, he was the first bagpiper at Shorecrest High School and the first Pipe Major in 1965-66.  He was followed by his brother, Ken, as P/M in 1966-67.played with the Washington Scottish Pipe Band, coached youth soccer for 15 years, was a skilled photographer and dedicated Harley rider. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Chris Gaston, 2 children, Bergman and Katie and brother Ken (Carol). Viewing at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home May 6th 1-3:00 p.m. Graveside May 6th 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Northwest Junior Pipe Band via paypal at www.nwjpb.org or mail a check to 509 NE 165th St. Shoreline, WA 98155.

We know Ron had a big influence on many bagpipers in our region. He will be missed, and our hearts go out to his family.

Update from Stephanie Sprinkle:  The gavel is down. Join us at Langley Middle School celebrating the Whidbey Island Highland Games on Saturday, August 14. The Fairgrounds personnel approved our Beer Garden just a step over that invisible property line. Great view of the field and front row seats to Scottish Athletics! A wonderful opportunity to peruse the shops in Langley and a magnificent view of the water just a short walk away.

http://wihg.org – see you at the Games August 14th!

After 12 years at Greenbank Farms on Whidbey Island, another event was scheduled the same weekend as the Whidbey Island Highland Games and they’re in a mad scramble to find a replacement venue.  Here’s a scan of the front page of the South Whidbey Record where the story appears.  If you have any connections or ideas about locations that might work on Whidbey Island, please contact Stephanie Sprinkle through the contact page, then ”Vendor/Clans Information contact” of the Whidbey Isand Highland Games site: http://wihg.org/

Cape Breton piper Barry Shears

Féis Shiàt-WHAT? I believe it means the Gathering in Seattle in Gaelic, but I know who to ask!  There’s an annual event held at Fort Warden in Port Townsend, WA, coming up this June 16-20 where you can learn a “focus area” Celtic art such as bagpiping in the morning, then “Try It” with other classes in the afternoon, such as Gaelic Language, Gaelic Song/singing, or Gaelic music with bagpipes, fiddle, or Cláirseach (harp).

This is a great opportunity to learn more about Gaelic culture and to learn from an award winning piper from Nova Scotia, one of the top piping regions in the world.

Barry Shears is a native of Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He is an acknowledged expert on the history of traditional piping in Nova Scotia and its intrinsic connection to the Gaelic language, music and culture. An award-winning musician, Barry has performed at concerts and festivals throughout North America, as well as in Scotland and Europe.

Barry was part of the bagpipe team presenting at the historic Féis Shiàtail 2000. This is his second time presenting at the Féis.

Barry Shears from Cape Breton will be teaching bagpipe at Féis Shiàtail 2010. At the present time registration for his track is at historic lows, which represents a tremendous opportunity for a small group players to spend three days with a Cape Breton piping tradition bearer. Registration doesn’t close until May 31st, but if you’re considering coming, please drop them a note by e-mail and let them know so that they don’t cancel the track.

I read this post on the JWT Reedmakers blog with much interest, it’ll help if you read it first:  And the Winner Is…

James W. Troy and his son James T. Troy and daughter Jacquie Troy are and have a long history with the Vancouver Island Pipers’ Club. Jacquie stepped into club leadership in 2006 when the club was on the brink of extinction.  Her father, James W. was a founding member of the club and the family believed in the value of providing a competition and performance venue in the Victoria area, especially for youth interested in piping and drumming.  Jacquie and the Executive have worked to increase attendance, talent and opportunities at their events, on the first weekend of the month between October and May each year with success.  Vancouver Island has many military connected pipe bands that have slowly started to attend the events over time.

A fun feature of the post was these photos of perpetual trophies that haven’t been awarded since the 80’s

SFU Pipe Major Terry Lee won this as a youth in 1969

continue reading…  Continue reading ‘Minding History, Moving Forward’ »

Great appreciation to our talented judges today, Curt Watts, lead drummer with Greighlan Crossing Pipe Band made the trip down from British Columbia to judge snare and bass drummers.  Micah Babinski (links to Who’s who in Bagpiping article by Andrew Lenz), a Washington based Professional bagpiper with a very successful history.  Due to our previously scheduled piping judge being needed at a band performance, Kevin Auld scrambled to find a replacement and Micah graciously agreed to help out on very short notice.

We had an improved turnout in Adult piping today with almost double our average number of pipers, and one brand new adult piper from Kenmore & District Pipe Band who started on the chanter within the last year and is practicing on bagpipes every day, a sure way to make quick progress, and an inspiration to those of us who either can’t or claim we ”can’t make the time” to practice as often as we know we should (says the author of this post who admittedly has intended to compete at each event this year, but “not practiced enough” each time).

Finally, thanks to the two competitors who came up from Portland to compete. We’ve really enjoyed having competitors from Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band at most of our events this year, and look forward to their performance around noon (between Adult piping and Grade 4 piping) at next month’s event.  There are only 4 competing youth pipe bands in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia now, but Portand Metro Youth arrived on the scene last year and have really shown great talent.  We strongly encourage you to visit our event on Saturday, May 15th. Arrive by 10:30 to make sure you won’t miss them. It’s difficult to predict the timing of our events because we allow same day registrations. 

Chanter – Slow Air - 1 competitor

1. Stuart MacDonald – Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 5 Piping – 2/4 March – 5 competitors

1. Karl Stahlfield – Northwest Junior Pipe Band
2. Peter North – Northwest Junior Pipe Band
3. Russell Prewitt

Adult Piping – 2/4 March – 5 competitors

1. Jim Hendryx – Pierce County Firefighters Pipes & Drums
2. Diane Axworthy
3. Bruce Poliak

Adult Piping – Slow Air - 5 competitors

1. Jim Hendryx – Pierce County Firefighters Pipes & Drums
2. Diane Axworthy
3. Cleda Thompson – Kenmore & District Pipe Band

Grade 4 Piping – 6/8 March – 3 competitors

1. Logan Chavez – Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band
2. Paul Vegors – Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 4 Piping – 2/4 March – 3 competitors

1. Logan Chavez – Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band
2. Paul Vegors – Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 3 Piping – Jig – 2 competitors

1. Matthew Alger -  Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 3 Piping – Strathspey & Reel - 2 competitors

1. Matt Rucker – Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band

Grade 2 Piping – Jig – 1 competitor

1. Aaron Stone - Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 2 Piping – Strathspey & Reel - 1 competitor

1. Aaron Stone - Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 1 Piping – Piobaireachd - 1 competitor

1. Alexander Schiele – Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 4 Side Drumming – 2/4 March – 2 competitors

1. Morgan McCullough – Northwest Junior Pipe Band
2. Robert Graham Jr- Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Grade 2 Side Drumming – March, Strathspey & Reel - 1 competitor

1. Amber Stone -  Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Bass Drumming – Strathspey & Reel - 1 competitor

1. Morgan Schiele – Northwest Junior Pipe Band