Washington Pipers' Association » News

New Northwest Piping Book Provides History and Music of Bagpiping in Washington area

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:55:57 +0000

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 Sign-ups available for Whidbey Island Highland Games

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:37:27 +0000

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.

Stolen Soutar Bagpipes in Portland, OR

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:35:54 +0000

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

Long time Washington bagpiper Ron Oswell will be missed

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:48:41 +0000

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: Whidbey Island Games finds a home in Langley for 2010

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:33:40 +0000

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!

Whidbey Island Highland Games struggles to find a home for 2010

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:23:02 +0000

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/

Barry Shears at Féis Shiàtail 2010 – Port Townsend June 16 – 20

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:26:55 +0000

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.

Minding History, Moving Forward

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:27:01 +0000

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

Bruce Gandy winning in 77 and 78

I stepped into the President role with WPA in 2008 because the very capable leadership at that time had built a great organization, but many of the vounteers had served in the positions for a very long time and were ready (deservedly so) to move on. They worked to recruit replacements for without success and finally announced that they would let WPA shut down in the 2008 season rather than continue volunteering. I had learned a lot about the value local and international competitions provide to Washington area pipers and drummers from a relatively short amount of experience in my volunteer position with Northwest Junior Pipe Band, so after much discussion with my wife Weatherly and NWJPB Band Director Kevin, decided that we would step up to help WPA continue, but I was clear that we would try to “maintain” what had been built but could not do as much as had been done before. NWJPB takes a significant amount of our time and we would not be able to continue building and investing as had been done in the past.

Of course, any important project takes time, and our first challenge was the loss of the facility in Redmond and a scramble over several months to find a replacement in time to begin our 2009 season. We’re very happy and have been welcomed and supported in the new Lynnwood location, however we’ve lost some of our former regulars from the south end and Eastside. At April’s event, we were excited to see a competitor from Pierce County Firefighters Pipes & Drums. Washington is seeing rapid growth in Police and Fire related pipe bands, but today was the first competition we’ve seen one of their members attend, but we’re excited about it and hope more can find the time to make it soon. Further, we’re thrilled to have several members attending regularly from Portland, OR; members of Portland Metro Youth Pipe Band and have seen residents from British Columbia, occasionaly.

I don’t know too much of the organization’s history, but WPA is blessed to have Colin MacRae Sr and John Dally, the founding members of the organization around still. You’ll see Colin Sr in the audience at most of our events watching students, former students, and providing feedback and support. John Dally also returned to judge piping for us this year.

2010 will be my last year in the President role with NWJPB (though I will continue to volunteer on some tasks with them occasionally) and I hope to focus some more energy building Washington Pipers’ Association up some more, providing more entertainment and educational opportunities, and hopefully some new events to delight us all and celebrate the talent in our region.

One of the questions Jacquie’s post raised for me; should we seek sponosrship of perpetual trophies? It’s fun for both future winners and for us to look back on these trophies and recognize the names from our community. What year did we actually start? What about history of competitions? Luckily the BCPA website archives some of our old results archived still through their old site, but only as far back as 2002. Interestingly, Micah Babinski, who judged April’s event for us, was the first place winner of the Grade 2 Jig competition at the May 2002 event. There are many other recognizable names there. This is one of the benefits of our move to this blog format in 2008, all of our posts are maintained and you’ll theoretically be able to explore results on our site regardless of theme/design changes on the website, which I’d like to work on soon as well.

It just inspires me to know there are so many caring and devoted talented people in our community who think it’s important to volunteer for organizations like ours because we’ve seen the very positive impacts piping and drumming and the community can make in the lives of young and old alike. Thanks Jacquie, Jamie, and James Troy and the many other volunteers for the work you’ve done and are doing for the Vancouver Island Pipers’ Club! Thanks to the many volunteers of the British Columbia Pipers’ Association, and the Oregon Pipers Society and especially to the volunteers helping keep Washington Pipers Association going strong. I look forward to helping the organization grow and giving piping and drumming more opportunity to thrive in Washington.

Washington Pipers’ Association April 17th Competition Results

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:39:35 +0000

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