Home > Uniquely Unspoilt Magazine > Issue 11 > Bagpipes

~~The Bagpipes - by Thomas Grotrian~~

One of Scotland?s most enduring and instantly recognised international icons is the Great Highland Bagpipe.  Visitors arriving in Edinburgh at Waverley Station are often greeted by the sound of a busker working his (or nowadays often her) way through the old favourites. 

During the summer months, the streets of Scotland?s towns are thronged with similar players, many of them students who have found a more rewarding way of working through the summer months than bar work. 

If you are lucky enough to be able to secure tickets to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, you will see the massed pipes and drums in all their glory.  Between 150 and 200 players entertain the crowds every night for three weeks every August.

Venturing further afield, you may come across one of the Borders? Common Ridings, a ceremony where everyone who owns a horse rides around the bounds of their town as a mark of independence and marking their territory.  These Ridings in the Borders will invariably be accompanied by the local pipe band, including (from north to south) Lauder, Selkirk, Hawick and Langholm.

Coming further north, into the Central Belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow you may encounter a local Gala Day, usually (although not always) rooted in a town?s mining background.  Again pipe bands will be to the fore.

Further north still and you will start seeing more and more Highland Games.  These are based round any number of traditional athletic contests, but an equally important feature is music. 

Here, for the first time since you saw those buskers, you will probably encounter pipers playing on their own.  At most Highland Games there will only be one band to provide the entertainment, but there will be a number of very serious solo competitions. 

Competition for solo pipers falls into two broad categories, Piobaireachd ? the classical music of the pipes and Ceol Beag ? the light music (jigs, reels, marches etc).  See the Competing Pipers Association for more information.

Competition is not the exclusive preserve of the individual, and bands will compete against each other through the summer, with contests taking place at various locations around Scotland every weekend from April until late September.  These contests are sometimes held as part of a Highland Games, but are often events in their own right. 

The five big competitions, known as the ?Majors? (the Scottish, the British, the European, the World and the Cowal Championships) can draw hundreds of bands ,and while are often not advertised to the general public, all are welcome to attend.

The World Championships are held on Glasgow Green on the second Saturday in August, and Cowal takes place in Dunoon two weeks later.  The other three Majors rotate around a number of venues in Scotland and occasionally further afield.  The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association is a good source of information, news and results.

If you are very lucky, you may be in Scotland to see one of the truly Massed Bands.  The next one, Pipefest 2005, is due to take place in Edinburgh?s Holyrood Park on August 21st next year, with between 12,000 and 20,000 players from all around the world expected to take part.

To find out more about the pipes throughout the year include the National Piping Centre and College of Piping which are both based in Glasgow; a useful resource for answering any questions on the Great Highland Bagpipe is the Bob Dunsire website which has a forum and bagpipe directory.

Thomas Grotrian
Pipefest

Cottages relevant to this article

The following holiday cottages are situated within easy reach of the locations mentioned above: