Glenfiddich Bagpipe Championships to be Streamed Live! by Vince Janoski

        O my gosh. It’s like Christmas, but better! I can think of no better way to ‘ush in the Celtic holiday of Samhain than to watch arguably the highest level solo Highland bagpiping there is. The National Piping Centre will be live streaming the Glenfiddich Championships from Blair Atholl Castle on [...]

Cracking the Millstone II: Long Live Bagpipe Competitions! by Vince Janoski

Go back and read Part I: Bagpipe Competitions are Dead The merry-go-round goes round and round… The sheer monotony of bagpipe competition here in the US can wear you down after a while. As I mentioned in Part I of this piece, Bill Livingstone once likened competition to a “millstone,” and he’s right. Lots of [...]

Cracking the Millstone, Part I: Bagpipe Competitions Are Dead by Vince Janoski

It’s spring approaching summer here in the eastern US. And you know what that means? That means the Highland games and bagpipe competition circuit has begun in earnest. Many pipers are eagerly pressing their kilts, spending hours of practice time, and preparing their instruments for…well, another year of the same merry-go-round of MSRs, piobaireachds, and [...]

Hacking Your Inner Bagpiping Judge by Vince Janoski

There are those who would claim Highland piping is difficult. It may be, but perfecting a crunluath a-mach is nothing compared to the art of perfecting your own self-critiquing skills. It is the hardest thing of all to become your own judge and lend an objective ear to your own playing. After running through your [...]

Pipe Bands: From Good to Great by Vince Janoski

What is the missing link that keeps good and very good eastern U.S. bands from becoming very very good to excellent? While there are singular examples who come close, in general there have been few who even show signs of cracking this “glass piping ceiling.” It is easy to pin this missing element on people-oriented [...]

Assessing Your Intangible Bagpiping Assets by Vince Janoski

In the world of finance, assets are any resource, tangible and intangible, in your control, that can produce value. In the world of bagpiping, your assets would be anything you can access and use to produce music. The ultimate return or gain in this sense is playing good music on the bagpipe and anything that [...]

Web Media for the Solo Piping Junkie by Vince Janoski

This past episode of the BBC’s Pipeline features winning performances from the Northern Meeting. Satisfy your yen for excellent piping with Jack Lee’s winning Silver Star, former winners MSR performance, Nail Stewart’s Gold Medal Rendition of “Tulloch Ard” and Angus MacColl’s unique rendering of “Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute” from the MacArthur Ms. If you’re ever [...]

Oran Mor Medley, Grade 1 Final at the Worlds—Video by Vince Janoski

Oran Mor’s medley performance from the Grade 1 final at the Worlds. W00t!