Bagpipe Chain Reactions and Meltdowns by Vince Janoski

I don’t know why, but the demise of the City of Chicago Pipe Band leaves me feeling extra sad for American bagpiping. Sure, I’ve seen good bands come and go in my time, but this hits at a particular time when US piping and drumming seemed to be on a general upswing in quality and [...]

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 [...]

Proud to be an American (Bagpiper) by Vince Janoski

There was a time when a trip to Glasgow to play at the World Pipe Band Championships was a “pie-in-the-sky” kind of dream. Multiple reasons keeping any band from that contest were bandied about. Chalk it up to our collective inferiority complex when it comes to matters of bagpiping, maybe. It was not that long [...]

EUSPBA Grade 4 Piobaireachd = Tuning Up for FAIL by Vince Janoski

The eastern piping competition season is well underway and bagpipers across the seaboard are busy practicing and working hard to make good music. it’s easy in the hubbub, though, to lose sight of the nitty gritty that has a tremendous influence over our activities. One such pile of grit was the kerfuffle over the recent [...]

Hacking Bagpipe Competitions: Idea 3—The Adjudicator Fee Cap by Vince Janoski

Highland games and cultural festivals in general sit on a financial precipice. They serve an extremely narrow subset of the public in spite of every effort to make them more generally appealing. And as hard as they try, these games have an annual challenge to draw the crowds needed to sustain themselves. One or two [...]

Hacking Bagpipe Competitions: Idea 2—The Sanctioning Plus Grant by Vince Janoski

Highland games and cultural festivals in general sit on a financial precipice. They serve an extremely narrow subset of the public in spite of every effort to make them more generally appealing. And as hard as they try, these games have an annual challenge to draw the crowds needed to sustain themselves. One or two [...]

Hacking Bagpipe Competitions: Idea 1—The Event Team Model by Vince Janoski

Highland games and cultural festivals in general sit on a financial precipice. They serve an extremely narrow subset of the public in spite of every effort to make them more generally appealing. And as hard as they try, these games have an annual challenge to draw the crowds needed to sustain themselves. One or two [...]

Hacking Bagpipe Competitions: Show Me the Money by Vince Janoski

Imagine if all schools were run as private interests. The public strikes a deal with the schools that essentially says: “We’ll require that all kids of school age must attend but you will have to run your institution independently with no public funds.” The arrangement seems to work so time goes by with the arrangement [...]