Pipers, Tell Us What You Think!

We found a slightly retro bagpipe website called The Universe of Bagpipes.  There is literally loads of information there, and to the untrained eye, it looks quite respectable (though we don't like the luminous green type on the homepage).  And yes, the url is http://www.hotpipes.com/ !

Pipers, please tell us if you'd like this link added to our music portal on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's library Mahara pages.  If no-one passes any opinion, the link will stay on this blog but won't go to Mahara.  It's up to you!

The Universe of Bagpipes 

http://www.hotpipes.com/

Irish Music Collections Online (We're all Celts together)

This Irish piping link might be of interest to our Scottish music degree students.  The tunes are not restricted to pipe music, and you  never know when there might be overlap in repertoires!

http://www.pipers.ie/IMCO/

And the homepage  of Na Píobairí Uilleann - http://www.pipers.ie/

Gaelic names of Pibrochs : Concise Dictionary edited by Roderick D. Cannon

Gaelic names of pibrochs: Concise Dictionary

A very useful resource - uploaded February 2013.  You'll find it here, on Ross Anderson's webpages.*

Now, there is also another document by Roderick Cannon, on the National Library of Scotland website.  Don't be confused - it looks the same, but it's not!  Headed, "Gaelic names of Piobearachds" online, the article is actually entitled 'Gaelic names of pibrochs' - just like the new concise dictionary.  Barnaby Brown says that it is 'a companion publication, very different', and advises us that the Concise Dictionary complements the classification article.  Here is the article.

* It's worth noting that Ross Anderson's website is extensive (to say the least); pipers will find a plethora of useful bagpipe information there, at www.piob.info. 

Blogging lite - links for musicians, actors, dancers, trad Scots

While off, I haven’t blogged at length.  However, I’ve blogged links instead, just to keep the pages fresh.  Scroll down to find a rich variety of subject matter!  

• The Voice Explained, 
• The Bullet-Proof Musician, 
• Healthy Musicians (a link from Chicago), 
• the Scottish Society of Playwrights, 
• National Chamber Music Day, 
• the Clarsach Society Young Composer Award, 
• Basse Danse,
• and a link to a bit of trivia about a piper called Wanton Watty McAulay of Port Glasgow.  (Well, with a name like that, who wouldn’t?!)

A true tale? We'll see! Wanton Watty McAulay of Port Glasgow

At home this week, 'Whittaker' was surfing the net when he found a great 18th century broadside about his namesake - 

Wanton Watty McAulay of Port Glasgow

This is such a wonderful tale that it has to be shared.  I wonder if any other 21st century scholars have stumbled across it? Watty was a piper who declined to enlist, and suffered the consequences.  Click on the link to read more!

Historic bagpipe recordings: Piper's heaven

At the request of course leader Josh Dickson, eight new piping CDs were obtained from The Bagpipe Library at The Bagpipe Place.  These allow students to listen to historic early recordings.  (See the list here ...)

Have you encountered The Bagpipe Place yet?  If you're curious, why not visit the website?

http://www.thebagpipeplace.com/

   Which leads you to:

The Bagpipe Store,
The Bagpipe Museum,
The Bagpipe School, and
The Bagpipe Library.

To a piper, this must surely be somewhere near heaven!

Tributes after death of piping legend Alasdair Gillies

• Evening Times (Glasgow) 30th August 2011 - Tributes after death of Alasdair.
• Daily Record 30th August 2011 - Lament for late Alasdair Gillies
• North American Pipers Series at BagpipePublishing.com - Alasdair's page
• AlasdairGillies.com - this was Alasdair's own website
• Sadly missed by friends at the National Piping Centre.