the list James Bell had a rather one paced Bells of Perth and he dwelt too long on some bottom notes in the pendulum variation. Jeremy Freeman’s timing was generally very good in the Lament for the Earl of Antrim with the notable exception ofVar 3 (too square).The pipe drifted from about half way through. Duncan Bell had a smooth drone tone and a nicely set chanter. Technique in Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute was generally very good. His timing was too slow in the ground and he had a tendency to break up phrases.Check your Binneas Duncan! William McCallum had a near perfect scale to his chanter and solid drones. His timing of the Lament for MacSwan of Roaig was careful and in the crunluath doubling unconventional. He struggled with the crunluath movement and this may
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have been the reason. Andrew Hayes had a lovely pipe and his MacIntosh of Borlum was well fingered throughout; shame about the timing. This was not at all to my taste with the joining/end of phrase notes in the ground cut mercilessly and he was much too quick to the gracenote after the grips. Gordon Walker’s pipe held well throughout his performance though there was a slight flatness on F. Surprisingly some of Gordon’s crunluath technique was not coming across clearly and the long E in Variation 1 of his MacKay’s Banner was not to my liking. Dan Lyden was givenYou’re Welcome Ewan Lochiel.The ground lacked sparkle and impetus and the pipe, though well set at the start, did not hold. Glenn Brown had a superb instrument and fingered his Rory MacLoude’s Lament well despite the occasional tightness on dare, dre and in the crunluath. Musically this was very stiff playing however, and there was next to no tempo changeVar 1 –Var 1 doub. –Taor. sing. Result – 1.A MacColl $1,000, 2. S Liddell $600, 3. A Gandy $400, 4. C Armstrong $200, 5. B Gandy $100, 6.R Durning. In the light music some competitors
were unclear as to whether they were playing at a ceilidh or in a competition. Their selections suffered as a result and it was no surprise that the top two prizes went to pipers who played solid, acceptable light music fare with no dubious kitchen stuff. First was William McCallum, who, if he was off form in the ceol mor, more than made up with it in the ceol beag with well controlled technique and expression. Second went to Alex Gandy who also displayed a fine ear for tempo and
phrasing.We will hear much more of this piper in the future if his progress continues