I read a news story today adding some information to my earlier post about the new McCallum McC² solo bagpipe chanter. The August 10th online edition of the Campbeltown Courier newspaper has an article about the new chanter, and includes interview material from Stuart McCallum, founder of McCallum Bagpipes.

It is clear that the new venture has required considerable resources. The article says, in part:

CAMPBELTOWN’s Willie McCallum swept the board at the Lochaber Gathering Festival of Piping at the weekend playing with a new chanter that he designed himself…

…It has taken more than two years to develop and McCallum Bagpipes has invested in machinery worth more than £100,000 to develop and now produce the chanter…

…Before he left the competition the orders for the new chanter were coming in thick and fast from fellow solo pipers….

I may have to get my order in soon!

The games season is in full swing in the Scottish Highlands, and that means lots of piping!

Two of the biggest competitions in the solo piping year happen at games a week apart: The Argyllshire Gathering, in Oban, took place last week, and The Northern Meeting, in Aviemore, is this Thursday and Friday.

Richard Hawke of New Zealand took the Gold Medal in Piobaireachd, a first for him. This signifies a graduation of sorts, for once a piper has won this medal, they will play only in the Senior Piobaireachd in the future. (That competition was won by the evergreen Gordon Walker, incidentally). For a limited time you can hear Richard’s winning performance of Rory MacLoude’s Lament, by listening to Radio Planet Pipe. You will also hear the second- and third-placed performances (both of Lachlan MacNeill Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy) played first by Niall Stewart, and then by Marion Horsburgh. Marion is also from New Zealand, so it was a good day for the Kiwis.

It is interesting to hear the same tune played on the same day, for the same judge, by two different people. Listening to them back to back can you tell the difference between the two?

Check out the full results on Andrew Berthoff’s Pipes|Drums, and look out for the results of the Northern Meeting soon.

An interesting new business venture caught my eye last week. World-renowned piper Willie McCallum announced the launch of a new pipe chanter, the McCallum McC², designed with soloists in mind.

The development of the cleverly-named chanter is the result of a collaboration between Mr McCallum and the highly successful pipe makers McCallum Bagpipes, of Kilmarnock, Scotland. You can read about the chanter on Willie’s new website. I’m not sure if there is a direct family relationship between the two parties, but either way it seems like a match made in heaven. Willie took the new chanter out on a very public (and potentially risky) road-test the week of the World Pipe Band Championships, where he played it unannounced at the Lochaber Gathering. Willie cleaned up that day, winning all the events he competed in - this surely doesn’t hurt potential sales!

I have played McCallum bagpipes since I started piping (admittedly not that long ago), and I have always been impressed both with Stuart McCallum’s bagpipes and his customer service. His chanters have become the benchmark for pipebands around the world (both bands I have played in so far used them), and it is interesting to see him expand so positively into the solo arena.

I wish both sets of McCallums success in this new venture, and you know where I’ll be shopping when I need a new solo chanter!

Update - 8/23/2007!

I wrote Willie McCallum after writing the above, to confirm I had gotten all my facts straight. Willie replied today, and here, in part, is what he said:

…thanks for the article which is good and does not misrepresent the product at all.

The new chanter is quieter and slightly lower pitched than the previous model which was mainly designed for the pipe band market.

As you say it is designed for the solo market. The main characteristics we tried to achieve were stability, good harmonic and volume balance with the drones, reedability, clarity of notes and embellishments, projection without too much volume. The stability of the piobaireachd high G was a major development priority.

Hope this information is helpful. Let me know if I can provide any further.

Thanks again for the feature on the website

Hope to meet up one of these days

Yours sincerely

Willie

Thank you Willie - I think this is going to be a popular chanter.

Inspired by my compadre Justin (see below) I have updated my links section a little.

Check out the various links under “Listen Carefully”. These are the main piping shows I listen to online. Each one has a slightly different flavor, but you’ll hear piping of the highest quality on them all.

Online company, that is.

A second member of my band now has a website. His name is Justin Howland and, unlike this site, where I get to write about the big names in piping, Justin plays alongside the big names. Justin is our band instructor (I think that’s right) and he is also a distance member of the highly influential (and previous World Championship) band the Scottish Lion 78th Fraser Highlanders of Ontario, Canada. This band fielded 30 pipers at the World Championships last week and placed fourth. We are lucky to have such a talented (and well-connected) piper in our band.

Anyway, Justin has only just begun his site so be sure to keep an eye on it. What he has to say is always worth listening to.