Yesterday this fun and compact festival celebrated its 25th anniversary, and my band (the Wasatch and District Pipe Band) was there to help celebrate by winning the Grade 3 Timed Medley.

The Payson Games is always a really good day. The games are held in the city’s little park, which is old. This means that it is stuffed full of mature trees, so there is plentiful shade. There is a playground right in the center of the park, so the kids have a lot to do, all without leaving eyesight from the band area. The park is small enough that you can get all round it in just a few minutes, which make the logistics of getting bands and soloists to the performance a breeze. You may gather that I like the Payson Games!

That said, this year didn’t start out too well for me. I neglected to send in my solo application forms and missed the deadline. The organizer was very nice, but just couldn’t fit me in as a late entry. Still, when life (or your own carelessness) gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? I decided to volunteer as a steward, since my only commitments during the day were to play in massed bands and the little parade-let up the main street outside the park in the morning. So, while the kids entertained themselves (and the dog) (and other band members’ children) I ran back and forth wrangling soloists and bands in the various competitions. I had a great time and got to talk to far more people than I usually do.

My sheep dog act turned out to be so efficient that the Slow March solo judge finished his competition early, giving time for a couple of us to play our piobaireachd tunes for critique for him. So, I did get to play after all. The Rout of the MacPhees got a second outing this year and I got some helpful advice from Bob Mason, the judge.

On the band side, the Wasatch and District Grade 3 band won their competition, and sounded very good doing so. The local Payson band (White Peaks Centennial Pipe Band) won both Grade 4 competitions and they really did sound good. Our new Grade 4 band will be competing for the first time next year and we clearly have our work cut out, if we are to put in a good showing next to White Peaks.

I had a great day. No sunburn this games, and the cherry on top was buying fresh cherries from a farm stand on the way home. Yum.

For reasons too numerous to mention I have not posted for nearly two months. I didn’t really notice the time passing (which is either good or bad), so now I ought to rectify the situation.

It seemed reasonable (after such a long break) to start back by referencing my previous two posts, and I can do so without artifice because I really have had to make a choice which involves them both. The 2008 competition season has arrived for this lowly piper and with it a choice of tunes in piobaireachd for the upcoming competitions. All winter I have been putting off the decision: should it be my eponymous web tune, “I Am Proud to Play a Pipe” or my family-connected tune “The Rout of The MacPhees”? Both tunes are on the Piobaireachd Society’s Silver Medal list for this year, both have reasonably straightforward grounds and 1st variations (that is all I have to play in my grade), and both have compelling reasons for me to choose them.

Well, the wait is over - I finally made my choice. I picked The Rout of the MacPhees. It comes up in the competition list a lot less frequently than I Am Proud to Play a Pipe and is perhaps a little less technical. And there is that wonderful family connection. Still, I’m going to have to work on my edres and D-throws, since the ground is stuffed full of them. I will also have to get inside the tune, since on the face of it, it is quite repetitive. That makes interpretation very important, or the tune will just end up being boring. My instructor (and soon-to-be belt winner) Justin Howland will help me with that, I have no doubt.

Well, I’m back. I’ll try not to be silent for quite as long this time.

In 1615 James Macdonald of Islay, beginning what was to be the final chapter in the Macdonalds’ struggle against the rule of England and Scottish surrogate rulers, escaped from Edinburgh castle to fight one last time with the clans against the crown.

Among the clans he gathered to his cause were the Macfies of Colonsay under their chief Malcolm. Late in the year Colla Ciotach MacDonald,or Colkitto (a Macdonald who had secretly joined the forces of the crown under the Earl of Argyll), betrayed Malcolm Macfie. Malcolm was forced to give up the clan’s hereditary right to rule Colonsay. For a few years Malcolm remained on Colonsay, but it must have been a strange existence. In 1623, as colonists were unwittingly founding a new nation in Massachussetts, Malcolm Macfie was killed by Colkitto on Colonsay, bringing an end to the little island nation of the Macfies. The Macfies gradually dispersed from Colonsay over the following generations.

This, then, is the backstory to the tune The Rout of the MacPhees. The tune is on the list of Silver Medal tunes from the Piobaireachd Society for 2008 and thus stands a reasonable chance of being heard during this competition year. Still, it is probably not a first choice of pipers given that it is not as “tuneful” as others. I’m not sure who wrote the tune - if it was a Macfie, a Macdonald, or some other person. Knowing this might help to understand the tune a little better, but in the meantime I am choosing to interpret the tune as one of those “angry” tunes which appear occasionally in the repertoire.

At the recent Winter Storm competition in Kansas City only one competitor played the tune out of a field of nearly 30. But one is better than none, and we can be grateful for Captain Ken Eller’s omnipresent recording device.

Visit The Captain’s Corner and scroll down to enjoy David McNally’s performance of The Rout of the MacPhees, the first recording available of this tune in recent years. Thank you David for choosing to spend some time with this tune - this Macfie appreciates your efforts.

Well, I guess it’s a stretch, but I had this literary device hanging over me, so I decided to use part of it right away.

Two weeks ago the Midwest Highland Arts Fund held their Annual Winter Storm Weekend, an indoor piping and drumming competition. The competition draws top pipers from across North America and even a few overseas competitors. The judging panel is drawn from the World’s top pipers and many other distinguished players show up to perform at the big concert and give workshops. Angus MacColl is a regular in Kansas City and others you can expect to find in town include Alasdair Gillies, Mike Cusack, Willie McCallum, Andrew Wright, Fred Morrison, and so the list goes on - you get the idea.

The performers in the Gold and Silver Medal competitions played tunes from the respective 2008 Piobaireachd Society set tune lists, the first outings for these tunes this year. A few recordings of the proceedings are now available. Go to Ken Eller’s Captain’s Corner site for the prize winning tunes. Ken was MC for the events and also made recordings.

In addition, a couple of the performances have shown up on YouTube. I particularly enjoyed Donald MacPhee’s performance of The Clan MacNab’s Salute. This is not a tune I knew before, but I have listened to it several times now and it’s really growing on me. You have to listen in two parts, but it’s still worth the effort.

I hope there were some people there with professional sound equipment, since it would be good if some of the piping radio shows would carry these performances. In any case, enjoy the tunes!

The Bob Dunsire Forums are a mine of interesting information, beyond being a simple meeting place for pipers and drummers.

I recently started a discussion thread at the forums asking for more information about “The Lost Pibroch”, the story I wrote about last month. That thread has been the scene of some interesting discussion and today one of the forum members has spliced it with another thread dealing with the current state of piobaireachd composition.

It appears that, whether or not the Neil Munro short story is based in fact, there are a number of lost piobaireachds out there. These are tunes referred to in various places (obituaries, journals, etc.) but for which no manuscripts are currently available. The composers of such tunes include such piping illuminati as John MacColl and Angus Lawrie. The enterprising forum member has put out a call to compile as many piobaireachds as possible that have been written in the past 100 years or so.

I think it may be time to contact Bob McFie again, since he has a tune which could reasonably be added to this list. In addition, one of the “lost” tunes by John MacColl is a “Lament for Donald MacPhee”, and you know I’m not going to let that one lie!

May 27th is Macfie Day, in recognition of that date in 1981, when the reorganized clan was formally recognized as an active clan once again, by The Lord Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh.

I have celebrated the month by making two new Macfie contacts, both of them piping-related.

First up, Barry Johnson of Oregon. He began playing the bagpipes after attending the big 1993 Clan Macfie reunion gathering on Colonsay with his wife, a Cathey. Clearly, he never looked back and now he leads a small band called The Caledonians. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, check them out at a Highland Games near you. If you’re not close, then check out some of their performances on their MySpace site.

Barry encouraged me to persist in my efforts (mentioned in a previous post) to contact the Clan Macfie piper, Bob McFie. These efforts paid off during May - I finally made contact. Bob is a really interesting guy, and very well connected in the world of piping. He teaches at the College of Piping, in Glasgow and is also active in Europe (especially Germany) helping pipe bands over there. He tells me he has a big collection of Macfie-related music, some of which he wrote himself, and which he has promised to share with me once he get his computer working again! The tune he wrote for the 1993 Gathering is called The Homecoming, and it looks like I’ll be able to try playing it before too long.

Still, The Homecoming will have to take a back seat to The Lament for Captain MacDougall for now. 11 days until the Salt Lake Highland Games!