It was a windy Saturday in Norfolk, VA for the Virginia International Tattoo American Pipe Band Championships, but the sun was shining and the pipes were singing!

The MacMillan bands always enjoy competing at this event: the venue is unique, the standard is high, and the atmosphere is always welcoming.

It’s a great kickoff to the competition season and we often get to meet with bands we don’t normally see throughout the season, such as the 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland who challenged up to compete at the Grade 2 level this weekend after also competing in the Grade 3 events. We look forward to hearing more from them in the future!

While MacMillan took first in both Grade 2 events at Norfolk, lead tip Alex Kuldell led the corps for an additional drum fanfare event, which was also well received!

With more competitions on the horizon, all three of the MacMillan bands are back to the grind preparing for the Colonial Highland Gathering in just a few short weeks.

While the band did not make it into the finals (7th in their flight), their medley run was something they could be proud of:

MacMillan (Grade 2) won the medley contest in a strong field of bands at the 31st Annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games held on June 17, 2017 at Hamilton Fields in Itasca, Illinois.

MacMillan Pipe Band (shown in the photo above) competed against Atlanta Pipe Band and won both the medley and MSR events at the Colonial Highland Gathering at Fairhill on May 20, 2017.  MacMillan-Birtles (Grade 4), and MacMillan-Dunn (Grade 5) Pipe Bands placed third in their respective competitions.  MacMillan and MacMillan-Dunn’s Drum Corps won the drum corps prizes for their grades.

MacMillan has been hard at work this off-season polishing a brand new MSR and Medley, and welcoming some fresh blood to the organization! It’s been a long Winter, but the band is ready to kick this season off in style!

In one week the top-level band will be packing and boarding planes for a weekend away in sunny Dunedin, FL! It will be MacMillan’s debut performance in Grade 2, and first time competing at the Dunedin Highland Games. The band is very much looking forward to meeting up with our friends, the City of Dunedin Pipe Band next weekend.

The Dunedin Games will also be the official contest debut of MacMillan’s new Pipe Major, Andrew Donlon, and Drum Sergeant, Alex Kuldell. The two leaders have worked diligently to  prepare the band for the upcoming season, arranging and teaching new music, and getting the band contest-ready for the 2016 season.

We’ve got our shades and our sunscreen – see you all in sunny Dunedin!

Months of late nights on the practice chanters, hours upon hours of practice, building and believing went into the MacMillan Pipe Band’s victory at the North American Pipe Band Championships in Maxville, Ontario, Canda on August 1st of this year.

MacMillan won the championship with first and second in piping, first in ensemble and second in drumming from judges Charlie MacDonald, John Elliot, Michael Gray and Hugh Cameron, playing for only the second time competitively Highland Wedding. Both Andrew Donlon and Alex Kuldell were ecstatic with the result, which demonstrated not only the improvement of the band, but also how well the new partership at the helm is both beneficial and largely effective. In addition to the changes the band has experienced over the past 18 months in leadership, they played new chanters and reeds. Many thanks go out to McCallum Bagpipes and G1 Reedmakers for the quality products we have enjoyed and plan to use in the future!

Thanks are also in order for all of the families of the members who have spent many nights and weekends away in addition to the hours of practice at home. Thank you! A very special shout out goes to  drone tuners, Dan Bell and Monica McClamrock, who did a great job getting the band on the field and assisting with overall sound.

Without all of our support from family members, members of the other MacMillan bands, and everyone else, the thrill of marching off the field at Maxville as North American Championships. Most definitely the memory of a lifetime.

With the North American Championships in the bag, MacMilllan went on August 2nd to the Montreal Highland Games in Quebec, and won with a first and second in piping, first in ensemble and first in drumming from judges John Wilson, Brian Williamson, Bob Worrall and Brendan Kelly, respectively. The comments from all were positive, but it was an honor to get such complimentary notes from judges as experienced as John Wilson and Bob Worrall, both of whom have judged the Grade One Finals at the World Pipe Band Championships.
All in all MacMillan was thrilled to make the trip of a lifetime up to the Great White North. With this competition in the books, the band is going to continue looking forward.

From Michael Gray’s ensemeble sheet from Maxville:

“Time for G2.”

The MacMillan Pipe Band recently competed at the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA. It was a great end to our season as we placed 2nd overall. Here are some videos from the event:

We cheer on the MacMillan-Birtles Memorial Pipe Band as they go on to compete in their final two events of the season in Williamsburg and Richmond, VA!

Welcome to the new MacMillan Pipe Band blog! Here we will try to keep you up to date with the band and its events, as well as general information about the band, its history, and its traditions. Stay tuned! There is more to come…