Rosemary Barry writes: Master piper Angus Nicolson fascinated those who had braved the dark and stormy afternoon to hear his take on ‘Piping – What’s it all about? With great enthusiasm he interspersed the technicalities of tuning and the extraordinary elegance and complexity of bagpipe construction with sets played on each of the four different examples he had brought with him.
Following on from the familiar pipes that had led soldiers into battle and still stirred listeners at important occasions and celebrations he demonstrated a unique set he had had made from a centuries old design. Explaining the dedication that youngsters needed to master the complex technique he played a ¾ size example, now apparently frowned on. His final example was a set of border pipes, the smaller sort where the puff is provided by a bellows under the arm.
When questioned about the cost of bagpipes and the barrier that this was likely to be to youngsters wishing to take up playing, he described the various schemes that made this possible and was optimistic aboout the future of piping.
His love of his craft shone through both in his playing and lively delivery and was much appreciated by his enthusiastic audience.
Earlier images of Angus preforming at Taigh Iseabal Dhaidh opening 2 August 2002 with Donald Black, and , Katie MacGregor
Taigh Iseabail Dhaidh opening 19 Aug 02 in progress with piper Angus Nicolson 2002