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RECITAL: Sat 2nd Dec. 2000:   Scott Drummond and Chris Armstrong
Venue - The Ukrainian Centre, Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

Scott_Drummond Born in 1973, Scott began piping at the age of 8 under the instruction of his father Colin, a well-known and respected solo piper. He was later taught by Roddy MacLeod and Donald MacPherson. While a pupil at the Edinburgh Academy, he was P/M of the school pipe band for 3 years, during which time he won the Scottish Schools Championships twice. He then competed with Scottish Power Pipe Band for 5 years before moving in 1998 to Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band. On the solo circuit he is a formidable competitor. At the London Competition he has won the Strachan Cup for MSR, and at Inverness he has won the B Grade Strathspey & Reel in 1992, the A Grade March in 1996 and the Silver Medal for Piobaireachd in 1997. As a junior he also won the Junior Piobaireachd at Newtonmore on the same day that his father won the Open Piobaireachd, something which has not been done before or since.

Chris_Armstrong Chris's love of piping started at the age of 6, and was guided along the way to his present standard by his great friend and tutor, P/M John Matheson B.E.M. He started composing his own music at the age of 9. Many of his owntunes feature on his two CD's ''Notes in ma Heid'' and ''Quantum Leap''. Chris has toured alover Europe with the group ''Canterach'' and has new tours of Switzerland and Australia planned for the near future. On the solo piping scene, his many prizes include 1st in the B Grade March and 3rd in the B Grade Strathpey & Reel at the Argyllshire Gathering and 1st in the B Grade Strathspey & Reel at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, and 1st in the Open Strathspey and Reel at the Cowal Games in Dunoon. This year (2000) he has picked up 1st in the A Grade March at Oban, 3rd in the B Grade piobaireachd at Cowal, 3rd in the A Grade Strathspey & Reel and 4th in the B Grade piobaireachd at the S.P.A., 1st in the Strathspey & Reel, 2nd in the March and 2nd in the Jigs at Forfar, 1st in the Strathspey & Reel, 1st in the Piobaireachd, 1st in the Jigs and 2nd in the March at Cupar. (Not bad for one season).

Scott_DrummondAt 7pm we all assembled once more in the main hall where a large audience was already gathering in anticipation of a good night's piping. And we were certainly not disappointed. Scott gave us a great variety of tunes played on a beautifully tuned instrument. Among his tunes was a fine rendering of the piobaireachd "Too Long in This Condition".

Scott_DrummondI had been very impressed with Chris Armstrong at his first visit here two or three or years ago. But what struck me on this occasion was how much more mature a player he has become now. At his first recital we heard many of his own fine compositions and a great deal of very up-tempo material, excellently played but which left you marvelling at how well he managed to execute everything rather than how much musical expression he had been able to put in the tunes. This time he showed us just how good he has become at doing just that. We heard a lot more of the big classical 2/4 marches, strathspeys and reels, etc. and how well he expressed them. The tune that impressed me in this regard most was ''Hugh Kennedy'' - a tune I find is a lot more difficult than it seems at first to bring out the best in it. But then, near to the end of his 2nd session, we got a good taste of just what his ''flying fingers'' can do, including yet another memorable version of the "Mason's Apron".

The evening finished with an excellent duet from these two very talented young players. It was quite remarkable that two pipers playing with different bands could come together for 15 minutes or so and play such a fine selection of tunes together with such precision.

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