Welcome to the fledgling website of the Hampshire Caledonian Pipeband. We are a Grade 4 band located at Marchwood Military Port nr Southampton in Hampshire, UK.
Our band was formed in 1987 at the Seagull Pub in Porchester near Portsmouth Hants, and has performed at a variety of venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The band meets weekly at Marchwood Military Port on a Thursday evening between 1900-2230 hrs. Practices are once weekly at present but it is hoped that these can be increased to two times per week as the competition season approaches. We are actively looking to attract new pipers and drummers. Learners are also catered for.
Following the untimely demise of our founding Pipe Major, we are currently undergoing a period of transition with the introduction of new players, coupled with the introduction of a new drum suite. The band playing strength is increasing with particular attention being paid to technical execution.
In order to assist in sharpening the technical exaction, the pipe corps will be using a series of exercises found in The Pipers Helper by John Recknagel, which breaks down each individual embellishment into its component parts and then places them in a scale. It is available here.. In conjunction with these exercises we will also use Jim McGillvray's "RYTHMIC FINGERWORK" exercises to reinforce John Recknagel's first series. We are aiming for the South of England competition circuit in the forthcoming year.
The site will eventually include player biographies with links to various points or places of interest within those biographies. It will also eventually include all the music required for Highland dancing, set out in Bagpipe Music Writer Gold. As you can see we also have a link to P/M "Geordie" Richmond (Ex Royal Irish Rangers). This may be of interest to those of you who have an interest in piping within Irish Regiments.
Please feel free to feed back any comments via way of the Contact Us Button, the Guest-book or our Feedback Form.
John MacDonald P/M
Hampshire Caledonian Pipeband Photo Gallery is now up and running to Visit please click on the link below:
