Saturday April 9th will be a day to mark on your calendars as the PPBSO-Ottawa branch annual Professional MSR competition will be taking place. Known as the the Glengarry Cup this long standing light music contest will see the areas brightest and most talented open grade players square off against one another in an own choice MSR contest. Â The winner for the evening will be decided by long standing Ontario grade 1 Pipe Major and adjudicator John Elliot.
Mr. Elliott will also be providing what should be a great workshop, that will focus on pipe reed making, maintenance, manipulation, trouble shooting and set-up. He will also be touching on other fundamentals of setting up and maintaining a top notch bagpipe. This will be a workshop that is geared towards all levels of players and will provide some insights into the working efforts of producing a quality sound.
For those of you who might not be familiar with John Elliott’s piping career, here is a brief overview of his long history at the top levels:
 John began lessons at the age of eight. His first band was the Golden Mile Kiwanis Pipe Band under P/M Jock Campbell, a mainstay of Toronto piping in the sixties.
From humble beginnings John graduated up the ladder of competitive bands as well as solo competition. In 1971 John began playing with the 400 Squadron Pipe Band under the leadership of P/M Hugh McWhinnie. John steadily moved up the solo ranks thanks to expertise tutelage by the legendary John Wilson.
In 1975 John Became P/S of the Toronto & District Pipe Band which was under the direction of P/M Ron Rollo. John moved to Scotland in 1976 to play with ten time world champions, Muirhead & Sons. Under the guidance of P/M Rob Hardie, John was to learn and experience the best of what the band world had to offer and within 2 years of his return, John became P/M of Toronto & District, North American Champions in 1991 & 1992. Following the 1992 season, Toronto & District merged with the Peel Regional Police Pipe Band continuing the standards of excellence already established. John remained as P/M until 1995 and then again from 1999 until 2008. Since 2009, John has been a member of the LA Scots Pipe Band.
Some of John’s piping highlights both as a solo player and P/M include opening twice for Rod Stewart, performing 3 times on stage with Sir Paul McCartney, performing at the world’s most famous musical institution, Carnegie Hall for the 911 Benefit concerts in New York City, appearing on numerous occasions on Hockey Night in Canada, and performing with Canadian tenor John McDermott for a PBS television special.
In 1998 John started Sound Supreme Reeds. He started with basic reed making equipment but soon upgraded to precision reed making equipment. Both blades on Sound Supreme reeds have been profiled at the same time using a high speed rotary cutter resulting in precision cut blades. The blades are tied onto a brass seamless staple producing a very bright, rich balanced sound. Sound Supreme reeds will produce a superior harmonic sound and suited to most pipe chanters on the market.
In addition to reed making, John also teaches, conducts workshops and is an active piping judge, having adjudicated across North America.
All of this will be kicking off with the workshop beginning at 1:30pm on Saturday April 9th, 2016 at the RCAF Officers Mess 158 Gloucester St, Ottawa, ON K2P 0A6,
Followed by the Glengarry Cup with the first competitor playing approx. 7:15pm
Please check back regularly as online registration and more details for the workshop will be made available shortly.