Download Andrew Berthoff

Andrew Berthoff
Andrew is originally from St. Louis and has lived in Toronto since 1988. Solo and band competitor on
the international scene, as well as judge and instructor, some of his notable achievements include: First
winner of the MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd, Argyllshire Gathering & Northern Meeting (Scotland),
Silver Medal, Northern Meeting (Scotland), Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada), B-Grade
Strathspey and Reel, Norther Meeting (Scotland), Second prize, Open Jigs, Northern Meeting (Scotland),
and three-time PPBSO Champion Supreme Piobaireachd (Canada).
Andrew is a former member of both the Polkemmet Colliery Pipe Band (Scotland) and the 78th Fraser
Highlanders Pipe Band (Canada). He is currently a member of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band
(Scotland).
He is also the editor & publisher of the piping world’s most prolific online magazine, pipes|drums and
Piper & Drummer Magazine, 1988-present.
Pipe Major Bill Livingstone
Former teacher of the photographer. He has the distinction of being the first North American to be
awarded both of the most coveted and prestigious awards in bagpiping: Gold Medal for Piobaireachd
(classical music) at the Northern Meeting (Scotland) and at Oban, Scotland, as well as the Clasp to the
Gold Medal (reserved for former gold medal winners) twice. His other solo awards in Scotland and in
North America are too numerous to list here.
He was Pipe Major of the 78th Fraser Highlanders (Toronto), the first non-Scottish band to win the
World Pipe Band Championships. Under his leadership, the band won a record fifteen North American
Championships and released six recordings, including the all-time best-selling pipe band album Live in
Ireland.
Bill’s solo recordings include: Gold Medallist, World’s Greatest Pipers Vol. 9, A Piobaireachd Diary (Vol
1-4) and Northern Man. He has also published two books of bagpipe music. Bill currently plays in the
Premier Grade Toronto Police Pipe Band.
Bob Worrall
Bob Worrall is one of North America’s leading teachers, adjudicators and performers. He is a respected
composer, and has published two collections of bagpipe music. Bob is featured on three solo piping
recordings, and is a member of the folk group “Scantily Plaid”.
After a piping career with a number of Ontario’s leading pipe bands, including the City of Toronto
Pipe Band, and the General Motors Pipe Band, Bob retired from competitive piping in 1983. His
solo accomplishments are extensive. He won the North American Professional Championship an
unprecedented seven times, and the Ontario Professional Championship Supreme title for 12 of his 13
years in the professional class. Bob also competed and won events in Scotland. He was a pupil of Bill
Millar, Willie Connell and John Wilson.
As a renowned adjudicator, Bob has judged the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow eleven
times, and for the past seven years he has been the BBC’s “colour commentator” for the broadcast of the
World Pipe Band Championships. He is also a member of the Piobaireachd Society’s Senior Judges list,
and adjudicates major competitions around the world.
Bob was the senior instructor at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton for 15 years, and continues to teach at
piping camps across North America, and abroad.
Glenna Mackay-Johnstone
Friend of the photographer.
As a young child from a family of talented musicians, Glenna sang nursery rhymes to pipe tunes, and
thus started her love of music and song.
After a long career in Highland and Scottish Country Dancing, Glenna started piping in 1981, and was
taught by her father, Pipe Major Reay Mackay. Glenna played with numerous pipe bands, including the
City of Mississauga Pipe Band, the Toronto Police Pipe Band, and the 78th Fraser Highlanders.
Glenna is also an accomplished Gaelic singer, and has been recorded on numerous albums. In 2001,
Glenna became a judge with the Pipers and Pipe Band Society of Ontario, and has adjudicated events
across Canada. Glenna’s two children have also recently taken up piping, and have already started to
compete.
Pipe Major Ian K. MacDonald (aka “Ian K”)
A childhood friend of the photographer (they shared the same teacher -- Ian’s father, Pipe Major John
MacDonald). Many fellow pipers will recognize his expression in this image, affectionately known as “The
Growl”. Those in the know will undoubtedly smile when they see this image; though none of them would
have smiled when it was directed at them. Michael Grey was even moved to write a particularly stunning
tune dedicated to it.
Notable achievements include the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada), the Clasp to the Gold
Medal (for former winners only), A-Grade light music wins at Oban and Inverness, and the North
American Piobaireachd Championship and the Ontario Light Music Champion Supreme titles. Pipe
Major of the Premier Grade Toronto Police Pipe Band, and a perennial prize-winner at the Gold Medal
competitions in Scotland, he is also a composer, adjudicator, and always-sought-after teacher.
Jim McGillivray
Friend, teacher and mentor to the photographer.
Jim has won major piping prizes on both sides of the ocean, including the coveted Gold Medals at Oban
and Inverness, Scotland, the Clasp at Inverness, the March/Strathspey and Reel at the Glenfiddich
Championship, and the North American Championship.
Jim played a prominent role in the Guelph Pipe Band’s rise to the top rank of premier bands, leading the
band in 1981 to its second North American Championship. He was also a member of the groundbreaking
78th Fraser Highlanders, adding three more North American titles to his accomplishments.
Since 1998, Jim has been the Piping and Drumming Program Director at St. Andrew’s College, and
was the co-founder of the Ontario School of Piping and Drumming at St. Andrew’s College, one of the
continent’s leading summer piping and drumming schools.
Other accomplishments include the solo recording World’s Greatest Pipers Vol 10, two best-selling
instructional books, Rhythmic Fingerwork, and Piobaireachd Fingerwork, and two instructional videos,
Pipes Ready and Pipes Up. His current labour of love is pipetunes.ca, a downloadable sheet music
website for pipers. Jim is an active international piping judge, and has adjudicated events across North
America and overseas. He is a member of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band.
Marli Ramsey
Piping student of the photographer, Marli had not played the pipes for a little over a year when she
agreed to participate in the project. She took her pipes apart to clean and oil them in anticipation of the
photo shoot. This image catches her as she considers how well they (and she) will likely sound after
being so neglected.
Marli is a novice piper, who has loved the bagpipes since she first heard them as a little girl at the Canso
Causeway on Cape Breton Island. When she reached middle age, she decided that she needed to learn
how to play a musical instrument, and she settled on bagpipes, despite the fact that she lived in a condo
at the time. Pipe Major Reay MacKay was her first teacher.
She has played in several bands in Ontario, and was with the Grade Five Durham Regional Police Pipe
Band when it won the North American Championship and Champion Supreme in 2009.
Michael Grey
Friend of the photographer.
Michael began piping at the age of 13 under the tutelage of George Walker. He later studied under
John Wilson, Bill Livingstone and John Walsh. He has won the the North American Championship four
times, the overall title at the Vancouver Indoor Meet twice, the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal and
that venue’s March, Strathspey & Reel and Former Winners’ MSR. In 1989, he won the aggregate
championship at the Cowal Highland Gathering (Scotland). Michael also won the Ontario Championship
Supreme awards for both piobaireachd and light music 17 times.
Michael was a founding member of the 1987 World Pipe Band Champion 78th Fraser Highlanders, and
later became Pipe Major of the Peel Regional Police Pipe Band. He is currently Pipe Sergeant of the
Premier Grade Toronto Police Pipe Band.
In 2003, Michael consulted with renowned composer John Beckwith on Beckwith’s commission for pipes
and orchestra, A New Pibroch, which aired in June of that year on CBC Radio 2.
Considered one of the most prolific and innovative composers, Michael has published six books of music,
and nine solo recordings, including Unqualified Favourites. His fifth book, Music for Everyone, is currently
available free online.
Morgan Holmes
Friend and piping student of the photographer.
Morgan makes his living as a freelance writer and continuing-education instructor (Shakespeare and
creative writing).
He first picked up the bagpipes on the brink of turning 40. Writing is a mostly silent pursuit, so piping
gives him a chance to step away from his desk, connect to his Gaelic roots, and make some wonderful
racket. So far, his audiences have principally comprised fascinated goats in central British Columbia, and
chums who have asked him to pipe-in their birthday cakes.
Pipe Major Reay Mackay, CD
Friend of the photographer, who was lucky enough to have heard Reay playing pipe tunes on the
accordion, and felt compelled to capture images of him with this famous “box” (previously owned by Sir
Jimmy Shand, MBE).
Reay was born in Toronto to a family of pipers and fiddlers. He was first taught by his father, Colin
Mackay, a professional piper and member of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. Reay later received tuition
from Murdo Macleod (a native of Benbecula, Scotland, and student of John MacDougall Gillies), and Pipe
Major John Wilson.
Turning professional at the age of 13, Reay won most of the major competitions in Canada and the
United States, including the North American Championship a consecutive six times. From 1975 to 1985
he was Pipe Major of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, and was later Pipe Major of the Toronto Police
Pipe Band, leading them to win the Cowal Highland Gathering in 1986. He is the composer of many
tunes, including the famous hornpipe Colin Mackay (which he composed at the age of 13).
Bill Livingstone’s tune, Reay Mackay, Box Player Extraordinaire is a tribute to Reay’s skills as a
professional accordionist, where he entertained audiences throughout North America.
Reay is also a renowned teacher and adjudicator.
Sean McKeown
Friend of the photographer.
Sean McKeown began piping at the age of 12, receiving his first lessons from Gail Brown, and later from
Bill Livingstone. Sean has won numerous awards with pipe bands both in North America and overseas,
as well as several solo competitions including: the Canadian Gold Medal for Piobaireachd; the B-grade
Strathspey and Reel, Oban, Scotland; Third and Fourth Prizes, Silver medal competitions at Oban
and Inverness, Scotland; Overall Cameron Ghillies Champion; Dr. Dan Reid Memorial Invitational; and
Ontario Professional Champion Supreme.
Sean is featured on the Leap and Rock series of highland dance albums. He is a composer, and has
been featured on five albums, including Over the Celtic Moors Celtic mood/sounds album, and played a
live duet with Bryan Adams, Bravo TV Special, Toronto Show of Bare Bones Tour, 2011.
Sean has toured throughout North America with the Tartan Terrors, occasionally still performing with
them.
He is currently a Pipe Sergeant and soundman with the Premier Grade Toronto Police Pipe Band. Many
of Sean’s compositions have been included in the repertoire of the Toronto Police Pipe Band, and the
78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band.
Thomas Munroe
Friend of the photographer, who fondly remembers Thomas as a child following him around at the
highland games, asking over and over what contest he would play in next.
First taught by Pipe Major John MacDonald, and later by his son, Pipe Major Ian K. MacDonald, Thomas
is a longstanding member of the Premier Grade Toronto Police Pipe Band. He also competes at the
professional level in solo piping contests in Canada.
Thomas is well known in the piping community for his wonderful compositions, and his critical ear for a
beautiful-sounding bagpipe.