The evening was introduced by Karla Urquhart from Muir of Ord. Karla gave a very strong performance and showed herself to be in full control of her instrument. You could see in her eyes the flashes of controlled smiles as she played for us. Two excellent sessions from Karla and it was obvious why she won the under-15 March at the 2008 Northern Meeting.
Back to Andrea and lets start with her pipes, a set of glorious sounding Naill Pipes and Naill chanter, sheepskin bag, Ezeedrone tenors, cane bass and I am certain that was a Warnock Chesney pipe chanter reed. Chesney go very well with the new Naill chanter (designed by Pipe Major Roddy MacLeod). These chanters are being trialled by senior pipers in the QOH Association Pipe Band and I hear the feedback is extremely positive. A great sounding chanter. Andrea had set up the instrument to give off it's best - steady drones, well tuned and a great overal balance in tone. I was extremely envious!
A few video clips to give the sense of the performance, sorry but I still cannot get the hang of the mobile phone used to capture these clips. However, YouTube do a great job in sharpening the video. I hope you enjoy them. She gave us the full range of MSR, Hornpipes, jigs, Gaelic Airs, Cape Breton pieces (beautiful), however, I failed to video Andrea's outstanding playing of the Piobaireachd 'Lament for the Earl of Seaforth', so enthrolling was the performance. This was a big miss by me and my apologies.
The audience came away full of admiration and praise for both pipers and many will chart their progress with real interest. Karla (see below) is tutored by Trevor Dear, Dingwall.
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