A piping institute and one of the biggest traditional instrument manufacturers in Scotland have refuted reports that bagpipes are “in the doldrums” and that they are very much on the rise in popularity.
It was claimed that the pipes were one of the most unpopular instruments in the UK following data from Gear4music, one the UK’s largest online instrument retailers, saying only the kazoo and the bassoon sold less than the bagpipes in 2024.
However, from the more than 62,000 products advertised on Gear4music’s website, there is only one children’s bagpipe available to purchase along with two kids’ chanters.
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Finlay MacDonald, who is the director of piping at The National Piping Centre in Glasgow, said the claims that bagpipes are declining in popularity is “nonsense” and that the instrument is thriving across Scotland.
He added that it “might come as a surprise” but the number of people who wanted to learn the instrument increased during the start of the Covid pandemic and have shown no sign of slowing down over the last four years.
“We found that people were at home more, and they had more time to dedicate to their piping,” MacDonald said.
“There were several people in those classes that had signed up saying ‘I’d always wanted to play pipes, but life was so busy,’ whatever it is, work, family but now I actually find myself with a bit of time’.”
(Image: Stripe Communications)
MacDonald added that the popularity of the instrument amongst young people is highlighted by the fact they have had record numbers of entries for their National Youth Pipe Band and that they’ve got their biggest ensemble ever too.
The institution hosts around 60 children every weekend across three locations in Glasgow, with hopes of expanding the centre to other parts of the country in the future.
Another example MacDonald gave of the growing popularity of the instrument is the Piping Live! Festival.
The festival, which is running for its 21st year in 2025, held the most events it has ever put on in its history in 2024 with the vast majority of them selling out as pipers and piping enthusiasts from across the world attended the week-long event.
“Piping is strong, piping is in a very good place at the moment,” MacDonald said.
Kenny Macleod, co-owner of McCallum Bagpipes in Kilmarnock, echoed MacDonald’s statement that piping is thriving, and not just in Scotland, but across the world.
He said that around 70% of the business sales are to international customers as there are a lot of Scots who have immigrated to places like America, Canada and New Zealand and communities in those countries have “adopted a piping culture”.
The other 30% of sales are in Scotland which are typically to school teaching programs and individuals.
(Image: Piping Live!)
Macleod said that more kids are getting back into the instrument and that the piping community is going from “strength to strength”.
“Pipers and things like the pipes are quite cool, so there’s more young people getting into piping,” he said.
“The juvenile grades and the Pipe Band Association are getting bigger and bigger because there’s so many kids coming and learning and going through the system.”
Macleod, who co-founded the world-renowned bagpipe manufacturer with his colleague Stuart McCallum, said that despite having a small decline in sales during the pandemic the bagpipes have made a “big-time bounce back” in the last few years.
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Macleod started the business with McCallum back in 1998 in what he called essentially a “portakabin” and has grown to now fill 15,000 square feet over three units and employ 39 members of staff.
“It’s quite the operation now,” Macleod said, as he doesn’t expect the popularity in bagpipes to slow down anytime soon.