Periodicals

Launched in the summer of 1997, one year after The (National) Piping Centre opened to the public, Notes from the Piping Centre was a quarterly publication that ran until Winter 2001. Growing from a simple monochrome A4 paper pamphlet of eight pages into a full-colour, glossy magazine of 24 pages, Notes… can be seen as a precursor to Piping Today, the organisation’s flagship magazine which ran for over 15 years. 

Notes… was, to some extent, a newsletter, providing updates on TNPC’s activities. As such, the 18 issue archive contains a great deal of interesting information on the early years of the organisation: the launch of the collaborative BA (Scottish Music - Piping) degree with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama); the National Schools Piping Project, precursor to the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland; developments to the Institute of Piping’s certification syllabus; significant donations to the organisation’s museum and library collection; and, fundraising efforts, at both community and governmental levels. It also frequently drew attention to the organisation’s burgeoning hospitality enterprise.

However, as the scope of the articles grew to cover a wider range of relevant topics, from historical research, to a broader look at international piping traditions, it was clear that a more ambitious publication was beginning to emerge. 

Indeed, this was reflected in the organisation’s own trajectory. In the final issue of Notes… (published a little over five years after The Piping Centre opened) Director of Piping, and editor of the magazine, Roddy MacLeod, wrote of the organisation’s new status as The National Piping Centre: “The £300,000 grant made to The Piping Centre by the Scottish Executive, and its confirmation of our redesignation as The National Piping Centre, express confidence in our future, but also recognise the solid foundations on which that future rests. They are foundations which a good many hands have helped to set in place. The Centre has also been awarded Investor in People accreditation, which publicly attests to the professionalism of our organisation as a whole.”