Building real musicians.

The story

Etive Pipers started in the summer of 2022 with a handful of pupils and one ambition: to raise the standard of piping in the area by bringing likeminded learners together, teaching a broad curriculum of music and styles, and giving young pipers real opportunities to grow.

That ambition shapes everything. Pupils learn to read music from the start, and the standard is high — but it comes in steps small enough that the next one is always in sight, so it is something to aim at rather than fall short of. What I am really after is independent learners: young people who understand what they are playing and feel it, instead of copying it back. They move up through the groups by ability, taking on more of the thinking for themselves at every stage, and from early on they are encouraged to find their own style, to phrase a tune their way, and eventually to write their own.

Just as much, EP is a place to belong: young people who love this music, playing alongside others at their own stage, and seeing every Thursday exactly where the path leads. Today that's around thirty-five pupils across six groups, and an annual Showcase where every one of them takes the stage.

That's the motto, and it's meant literally. Technique matters, and we hold a real standard. But the point of the technique is the music. A tune played correctly and blandly is only half the job.

How a lesson works

Groups meet on Thursday evenings in Oban. Each session has a clear focus: warm-ups, technique work, group play, individual feedback, and time for questions. Pupils read from the page, solve problems out loud, and leave knowing exactly what to practise.

Alongside the groups I also teach private one-to-one lessons through Aaron McInnes Piping, for pupils who want to go further or prefer to learn that way.