Shape your future, through piping

BMus Traditional Music (Piping)

The BMus Traditional Music (Piping) degree, delivered in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is a unique programme designed for those looking to pursue piping as a professional art form.

This world-leading course offers intensive, high-level teaching in a wide range of areas, enabling students to develop their own distinct musical voice. It’s a transformative journey for those ready to commit deeply to the tradition.

Find Out More

Overview

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and The National Piping Centre offer a specialist degree that allows pipers to study piping within the context of Scottish traditional music to the highest level.

This unique course offers the chance for students to concentrate on the total study of piping in all forms, whilst also developing their performance skills under some of the best players in the world.

Students receive instruction individually and in small groups and workshop settings. The degree includes substantial study of the history, repertoire, traditions, performance practice and organology of the bagpipes, producing expert performers with a deep understanding of their own, and other, traditions.

Find Out More

Course Structure

In your first year, you will consolidate and enhance your technique and your grounding in traditional repertoire on the Highland bagpipe.

You will develop as a critical and creative artist, able to connect and engage critically with your own experience as a piper.

You will receive an introduction to music theory and website design, as you not only begin to construct your identity as a musician, but curate it for the world around you.

This year also features a grounding for all students in Scots and Gaelic song, sources and folklore, so as to instil a shared foundation in the roots of Scottish music and its relationship to language and culture.

Year 1 has a total of 120 credits across the modules below.

Performance (Piping) 1: 60 Credits
Principal Study one-to-one lessons
Principal Study Group
Dept-wide Performance Classes
Performing Light Music of the 20th Century
The Piobaireachd Pit 1
A Concise History of Piping
Folk Ensemble Level 1
Trad Musicianship 1
Healthy Practice Seminars
Critical Programme Notes

Concepts in Traditional Music: 10 Credits
ePortfolio of Research Tasks
Pecha Kucha Presentation

Creative Skills in Traditional Music 1: 10 Credits
Traditional Music Theory Exam
Composition Folio of Tunes

Scottish Traditional Repertoire 1: 10 Credits
Performance
Programme Notes

Introduction to Professional Skills for Musicians: 10 Credits
ePortfolio

Music Leadership: 10 Credits
Group Delivery of Activity and Supporting Reflection

Creative Citizenship: 10 Credits
Collaborative Creative Presentation

In your second year, you will continue to nurture and extend your knowledge and skills as a solo and collaborative traditional musician.

There will be a broad exploration of technique, repertoire and style relative to the bagpipe.

You will extend your knowledge of the classic instrumental traditions of Scotland and your skills in programming, performing and calling a ceilidh. You will expand outwards as a musician-researcher, exploring historical and social contexts and drawing relationships between practice, perception and context.

You will further nurture your composition and arrangement skills and expand your entrepreneurial skillset with reference to multiple audiences and community engagement, and begin to develop skills in performance preparedness and efficacy.

You will do this whilst developing your pedagogical knowledge and your practical skills in teaching traditional music in a range of environments.

Year 2 has a total of 120 credits across the modules below.

Performance (Piping) 2: 60 Credits
Principal Study one-to-one lessons
Principal Study Group
Dept-wide Performance Classes
Performing Light Music of the 19th Century
The Piobaireachd Pit 2
Folk Ensemble Level 2
Trad Musicianship 2
Healthy Practice Seminars
Critical Programme Notes

Traditional Music Research Portfolio: 10 Credits
ePortfolio of Research Tasks
Presentation

Creative Skills in Traditional Music 2: 10 Credits
Portfolio of Multi-Instrumental Compositions
Continuous Observation

Scottish Traditional Repertoire 2: 10 credits
Performance
Programme Notes

Peak Performance Training: 10 credits
Continuous Observation
Portfolio of class tasks, rationale and development plan

The Teaching Musician: 10 Credits
Video Documentation and Supporting Materials

Option module: 10 credits

Year three will see you develop a solid musical persona through fluent knowledge and expertise informed by your piping and a consolidation of your critical artistry in research and reflection.

There will be a continuing exploration of technique, repertoire and style relative to your (and others’) instrument or vocal tradition.
You will address essential vocational issues in greater detail, such as self-assessed taxation, contract negotiation, creative arts funding and administration and the option of a formal work placement.

There will continue to be elective opportunities within the department, the Royal Conservatoire and beyond; thereby continuing to nurture your own distinct artistic specialisms in traditional, folk, or broader arts contexts.

Year 3 has a total of 120 credits across the modules below.

Performance 3 (Piping): 60 Credits
Principal Study one-to-one lessons
Principal Study Group
Dept-wide Performance Classes
Performing Light Music of the 21st Century
The Piobaireachd Pit 3
Folk Ensemble Level 3
Professional Skills and Standards
Gaelic for Fèisean
Critical Programme Notes

Minor Research Project: 10 Credits
ePortfolio of Project
Presentation

Scottish Traditional Repertoire 3: 10 credits
Performance
Programme notes

The Freelance Musician: 10 Credits
Portfolio

Contextual elective: 10 credits

Musicianship elective: 10 credits

Option module: 10 Credits

Year four – the Honours year – occasions a synthesis of your critical, technical and creative development as a piper.

In addition to engaging in your own substantial project work, deeply rooted in tradition and innovation, you will continue to take advantage of the array of elective opportunities to be found in the department, the Royal Conservatoire and beyond, including an intensive internship with the Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust.

The Honours year is student-centred: working to achieve a distinct identity and musical voice within your own established parameters, culminating in a themed final public recital.

Year 4 has a total of 120 credits across the modules below.

Performance 4 (Piping): 60 Credits
Principal Study one-to-one lessons
Principal Study Group
Dept-wide Performance Classes
Piping Concert Arrangement and Leadership
Professional Skills and Standards
Viva examination

Major Research Project: 20 credits
EPortfolio of project
Presentation

Professional Development Options: 20 credits

IXP and Electives: 20 credits

Quotes From Our Alumni

I was part of the first intake of the Traditional Music degree in 1996, when the idea of studying piping at degree level was still uncharted territory. That course didn’t just shape my playing; it shaped my identity, my career, and my belief in the value of our tradition. Nearly 30 years on, I now lead the very institution that created it. The course continues to evolve, but its heart remains the same: rooted in piping, and alive with purpose.

Finlay MacDonald

(Graduated 1999)

During my time on the course, my tutors both encouraged & facilitated me finding my own voice in Piping – The accessibility & range of world class tuition, combined with the open mindedness between peers & teachers alike helped me develop into a professional musician – I was also able to switch to smallpipes as a principal study, something you can’t do anywhere else in the world!

Fionnlagh Mac A Phiocair

(Graduated 2024)