The National Piping Centre Adult Seasonal Piping Gatherings
 Join the NPC Adult Gatherings in 2022
The National Piping Centre is bringing you a series of Adult Gatherings in 2022 for pipers aged 18+,which have been designed to give a fantastic social learning experience. This year we will be running in person workshops as well as online events.
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We can now announce the teachers for the Summer Adult Gathering are Willie McCallum, Ailis Sutherland, David Sheden, John Mulhearn, Malin Lewis, Danny Hutcheson and Dr Andrew Bova. This stellar line up will be taking you through individual lessons, workshops, masterclasses, practice time and more across in person and online schools.
Our schools will run in two timezones, one for in person teaching and one for online students. The in-person school will run during the day UK time (9am - 5pm UK time), with the online school running in the evenings (3pm - 9pm UK time). There will be no option for online learning during the day, or in person learning in the evening.
 The school costs £250 in person and £220 online for the four days.
The dates for our 2022 schools are:
Summer School - 25th - 28th July
Autumn School - 31st October - 3rd November
Where will we meet?
The in person schools will take place at one of the two National Piping Centre locations in Glasgow City Centre or West End. This will be confirmed nearer the time of your school. For our online schools, you will join us on Zoom each day for your day of tuition! Once you have registered, we will be in touch with more information about the school and how you can log in each day.
What will I learn?
Over the four days there will be group lessons, 1-2-1 tuition, Masterclass workshops and more for pipers and drummers. Each piping student will be provided with a digital music pack so everyone will have new music to learn.
What will the school cost?
It is £250 GBP to register for a place on one of our in person schools and £220 GBP for an online school. Registrations will open shortly.
What about COVID-19?
These in person schools will adhere to all COVID-19 safety government guidelines, and may be subject to change at short notice if Government guidance changes. However, we will give you as much notice as possible.
What will my timetable look like?
We are just finalising the exact timetable and will update this soon, but you can expect 1-2-1 lessons, practice time, masterclasses, workshops, new music and more. These will be similar for in person and online tuition.
Who will be teaching me?
Each school will have a different teaching line up, from our world-class professional pipers. Check back nearer the time to find out who will be teaching your course.
Is It for me?
If you are still unsure about if it is right for you, we asked attendees at our recent school to tell us about their experiences and here is what they had to say
"I found the whole Gathering experience absolutely brilliant, being able to attend in person, the staff and guest tutors were so down to earth and approachable, all being World famous Superstar Pipers. Everyone of them brought fountains of knowledge, new techniques for us to consider for our level of piping, and all where so passionate about piping, that most lessons ran over, which is so infectious. I've attended one or two Gatherings before, all of which were well worth doing, but this has to be the best todate. I've come away with renewed enthusiasm for my piping. I've always said, if the NPC says this is how to do it, no one can argue with that. I've had an amazing time, met some old friends and made new ones, will be booking for Spring 23. " - Attended in person in Spring 2022
"The online Adult Gatherings are the perfect combination of workshops, small group sessions, and one-to-one lessons for pipers who really want to improve.
The instructors are some of the best pipers in the world today, and include both seasoned and young, up-and-coming pipers. The benefit of learning from these young pipers is that they have a fresh perspective on the music, are pushing the boundaries of piping, and are often both competition and folk pipers, able to see the music with fresh eyes. In the context of the National Piping Centreâs successful method of teaching, that creates endless possibilities for the learner. The young instructors are backed up by the award-winning staff of the Piping Centre, who have refined a successful teaching approach over decades of teaching pipers. In the one-to-one and small group lessons, they meet each student where they are now, and use their years of performing and teaching experience to identify opportunities for improvement and actions the learner can take right away and over time. In workshops, experienced, medal-winning pipers talk about the nitty gritty of maintenance, tone, performance, tune structures, nerves, and so much more.
I have been attending these online Gatherings since they started in 2020, and they have become an essential part of my progress as a piper. They give me inspiration, variety, and flexibility. I have met and learned from, and become friends with, the greatest pipers in the world, who also happen to be some of the nicest people and best teachers you could ever meet." - Attended online Spring 2022
Hearing ProtectionÂ
The National Piping Centre requires all students to use hearing protection at all times when playing pipes. Hearing protection is available for purchase in our shop or free of charge from the earplug dispenser in both our piping school venues.
Find out more
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