NPC hopes to raise $50,000 to digitize defunct print publications

The publication was started in October 1948 by College co-founders Seumas MacNeill and Thomas Pearston, priced “sixpence.” MacNeill became synonymous with the periodical that he edited for nearly 50 years until his death in 1996. The magazine was the official media outlet for the College of Piping, and MacNeill ran the journal as part of his paid position as principal of the College.

The more recent and also defunct quarterly Piping Today publication, started by the Piping Centre in the 2000s, is also to be archived digitally if enough funds can be raised.

The organization cited “dwindling circulation numbers” and “associated costs” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for shutting down the magazines.

The National Piping Centre’s Crowdfunder campaign will continue until May 31st, offering a variety of incentives, maxing out at a pipe tune composed by a Piping Centre teacher for a donation of £500 or more.

The organization is aiming to raise at least £28,500, or nearly $50,000, which would also allow the printing of an annual Piping Times retrospective of the year.

A two-year subscription to pipes|drums is $24.99, or only three cents a day. A subscription gives you access to our archive of nearly 7,000 articles, including our 1990 interview with Seumas MacNeill. While pipes|drums subscriptions and readership numbers have increased every year since the publication went online, operating costs have also risen commensurately.

With the firm belief that a diversity of perspectives from healthy and credible media is essential to a thriving piping and drumming community, we hope that you will support both worthy causes.

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