Opinion: The pipe band world needs good leaders, but the situation can be helped
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For those who prefer watching to reading, here’s a video of our opinion piece. There’s a slightly longer text version below.
If you’ve held steady paid work, you’ve probably heard the saying, “People don’t quit their job, they quit their manager.” Although that’s not always the reason, there’s a lot of truth to it.
It’s also applicable to pipe bands.
The vast majority of pipers and drummers leave a band not because of the music, or the results, or the schedule. They leave because the pipe-major, leading-drummer or midsection lead is a poor manager of people.
Pipe bands are generally a music meritocracy: the best players are the leaders. That certainly can help with musical performance, but leadership skills are more often than not ignored, and without skillful leaders, performance eventually suffers.
To be sure, some of these folks might be naturally astute and self-aware leaders, or, after several years, self-educate themselves to be better leaders. But chances are, they’re not well equipped and never will be.
We all know the many stories of that gifted piper or drummer who’s the pipe-major or leading-drummer, but assumes bellowing and barking at band members is the route to success. They’re the ones who last a few years in a band, then move to another, and then another. Perhaps you’ve experienced that directly.
It’s interesting that pipe bands don’t generally look for “man managers,” a term the late great Ian McLellan liked to use. In 1993, he identified man management as the most important skill a pipe band leader could possess. Players who can tune instruments and provide musical creativity and prowess are easier to find than those with people-management skills.
Considering that pipe bands were pretty much invented by the military and the police, where ranks are determined by leadership skills, with plenty of leadership training (see the British Army’s renowned Pipe-Majors’ Course), it’s ironic that that ethic never filtered to civilian bands.
Frequently, the opposite is true: leaders intentionally hoard information and techniques, rather than groom and nurture a successor. Like that horrible work colleague who is the only one who knows how to do something and refuses to share their knowledge, pipe band leaders are often threatened by someone else stepping into their role. Just as a company eventually suffers, so too will a pipe band.
Pipe bands most often fail not because they don’t win prizes, but because they lack effective leadership.
No one would assume a pipe band would offer management training, but associations certainly could (and with it also help themselves).
Organized leadership workshops would help existing leaders and might result in more pipers and drummers considering leadership roles by preparing them with the know-how to help them in the role:
Communication
- Listening to and respecting constructive opinions.
- Giving constructive, actionable feedback.
- Setting clear expectations and goals for the corps and for each player.
- Transparency and honesty.
- Praise individuals as a group; provide constructive criticism and solutions privately.
Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy and understanding others’ perspectives.
- Self-awareness (knowing your own triggers and strengths).
- Regulating emotions under pressure.
- Reading non-verbal cues.
Coaching & Development
- Mentoring, supporting and growing skills.
- Delegating effectively – the section or band does not begin and end with you.
- Identifying each player’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Motivating individuals and the group.
- Encourage advancement within the band when opportunities arise.
- Don’t encourage, but accept and support joining another band in a leadership role when none is likely within.
- Understand clearly why they decided to move on.
- Thank players for their contributions to the band, no matter what.
Relationship & Culture Building
- Build trust and psychological safety.
- Foster collaboration.
- Conflict resolution and mediation.
- Appreciation and recognition of individual and group achievements.
We recognize that this might seem like way too much to expect. Pipe banding, after all, is still a hobby, but there are parallels to work. Most pipers and drummers leave a band because the leader or leaders are poor people managers.
Pipe bands most often fail not because they don’t win prizes, but because they lack effective leadership.
But without at least some management coaching, we can’t expect every pipe-major or leading-drummer to succeed in their role, no matter how good a player they are.
That’s our opinion. What’s yours?
Please use our Comments feature below to express your thoughts.
This article gets to the heart of the issue — and I agree with it entirely. Where the real leverage lies, in my view, is when leadership development begins.
Leadership starts as an identity — a being thing — long before it becomes a doing thing. If we wait until someone is already a pipe-major or leading-drummer to address people leadership, we’re already too late.
Embedding a simple two-hour workshop at youth camp level — focused on self-awareness, communication, feedback, emotional regulation and inclusion — would lay a foundation that players, tutors and future leaders can build on over time. It also creates a shared language that supports retention, psychological safety and healthier gender dynamics.
This is a long game. But if we want sustainable bands and leaders who can both play well and lead well, youth programmes are the place to start.
Excellent 👍
I would note Wake and District’s social media posts on similar lines.
I have just stepped back from a band secretary role, and declined to stand for chairman as the committee is completely ungovernable and are not willing to take advice on board, only when it suits them.
Strangely, I am the only one with professional management experience and training.
All pipe bands would welcome ready-made, exemplary leaders. However, it is worth asking whether that expectation is realistic, or whether it has expanded alongside increasingly formalised training and workplace frameworks. While such initiatives have value, no amount of leadership training can manufacture a natural leader or remove every rough edge. Personality and leadership style are largely set.
Leaders are most effective when supported by a strong offsider who can share responsibility and provide counsel.
Band members also have a role to play: participation comes with an understanding that maintaining standards can be challenging and, at times, emotionally demanding for everyone involved. Leadership is not solely about providing motivation; it is a shared responsibility. Leaders can set direction and provide support, but sustained drive must come from the band as a whole. Without that collective commitment, progress becomes difficult for anyone to achieve alone.
Pipe bands most often fail in my experience, through lack of players, not lack of leadership.
Its not the first time a great leader was standing in an empty room, which renders his/her leadership pointless