Project Inception and Initial Development.

Project Inception

Pipe Band Drumming in a Box (PBDB) was imagined in October 2020. Whilst conducting a sector review of the pipe band drumming industry, I noted that provision for instrumental music tuition in schools in Scotland was at threat and so, niche genres such as pipe band music are under threat of losing valuable teaching provisions in schools across the country due to lack of funding allocation from local authorities. This means that there are currently schools around Scotland who do not have the ability to provide music tuition to their students. PBDB aims to bring the valuable resource of music tuition to a school without the need to have a specialist instructor present.

Initial Development

With the aim established, I set about the creative development of the project. The focus on the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is central to the creative development for PBDB with the primary focus being on Scottish culture and its place in the world.

I quickly decided that the project would see the creation of 3 instructional classes at a maximum of 20 minutes in length. Each class will focus on a different aspect of pipe band music its place within Scottish and foreign cultures. Cultures around the world being considered at this point were as follows: France (Breton piping), Canda, Malaysia, Germany.

I began developing lesson ideas by watching YouTube drum-kit tutorial videos aimed at young children. It was apparent that I must develop a consistent narrative for each lesson to follow that has a clear start, middle and end goal. At this point, I considered the idea of creating an interactive storyline with fictional characters that the kids must help overcome problems by learning about culture and learning simple pipe band drumming rhythms.

Pipe band drumming being the central focus, I began researching effective teaching methods for children and began brainstorming ideas such as:

- Singing and clap along activities

- Introducing rhythms in easy to manage stages

- Making learning activities a game

- Incorporating popular music with revised traditional Scottish rhythms