A music expert warns that bagpipes are facing a 'critically endangered' status as sales plummet. Data shows the traditional Scottish instrument ranks among the least purchased, trailing behind the kazoo and bassoon. The decline comes despite a 6% rise in overall musical instrument sales and highlights a lack of new learners, particularly among young people.
A music expert has warned bagpipes are becoming “critically endangered” - slumping into the bottom five least purchased instruments last year. The traditional Scottish instrument is not being taken up by enough youngsters - and the only instruments that sold worse in the UK last year were the kazoo and the bassoon, data shows.
The new figures have been collated by Gear4Music, the UK’s largest online instrument retailer, in partnership with Moombix, a platform which offers live online music lessons with expert teachers. Sales data from Gear4Music - which sells over 63,000 instrument types and music products - reveals that, in 2024, the least-purchased instruments were the kazoo , bassoon , bagpipes , tenor horn , oboe , and flugelhorn .
However, piper and tutor Neil Clark - who has playing the bagpipes since he was four-years-old and teaching since 2008 - sounded a note of optimism about the future of Scotland’s national instrument. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
Bagpipes Scottish Music Instrument Sales Endangered Instruments Music Education
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