Gibson points out that though pipers are known from Scottish military units from the sixteenth century on, especially becoming noteworthy in the 17th and 18th, it was not until 1854 that the piper acquired any official status in the British Army, and about this time that pipe bands began to form (though occasional unison playing has a far longer history). Prior to this, individual pipers were retained as servants of the gentlemen-officers, and paid either as privates, out of the Captain's pocket, or by "cooking the books". Similarly, they seem to have been non-military supernumeraries, "civilian contractors" in today's parlance, not strictly subject to military law. People came to the army already trained as pipers; instruction did not take place there. As such, the oft-heard claim that it was the British Army that sustained piping can be effectively dismissed.

Gibson reminds us that pipe competitions began in the 1780s, but the first (parade) Pipe and Drum band can not be attested before the 1860s or so - at the time that both pipe and drum ceased serving in a signal capacity on the battle line. As such, it seems highly likely that the requirements of competition and/or literate playing, and their attendant standardization, rather than doing things "the Army way", were the primary influences in the evolution of modern regimental piping from its traditional Gaelic origins.