Wellington Scottish Pipes and Drums

The Great Highland Bagpipe:
The bagpipes are an ancient instrument found in many cultures over the world, but the Great Highland Bagpipe from Scotland is the variety most people think of when the word "bagpipes" is mentioned. Regardless of which variety however all bagpipes work on the same principle: A pipe bag holds a reservoir of air which is constantly supplied to the chanter (on which the tune is played) and one or more drones which sound a constant pitch. Air may be blown into the bag at intervals to keep it inflated or, on some varieties of bagpipe, a small bellows may be used under the right arm. The left arm is used to hold the bag and apply pressure to it to keep the instrument playing.

The chanter: - The sound of the instrument is made by the reeds in the chanter and drones. The chanter reed is strong and therefore the loudest. It is a double bladed reed - two pieces of cane have been shaped and placed opposite each other so that air

1850s Glen Bagpipes
Set of bagpipes circa 1850 made by Glen

moving between them will cause them to shut and open quickly in succession producing a vibrating column of air in the chanter itself, and hence a sound. The chanter has eight holes along its length which are covered by the player's fingers. If some holes are uncovered then the effective length of the vibrating air column is shortened, raising the pitch. In this way tunes can be played. The bore of the chanter is conical, that is it gets wider towards the "bell" or bottom of the chanter in the same way a trumpet bell flares. This produces a greater sound. The tonality of the chanter approximates the notes of a scale on the piano, but not exactly. The pitch of the notes is tempered so that each "harmonises" with the drones with the minimum discordance (ie mathematically pure chord ratios). Therefore some notes can sound slightly "out of tune" when compared to equally tempered instruments like the piano, but this is intentional.

The drones: - The drones work differently. These are the long pipes that rest on the players shoulders. They have no finger holes (obviously) and therefore sound only one pitch. The two "tenor" drones (the shorter pair) play a constant "A" one octave below the low "A" on the chanter.

David Naill Pipes
Detail from a set of David Naill bagpipes, popular at present with competition pipers. The traditional style of "beading and combing" on the drones can be seen, as can the beautifully engraved solid sterling silver ferules, slides, and projecting mounts. The material of the mounts does not affect the sound, but it does affect the price! Silver has become more popular since the international ban on ivory instituted in the 1980s.

The bass drone (the largest) is tuned to "A" one octave below the tenor drones, and therefore two octaves below the low "A" on the chanter. All of the drones are built in a number of sections: 3 for the tenor drones and 4 for the bass drone. The bottom section (the "stock") is "tied in" to the bag and then the other sections are joined to this. The upper sections of the drones are built so that they "telescope" in and out to some degree. This allows the precise length of the drones to be altered for tuning. As bagpipe reeds are quite sensitive, a lot of tuning has to be done.

The drones have only a "single reed" rather than a double reed. The single reeds are made from a length of tubular cane that has a slit made in it to product the "tongue" which vibrates when air moves past it. The bores of the drones are cylindrical (ie they

have a consistent diametre like a tube or section of copper piping), although there are small chambers of larger diameter to allow the tuning pins to slide in and out. In combination with the single bladed reeds, this means that the drones are not as loud as the chanter. They produce the "background" sound.

The music: - The way the bagpipes work has an interesting consequence for how music is played on them. Since the flow of air to the chanter and drones is constant, so is the sound. How then are the notes of a melody to be differentiated especially if the same note is repeated? On other wind instruments the notes can be separated by using the tongue to stop the flow of air for an instant and so two notes will be heard. On this piano one presses the key and then presses it again: The note is "damped" when the key is released. Since the sound cannot be interupted on the bagpipe, the player must find other ways to define the notes. This is done through the use of "grace notes" and "doublings".

By lifting one of the fingers very quickly a small "blip" sound of higher pitch is created. This can be used to separate notes, and so the rhythm of the melody can be heard. Doublings can also be used to do this. Doublings are simply ornaments of more than one grace note put together. They are harder to play well, but give bagpipe music its distinctive sound. Some of the doublings become very complicated indeed. There are rules for how to play the grace notes and doublings properly, although there are some variations between different schools of teaching. Grace notes and doublings also serve another purpose. They can be used to provide emphasis on certain notes, since of course the bagpipes cannot play loud or soft. They always play loud! In this way expression can be put into the tune.