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Pipe Bands:
The bagpipes have a long association with the
Highland clans of Scotland where they were used to provide martial music. But in their
traditional role they were always played as a solo instrument (after all this is |
| why they have drones). The sort of music traditionally
played on them is rather different to what we hear pipe bands play today.
"Piobaireachd" (pronounced "pee-brock") is an ancient and
sophisticated musical genre developed over many generations. A very rough description of
it would be as a theme and variations: The "urlar", or theme, is repeated with
ever more difficult ornamentation. There were very strict rules and protocols as to the
manner in which Piobaireachd was to be played. All the tunes were committed to memory
through the use of special words, and some of the clans established special piping
"colleges" as it took many years to train a piper to the necessary standard. It
was a "classical" music in the strictest sense of the word. The pipe bands and
music we hear today are very much the product of the incorporation of Scottish people into
the British Army. The stately piobaireachd declined in favour (especially as an educated
ear is needed to appreciate it), and gave way to marching tunes and popular songs (etc).
Piobaireachd continued to be played (eg at The
Battle of Waterloo), and can still be heard in the Scottish regiments today, but it is
beyond the skill and training of many pipers specialising in the "light" music.
A number of
factors facilitated this change: The development of roads in the 18th Century that were
good enough to actually march on, the transformation of clansman to British Army regular,
more sustained campaigning with a professional soldiery, the general commodification of
everything in the 19th century, and the changing nature of warfare. This last factor
is especially interesting since one of the functions of piobaireachd had always been to
steady the nerves of soldiers and inspire them in battle. By the 19th century the days of
enemies facing each other on the field and then charging were long gone. Increasingly
efficient and deadly weaponery, difficult terrain in colonial wars, and the advent of
irregular warfare, meant the end of the days of set-piece battles and field manoevures. |
| Of course in the British Army the bayonet was
paramount even into the 20th century, but what was now required was not the pensive solemn
piobaireachd, but the rousing and manic battle tune. These regimental "onsets",
or "charging tunes", were often strathspeys - a lively and jerky dance tune. Cabar Feidh (the "Deers Antlers") was the most famous
onset of them all and is the antithesis of piobaireachd. The Haughs
of Cromdale, played by Piper Findlater at the Heights of Dargai, is also a strathspey. Apart from music in battle the
demands of regimental life in a Victorian army were for a more functional music than
piobaireachd - music to march to, dance to, for ceremonial |
Pipe Major, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, circa 1900
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occasisions, or music to serve as regimental calls was the order of
the day. Hey Johnny Cope, for example, is a famous revellie
still played in the morning in many regiments. The Brose and Butter
is equally popular as the mess call, and the "call" nature of the tune is
clearly evident. Even the famous and ancient Piobaireachd of
Donald Dhub was converted into a regimental march which
became very popular (and was used by the Wellington Regiment).
Piobaireachd is too expressive to be played by an essemble, but the marching and
dance tunes with their rhythmical meter were easily played by groups of pipers, and then
it was only a small step to play with the regimental drums also. The pipe band was born. |
Tommy Atkins
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For many years
the British Army was unsympathetic to the pipes. Regiments had to list their pipers and
"drummers" on the pay rolls to get them onto the Regiments' establishment. Other
pipers were paid for by the officers. But by the the 1850s attitudes had changed. All the
kilted Regiments had an official complement of pipers. It seems that the matter was
brought to a head when one senior army officer circulated a memo demanding the removal of
non-establishment pipers. The memo was seen by the Duke of Wellington at the War Office
who rather tersely responded to the officer that he was surprised that someone who have
witnessed the gallantry of the Scottish Regiments and their pipers at Waterloo should have
written such memo. The pipers remained. |
About the middle of the 19th century the dark green (or black)
tunics were introduced for pipers, which have been a jealously guarded prerogative since.
The drummers however, with their provenance from within the British Army establishment,
continued to wear red tunics. So the different coloured tunics in a pipe band are not
necessarily a symptom of cost-cutting, but rather part of an old tradition.
Loyal Vicotrians quickly formed amateur bands based upon the regimental models
sometimes, as in New Zealand, being Volunteer Militia bands as well. The oldest surviving
pipe band in New Zealand is the City of Invercargill Pipe Band formed in 1893. Pipe bands
were formed in Wellington towards the end of the 19th century also, but none have
survived. Wellington Scottish Pipes & Drums is the oldest suriving Wellington band,
being formed in 1932.
The military ethic still dominates the pipe band movement. Uniform, drill, and
repertoire are essentially the same in a civilian band as a military band. Pipe bands have
continued to grow in popularity across many countries of the world (especially those with
Commonwealth links), and piping is undergoing something of a renaissance in New Zealand
too.
Read on to find out how the bagpipes
work and take the Pipe Band Tour to see what everyone
does in a pipe band. |
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