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63-457: Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe , Northern Africa , Western Asia , around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia . The term bagpipe is equally correct in the singular or
126-522: A bellows to supply air is an innovation dating from the 16th or 17th century. In these pipes, sometimes called " cauld wind pipes ", air is not heated or moistened by the player's breathing, so bellows-driven bagpipes can use more refined or delicate reeds. Such pipes include the Irish uilleann pipes ; the border or Lowland pipes , Scottish smallpipes , Northumbrian smallpipes and pastoral pipes in Britain;
189-447: A pan flute played along with a friction drum . Several authors identify the ancient Greek askaulos (ἀσκός askos – wine-skin , αὐλός aulos – reed pipe) with the bagpipe. In the 2nd century AD, Suetonius described the Roman emperor Nero as a player of the tibia utricularis . Dio Chrysostom wrote in the 1st century of a contemporary sovereign (possibly Nero) who could play
252-639: A 13th-century manuscript of northern French origin. Although evidence of bagpipes in the British Isles prior to the 14th century is contested, they are explicitly mentioned in The Canterbury Tales (written around 1380): A baggepype wel coude he blowe and sowne, /And ther-with-al he broghte us out of towne. Bagpipes were also frequent subjects for carvers of wooden choir stalls in the late 15th and early 16th century throughout Europe, sometimes with animal musicians. Actual specimens of bagpipes from before
315-589: A Breton interpretation known as the bagad . The pipe-band idiom has also been adopted and applied to the Galician gaita as well. Bagpipes have often been used in various films depicting moments from Scottish and Irish history; the film Braveheart and the theatrical show Riverdance have served to make the uilleann pipes more commonly known. Bagpipes are sometimes played at formal events at Commonwealth universities, particularly in Canada. Because of Scottish influences on
378-434: A bellows. Materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. More recently, bags made of synthetic materials including Gore-Tex have become much more common. Some synthetic bags have zips that allow the player to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag. However, synthetic bags still carry a risk of colonisation by fungal spores, and
441-622: A conical shape. Popular woods include boxwood , cornel , plum or other fruit wood. The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no easy way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. Thus most bagpipes share a constant legato sound with no rests in the music. Primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are made to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Because of their importance, these embellishments (or "ornaments") are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, and take many years of study to master. A few bagpipes (such as
504-624: A distinct class. In the early part of the second millennium, representation of bagpipes began to appear with frequency in Western European art and iconography. The Cantigas de Santa Maria , written in Galician-Portuguese and compiled in Castile in the mid-13th century, depicts several types of bagpipes. Several illustrations of bagpipes also appear in the Chronique dite de Baudoin d’Avesnes ,
567-1071: A long, slow decline that continued, in most cases, into the 20th century. Extensive and documented collections of traditional bagpipes may be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the International Bagpipe Museum in Gijón , Spain, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford , England and the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Northumberland, and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona . The International Bagpipe Festival [ cs ]
630-457: A mouthpiece which then causes a reed , or reeds, to vibrate. Similarly to flutes, reed pipes are also further divided into two types: single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by fixing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece (using a ligature ). When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include
693-534: A part of a bagpipe is a chanter found in 1985 at Rostock , Germany, that has been dated to the late 14th century or the first quarter of the 15th century. The first clear reference to the use of the Scottish Highland bagpipes is from a French history that mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. George Buchanan (1506–82) claimed that bagpipes had replaced the trumpet on the battlefield. This period saw
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#1732868660190756-490: A pipe ( tibia , Roman reedpipes similar to Greek and Etruscan instruments) with his mouth as well as by tucking a bladder beneath his armpit. Vereno suggests that such instruments, rather than being seen as an independent class, were understood as variants on mouth-blown instruments that used a bag as an alternative blowing aid and that it was not until drones were added in the European Medieval era that bagpipes were seen as
819-614: A plant. The fruit is a small capsule 0.5–1.5 cm long (to 3 cm in B. macrocarpa ), containing several small seeds . The genus splits into three genetically distinct sections, each section in a different region, with the Eurasian species in one section, the African (except northwest Africa) and Madagascan species in the second, and the American species in the third. The African and American sections are genetically closer to each other than to
882-417: A popular wood for other woodwind instruments, and was among the traditional woods for Great Highland bagpipes before tastes turned to imported dense tropical woods such as cocuswood , ebony , and African blackwood . Prior to the development of plastics , boxwood was important to a wide range of fields from engineering to arts, construction to cartography, due to its density and stability making it one of
945-414: A sound with a closed flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel, bringing the air to a sharp edge. As with the open flutes, the air is then split; this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of flute include the recorder , ocarina , and organ pipes . Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into
1008-668: A stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split air stream then acts upon the air column contained within the flute's hollow, causing it to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of open flutes are the transverse flute , panpipes , and shakuhachi . Ancient flutes of this variety, including bamboo flutes , were often made from tubular sections of plants such as grasses, reeds, bamboo and hollowed-out tree branches. Later, flutes were made of metals such as tin , copper , or bronze . Modern concert flutes are usually made of high-grade metal alloys , usually containing nickel , silver , copper , or gold . To produce
1071-402: A woodwind because it requires a reed to produce sound. Occasionally, woodwinds are made of earthen materials, especially ocarinas . Flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air across the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two subfamilies: open flutes and closed flutes. To produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow
1134-457: Is "boxwood" in all varieties of English. Owing to the relatively high density of the wood , boxwood is often used for chess pieces ; unstained boxwood for the white pieces, and stained (' ebonized ') boxwood for the black pieces in lieu of ebony . The extremely fine endgrain of box makes it suitable for woodblock printing and woodcut blocks, for which it was the usual material in Europe. In
1197-1073: Is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae . Common names include box and boxwood . The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, with the majority of species being tropical or subtropical; only the European and some Asian species are frost -tolerant. Centres of diversity occur in Cuba (about 30 species), China (17 species) and Madagascar (9 species). They are slow-growing evergreen shrubs and small trees , growing to 2–12 m (rarely 15 m) tall. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate , and leathery; they are small in most species, typically 1.5–5 cm long and 0.3–2.5 cm broad, but up to 11 cm long and 5 cm broad in B. macrocarpa . The flowers are small and yellow-green, monoecious with both sexes present on
1260-493: Is forced between the two pieces (again, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate as well). This family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two subfamilies: exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments. Exposed double-reed instruments are played by having the double reed directly between the player's lips. This family includes instruments such as the oboe , cor anglais (also called English horn), and bassoon , and many types of shawms throughout
1323-634: Is held every two years in Strakonice , Czech Republic . During the expansion of the British Empire , spearheaded by British military forces that included Highland regiments , the Scottish Great Highland bagpipe became well known worldwide. This surge in popularity was boosted by large numbers of pipers trained for military service in World War I and World War II . This coincided with a decline in
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#17328686601901386-652: Is known by the name " mezwed ". It is used in the Tunisian pop music genre, also called mezwed , that is named after the instrument. Since the 1960s, bagpipes have also made appearances in other forms of music, including rock, metal, jazz, hip-hop, punk, and classical music, for example with Paul McCartney 's " Mull of Kintyre ", AC/DC 's " It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) ", and Peter Maxwell Davies 's composition An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise . Periodicals covering specific types of bagpipes are addressed in
1449-400: Is mostly used to make tailpieces, chin rests and tuning pegs, but may be used for a variety of other parts as well. Other woods used for this purpose are rosewood and ebony. Boxwood was a common material for the manufacture of recorders in the eighteenth century, and a large number of mid- to high-end instruments made today are produced from one or other species of boxwood. Boxwood was once
1512-455: Is smaller than the rest and usually consists of a small tube that is made out of metal or a chicken or duck feather. Uncovering the flea-hole raises any note played by a half step, and it is used in creating the musical ornamentation that gives Balkan music its unique character. Some types of gaida can have a double bored chanter, such as the Serbian three-voiced gajde. It has eight fingerholes:
1575-589: Is structurally between a kaba and dzhura gaida and described as a medium pitched gaida. In Southeastern Europe and Eastern Europe bagpipes known as gaida include: the Albanian : gajde, mishnica, bishnica , Aromanian : gaidã , Bulgarian : гайда ( gaida ), Greek : γκάιντα ( gáida ) τσαμπούνα ( tsaboúna ) or ασκομαντουρα ( askomandoura ), Macedonian : гајда ( gajda ), Serbo-Croatian : gajda/гајда , Turkish : gayda also tulum and Ukrainian : gayda / ґайда . In Tunisia, it
1638-535: Is suitable for use as dance music. Numerous types of bagpipes today are widely spread across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as well as through much of the former British Empire . The name bagpipe has almost become synonymous with its best-known form, the Great Highland bagpipe , overshadowing the great number and variety of traditional forms of bagpipe. Despite the decline of these other types of pipes over
1701-399: Is the way in which they produce sound. All woodwinds produce sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple . Despite the name, a woodwind may be made of any material, not just wood. Common examples of other materials include brass, silver, cane, and other metals such as gold and platinum. The saxophone, for example, though made of brass, is considered
1764-497: Is typically much larger and more diverse than the orchestra's. It typically includes piccolos , flutes , oboes , B ♭ clarinets , bass clarinets , bassoons , alto saxophones , tenor saxophones , and baritone saxophones . Alto flute , cor anglais , E ♭ clarinet , alto clarinet , contra-alto clarinet , contrabass clarinet , contrabassoon , soprano saxophone , and bass saxophone are also sometimes used. Buxus About 70 species; see text Buxus
1827-810: The Breton biniou , the Balkan gaida , the Romanian cimpoi , the Black Sea tulum , the Scottish smallpipes and pastoral pipes , as well as other varieties. Bulgaria has the Kaba gaida , a large bagpipe of the Rhodope mountains with a hexagonal and rounded drone, often described as a deep-sounding gaida and the Dzhura gaida with a straight conical drone and of a higher pitch . The Macedonian gaida
1890-525: The International Space Station in November 2015. Traditionally, one of the purposes of the bagpipe was to provide music for dancing. This has declined with the growth of dance bands, recordings, and the decline of traditional dance. In turn, this has led to many types of pipes developing a performance-led tradition, and indeed much modern music based on the dance music tradition played on bagpipes
1953-521: The United States have also adopted the tradition of fielding pipe bands. In recent years, often driven by revivals of native folk music and dance, many types of bagpipes have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and, in many cases, instruments that had fallen into obscurity have become extremely popular. In Brittany , the Great Highland bagpipe and concept of the pipe band were appropriated to create
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2016-414: The clarinet and saxophone . Double reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of sound production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period ; its discovery has been attributed to the observation of wind blowing through a split rush. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air
2079-559: The musette de cour , the musette bechonnet and the cabrette in France; and the Dudy [ pl ] , koziol bialy , and koziol czarny in Poland. The bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous, even sound. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or by pumping air into it with
2142-399: The tonic note of the chanter). Exceptions are generally those pipes that have a double-chanter instead. A drone is most commonly a cylindrically bored tube with a single reed, although drones with double reeds exist. The drone is generally designed in two or more parts with a sliding joint so that the pitch of the drone can be adjusted. Depending on the type of pipes, the drones may lie over
2205-603: The 16th century, boxwood was used to create intricate decorative carvings, including intricate rosary prayer beads . As of 2016, the largest collection of these carvings is at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. High quality wooden spoons have usually been carved from box, with beech being the usual cheaper substitute. Due to its high density, resistance to chipping, and relatively low cost, boxwood has been used to make parts for various stringed instruments since antiquity. It
2268-434: The 18th century are extremely rare; however, a substantial number of paintings, carvings, engravings, and manuscript illuminations survive. These artefacts are clear evidence that bagpipes varied widely throughout Europe, and even within individual regions. Many examples of early folk bagpipes in continental Europe can be found in the paintings of Brueghel, Teniers, Jordaens, and Durer. The earliest known artefact identified as
2331-648: The Anglo-Norman invasion; another mention attributes their use to Irish troops in Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne . Illustrations in the 1581 book The Image of Irelande by John Derricke clearly depict a bagpiper. Derricke's illustrations are considered to be reasonably faithful depictions of the attire and equipment of the English and Irish population of the 16th century. The "Battell" sequence from My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) by William Byrd , which probably alludes to
2394-470: The Eurasian section. Box plants are commonly grown as hedges and for topiary . In Britain and mainland Europe, box is subject to damage from caterpillars of Cydalima perspectalis which can devastate a box hedge within a short time. This is a recently introduced species first noticed in Europe in 2007 and in the UK in 2008 but spreading. There were 3 UK reports of infestation in 2011, 20 in 2014 and 150 in
2457-563: The Irish wars of 1578, contains a piece entitled The bagpipe: & the drone . In 1760, the first serious study of the Scottish Highland bagpipe and its music was attempted in Joseph MacDonald's Compleat Theory . A manuscript from the 1730s by a William Dixon of Northumberland contains music that fits the border pipes , a nine-note bellows-blown bagpipe with a chanter similar to that of the modern Great Highland bagpipe . However,
2520-690: The United Kingdom and Commonwealth Nations such as Canada , New Zealand and Australia , the Great Highland bagpipe is commonly used in the military and is often played during formal ceremonies. Foreign militaries patterned after the British army have also adopted the Highland bagpipe, including those of Uganda , Sudan , India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Jordan , and Oman . Many police and fire services in Scotland , Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong , and
2583-458: The article for that bagpipe Woodwind instrument Plucked Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments . Common examples include flute , clarinet , oboe , bassoon , and saxophone . There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed instruments (otherwise called reed pipes). The main distinction between these instruments and other wind instruments
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2646-440: The associated danger of lung infection if they are not kept clean, even if they otherwise require less cleaning than do bags made from natural substances. Bags cut from larger materials are usually saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam and stitched (for skin bags) or glued (for synthetic bags) to reduce leaks. Holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. In the case of bags made from largely intact animal skins,
2709-423: The bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with the tongue while inhaling, in order to prevent unwanted deflation of the bag, but most blowpipes have a non-return valve that eliminates this need. In recent times, there are many instruments that assist in creating a clean air flow to the pipes and assist the collection of condensation. The use of
2772-442: The best available materials for measurement scales and technical drawing rulers. Alternative materials of the era were ivory , paper, and metal. Disadvantages of ivory included that it would slightly shrink over time, the size and shape of blanks was limited by that of the tusk, and supply was limited. Paper was soft, difficult to use, and did not last long. Metal marked the surface it was being used on and increased expense. Ebony
2835-451: The chanter. The term chanter is derived from the Latin cantare , or "to sing", much like the modern French verb meaning "to sing", chanter . A distinctive feature of the gaida's chanter (which it shares with a number of other Eastern European bagpipes) is the "flea-hole" (also known as a mumbler or voicer , marmorka ) which is covered by the index finger of the left hand. The flea-hole
2898-517: The creation of the ceòl mór (great music) of the bagpipe, which reflected its martial origins, with battle tunes, marches, gatherings, salutes and laments. The Highlands of the early 17th century saw the development of piping families including the MacCrimmonds , MacArthurs, MacGregors , and the Mackays of Gairloch . The earliest Irish mention of the bagpipe is in 1206, approximately thirty years after
2961-459: The first half of 2015. Owing to its fine grain it is a good wood for fine wood carving , although this is limited by the small sizes available. It is also resistant to splitting and chipping, and thus useful for decorative or storage boxes. Traditional Japanese boxwood combs are called Tsuge Gushi and have been in production since the Heian Period . As a timber or wood for carving it
3024-607: The fur is on the inside of the bag, as this helps to reduce the effect of moisture buildup within the bag. The chanter is the melody pipe, played with two hands. All bagpipes have at least one chanter; some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, in the Balkans, and in Southwest Asia. A chanter can be bored internally so that the inside walls are parallel (or "cylindrical") for its full length, or it can be bored in
3087-657: The last few centuries, in recent years many of these pipes have seen a resurgence or revival as musicians have sought them out; for example, the Irish piping tradition , which by the mid 20th century had declined to a handful of master players is today alive, well, and flourishing, a situation similar to that of the Asturian gaita , the Galician gaita , the Portuguese gaita transmontana , the Aragonese gaita de boto , Northumbrian smallpipes ,
3150-498: The musette de cour, the uilleann pipes , the Northumbrian smallpipes, the piva and the left chanter of the surdelina ) have closed ends or stop the end on the player's leg, so that when the player "closes" (covers all the holes), the chanter becomes silent. A practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones and has a much quieter reed, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly and with no variables other than playing
3213-635: The music in Dixon's manuscript varied greatly from modern Highland bagpipe tunes, consisting mostly of extended variation sets of common dance tunes. Some of the tunes in the Dixon manuscript correspond to those found in the early 19th century manuscript sources of Northumbrian smallpipe tunes, notably the rare book of 50 tunes, many with variations, by John Peacock . As Western classical music developed, both in terms of musical sophistication and instrumental technology, bagpipes in many regions fell out of favour because of their limited range and function. This triggered
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#17328686601903276-479: The octave below and then a drone consonant with the fifth of the chanter. The evidence for bagpipes prior to the 13th century AD is still uncertain, but several textual and visual clues have been suggested. The Oxford History of Music posits that a sculpture of bagpipes has been found on a Hittite slab at Euyuk in Anatolia, dated to 1000 BC. Another interpretation of this sculpture suggests that it instead depicts
3339-445: The plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes". A set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter , and usually at least one drone . Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag. The most common method of supplying air to
3402-534: The popularity of many traditional forms of bagpipe throughout Europe, which began to be displaced by instruments from the classical tradition and later by gramophone and radio. As pipers were easily identifiable, combat losses were high, estimated at one thousand in World War I. A front line role was prohibited following high losses in the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1943, though a few later instances occurred. In
3465-422: The reed is a combination of a cotton phenolic (Hgw2082) material from which the body of the reed is made and a clarinet reed cut to size in order to fit the body. These type of reeds produce a louder sound and are not so sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. Most bagpipes have at least one drone , a pipe that generally is not fingered but rather produces a constant harmonizing note throughout play (usually
3528-686: The reeds are never in direct contact with the player's lips. Free reed aerophone instruments are likewise unique since sound is produced by 'free reeds' – small metal tongues arranged in rows within a metal or wooden frame. The airflow necessary for the instrument's sound is generated either by a player's breath (e.g. harmonica ), or by bellows (e.g. accordion ). The modern orchestra 's woodwind section typically includes flutes , oboes , clarinets , and bassoons . Supplementary instruments include piccolo , cor anglais , bass clarinet , E-flat clarinet , and contrabassoon . Saxophones are also used on occasion. The concert band 's woodwind section
3591-429: The shoulder, across the arm opposite the bag, or may run parallel to the chanter. Some drones have a tuning screw, which effectively alters the length of the drone by opening a hole, allowing the drone to be tuned to two or more distinct pitches. The tuning screw may also shut off the drone altogether. In most types of pipes with one drone, it is pitched two octaves below the tonic of the chanter. Additional drones often add
3654-465: The sport of curling , bagpipes are also the official instrument of the World Curling Federation and are commonly played during a ceremonial procession of teams before major curling championships. Bagpipe making was once a craft that produced instruments in many distinctive, local and traditional styles. Today, the world's largest producer of the instrument is Pakistan , where the industry
3717-457: The stocks are typically tied into the points where the limbs and the head joined the body of the whole animal, a construction technique common in Central Europe . Different regions have different ways of treating the hide. The simplest methods involve just the use of salt, while more complex treatments involve milk , flour , and the removal of fur. The hide is normally turned inside out so that
3780-759: The top four are covered by the thumb and the first three fingers of the left hand, then the four fingers of the right hand cover the remaining four holes. The note from the chanter is produced by a reed installed at its top. The reed may be a single (a reed with one vibrating tongue) or double reed (of two pieces that vibrate against each other). Double reeds are used with both conical- and parallel-bored chanters while single reeds are generally (although not exclusively) limited to parallel-bored chanters. In general, double-reed chanters are found in pipes of Western Europe while single-reed chanters appear in most other regions. They are made from reed ( arundo donax or Phragmites ), bamboo , or elder . A more modern variant for
3843-414: The world. Capped double-reed instruments, on the other hand, have the double reed covered by a cap; the player blows through a hole in this cap that then directs the air through the reeds. This family includes the crumhorn . Bagpipes are unique reed pipe instruments, since they use two or more double or single reeds. However, bagpipes are functionally the same as a capped double reed instruments, since
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#17328686601903906-526: Was another dense and stable wood prized for drawing instruments but typically only if scales were not necessary; boxwood's light color contrasted much better with scales. Devices made of boxwood included set squares , scale rulers, yardsticks , folding rulers, slide rules , Marquois scales , T-squares, protractors , and a wide range of other measuring, metering, and straight-edge devices and tools, as well as general functional items such as combs , weaving shuttles , etc. A boxwood rule generally refers to
3969-478: Was worth $ 6.8 million in 2010. In the late 20th century, various models of electronic bagpipes were invented. The first custom-built MIDI bagpipes were developed by the Asturian piper known as Hevia (José Ángel Hevia Velasco). Astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is thought to be the first person to play the bagpipes in outer space , having played " Amazing Grace " in tribute to late research scientist Victor Hurst aboard
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