BAGPIPES 101

                 The Great Highland Bagpipe

Although bagpipes are by no means unique to Scotland, the Great Highland Bagpipe—or Piob Mhór as it is known in Scots Gaelic—is undoubtedly the best-known bagpipe in the world. It has been played in Scotland in one form or another for the past 600 years. The modern form that we are most familiar with in the West, diagrammed to the left, consists of a high-pitched pipe known as a chanter, a blow-pipe, and three large segmented drone pipes; all connected to a bag. The bag is inflated through the blow pipe with air from the piper’s mouth, causing the reeds within the chanter and drone pipes to vibrate, thus producing sound. The melody is played on the chanter, while the drone pipes do exactly what they’re named for— they drone, supplying a continuous fixed background note to the melody of the chanter. In the modern highland bagpipe, there are two tenor drones and one larger bass drone, but older versions of the bagpipe contained fewer drones (see The Drones, below). The drone pipes are often bound by a cord or sash to keep them together, as playing the bagpipe is awkward enough without having to deal with the drones falling all over the place.

The drones are usually tuned to B-flat. The chanter plays from a nine-note “flat” scale; the usual range of an octave and one note. In most cases, the highland bagpipe scale runs from A to A, but also includes a note below the scale, a 7^th or G. This unusual scaling means that there are simply some notes the highland bagpipe is incapable of playing.

The proper method of holding the bagpipe is shown below left, with the blowpipe in the mouth, the bag held under the left shoulder, the chanter held in the hands and the drones leaning upright over the left shoulder.

                      The correct method                                                       The incorrect, a.k.a. "Gilligan", method

Anatomy and Physiology of the Bagpipe

The bagpipe is considered a woodwind instrument. This does not mean that it is made of wood and played by wind, although this is essentially true. Woodwind instruments usually produce their sound through the vibration of a reed (or, in the bagpipe's case, reeds), although in the case of the flute, the sound is produced through the fluttering of air as it leaves the player's lips and hits the far end of the mouth-hole. The woodwind family includes the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, flute and bassoon, as well as other less-known instruments such as the shawm and cornette.

The Bag

The bag is typically made from cured animal skin, cut to shape, stitched together and turned inside-out; or (more common today) from synthetic, airtight material. It does not stretch when inflated, like a balloon; the piper must ensure a continuous supply of air to the bag in order for the pipes to sound. When the piper needs to take a breath, the bag may be squeezed slightly to maintain air  pressure on the reeds until he can resume blowing air into it. This is why removing a bagpipe from a piper’s mouth doesn’t automatically silence the instrument (as it would with any other woodwind); as long as there is air in the bag in sufficient quantity, the pipes can continue to sound. Many observers, including players of traditional mouth-blown instruments, are often surprised by the sight of bagpipers conversing with one another over the sound of their pipes.

In other areas of the world, bagpipe bags were made from the uncured skin of a whole sheep or goat. The chanter was mounted at the neck and drone pipes mounted at the fore-legs. In Eastern Europe, a sheep’s bladder was sometimes used, allowing for some elasticity in the bag reservoir (at the expense of what must have been a disgusting experience).

To prevent bag nudity, bagpipe bags are often contained within a cloth covering, known appropriately as a “bag cover.” In the case of highland pipers, most often the bag cover will correspond to a clan or pipe band tartan, but many unique bag covers exist; I once made the acquaintance of a piper whose bag was decorated with pink smiley-faces. He was a happy piper.

The Blow-Pipe

The blow-pipe is the tube that fits in the piper’s mouth. Air is blown into the bag through a non-return valve—usually a piece of leather sewn or fitted to the blow-pipe. As the piper blows air into the bag, the valve opens; when he stops, the pressure in the bag forces the valve closed, preventing the air from flowing back up the tube into the piper’s mouth (which could literally make one gag, depending on what the bag is made of). Most blow-pipes are solid wood or plastic, and take some getting used to with regard to positioning the rest of the bagpipe so it can fit in your mouth. If you just can’t figure it out, help is available: I recently saw a parade where a piper had a flexible blow-pipe, much like a crazy straw.

The Stocks

The stocks are wooden sockets that connect the pipes to the bag and ensure the delicate reeds are protected. They are sewn into the bag with strong thread in such a manner as to make the seal airtight, as leaky bagpipes do not a happy piper make (just ask me…but that’s another story). In most modern bagpipes, holes are cut to accept stocks; but in the case of bags made from whole animal skins, the natural holes—i.e. the neck and forelegs—are used. The stocks of the highland bagpipe accept one pipe each, but other types of bagpipes— the Irish uilleann pipes, for example— have stocks that can accept more than one pipe.

The Chanter

The chanter is the melody pipe of the bagpipe, and is arguably the most important part, as it is technically an instrument all by itself. It resembles a classic recorder and has seven holes in front and a thumb-hole above them on the back. Fingering on the chanter is similar to other woodwind instruments such as the clarinet or saxophone.

The top of the chanter—the part into which the reed fits, and which in turn fits into the bag—is known as the seat; the bottom, flared outlet is known as the bell. Many chanters have what is called a sole mounted around the chanter’s outlet; this is a decorative disk of plastic, ivory or metal and serves no function other than ornamentation. Many newer-style chanters do not have a sole.

The chanter contains a double-reed, similar in shape and function to an oboe reed but much smaller. Both natural cane reeds and synthetic reeds exist (see Reeds, below); which type of reed is used is a matter of personal preference. It is possible to subtly tune a bagpipe by altering the position of the chanter reed in its seat. Another method of tuning a chanter involves the use of beeswax applied around the edges of the finger holes; this changes the position of the holes slightly along the bore.

Chanters come in two types: cylindrical bore and conical bore. Conical bore chanters are louder, brasher and perfect for the highland bagpipe, which is not a subtle instrument even with the best of intentions. The grade of the bore is typically 1/8 of an inch to 7/8 of an inch from seat to bell. Cylindrical bore chanters are usually not used on the highland bagpipe, the exception being the practice chanter (see below).  Cylindrical bore chanters are softer and suitable for playing indoors; for this reason they are used often on bellows-blown border pipes and some uilleann pipes.

Chanters are usually made from thin wood, but plastic chanters are also common, particularly in pipe bands. It’s been said that no two chanters sound the same. Perhaps because of this, most serious pipers own more than one chanter, switching them out as desired. Wooden chanters have a much better sound and tonal quality to them over plastic chanters, but they are also much more fragile and expensive. A piper only needs to drop his wooden chanter once in order to be persuaded to buy a plastic chanter, as wooden chanters can (and do) run upwards of $400-$500, depending on the materials used in their construction.

The Practice Chanter

When pipers want to practice playing the pipes without pissing off their neighbors, wives or household pets, we use a practice chanter. The practice chanter is a narrow, cylindrical bore chanter designed to play indoors. The top of the chanter is a combination blowpipe and cap for the reed. Many piping students play a practice chanter for years before buying a set of bagpipes, but the practice chanter is used by experienced pipers as well.  In fact, a piper never really “graduates” from the practice chanter; it’s a vital tool for use in developing and maintaining skill.

The practice chanter is an instrument all its own, and many pipers (e.g. Scott Long and the late Gordon Duncan) incorporate it into their music. It is pitched an octave below the pipe chanter and sounds much like a loud kazoo. Like “real” chanters, practice chanters can be made from wood or plastic.

The Drones

The modern highland bagpipe has three drones: two treble drones and one bass drone, but three-drone bagpipes are a relatively recent (i.e. early eighteenth century) development. Early Scottish bagpipes were single or double-drone pipes, adaptations of bagpipes from other areas of the world. Three drones makes for richer harmonics as well as greatly increased volume. There’s something very cool about a single-drone pipe, though; for an example of this kind of bagpipe and its characteristic sound, check out Wulf’s MySpace page.

The drone pipes each have their own tubular, single-bladed reed and are segmented into two or three sections each, depending on whether it's a treble or bass drone, respectively. The bore of the drone pipe is known as “stepped” cylindrical; meaning each segment of the drone has a larger bore than the one above it. Each segment ends in a tenon or tuning slide; this allows the overall length of the drone to be adjusted, thereby altering the pitch of the drone. The bottom segments of the drones are known as the standing parts, as these parts are not moved when the bagpipe is tuned.

Everything—and I mean everything—in bagpiping depends on tuning. The drones must be in tune with the chanter. For this reason, bagpipers spend an inordinate amount of time tuning their pipes and constant adjustments are the norm. The drones are usually tuned to the fifth of the chanter scale (“so” in the do-re-mi scale) as this is the easiest note to play one-handed, allowing the other hand to manipulate the drone slides.

Bagpipes need to be tuned due to changes in weather, new reeds, or just Fate’s fickle whim. A bagpiper from New England, like me, can get on a plane to Florida and expect that his pipes won’t work properly when he arrives; probably due to humidity and climate changes, but often simply because they’re being cranky. It is an accepted fact among bagpipers that bagpipes are a pain in the ass, and God likely hates us.

Reeds

Bagpipes have two kinds of reeds: chanter reeds and drone reeds. The chanter reed is a double-reed, much like an oboe reed. It consists of a piece of cane folded double over a brass or copper staple, then gouged into a flat shape with a very narrow opening and wrapped tightly with waxed twine. A cane chanter reed looks like this:

Drone reeds are tubular single-bladed reeds, made from a complete tube of cane, closed at one end by wax or cork and inserted into the lower end of the drone, above the stocks. A single “tongue” is cut into the tube of the reed, which is the part of the reed that vibrates. A small thread is tied around the base of the tongue to allow for tuning the reed; moving the thread upwards sharpens the tone, moving it downwards flattens it. Drone reeds look like this:

For all you bagpiper/botanists out there, bagpipe reeds are made from the Arundo donax species of cane (also known as "elephant grass"), common to the Southern U.S. and most parts of Western Europe, including Scotland. It's considered an invasive weed to most people who are not bagpipers. Some bagpipes use reeds made from Elder tree wood instead of cane, particularly in areas where cane is unavailable.

Reed-making is a dying art form, as it requires a great deal of time and equipment (not to mention a ready supply of arundo donax) to make reeds properly. Nevertheless, some die-hard pipers insist on making their own reeds, and with the right amount of time and the proper skill and tools it's certainly possible. Most pipers nowadays (like me) simply buy their reeds from companies that make them professionally. Sadly, finding a good reed is a chore; a piper may go through several reeds before he finds one he is happy with.

Synthetic reeds of both types exist as well, and most pipers use a variation of the two kinds of reeds in their pipes. The most common configuration is synthetic drone reeds and a cane chanter reed (this is what I use), although I know of at least one professional piper who uses the opposite configuration (Neil Anderson, the Antipypr). Hard-core traditionalists will use nothing but cane reeds, but by and large they are people who seem to enjoy aggravation.

Why use one over the other?  Three reasons: cost, aggravation factor and sound quality. Cane reeds are much cheaper, but they don’t last as long and are notoriously temperamental, making their overall cost in the long run significant in both time and money.  A cane chanter reed will run somewhere in the range of $12.00 or so, while a set of cane drone reeds goes for about $15.00.

Synthetic pipe chanter reeds retail for around $50.00 each, and the general consensus among most pipers I know is that they sound lousy, or at least a good deal inferior to cane chanter reeds.  Oddly enough, this isn’t true about synthetic practice chanter reeds; those are supposed to sound lousy and they retail for much less (usually less than $5.00 each and no, you can’t use them in a pipe chanter). Synthetic drone reeds, in contrast, sound quite good, last forever and are less overall hassle—easier to tune with less upkeep—than cane reeds. This is what synthetic reeds look like:

A set of synthetic drone reeds runs between $60.00 and $120.00, depending on the maker and the quality (and, I guess, the vendor).

Coming soon: articles on the history of the bagpipe and bagpipe music. Stay tuned. (Heh heh. Hmm.)

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