There are many kinds of bagpipes; the following is an overview of some of the most common:
The Great Highland Bagpipe
Probably the most well known are the Great Highland Bagpipes (commonly abbreviated GHBs), which were developed in Scotland
and Ireland. The picture at right shows a set of Great Highland Bagpipes.
A modern set has a bag, a chanter, a blowpipe, two tenor drones, and one bass drone. The scale on the chanter is approximately
in mixolydian with a range from one degree lower than the tonic to one octave above it (in piper's parlance: Low G (natural),
Low A, B, C (sharp), D, E, F (sharp), High G (natural), and High A). The two tenor drones are an octave below the keynote (Low A)
of the chanter) and the bass drone two octaves below. This "A" of the GHB is actually slightly, slightly sharper than B-flat,
around 480 Hz, and within the realm of competitve pipe bands, seems to get sharper each year. In the 1990s, there were a few new
developments, namely, reliable synthetic drone reeds, and synthetic bags that deal with moisture arguably better than hide or older
synthetic bags.
Regional usage
The GHB is widely used by both soloists and pipe bands (civilian and military), and is now played in countries around the world, particularly those with large Scottish and Irish emigrant populations, namely Canada, United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It has also been adopted by many countries "touched on" by the British Empire, such as India (where it replaced the local bagpipes, "Moshak" and "Shruti"), Pakistan (with an extensive GHB manufacture), the Gurkas of Nepal (famous for their soldiers), Arabic countries, and Uganda (where Idi Amin forbade the export of African Blackwood, so as to encourage local bagpipe construction, during the 1970s).
The GHB was also adopted in Thailand; around 1921, King Rama VI ordered a set to accompany the marching exercises of the Sua Pa, or Wild Tiger Corps (a royal guard unit which had previously practiced to the sounds of an oboe called pi chawa). Although the bagpipes arrived from the British Isles with a user's manual, no one was able to figure out how to play them, so the bassoon player Khun Saman Siang-prajak went to the British Embassy and learned how to play the instrument with the British soldiers, until he was satisfied. He then returned to teach the Thai pipe band, until they could perform properly. The band, which plays Thai as well as Scottish tunes, still practices at Vachiravuth High School in Bangkok, which is named for Rama VI.[1]
Pollig Monjarret introduced the GHB to Brittany during the Celtic revival of the 1920s Breton folk music scene, inventing the bagad, a pipe band incorporating the GHB, the Scottish pipe band drum section, the bombarde and recently, almost any added grouping of wind instruments, e.g. saxophones, brass instruments, such as the trumpet and trombone, etc. Well known bagads include Bagad Brieg, Bagad Kemper, and Bagad Cap Caval. In Brittany, the GHB is known as the Biniou Brahz, meaning Great Biniou, in contrast to the biniou koz, the small traditional Breton bagpipe.
In Ireland, a presumably related instrument is seen in a woodcut by Derrick (an Elizabethan Englishman), in his book, entitled, "Derrick's Image of Ireland", circa 1580, showing a piper leading a group of soldiers and playing a two drone instrument with a long chanter. This instrument apparently died out in Ireland during the 1700s. In the late 1800s a number of Irish pipers attempted a romantic revival with the Brian Boru pipe (see below). Another version of a revived "Irish" bagpipe, was essentially a GHB with a bass drone, and a single tenor. This was often termed the Irish Warpipes. This configuration, with two drones (either a bass and tenor, or two tenors), has some historical basis, having been depicted in paintings, and other art, in Scotland in the 1700s. In all, the two-drone pipe is now a rarity in Ireland, having been replaced by the GHB.
Music
As with most other types of bagpipe, the fact that the air flow is continuous means that two notes cannot be separated by simply stopping blowing or tonguing or the like. The gracenote is therefore used for this purpose. A number of more complicated ornaments using a series of grace notes are also used, such as doublings, taorluaths, throws, grips and birls. These are used for emphasis on, say, the first beat of a bar, or just as a more musical way to get from one note to the next. Generally speaking, a high G gracenote is used on the beat while E and D gracenotes are used at other times. These three gracenotes (G,D, and E) are the most commonly used and are often played in sucession. All gracenotes are performed rapidly, by quick finger movements, giving an effect similar to tongueing or articulation on modern wind instruments.
Beginning in the late Middle Ages we have the first evidence of piobaireachd (also written pibroch). This form of music is often called the "big music" of the GHB (in Gaelic Ceòl Mòr), and has something of a scholarly circle devoted to it. It consists of a slow ground movement (Gaelic urlár) which is a simple theme, then a series of somewhat minimalist variations on this theme, and ends with a return to the ground. The other music for the GHB, sometimes called "light music" (Gaelic Ceòl Beag), includes marches (2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, etc), dance tunes (particularly strathspeys, reels, hornpipes, and jigs), slow airs, and more. It dates largely from the last two centuries, being either Scottish or Irish folk music played on the pipes, tunes written by pipers in the British Army during this time, or, increasingly, tunes composed by pipers in civilian pipe bands.
Related instruments
A smaller, quieter instrument, the practice chanter, with a smaller reed than the GHB chanter reed, and lacking a bag or drones, is suitable for practice in settings where a great volume of sound would be inappropriate or unappreciated by your neighbors or family members. Another practice instrument, called a goose, has a bag, with the practice chanter, but lacks drones, and allows a student to practice "winding" the pipe with the proper mix of breath and bag pressure.
The Irish Uilleann Bagpipe
The next most common type is the Irish or Uilleann (pronounced "illin," Irish for elbow) bagpipe; this vies with the Northumbrian smallpipe for the title of most developed bagpipe in existence. This Irish bellows-blown pipe plays a two octave diatonic scale in D major and a cross-fingered C natural is used to play a huge number of G major tunes (indeed, tunes in G major probably outnumber those in D in the Irish traditional music canon) Also tunes in E minor, A minor, B minor, and D mixolydian. The second octave is produced by overblowing, and extra keys and/or cross-fingering can be used to produce other tones than those in a diatonic D major scale. The most commonly added keys on "D" sets give the notes: C natural, B-flat, G-sharp, and F natural. Although the chanter does not have a completely closed end, like the Northumbrian smallpipes, the player can press the end of the chanter against a leather pad on his/her knee while closing all fingerholes, producing complete silence. This is used to play short staccato passages. The leather pad (piper's appron) is sometimes replaced by an air-tight popping valve at the distal end of the chanter, which makes it easier to close the pipe completely against the knee, although the chanter does sit higher on the knee. The Uilleann pipes also have three drones (although there are a few examples of sets with four drones, these are non-standard), set in a common stock, all tuned to three different octaves of D, and up to three (or in rare cases four and five) regulators which are effectively a kind of plugged chanter with keys, designed to be played by the wrist. Accomplished players can use these to provide a limited but powerfully impressive chordal accompaniment, while playing the chanter at the same time, and with/with out the drones, which have their own on/off switch. Often Uilleann pipes are found without any drones or regulators; these sets are called somewhat misleadingly "practice sets". In fact, many pipers use these sets for their entire piping careers. Another common choice is to have only the drones, without regulators. This is known as a half-set. A final occasional variant, the three-quarter set, omits the bass regulator. A "full set" is a chanter, 3 drones (tenor,baritone,and bass)3 regulators (treble, baritone, and "G"bass) The Irish bagpipes can be in different keys: E flat, D, C, B, and B flat. The lower pitch sets (C, B, and B flat) are very quiet, due to their very narrow bores.
The Northumbrian Smallpipe
The Northumbrian smallpipe is a bellows-blown pipe which, as noted above, shares the unusual characteristic with the Uilleann pipes of being able to stop the sound of the chanter. This is done by giving the chanter a completely closed end. This combined with the unusually tight fingering (each note is played by lifting only one finger) means that much Northumbrian piping tends to be very staccato in style. The chanter has a number of keys, most commonly seven, but chanters with a two octave range can be made which require seventeen keys, all played with either the right hand thumb and left hand pinkie. There is no overblowing to get this two octave range, due to the cylindrical bore, the keys are integral, along with the length of the chanter, to obtain the two octaves. The original (18th century) short keyless chanters only had the range of one octave. In practice, few players find they require anything more complex than the seven key chanter. Traditionally, the chanter is pitched in what Northumbrian pipers refer to as F+, a pitch approximately twenty cents sharp of F natural. The music, however, is always written in G. Nowadays, chanters are available anywhere from D to G, G and true F natural being the most popular for playing ensemble. There are usually four drones on the Northumbrian pipes, which can be tuned to several different combinations of pitch for playing in different keys.
The Scottish Smallpipe
The Scottish smallpipe is a bellows-blown bagpipe developed from the Northumbrian smallpipe by Colin Ross (1970s), to be playable according to the Great Highland Bagpipe fingering system. Historical antecedents do exist, but modern designs are not based on these and there is no unbroken line of traditional playing. Most modern players use any comfortable open fingering or are trained GHB players. It has a cylindrical bore chanter, most commonly pitched in A, although any key is feasible; D, C, and B flat are the next most common keys. They are most commonly unkeyed, but occasionally G sharp, F natural, and C natural keys are added. It is possible to add enough keys to produce a two-octave chromatic scale, but this is rarely done. The present writer cannot think of any prominent piper using such a set, and the most keys witnessed on a chanter is 6, giving an range of low G to high C in G major on an A chanter. The drones are set in a common stock and are tuned an octave below the tonic, either the fifth or an octave below the fifth (a few players choose to tune this to the fourth instead), and two octaves below the tonic. It is perhaps the youngest bagpipe with any popularity, having only existed since its invention in the early 1980s. It is however extremely popular, particularly with Highland pipers, many of whom keep it or a Border pipe as a second instrument. Mouth-blown versions are available, but it is difficult to produce quality tone from these instruments due to the reed's delicate construction.
The Biniou
The Biniou , or Biniou Koz (old style bagpipe) is a mouth blown bagpipe from Brittany, a Celtic region of France. It has a one octave scale with the flat lead tone below, and one note over the octave with a cross fingering. The Biniou is very high pitched--an octave higher than the Scots Great Highland Bagpipe. It has a single drone two octaves below the tonic. Traditionally it is played as a duet with the bombarde, a shawm which sounds an octave below the biniou chanter, for Breton folk dancing. It is the most famous bagpipe of France, but not the most played due to the revival of other French bagpipes in other regions, including Bourbonais, Limousin, Auvergne, and others.
French and Occitan Bagpipes
The Center-France bagpipes (called in French cornemuse du centre or musette du centre) are of many different types, some mouth blown, some bellows blown; some names for these instruments include chevrette (which means "little goat," referring to the use of a goatskin for its bag), chabrette, chabretta, chabreta, cabreta, bodega, and boha. It can be found in the Bourbonnais, Nivernais, and Morvan regions of France.
A distinguishing factor of most French bagpipes is the placement of the tenor drone alongside the chanter rather than in the same stock as the bass drone.
In the northern regions of Occitania:Auvergne, we find the (generally) bellows blown cabreta, and in Limousin the mouth blown chabreta. The cabrette is much played in areas of Paris where Auvergnats tended to settle; this bagpipe is in most cases played without a drone, and together with an accordeon. The chabrette, while having a similar name, is a quite different pipe, with a triple-bored bass drone played across the player's arm rather than over the shoulder. The form of the chabrette chanter appears similar to early oboes, including a swallow-tail key for the lowest note which is placed under a fontenelle.
The Occitan names also refer to the goat. In the Occitan region of Languedoc, and especially in the Montanha negre (Black Mountain) area, the bodega is played. This is a very large mouth blown pipe made from the skin of an entire goat. In Gascony, a small mouth blown bagpipe called boha (from bohar meaning "to blow") is used.
There are a number of piping schools. One of the most important is the Conservatoire Occitan, located in the city of Toulouse (Occitania) but there are also important schools in Limoges, Aurillac, Belin, Mazamet, and other towns. There is also a school of cabrette playing in Paris, with around 50 pupils. Although Central French pipes are generally used to play traditional music, some Occitan pop groups use them as well. Such groups include La Talvera, Familha Artus, and Tenareze.
The Border Pipe
The Border pipe is a close cousin of the Highland bagpipe, and is commonly confused with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument. With one conical chanter and three drones in a common stock, tuned as per Highland pipes or Scottish smallpipes, this bagpipe combines the Highland pipe tone with the more manageable key of A=440. Because of smaller internal diameter bores, in contrast to the GHB, the pipe has a lower volume. This makes it suitable for playing in folk bands and at informal folk sessions. Other names for this pipe are Scots lowland pipes, the Cauld (cold) Wind Pipes (due to the fact that air is provided by a bellows rather than the player's lungs), the Oxter (underarm) pipes, and the Northumbrian Half-Long pipes, which has a bass/baritone/tenor drone configuration. The term "Border Pipes", can be any bagpipes, played on the Scottish/English border. Thus you have to include the "Pastoral or New Bagpipe" (this is the name given to the ancestor of the Irish Pipes) from the title of the tutor (or instruction book) by J. Geoghan, published in London,1745. These pipes were manufactured on both sides of the border of Scotland and England.
The Gaita
Gaita is the Spanish and Portuguese name for the bagpipe used in Galicia, Asturias and the northeastern "Tres os Montes" region of Portugal. It has a conical chanter with a partial second octave, obtained by overblowing. Pipe bands and folk groups playing these instruments have become popular in recent years.
Gaitas can be found in the keys of G, A, B-flat, B, C, C sharp (Do brillante), and D, with some groups using a combination of keys. For example: there may be several sets in C and a set in G acting as a bass, or A and D together and so on for a bagpipe "choir" (different ranges played together). For many years the playing of close harmony (thirds and sixths) with two gaitas of the same key was/is the normal style, and this influenced the French pipers, starting in the 1970s, who began the bagpipe choirs, or "ensemble des cornemuses". Bulgaria also had similar choirs, starting in the 1950s, with gaidas in different related keys, played together. Most gaita bands play with percussion, usually one bass drum and a number of tambourines (pandareitas).
Gaitas have various drone arrangements. All will have a bass drone, called roncon (literally "snorer"), which sits horizontally over the player's shoulder. Some will also have a tenor drone, pitched an octave higher than the bass, and a few have a "screamer" (called ronquito or roncón). This last is in unison with the fifth of the chanter scale, and has a plug to close it off, if it becomes too irritating!
The gaita's name is presumed to derive from a Gothic root meaning goat (gait or gata), as the bag is a whole, case-skinned goat hide; Gothic was spoken in Spain as late as the eighth century. It is also possible, however, that the name originates with the ghaita (also spelled rhaita in Morocco and algaita in Niger) a North African oboe similar to the zurna whose name derives from an Arabic word meaning "farm," and that the Gothic connection is an example of folk etymology. Bagpipes in some parts of Eastern Europe bear similar names, such as gaida, gajda, and gajdy, but the linguistic relationship, if any, between these instruments is still unclear.
The Brian Boru Bagpipe
The Brian Boru bagpipe was invented in 1910 by Henry Starck, an instrument maker (who also made regular GHBs), in London, in consultation with some Irish pipers. The name was chosen in honour of the Irish king Brian_Boru, though this bagpipe is not a recreation of any pipes that were played at the time of his reign. The Brian Boru pipe is related to the Great Highland Bagpipe, but with a chanter that adds four to ten keys, to extend both the upper and lower ends of the scale, and optionally adds chromatic notes. His original pipes changed the drone configuration to a single tenor drone pitched one octave below the chanter, a baritone drone pitched one fifth below the tenor drone, and a bass drone pitched two octaves below the chanter, following the drone set-up of the Northumbrian Half-long pipes. Some later designs of these pipes reverted back to the Great Highland Bagpipe configuration of two tenor drones and one bass drone. The Brian Boru bagpipe was played for a number of years by the pipe band in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, as well as a number of civilian pipe bands. It is still played in Ireland but has lost most of its former popularity. Bagpipe makers in Pakistan still make the chanters.
Notes:
- Source: wikipedia.org
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