Traditional Irish Instrument

Posts Tagged ‘band’

How to Find a Great Highland Bagpipe Teacher
The BBC News reported on February 28, 2007 that the 40-member Wick Royal British Legion Scotland Pipe Band recorded a noise level exceeding the sound of a jet taking off. Regardless of the size of the band, the Great Highland Bagpipes are hard to miss. Listening to a massed band can be a captivating experience that motivates many to try to learn how to play the Great Highland bagpipes themselves.
Don’t Wait
If you decide that you want to be more than just a casual observer of the bagpipes — that is, you want to learn how to play them — don’t wait too long. Like any musical instrument, it takes considerable time, effort, and commitment to become proficient.
A Teacher is Important
Once you’ve decided that this is something you really want to pursue, you need to find a good teacher. Andrew Lenz goes into great detail on this on his website Bagpipe Journey. Read the rest of this entry »

Bands that Use the Bagpipes in Their Music
Bagpipes are used across the musical genres and by many mainstream musicians. Some songs and artists are recognizable; others are just waiting to be discovered.

Bagpipes aren’t just for funerals, mass bands, and pub crawls. They can be a powerful compliment to a rock band and a surprising addition to a pop artist.. Bagpipes make a band and its’ sound unique and more fun to listen to.
Rock and Roll Bagpipes
There are many different options for rock and roll music and bagpipes. A good song to start with is the classic AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock ‘n Roll). Here are some other bands that more regularly incorporate the bagpipes into their songs:
• Black 47-This Irish rock band was formed in New York in 1989. They use the Uilleann Bagpipes which are Irish small bagpipes. They Uilleann Bagpipes have a different tone than the Great Highland Bagpipes, but are equally enjoyable to listen too.
• Dropkick Murphys-This American Celtic punk band was formed in 1996. They’ve put out 6 albums since than. Their truly unique rendition of Amazing Grace is definitely worth a listen.
• Red Hot Chilli Pipers-This Scottish band formed in 2004 and is made up of world class bagpipe musicians. Their cover of We Will Rock You sets the standard for full incorporation of the Great Highland Bagpipes into mainstream music. Read the rest of this entry »

Question: Why are bagpipes a part of funerals, especially firefighter and police funerals?
Answer: The history of funeral bagpipes is a fairly simple (though very sad) one. In traditional Celtic cultures, including both the Irish and Scottish cultures, bagpipes were an important part of a traditional funeral. After the Great Potato Famine of the mid-1840s, Irish immigrants came to the United States in huge numbers. Due primarily to racism and xenophobia, Irish people were often allowed to apply for only the most dangerous and difficult jobs, including the jobs of firefighter and police officer.

Work-related deaths for firemen and cops were not uncommon, and when one or more of these deaths would occur, the Irish community would hold a traditional Irish funeral, including the mournful bagpipes. Over the years, this tradition spread to firefighters and police officers who were not of Irish descent.

So if it’s an Irish tradition, why are the Scottish bagpipes used?

In short, it’s because the Scottish highland bagpipes are significantly louder than the traditional Irish uillean pipes. Though it’s likely that either or both types of pipes were used at funerals in the 1800s, the Scottish highland pipes are now almost universally used.

Where do they find bagpipers to play at firefighter and police officer’s funerals?

Fire and police departments in most major cities have a special brigade, usually as a division of an Irish fraternal group called The Emerald Society, who learn to play bagpipes and drums for the very purpose of honoring their fallen comrades. In some places, civilians may be members of the pipe and drum band, but generally, the members are active or retired firefighters and police officers.

My life has changed. In Shotts, half-way between Glasgow and Edinburgh, I confronted the ear-bleeding intensity of the House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band in rehearsal. It’s one of the most technically impressive, and loudest, musical experiences I’ve ever had. I used to think pipe bands represented a sort of anti-music, a way of life that was all about competitions, accuracy, and awards, in which so much as single grace note out of place in a jig makes the difference between success and failure, and where the only index of musical value is absolute fidelity to a pre-existing canon of traditional tunes, memorialised and ossified over the centuries into the musical equivalent of a beauty contest: music as surface and commodity rather than novelty or inspiration.

Aye well, I learnt my lesson at the hands of Pipe Major Robert Mathieson, who’s led the Shotts band to a handful of world championship titles over the years (I interviewed him for this week’s Music Matters on Radio 3). Shotts is a band that’s formed in Robert’s image – well, his and Drum Major Jim Kilpatrick’s. Robert and Jim are writing completely new melodies, medleys and arrangements for this year’s competition season, which gets going in May. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many varieties of instruments known as bagpipes throughout Europe and in parts of Asia, but in the Celtic world of the British Isles, there are two main types, The Irish (Uillean or Elbow) and the Scottish (Great Highland or Small Border). How do we distinguish between them?
The Great Highland (Bagpipe) is probably the most prolific bagpipe worldwide today, due in no small part to the vast extent of the British Empire in the 19th century. The English military appropriated the ancient Scots use of the bagpipe as a tool of intimidation and inspiration in war, and developed military marching bands which accompanied their troops throughout ‘the colonies’. Hence, the playing of the Highland Pipes is very widespread today from New Zealand and Australia, India and Pakistan, through to Canada and the United States. Read the rest of this entry »