Posts Tagged ‘community’
Came on, Play the Bagpipes!
Posted in Practice
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 »
Tags: andrew lenz, are, area, aren, bad habits, Bagpipe, Bagpipes, band, bar, BBC, bbc news, British, Came, casual observer, Chanter, chisholm, commitment, community, commute, contact, Costing, day, decision, detail, directory, ear, education, effort, engine, Expected, experience, February, feedback, festival, forum, Great, guidance, highland bagpipe, highland bagpipes, Important, information, instructor, instrument, Internet, internet search engine, jet, Journey, journey web, Legion, level, Listening, listing, local festival, Locate, luck, member, membership, money, musical instrument, name, News, noise, noise level, observer, page, Patrick, person, pipe, pipe band, piper, Play, Practice, quality, recorder, resource, Royal, royal british legion, Scotland, Scottish, scottish festival, search, set, size, someone, something, sound, st patrick, state, teacher, thing, time, time effort, type, wait, way, web, webcam, website, wedding, Wick, world, year
Bagpipes at funerals?
Posted in music instrument
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.
Tags: Answer, Bagpipes, band, brigade, Celtic, celtic cultures, community, descent, division, drum band, Emerald, emerald society, Famine, Fire, firefighter, fraternal, fraternal group, funeral, funerals, Great, great potato famine, group, highland, highland pipes, history, irish community, irish descent, irish immigrants, irish people, irish tradition, mid, officer, part, pipe, police, police departments, Potato, purpose, Question, racism, sad one, Scottish, scottish bagpipes, scottish cultures, scottish highland bagpipes, Society, tradition, Uillean, uillean pipes, Work-related, xenophobia
Kind of Bagpipes in Europe
Posted in music instrument
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 »
Tags: accompaniment, addition, air, ancient scots, appropriation, arm, australia india, bag, Bagpipe, Bagpipes, band, beat, black, blow pipe, Border, British, british empire, canada and the united states, cane, canon, case, Celtic, celtic world, century, chair, challenge, Chanter, chordal, circle, community, community dance, Concert, conformity, dance, degree, difference, drones, Elbow, Empire, end, English, english military, ensemble, expression, extent, fashion, fingering, flat, flow, folk, frustration, Great, hand, highland bagpipe, highland pipes, Historically, india and pakistan, inspiration, instrument, interpretation, intimidation, Isles, keyboard, Kind, left, leg, lever, Lowland, marching bands, matter, melody, moisture, mouth, Music, name, note, palette, Parlour, part, pibroch, pipe, piper, Pipes, pitch, plastic, player, playing, pressure, quieter, range, regulator, repertoire, revival, room, Scale, Scots, Scottish, sean, set, set pieces, solo, solo piper, sound, state, style, sweeter, technique, the, thigh, thoughtful expression, today, tone, tonic, tool, tradition, training, Uillean, ultimate challenge, use, variety, version, war, world, worldwide, wrist