Traditional Irish Instrument

Posts Tagged ‘ear’

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 »

The Bagpipe of The Scots
Nowadays, when one mentions bagpipes, one usually thinks of tartan-clad pipe bands, or the label of a bottle of Scotch whisky. But bagpipes had been around for thousands of years before they reached the shores of Scotland.
It is unknown when the Highlands first echoed to the keen of the pipes. They may have been introduced by the Romans when they invaded the British Isles, or perhaps carried over from Ireland when the Scots invaded and settled the highlands – or they may have evolved independantly.
Early Highland pipes were quite different to their modern cousins. The actual pipes themselves were crafted from whatever was available – even bone was used. Tonally, they were probably somewhat lower in pitch than modern pipes. Early bagpipes only had one drone. The design gradually improved, with more drones being added, until by the time of the last Jacobite uprising in 1745-6, bagpipes with two drones were the norm, although three-drone pipes were not unknown. Two-drone bagpipes are still played by Irish regimental bands, and are called Irish Pipes.
The modern Highland Bagpipe consists of three drones – one bass, two tenors – a chanter (the melody pipe, through which nine notes are produced), a blowstick ( through which the bag is inflated), and, of course, a bag of leather or synthetic material. Read the rest of this entry »

“You know what they say about the pipers…tuning half the time and the other half out of tune…” So says Allan Macdonald as he warms up his pipes for a Friends of Highland Music lecture at Eden Court, Inverness. He is tuning small pipes – “a bit more friendly in your ear, probably” – fastened with straps round his chest and arm. This instrument has become increasingly popular in the last 10-20 years; it can be played with other instruments and gives the player the opportunity to sing whilst piping. Allan, a natural orator and gifted musician, has carried out detailed research into the history and culture of Scottish piping.

Allan has been playing bagpipes since he was a child, and in early adulthood started to question what he saw as the conformist nature of pipe playing in Scotland. This led to a lifelong interest in the traditional roots of bagpipe music and the changes that have occurred as piping moved from an oral to notated tradition.

It seems likely that bagpipes arrived in Scotland via Ireland or England. Early references are sparse, but it seems probable that bagpipes arrived in Scotland in the thirteenth century. There is a record around 1362 of James I giving payment to pipers. Rosslyn Chapel has an early carving of an angel playing a one-drone bagpipe. Read the rest of this entry »