Säckpipan

Nedanstående innehåll är skapat av Mimers Brunns besökare. Kommentera arbete

The Bagpipe


The bagpipe used in Scotland, is the Great Highland bagpipe.
It’s the sort we often think of when hearing the word bagpipe.
Even though a lot of people connects Scotland with it and think of Scotland as the inventor of it, that’s not really true. The history of the bagpipe is rather unknown and indistinct. Often the Middle East is mentioned as the place of invention. Historians think that they have developed from an instrument similar to a hornpipe or an instrument from the woodwind family called shawm.

A bagpipe has to consist of at least four different parts, namely an air supply, a bag, a chanter and a drone. The Great Highland ones have cords as well.
The function of the cords is to hold the drones in place and are often made of silk to give a nice and attractive look. The drones that the cords keep in place are the ones that produce the humming noice. It’s often a cylindrical tube with a single reed made of local hardwood. Nowadays you could also find drones made of tropical hardwoods instead.
The pipe bag acts as an air reservoir. The piper squeezes the bag when taking a breath and that feeds air to the chanter providing a constant sound. This technique is difficult to learn and takes a lot of practise. The material used for them are varied widely, but skin from local animals is often used. As a variation of skin, Gore-Tex and rubber can work as well. Sometimes the bags have zippers.
The blow pipe is the air supply which you blow into. It has an inbuilt valve that closes when you take a breath and prevents the air from leaving the bag. Recently electronic bagpipes have been invented and they work a bit different from the regular type.
The chanter is the melody pipe which you play with your hand or hands on. It has holes which produce the sound. The chanter can be varied and built up in different ways depending on which country it derives from. The Great Highland one has nine holes and these are often partially covered with tape to adjust the pitch of the note. They are often made out of wood or plastic.

It’s important to take care of the bagpipe to get a better performance. The synthetic bags are easiest to take care of. The only thing you have to think about is whether it’s dry enough or not. Try to keep it in a dry place.

Nowadays the bagpipes are a common tradition for military fune...