About the Pipes
Great Highland Bagpipes is an unusual musical instrument but I really enjoy the sound. Learning to play
even at a beginner level is one of the most frustrating things I think I have ever taken on. No matter how
much technical and musical progress I make, I am always aware that I have much more work to do.
In 1995, I signed up to start the beginner pipe class at North Carolina State University. I played and
competed with the NCSU Pipes and Drum Corp. the following year but business demands on my time
forced me to quit the band. However, I have not quit my personal journey and continue to practice study
and self-teach new music and technique.
Here is some further reading if you are interested:
The Scottish Highland Bagpipe
This is by far the best-known and most common bagpipe in the world. It was developed from roughly the
1500's to 1800's in the mountainous, Gaelic- speaking regions of the Highlands and western islands of
Scotland. People in many cultures have long been fascinated by continuous sound, and bagpipes are
among the earliest inventions capable of producing it.
The modern form consists of 1 loud, high-pitched pipe or "chanter" which the piper plays the tune from a
small fixed scale of 9 notes. I use small pieces of electrical tape, which tunes certain notes by partly
covering their holes. There are also 3 big, loud upright pipes or "drones" which play a single constant
bass/treble tone, all connected to a bag held under the arm and filled with air blown by mouth through a
"blow-pipe."
The drones are tuned approximately to B-flat, with the scale being roughly a Mix Lydian mode scale having
"normal" or major-key notes except for the 7ths ("ti" in the "do-re-mi" scale), which are flat or minor key. The
chanter notes are not called by these names. They are named for notes, which are actually 1/2 step, lower
than this that is the B-flat is termed by pipers an "A." The scale runs one octave from A to A but also
includes one note below the scale, a 7th or G. The exact tuning between each of the notes has varied over
the years but has never been a tempered (orchestral) scale, but rather is meant to blend best with the
ever-present drone. Obviously - you ain't gonna hear a lot of pipes with other instruments.
The bagpipe is loud because of its long history of use first in the medieval clan society of the Highlands
and later in the British military, playing outdoors to announce gatherings and to inspire soldiers in battle. It
can be heard for 1 or 2 miles over land or sea under some conditions. Anciently the pipes played slow,
lengthy pieces now known as "piobaireachd" or pibroch (PEE-brock) or piper-stuff. The pipes were always
played solo in those times. With the collapse of the Highland clan society the original utility and audience
for this music vanished and so it lives on primarily as a classical form rarely heard except among pipers
and small numbers of pipe music lovers.
Just as the clan society was ending, and the bagpipe might have become rare or extinct, large numbers of
Highlanders were recruited into the British army which found the pipes useful with a new repertoire of work
songs, folk songs and dance tunes adapted for marching, signaling, and inspiring & entertaining troops.
This newer music had predictable form and tempo, allowing numerous pipers to play together and to be
accompanied by drums for marching. Thus was born the modern pipe band or pipes-and- drums.
Great Highland Bagpipes is an unusual musical instrument but I really enjoy the sound. Learning to play
even at a beginner level is one of the most frustrating things I think I have ever taken on. No matter how
much technical and musical progress I make, I am always aware that I have much more work to do.
In 1995, I signed up to start the beginner pipe class at North Carolina State University. I played and
competed with the NCSU Pipes and Drum Corp. the following year but business demands on my time
forced me to quit the band. However, I have not quit my personal journey and continue to practice study
and self-teach new music and technique.
Here is some further reading if you are interested:
The Scottish Highland Bagpipe
This is by far the best-known and most common bagpipe in the world. It was developed from roughly the
1500's to 1800's in the mountainous, Gaelic- speaking regions of the Highlands and western islands of
Scotland. People in many cultures have long been fascinated by continuous sound, and bagpipes are
among the earliest inventions capable of producing it.
The modern form consists of 1 loud, high-pitched pipe or "chanter" which the piper plays the tune from a
small fixed scale of 9 notes. I use small pieces of electrical tape, which tunes certain notes by partly
covering their holes. There are also 3 big, loud upright pipes or "drones" which play a single constant
bass/treble tone, all connected to a bag held under the arm and filled with air blown by mouth through a
"blow-pipe."
The drones are tuned approximately to B-flat, with the scale being roughly a Mix Lydian mode scale having
"normal" or major-key notes except for the 7ths ("ti" in the "do-re-mi" scale), which are flat or minor key. The
chanter notes are not called by these names. They are named for notes, which are actually 1/2 step, lower
than this that is the B-flat is termed by pipers an "A." The scale runs one octave from A to A but also
includes one note below the scale, a 7th or G. The exact tuning between each of the notes has varied over
the years but has never been a tempered (orchestral) scale, but rather is meant to blend best with the
ever-present drone. Obviously - you ain't gonna hear a lot of pipes with other instruments.
The bagpipe is loud because of its long history of use first in the medieval clan society of the Highlands
and later in the British military, playing outdoors to announce gatherings and to inspire soldiers in battle. It
can be heard for 1 or 2 miles over land or sea under some conditions. Anciently the pipes played slow,
lengthy pieces now known as "piobaireachd" or pibroch (PEE-brock) or piper-stuff. The pipes were always
played solo in those times. With the collapse of the Highland clan society the original utility and audience
for this music vanished and so it lives on primarily as a classical form rarely heard except among pipers
and small numbers of pipe music lovers.
Just as the clan society was ending, and the bagpipe might have become rare or extinct, large numbers of
Highlanders were recruited into the British army which found the pipes useful with a new repertoire of work
songs, folk songs and dance tunes adapted for marching, signaling, and inspiring & entertaining troops.
This newer music had predictable form and tempo, allowing numerous pipers to play together and to be
accompanied by drums for marching. Thus was born the modern pipe band or pipes-and- drums.
Great Highland Pipes
