Posts Tagged ‘Bagpipes history’

Bagpipes

You may have heard that bagpipes are a Scottish invention; you may have heard that they are an Irish invention. The truth (of course) is neither one. The bagpipe was invented in the middle east.The Old Testament mentions the instrument in the book of Daniel chapter 3, where it is listed as one of the instruments that was used to call the people to worship a golden statue that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (Anyone who disobeyed had to be thrown into a blazing fire –yaiks!!) This event took place in ancient Iraq, which was then part of the Babylonian empire.

From the middle east migrating tribes of peoples took the instruments to different parts of Europe, Asia and northern Africa.

Some 200 years ago the instrument was very popular throughout Europe.

It was around that time that the ruling class started to forbid the instrument.

It was decided that this instrument, with it’s droning sound was a “poor man’s instrument” and should have no part in modern music.

As a result, the instrument was forbidden in almost all of Europe, except for a few outposts such as Scotland and Bulgaria.

The bagpipe in its many forms, as of today still has retained its natural tuning.

The melody pipe or chanter has to tune in with the drone, therefore, it is hard to play together with other “tempered tuned” instruments. The key cannot be changed, also on account of this droning.

However, modern music, even though more sophisticated, has lost a very important ingredient of music, namely the rich overtones.

Those rich tones that you can hear in a well-tuned bagpipe can only be heard when the notes are exactly tuned. This is only the case in bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies (a similar instrument that operates with strings instead of pipes) and in voice.

However recently the bagpipe has been revived in modern music and there are now world wide many people who play the instrument.

This is primarily due to the fact that the (scottish highland)bagpipe has been used as a military instruments.

Today the instrument is being used in many different types of music, there are not only players of many different kinds of bagpipes again, there are also modern bagpipe builders.

This modern revival of the instrument has been inspired by painters such as Pieter Brueghel, who painted the instrument as it was played in the 1600′s.

Duco Sminia, Bagpipe maker.

There are few things that you can’t imagine Scotland without. One of them is wood wind instrument that mostly consists of reeds and a sort of bag filled with air. What is the name of that instrument? Bagpipes of course.

We have different types of bagpipes depending on country that they were made and use in. As in all countries they are the same instruments but even the sound they give are different. The most famous bagpipes are the Scottish one. Although the history shows that bagpipes, as an instrument at all, were invented somewhere else.

First bagpipes are even recorded around 400 BC and they were made of dogskin (bag) and bones (chanters). In some sources there is said that this instrument was brought to British Isles from Rome in 8th century and became popular four hundred years later. Only a few examples of bagpipes from before 18th century left. They show that the art of making pipe wasn’t developed back then.

When only appeared in Britain they started to play a great role. Specially in Scotland were pipers took place of the harpers in the 16th century. After two hundreds of years some serious studies about this instrument appeared as for example William Dixon’s from Northumberland manuscript (1730). The great role of national instrument they are playing minimized when the western classical music developed and a production of instruments connected with it.

Other parts of the world got knowledge about existing of that kind of instrument thanks to expansion of British Empire. Also a large numbers of pipers were trained to be part of military service and participate in First and Second World War, were pipes become famous on the whole world. Police forces in Scotland or Canada have formed pipe bands and some of them existence till today (f.e.The Tayside Police Pipe band that was founded in 1905). In different countries (UK, New Zealand) bagpipes were used (and still are) in formal ceremonies.

Nowadays it has become a common tradition to play bagpipes for military and police funerals, often at the funerals of high-ranking civilian public officials, and at more happy gatherings as weddings, dances and parties. They are still played in a commercial and noncommercial ways. Bagpipes are also well-known in folk music. As it comes to materials and its appearance in some cases they don’t differ so much as the one played in Middle Ages, made of wood and animal skins, and in other cases they are totally new – have bags made of gore tex or bring and electronic sound.

Apart from all that history side at the 21st century bagpipes are still one of the things that first appears in our mind when we think about Scotland. It is so strong image that Scotland means tartan (pattern and material), Scottish gifts (kilt, cashmere scarf), picnics spent on the warm blankets and bagpipes. The history shows that Bagpipes roots are in totally different place but Scottish people love the sound of bagpipes the most.

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