Home Introduction About WS The bagpipe The launeddas Mouth organs
English French German Spanish
Countries
Thesaurus
Terminology
Hornpipes Launeddas Bladder pipes Bagpipes Mouth organs
Bagpipe parts Mouth organ parts
Persons Ensembles
All By Country
Books, &c. Dictionaries &c. Magazines & series Gramophone records Personal communication
All Museums (only) Festivals (only) Organisations (only) Websites only
Reviews, &c. Various
Contact

Bagpipe

(Basic type)

Main parts:
  1. Bag (Usually / Traditionally made of a prepared animal skin or, in most western bagpipes, tanned leather), sometimes protected by a decorative cover of velvet or another fabric).
  2. Blowpipe (in some types replaced by a bellows). With only very rare exceptions, blowpipes are provided with a non-return valve, which is, however, an indispensable part of the bellows. NB: When a blowpipe has no valve, a piper must close it with his tongue, when inhaling...
  3. Chanter (melody pipe). Some types have double chanters. Most of these consist of 2 tubes (usually parallel, adjoining and of equal length), each provided with fingerholes (often an equal number), but some consist of a single melody pipe plus a semi-drone (i.e. a soundig pipe with only 1 fingerhole; ➺ e.g. Dvojnice (Vojvodina, SRB)). Triple chanters do exist, but are rather rare (➺ e.g. Gajdzica (PL), and Diplice (HR)). In Slovakia occurs even a type of Gajdy with a quadruple chanter (➺ Gajdica) …
  4. Drone (organ-point). Some types have multiple drones, each of which usually have a different pitch. The Scottish Highland bagpipe has, however, 3 drones, 1 of which is a bass drone. Because its 2 tenor drones are shorter, they have a higher, though mutually identical, pitch.
  5. Chanters and drones are provided with reeds (sound generators). There are 2 types of bagpipe reeds:
    • single, which consist of a narrow tube with a tongue. This type is applied in drones, and in chanters of Eastern European and non-European bagpipes.
    • double, which look like oboe reeds, and are applied in chanters of Western European bagpipes, and in all sounding pipes of the Zampogna types of Central and Southern Italy).
NB: Some 50 countries have their own piping traditions. At present, the northernmost of them is Sweden, the westernmost is Ireland, the easternmost Myanmar [until 1989 Burma], and the southernmost India… Many consider the Scottish Highland bagpipe, however, as the epitome of all bagpipes. In my perception the explanation for this is quite simple: It is based on the instrument being used in the 1st World War to support the British troops (and scare off the enemies at the same time), a fact that is emphasised in many, mainly American, films...

Wiebe Stodel, 18 July 2021.