A bagpipe consists of an airtight bag, which can supply a continuous stream of air. Air is supplied either by a blowpipe or a
set of bellows; the inlet to the bag normally has a one-way valve which prevents air from returning via the supply. Every bagpipe
has a chanter, upon which the melody is played, and most have at least one drone harmony, although there are relatively many
important exceptions to this rule. All these pipes are attached to the bag by a stock, a small, usually wooden, cylinder which is
tied into the bag and which the pipe itself plugs into. The bag usually consists of leather, but in more recent times many other
materials, such as rubber and Gore-Tex have become popular amongst many pipers, particularly Highland pipers. In the Middle East,
and the Balkans, a whole goatskin is used, cured with salt and alum.
The melody pipe, or chanter, can have a single or double reed and a cylindrical or conical bore. The drone(s) usually have single
tongue reeds but there are a number of important exceptions, including the Italian Zampogna, the French Musette du Cour, and several
varieties of Scottish Small Pipes which all have double reeds (in conical bores for the Zampogna, and cylindrical bores for the
Musette and Scottish Small Pipes). In general, chanters with a cylindrical bore will produce a very mellow clarinet-like sound, while
chanters with a conical bore will produce a louder and brighter shawm-like sound.
Skirl (Gaelic for scream) is a term used by pipers to describe an unintended shrill sound made by the chanter, and is usually produced
when the chanter reed is too easy and thus the chanter is overblown. Sometimes the term is also somewhat mistakenly used to describe
the general sound produced by a bagpipe.
Notes:
- Source: wikipedia.org
- Copyright of this article is under the
GNU Free Documentation License
|
A set of Scottish Great Highland bagpipes.
- Chanter
- Bag
- Stock
- Blowstick or blowpipe
- Tenor drones
- Bass drone
- Tuning Slide
- Cords
|