In general, double-reed chanters are found in pipes of Western Europe while single-reed chanters appear in most other regions. Double reeds are used with both conical- and parallel-bored chanters while single reeds are generally (although not exclusively) limited to parallel-bored chanters. The reed may be a single (a reed with one vibrating tongue) or double reed (of two pieces that vibrate against each other). The note from the chanter is produced by a reed installed at its top. The term chanter is derived from the Latin cantare, or "to sing", much like the modern French word chanteur. A few bagpipes (such as the musette de cour, the uilleann pipes, the Northumbrian smallpipe, the piva and the left chanter of the surdulina) have closed ends or stop the end on the player's leg, so that when the player "closes" (covers all the holes) the chanter becomes silent.Ī practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly and with no variables other than playing the chanter. Because of their importance, these embellishments (or "ornaments") are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, and take many years of study to master. Primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are used to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Thus most bagpipes share a constant, legato sound where there are no rests in the music. The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no easy way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. A chanter can be bored internally so that the inside walls are parallel (or "cylindrical") for its full length, or it can be bored in a conical shape. Almost all bagpipes have at least one chanter some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, the Balkans in Southern Europe, and Southwest Asia. The chanter is the melody pipe, played with two hands. In the case of bags made from largely intact animal skins, the stocks are typically tied into the points where limbs and the head joined the body of the whole animal, a construction technique common in Central Europe. ![]() Holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. An advantage of a synthetic bag is that they have a zip which allows the user to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag.īags cut from larger materials are usually saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam and stitched (for skin bags) or glued (for synthetic bags) to reduce leaks. A drawback of the synthetic bag is the potential for fungal spores to colonise the bag because of a reduction in necessary cleaning, with the associated danger of lung infection. More recently, bags made of synthetic materials including Gore-Tex have become much more common. Materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or pumping air into it with a bellows. The bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous even sound. Such pipes include the Irish uilleann pipes, the Scottish border pipes and Lowland pipes Northumbrian smallpipes, pastoral pipes and English Border pipes in Britain, and the musette de cour in France. In these pipes, sometimes called "cauld wind pipes", air is not heated or moistened by the player's breathing, so bellows-driven bagpipes can use more refined or delicate reeds. The second pipe was added in the mid 1500s and the third pipe was added in the 1700s.Īn innovation, dating from the 16th or 17th century, is the use of a bellows to supply air. The Scottish pipes, the Great Pipe, or piob-mohr, first had only one drone pipe. Many, many other places, however, also have different types of bagpipes: over all of Europe, some of North Africa, and into the Middle East. Scotland is traditionally linked to the bagpipes, and many pipe tunes come from there. The sounds are made by a single or, more commonly, double reed which vibrates when air is blown over it. Each drone normally plays a different note, and stays on the same note the whole time it is playing, to play a harmony with the "chanter". ![]() There are usually one or more other tubes coming from the bag that make sounds whenever the bag is squeezed, called "drones". To make music, the bag is pressed and the air comes out through a kind of flute or "chanter". The player keeps the bag full of air by blowing into it with a tube or pumping it with a bellows.
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