Chanters, Drones & Drums
Cabin fever has set in. It is the middle of winter and the need to fly the coop has come to me. One of the places I go sometimes on my day off is to friends who live near London, Ontario. Monday nights at this home are bagpipe nights. Two daughters and one son are involved with their dad in the local fire fighters' pipe band.
The skirl of the bagpipes is one of those things that goes to your bones. Bagpipes are by no means the domain, however, of the Scottish. In fact the pipes in various forms can be found almost all around the world. The Scottish pipes are distinctive for many reasons, prominently their volume. They are loud! The political history of the pipes is also another interesting thing to investigate. Suffice it to say that the English, through their empire, were big exporters of the sound. Today the pipes are preserved through Scottish festivals in different places around the world.
The pipes have a nine-note range, which limits repertoire, but for the martial music and dancing music for which the instrument is famous there is nothing like the sound. Playing them is not easy. You need to have a lot of wind in your lungs, but the techniques required for "grace" notes and other kinds of ornamentation and transition are acquired only with much practice.
The skirl of the bagpipes is one of those things that goes to your bones. Bagpipes are by no means the domain, however, of the Scottish. In fact the pipes in various forms can be found almost all around the world. The Scottish pipes are distinctive for many reasons, prominently their volume. They are loud! The political history of the pipes is also another interesting thing to investigate. Suffice it to say that the English, through their empire, were big exporters of the sound. Today the pipes are preserved through Scottish festivals in different places around the world.
The pipes have a nine-note range, which limits repertoire, but for the martial music and dancing music for which the instrument is famous there is nothing like the sound. Playing them is not easy. You need to have a lot of wind in your lungs, but the techniques required for "grace" notes and other kinds of ornamentation and transition are acquired only with much practice.
Another problem, at least in practising, is the sheer volume. At home you practice with only the "chanter", the part that goes in your mouth. To actually get ready for a parade or for competition you need to develop your ensemble sound and for that you need to play full bore. In any enclosed space this is LOUD!
The music which is produced, however, is very powerful. Many people are familiar with the plaintive sound of a single piper playing "Amazing Grace". For my friends, playing in the band is a family experience and a community-building one. It is wonderful to see their children express the music that is within them and you can see it informing the rest of their lives.
For a while Canada had the world champion pipe band, hailing from Simon Fraser University in
British Columbia.
