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Hobgoblin Music - Bagpipes
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    Bagpipes of the British Isles

    Highland Bagpipe

    The Great Highland Bagpipes are the best known of several types of Scottish Bagpipe, and are very loud instruments best played outside! The bag is inflated with the mouth, and there are 2 tenor drones, 1 bass drone and an open chanter usually pitched in Bb, but the music is written in A.

    It is usual to use a Practice Chanter when learning the Highland Pipes. The practice chanter has a narrower bore than a pipe chanter, and is cheap and quiet enough for use in the home.

    Scottish Smallpipes

    The Scottish Smallpipes are bellows blown, with three drones, bag, bellows and chanter. The fingering is the same as the Highland Pipes, and in Bb, the spacing is the same too, but this is a sweet sounding quieter alternative which is very popular with Scottish pipers.

    Northumbrian Smallpipes

    The Smallpipes are probably the quietest of the Bagpipes, and have a closed chanter which basically plays one octave. The keys are used to extend the range. Smallpipes pitch is generally nearer F than the nominal key of G.

    Irish Pipes

    The Irish, Uilleann or Union pipes have reached quite an advanced state of development. Unlike most other pipes, the reed will overblow, giving them a range of two octaves, and the addition of regulators gives them an extra dimension. The regulators are closed ended chanters each of a different pitch, and speak when a key is pressed, the keys are arranged side by side so chords can be played.

    Uilleann (or Elbow) pipes usually play in D, and the full set has a chanter, three drones, and three keyed regulators.

    Please read the rest of this article, and much more, on our FAQ page.


    The Hobgoblin Catalogue - Bagpipes