The Bagpipe
Taken from the 40th annual commemorative program.

Invariably, the Scot as well as the uninitiated American is drawn to the Highland Games because of the music of the bagpipe. The sound of the Noble Instrument (in Gaelic: Piob Mor: Great Pipe) conjures scenes of dancing feet, regiments marching into battle, or a pipe band moving rhythmically down the street to the swirl of the kilts and the flash of sunlight glinting off highly-polished jewelry.

To the true piping afficionado, however, the sound means an individual player alone on the hillside or in a forest glen, unmindful of the rest of the world, piping to suit himself. For the pipe is a very personal and individual instrument. In ancient times, the clan piper stood seventh in line of succession to the position of chief. He held lands and played a role in decision-making within the clan system of government.

The construction of the pipe is not as complicated as it appears. The five pipes — the blowpipe, the three drones, and the chanter — are fitted to the leather bag by means of stocks which are tightly tied into the bag with waxed linen cord to assure airtightness. The melody chanter, bored with eight holes that permit a nine-note scale, attempts to approximate the human singing voice. It is pentatonic rather than chromatic or tempered, and when the chanter is in perfect balance, the C and F notes sound as though they are a quarter tone sharp to the person accustomed to a tempered scale. This gives the pipe a distinctive barbaric, oriental flavor; hence, it can be matched with no other instrument.

The bag serves as a reservoir of air, allowing the player to breathe in a normal manner once the instrument is started and tuned. The drones are tuned by lengthening or shortening them, much on the same principle as a slide trombone or slide whistle. Their tone is sensitive to the slightest move upwards or downwards, and their tuning is critical, however, which accounts for the care with which a piper tunes before he plays. The bass drone produces a tone two octaves below bottom A on the chanter, and the tenor drones are tuned one octave below A. It is when the drones are tuned perfectly with the chanter that a bell-like sound is produced.

Reprinted from the Colonial Highland Gathering Program, June 6, 1981