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The Great Highland Bagpipes
| Great Highland Bagpipes |
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| antique style uniform |
The Great Highland Bagpipes are the pipes most people are familiar with from parades, movies, concerts and Highland games.
The Highland pipes have a conical bored chanter which plays a 9 note mixolydian mode, starting on the subtonic, called G through
high A. Drones are configured Bass, tenor, tenor. The chanter tonic note and drones are referrd to as A, but most modern pipes
are tuned to concert B flat or higher. Some chanters are capable of playing accidentals such as c natural, F natural, B flat
and E flat, but in practice these notes are rarely if ever used by Highland pipers.
Click on the link below to play
a sound clip.
Pipers-L 6/8 march on GHB
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Lowland Bagpipes
| Lowland Bagpipes (also Border pipes or Reel pipes) |
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| a little garden practice |
The Lowland bagpipes have a conical bore chanter like the Great Highland bagpipe(GHB), so they have a similar tone, but
are not nearly as loud. Most Lowland pipes, also called Border pipes or Reel pipes, are bellows activated, but they may also
be mouth-blown. most modern lowland /Border pipes can achieve a chromatic or nearly chromatic scale using cross fingering,
and some can extend the nine note scale one or two notes higher by "pinching". Popular Keys for Lowland pipes are A, the most
common, D, C, Bflat, an occasionally other keys. My Lowland pipes in A were made by Jonathan Swayne. Drones are configured
Bass, tenor, tenor (A a a).
Click on the link below to hear a sound clip, part four of Champlain Waltz #4 in A minor
recorded on Lowland pipes.
Champlain waltz # 4 in A minor
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Scottish Smallpipes
| Scottish Smallpipes in A |
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| SSP in my garden. |
The Scottish Smallpipes(SSP)
Are a modern revival of an extinct instrument. SSP chanters have a cylindrical bore which gives them a round, sweet tone
unlike either the GHB or lowland pipes and they are very quiet--suitable for playing indoors. They play the same nine note
scale as the GHB and lowland pipes, but do not have the capability to produce accidentals by cross-fingering. SSP come in
many keys including C D F B-flat, G. Currently, A and D are the most common keys.
SSP drones may be configured Bass tenor, tenor; Bass, Baritone, tenor; Bass tenor, alto or even in other configurations.
My smallpipes in A by Ian Kinnear have Bass, Baritone and tenor, A E a.
Click on the link below the picture to hear a sound clip recorded on Scottish smallpipes in A
Sebago Lassies 9/8 Border slip Jig
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