THE MAKE OF THE PIPES.
There’s meat and music here, as the fox said when he ate the bagpipe.—
_Gaelic Proverb._
The “Encyclopædia” definition—The simple reed—Early forms—Simple
bagpipes—The chorus—The _volynka_—Continental pipes—British pipes—
The Northumbrian—The Irish—The Highland—Tuning—Modern pipes—Prize
pipes.
“A wind instrument whose fixed characteristic has always been two or
more reed pipes attached to and sounded by a wind chest or bag, which
bag has in turn been supplied either by the lungs of the performer or
by a bellows.”
This is the encyclopædia definition, and generally speaking it is
correct. But the bag is certainly an addition to the simple reed or
shepherd’s pipe. And if we wish to go further back we can go to the time
when a schoolboy on his way to school pulled a green straw from the
cornfield, and biting off a bit, trimmed the end and made for himself a
pipe. “Many a pipe,” says J. F. Campbell, “did boys make of straws in
the days of my youth, and much discord did we produce in trying to play
on the slender oaten pipe in emulation of John Piper.” Boys being still
boys, they still pull the green straws in the passing by, and no doubt
if the pipes were not already in existence they would again grow out of
this primitive pipe, slowly but surely. Without the bag the pipe is the
most ancient of all instruments. It was quite natural that people should
try to form sounds by blowing through a tube, and afterwards to vary the
sounds either by varying the size or shape of the tube or by fitting
into it some special mechanism. The pipe was well known to the Trojans,
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, who had different kinds for different
measures, and from contemporary writings we learn that the strain of
blowing these early pipes was so great that the player had to bandage
his lips and cheeks with a leathern muzzle. One ancient picture
represents a player blowing a triple pipe, that is, three pipes joined
at the mouth-piece, but separate further down, a performance which must
have made the need for some improved method of supplying wind very
obvious. The name of the genius who first thought of having a reserve
supply in a bag attached to the pipes, which would keep an equable
current for the purposes of the music, while at the same time it would
relieve the player’s mouth of the continued strain of blowing, is lost
to posterity, but in all probability the idea was originated at
different places and at different times by different people. Mac Lean,
in his _History of the Celtic Language_, considers the bagpipe as
originally consisting of a bladder with drones and chanter of reeds and
bulrushes, and affirms that he himself made and played on such an
instrument. The first real bagpipe would, however, be a skin, most
likely that of a goat or kid, and the invention of the valve in the
mouth-piece would follow as a matter of course—that is, if the man who
thought of the bag did not also think of having a bellows. There were,
no drones in the early pipes. St. Jerome, who lived in the fifth
century, says that at the synagogue, in ancient times there was a simple
species of bagpipe, consisting of a skin or leather bag, with two pipes,
through one of which the bag was inflated, the other emitting the sound.
This was the first real bagpipe and it was also, it may be added, the
germ of the organ, for the bagpipe is but the organ reduced to its
simplest expression.
[Illustration:
OLD GERMAN WIND INSTRUMENTS—A.D. 1619.
(1) _Large Bagpipe._ (2) _Dudey or Hornpipe._ (3) _Shepherd’s Pipe._
(4) _Bagpipe
with Bellows._
]
There was an ancient instrument, called the chorus, which seems to have
been closely related to the bagpipe. The chorus was composed of the skin
of an animal, which was inflated by a pipe in the back of the neck, and
had another pipe issuing from the mouth. That it was not exactly the
same as the bagpipe is evident from the fact that it was called _alterum
genus cori_ to distinguish it from the instrument composed of a bag
specially manufactured with mouth-piece and pipe, which was known as
_unum genus cori_. Giraldus Cambrensis, one of the most authoritative
writers of the twelfth century, assigns the chorus to Scotland, but says
nothing of its construction, although he credits the country with
superior musical skill. Some ancient writers class the chorus with
stringed instruments, and assert that it has no connection whatever with
the bagpipe. Living as we do at the beginning of the twentieth century,
we cannot possibly decide such a delicate point. And it does not matter
much that we cannot.
Those who hold that the instrument was originally imported into Scotland
believe that the parent of the Scottish bagpipe was an instrument known
as the _volynka_, found in some provinces of the Russian Empire and
ascribed more particularly to the Finns, who called it _pilai_. It was a
rude instrument, consisting of two tubes and a mouth-piece, all apart,
inserted in a raw, hairy goatskin. It was not held in high esteem, for
when the Czar degraded the Archbishop of Novogorod in 1569 he alleged
that the worthy father was “fitter for a bagpiper leading dancing bears
than for a prelate.” But no less than five different kinds of bagpipes
were known on the Continent in the seventeenth century, some of them
with very high qualities as musical instruments. They were:—
I. The _cornemuse_, a simple instrument inflated by the mouth, with a
chanter having eight apertures for notes, but without any drones.
II. The _chalemie_, or shepherd’s pipe, used by peasants at festivals,
and also in country churches. It was inflated by the mouth, had a
chanter with ten holes, and had also two drones.
III. The _mussette_, which was inflated by a bellows. It had a chanter
with twelve notes, besides other apertures and valves opened by keys,
and with four reeds for drones, enclosed in a barrel. It was a
complicated instrument, and elaborately made. In one instance, we
read, the bag of the _mussette_ was made of velvet embroidered with
_fleurs de lis_. It was, however, the “class” variety of the bagpipe,
and was played before Royalty. The _mussette_ was said to sound most
sweetly, “especially in the hands of Destouches, the Royal Piper.” So
they had a royal piper in those days and the pipes were honoured.
IV. The _surdelina_ of Naples, an instrument with two drones, two
chanters, and numerous keys.
V. The Italian peasant’s bagpipe, having two chanters, each with a
single key, and one drone.
In Germany the instrument was known as the _sackpfeife_, in Italy as the
_cornamusa_, in Rome as _tibia utricularis_, in Lower Brittany as
_bignou_, and other Continental names for it were _tiva_, _ciarmella_,
_samponia_ or _samphoneja_ and _zampugna_.
There was besides the simple combination of reed and bladder, so simple
that it could be made by the shepherd boy himself, without the aid of
tools and without any special aptitude for mechanics. From it spring all
the others which demand the skill of the finished artisan and the help
of turning laths and latter-day implements. The Italian bagpipe, which
was made familiar in Britain through the wandering _pifferari_, was a
very rude instrument, consisting of a goat’s skin, with an enormous
drone, on which the player performed by means of a mouth tube, another
player making the melody on a separate chanter. A visitor to Naples in
1824 describes a musician in a sheepskin coat, with the wool outwards,
playing a bagpipe, of which the bag consisted of “the undressed skin of
a goat inflated by one of the legs in its original shape.” How anything
could be inflated by the leg of a goat he does not stop to inform us,
but as the bagpipe now used in Italy is very agreeable and also
presentable, though limited in power, it must have been improved
considerably since 1824. That it did exist in a more finished condition
is evident from the statement of another traveller, made in 1850, that
he had heard the national music of Hungary played at Pesth on the
_dudelsack_, “a genuine bagpipe, with a fine drone, adorned in front
with a goat’s head, and covered with a goat’s skin.” It is not clear
whether he means that the bag or the drone was adorned in front with the
goat’s head, but most likely it was the bag, and the head would be in
its original relation to the skin of the goat. The _sackpfeife_
(bagpipe) and _chalemie_ (shepherd’s pipe) seem to have been intimately
associated with the wandering minstrels of Germany from time immemorial,
and under the name of _dudey_ or _dudelsack_, is still well known to the
German peasant.
There are three recognised kinds of bagpipes in the British Islands:—
I. The Northumbrian bagpipe.
II. The Irish bagpipe.
III. The Great Highland Bagpipe.
The Northumbrian bagpipe is in two forms, one like the Highland, but of
smaller dimensions and milder tone, and the other a miniature of this,
and having the same relation to it as a fife has to a German band. The
Lowland bagpipe of Scotland may be identified with the Northumbrian, but
it is looked on rather contemptuously by the devotees of the Highland,
because, in their opinion, it merely imitates other instruments, and is
not fitted to perform what they consider the perfection of pipe music—
the pibroch.
[Illustration:
THE NORTHUMBRIAN BAGPIPE
]
The Northumbrian and the Lowland pipes were easily carried about, and
were much gentler than the great Highland, but they did not resemble
those used on the Continent. They had the same tone as the Highland, but
were less sonorous, and were blown by a bellows put in motion by the arm
opposite to that under which the bag was held. In this latter respect
they were similar to the Irish, and like them they had the drones fixed
in one stock and laid horizontally over the arm, not borne on the
shoulder. The real Lowland bagpipe, however, never got farther than two
drones. A new form of the Northumbrian was played until very lately,
perhaps still is. It also was a bellows instrument, and had several keys
on the chanter, which gave it a chromatic scale. A peculiarity of its
fingering was that only one hole was uncovered at a time, the end of the
chanter being kept shut. Although the Great Highland Bagpipe has now
surpassed the Lowland, the latter is not quite extinct, and a few years
ago there were, even in Aberdeenshire, at least two performers on it. In
the Borders of Scotland there were probably many more. The Northumbrian
pipes, it may be added, were often wholly formed of ivory, and richly
ornamented with silver. The bag was covered with cloth or tartan, and
fringed or otherwise adorned. The compass of the old Northumbrian small
pipe chanter was only of eight notes (one less than that of the
Highland); but with a few keys to produce semi-tones, all the old
Northumbrian airs could be played. The modern chanter has been
lengthened by the addition of keys until the scale extends from D below
the treble clef to B above it.
[Illustration:
IRISH BAGPIPE.
]
The Irish bagpipe is the instrument in its most elaborate form. It also
is supplied with wind by a bellows. The drones are all fixed on one
stock, and have keys which are played by the wrist of the right hand.
The reeds are soft and the tones very sweet and melodious, and there is
a harmonious bass which is very effective in the hands of a good player.
Some of the drones are of great length, winding as many as three times
the length of the apparent tube. The player is seated with one side of
the bellows tied firmly to his body, the other to his right arm, the
drones under his left leg, and the end of the chanter resting on a pad
of leather on his knee, on which it is tipped for the purpose of
articulating many of the notes. The bag is made of goat’s skin and is
rendered pliable by means of bees’ wax and butter. Originally it, like
that of the Highland pipe, was filled by the mouth, but it was changed
so as to be filled by the bellows. In later instruments several finger
keys were adapted to a fourth tube, whereby a perfect chord could be
produced, and thus the instrument was rendered fit for private
apartments, where as the Highland and the Lowland were only suitable for
the open air. The sweetness of the sound, the result of the smallness
and delicacy of the reeds and the prolongation of the pipes; the
capacity of the instrument, the result of the many keys, and the
capability of the chanter; have earned for the Irish pipes the title of
the Irish organ. The compass of the instrument is two octaves. Like the
Lowland, the Irish bagpipe is fast dying out, but there is in Glasgow at
least one player, an old man, bent with years, but devoted to his pipes,
who takes his stand near the top of the classic High Street, and can
always depend on a small but select audience, to appreciate his
rendering of Scotch and Irish airs on the bagpipe of Erin. Both the
Irish and the Northumbrian pipes have, it may be added, been elaborated
until they have almost ceased to be bagpipes.
And lastly, we have the “Great Highland Bagpipe.” In this instrument a
valved tube leads from the mouth to an air-tight bag which has four
other orifices, three large enough to contain the base of three fixed
long tubes termed drones, and another smaller, to which is fitted the
chanter. The three are thrown on the shoulder while the latter is held
in the hands. All four pipes are fitted with reeds, but of different
kinds. The drone reeds are made by splitting a round length of “cane” or
reed backward from a cross cut near a knot or joint towards the open
end. They thus somewhat resemble the reed in organ pipes, the loose flap
of cane replacing the tongue, and the uncut part the tube or reed
proper. They are set downward in a chamber at the base of the drone, so
that the current of air issuing from the bag tends to set the tongue in
vibration. The drone reeds are only intended to produce a single note,
which can be tuned by a “slider” on the pipe itself, varying the length
of the consonating air column.
The chanter reed is different in form, being made of two approximated
edges of cane tied on to a metal tube. It is thus essentially a double
reed, like that of the oboe or bassoon, while the drone reed roughly
represents the single beating reed of the organ or clarionet. The drone
reed is an exact reproduction of the “squeaker” which children in the
fields fashion out of joints of tall grass, probably the oldest form of
this reed in existence.
The drones are in length proportional to their note, the longest being
about three feet high. The chanter is a conical wooden tube, about
fourteen inches long, pierced with eight sounding holes, seven in front
for the fingers and one at the top behind for the thumb of the right
hand. Two additional holes bored across the tube below the lowest of
these merely regulate the pitch, and are never stopped; were it not for
them, however, the chanter would require to be some inches shorter, and
would consequently have a less pleasing appearance.
[Illustration:
THE GREAT HIGHLAND BAGPIPE
]
The two smaller drones produce a note in unison with the lowest A of the
chanter, and the larger an octave lower. The indescribable thrill which
the bagpipe is capable of imparting is produced by a sudden movement of
the fingers on certain notes, which gives an expression peculiar to the
pipes, and distinguishes the pibroch from all other music. The drones,
as has been said, are tuned by means of “sliders” or movable joints, and
this tuning, or preparation for playing, which generally occupies a few
minutes of the piper’s time before he begins the tune proper, is heard
with impatience by those not accustomed to the instrument. It gave rise
to the saying, applied to those who waste time over small matters, “You
are longer in tuning your pipes than playing your tune.” It cannot,
however, be helped so long as this instrument remains exactly as it is.
The piper’s warm breath goes almost directly on to the reeds, and the
consequence is that no sooner does he get his pipes in tune than he
starts to put them out of tune—by blowing into them. What is needed is
some contrivance that will prevent this, by cooling the air before it
reaches the chanter. There are several contrivances in use among leading
players, each generally the invention of the man who uses it, but none
has come into general favour. Highlanders are a conservative race, and
they are not willing to make any changes on their much-loved instrument.
It would, however, be well if they would take this matter into
consideration, and do something to render unnecessary that preparatory
tuning which many people find so unpleasant—that is if it is possible to
prevent the reeds getting wet while wet breath is blown into the
instrument. The bellows of course gets over the difficulty, but we
hardly wish to see a bellows attached to the Highland Bagpipe. It would
not then be Highland.
The Highland bagpipe is louder and more shrill than any other, probably
because it was all along intended for use as an instrument of war, and
pipe music is known to have been heard at a distance of six miles, and,
under specially favourable circumstances, of ten miles. The Duke of
Sutherland has a bagpipe which was played on in the ’45, and could be
heard at a distance of eight miles.
Modern pipes are generally made of black ebony or cocoawood, the
ferrules or rings being of ivory. Sometimes the pipes are half-mounted
in silver, that is the high ferrules in ivory and the low in silver. The
drones of the best makers have the inside lined with metal, where there
is friction in the tuning slide. The bag is formed of sheepskin, in
which are securely fastened five pieces of turned wood called stocks.
These receive the ends of the chanter, the mouth-piece, and the drones.
The chanter reed is formed of two pieces of Spanish cane, placed side by
side. The tops of these are worked down to a fine edge, and the bottoms
are tied with fine hemp to a small metal tube. The blowpipe has on its
lower end a valve, which prevents the return of the wind to the mouth.
The drones provide a background or additional volume of sound, which
gives body to the music. The big drone is fitted with two, and the
others with one tuning slide each. The drones are interchangeable, so
that the big drone can be placed in the right or left stock to suit a
right or left-handed player. When the bag is filled with wind the
pressure of the player’s arm must be so regulated that there is always
just sufficient force of air to bring out the notes clearly without
interfering with the steady action of the drones. The bag is held well
under the arm, the big drone rests on the shoulders, and the others are
suspended from it by ribbons and silk cords. The bag is generally held
slightly in front, so that the short drones rest on the shoulder. When
on full-dress parade a banner flies from the big drone, with the arms of
the regiment or chief as a motto. The drones are generally placed on the
left shoulder, but many players place them on the right. The whole
instrument is kept in position by the tension of the bag. The
instruments used by present-day pipers are the full set, the halfset or
reel pipes, and the practising chanter.
The bagpipe had originally but one drone. A second was added about 1500,
and a third about 1800. Bagpipes with one drone are still used
occasionally, and so late as the winter of 1899 an itinerant player
might sometimes be seen, late at night, playing for coppers at Jamaica
Street corner, Glasgow, on such an instrument. The two drone pipes were
barred at competitions owing to some supposed advantage they gave to the
player, and they appeared last in 1821.
The pipes awarded as prizes at competitions under the auspices of the
Highland Society of London are almost always of cocoa wood, having
armorial bearings and a silver plate inscribed with the name of the
successful competitor. The bagpipe is the result of an evolution
process, and if this process continues we may yet see it further
improved, and the instrument made so that it will commend itself not
only to Highlanders themselves, but to lovers of music generally. A
great deal of the prejudice against the pipes is, however, caused by the
ignorance of their critics, and perhaps if people criticised less and
understood more we would not hear so much of the shortcomings of the
instrument.