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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000083.txt from 2007/11

From: Barbara Trautwein <mzeztee@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Bagpipes
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:47:09 -0500

About 55 years ago, I heard Percy Grainger speak to this subject saying
that bagpipes were found in all mountainous cultures mentioning not only
Scottish Highlands but the Himalayas, too.

2cents

b

gbur@-----.edu wrote:

>Ed, and all Interested,
>
>First off, remember (or learn for the first time), that *every* country
>on the European continent an great Britain has (or has had) some form
>of bagpipe . . . Poland, Bohemia, France, Spain, et al.
>
>Second, all bagpipes are classified as "wet" or "dry" depending on if
>they are mouth-blown or bellows-blown. *In general* wet pipes are
>louder and more suited for outdoor performance, dry pipes are softer
>and have a more "pretty" sound, usually played indoors. There are
>exceptions to both of the generalizations.
>
>All bagpipes are "capped reed" instruments in which the reed are housed
>inside the actual pipes.
>
>The chanter (the pipe on which the melody is played) uses a "normal"
>double reed, often made on a staple. It gets scraped. whittled, etc. to
>produce the proper sound, pitch, and response.
>
>The drone reeds originally were made of a joint of young bamboo or river
>cane. One end is sealed with wax the other inserted into the pipe. A
>"tongue" is cut into the reed to provide the vibrating source. In many
>instruments today people are using manufactured plastic reeds that are
>far less tempermental and less subject to fluctuations of humidity and
>temperature.
>
>BTW, Scotch is something one drinks . . . the adjective you want is
>Scottish or Scots.
>
>As ever,
>
>Bruce Gbur, Scottish Highland Bagpiper, aspiring Northumbrian
>Smallpiper, Uillean piper.
>
>
>
>Quoting "Edward B. Flowers" <flowerse@-----.net>:
>
>
>
>>Dan,
>>
>>I understand that the bagpipes, both Ullian and Scotch, employ reeds
>>which are inside the instrument. A Scotch bagpiper told me that the
>>Ullian bagpipes, which feeds air to the reeds via a bellows, protects
>>these reeds from the moisture that the oboe and bassoon subject their
>>reeds to--so they last longer.
>>
>>My questions are these: (1) are these reeds double (like the oboe) or
>>single (like the clarinet) and (2) could a double-reeder take apart a
>>bagpipes and voice the reeds with his reed knife?
>>
>>Edward B. Flowers
>>
>>
>>
>>Dan Duncan wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I believe that there ARE things called "chamber pipes" that sound
>>>very well inside.
>>>
>>>A "lovely" pipe organ can sound horrible if it is voiced
>>>
>>>
>>incorrectly
>>
>>
>>>or if the pipes are played at the incorrect wind pressure. The
>>>
>>>
>>shawm
>>
>>
>>>is usually considered a 'loud' (the old term was 'high') instrument
>>>but even that rather loud instrument can be played indoors to good
>>>effect.
>>>
>>>I get it that some folks don't care for bagpipes. OK, enough
>>>
>>>
>>said.
>>
>>
>>>I believe you. Now something else to discuss perhaps?
>>>
>>>Dan
>>>
>>>On Nov 28, 2007, at 11:36 PM, Judith and James Preston wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>><Call me a tonality or aural snob if you like, but I'll take a
>>>>
>>>>
>>lovely
>>
>>
>>>>choir
>>>>with organ over ciarmella and drums almost any day.>
>>>>
>>>>A wise man once defined a "gentleman" as a man who can play the
>>>>bagpipes,
>>>>and doesn't.
>>>>
>>>>I do enjoy the sound of bagpipes on occasion, but only outside and
>>>>
>>>>
>>at a
>>
>>
>>>>distance. They have no "indoor voice."
>>>>
>>>>-Jim
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>>>For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
>>>>Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc.
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>>>>
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>>
>>>Dan Duncan
>>>9012 S Normandy Ln
>>>Dayton, OH 45458
>>>937-350-7133
>>>937-672-3662, cell
>>>danjduncan@-----.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>
>
>Bruce Gbur, D.M.A.
>Assistant Professor
>Double Reeds and Music History
>Director of the Collegium Musicum
>Music Department
>Kansas State University
>223 McCain Auditorium
>Manhattan, KS 66506
>785/532-3821
>http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~gbur/
>
>
>"The older I get, the less gladly I suffer fools." Bruce Gbur
>
>"First God invented idiots; that was for practice. Then He invented
>School Boards." Mark Twain
>
>"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more
>beautifully, more devotedly than before." Leonard Bernstein
>
>"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that
>we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only
>unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
>public." Predident Theodore Roosevelt, 1918.
>
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