Bagpipes All you want to know.

[Richard Moody]

This came from a "high authority"   well I am not that sure about
 that, so lets say a "well placed source"


RRRRRRRRRRRic!

Contrary to public opinion/information.........bagpipes didn't
originate in the UK (though I thought the reference by the Irish
to the Scottish was really funny!), but in fact, they seemed to
have ENDED there.  And there are SO many versions of bagpipes,
even in the British Isles.  Most likely they began in the Middle
East, and probably used a goat stomach as the bag, with a chanter
only, no drones until later versions.  The best guess is that they
got to Europe the same way as most other things--via the Roman
Legions, along the famous roadways.  It seems that every folk
culture in Europe has its version of bagpipes, often with odd
scales.....many of them seem to be based on Ecclesiastical modes.
(Scottish military pipes are Mixolydian, at least one Polish folk
bagpipe that I've heard was Lydian, French musettes are different
yet...........etc., etc., yawn......)  And yes, you're right, at
least the Scottish military pipes use a cow stomach, kept supple
with a mixture of beeswax and honey, which ultimately smells
really ripe, but keeps the bag airtight, as well.  And the chanter
is a double reed--think oboe, but without being able to control
the reed with your chops (boxed reed, technically), so it's like
the medieval/Renaissance crummhorn, more than oboe.  And most of
the reeds are really stiff, since they were meant (gratefully) to
be played outdoors.  The drone reeds are single reeds that are
more like reed tubes with a slanted slice down far enough to
produce the correct pitch, then tied off with thread at that point
to keep it from splitting further.  And by the way, Scottish pipe
drones are NOT in 5ths, like piano pieces and whatnot would
suggest--there are three pipes, two of them the upper octave, one
the lower octave.  Nary a 5th to be found.

Now, aren't you glad you asked?

(For some bagpipe pictures, etc., see this website:
http://www.wooster.edu/