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Bagpipes

"The Piob-mhor, or great Highland bagpipe, is different from the common sharp pipes of the Low country, and both are very unlike the Irish or flat pipes."

    - James Logan, The Scottish Gael, 1847, p. 433.

"One George MacKay was the reformer of the Scots' Lowland pipes, but I cannot precisely tell the nature of his improvements; he, however, studied seven years at the college in Sky"

    - James Logan, The Scottish Gael, 1847, p. 434.

I have enjoyed investigating the bellows-blown bagpipes of Scotland and Ireland and am still wondering about the pastoral bagpipe, a 17th century invention whose voice didn't quite make it to our times.  However, there is one recording from the early 1900's which I'll post as soon as I digitize it.  Another fascinating topic, alluded to in the second quote above, is the musical relation between variations in Piobaireachd and Lowland and Border tunes.  Meanwhile, here are some photographic snippets of Lowland and pastoral bagpipes:

Lowland and Pastoral Bagpipes (L-R: Unknown Lowland 19th century, unknown Lowland 18th century, John Addison 1989 pastoral, McCandless 2000 pastoral)	Union Bagpipe by Hugh Robertson (late 18th century) in the Piping Centre Collection Glasgow, Scotland
The Trio Erskine Nicol (1862)	Frontispiece to O'Farrell's Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes (1804)
Pastoral Bagpipes (L-R: McCandless 1995 copy of Squier 1770 three-drone and unknown three-drone with one regulator)	A Rare Single-Piece Pastoral Bagpipe Chanter   William Beauford's 1786 engraving of an Irish bagpipe
Lowland Bagpipes (19th century by MacDonald and 20th century by John Addison)	Playing a bellows-blown Bechonnet pipe by Michael MacHarg.   Altarnun Church, Cornwall on a pew carved with an image of a pyper
Before and after restoration of 18th century one-regulator pastoral bagpipe	Coming soon: fingering charts and repertoire for pastoral and union bagpipes Coming soon: dimensions for dozens of historical lowland and pastoral chanters
Photograph of hautbois (top) and different long bagpipe chanters: grand Bourbonnais in D 2 pastoral chanters in D 2 pastoral chanters in E-flat Uillean chanter in E-flat pastoral chanter in E-flat	Coming soon: audio clips of pastoral bagpipes

Publications

Links:

Lowland and Border Pipers' Society:     www.lbps.net

Na Piobaire Uillean:                           www.pipers.ie

Aron Garceau's Bagpipe Site:              www.prydein.com/pipes/index.html

Jerry O'Sullivan:                                www.jerryosullivan.com

Bonnie Rideout:                                www.bonnierideout.com

Send mail to bemccandless@earthlink.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007 Brian E McCandless
Last modified: 26/08/2008