Around The Globe: Scotland

Early History
In fact, the earliest recorded reference to bagpipes is on a Hittite slab from Asia Minor which has been dated to 1000 BC while by the 1st century AD, bagpipes existed in many countries from India to Spain and from France to Egypt. It's also clear that bagpipes were popular throughout the rest of the British isles prior to their documented appearance north of the border. When, and how, they did first appear in Scotland is a hotly contested topic with competing theories claiming they were either a Roman import or that the instrument came from Ireland.

Components and Styles of Pipe
In whichever country it developed, the basic bagpipe comprised the same elements: a bag with a chanter (on which the melody was played) and one or more drones (pipes which play a continuous note). Some examples were mouth-blown while others used a bellows attachment to supply the air to the bag. The bag provided a sustained tone while the musician took a breath and allowed several tones to be played at once. The original Scottish pipes probably had, at the most, a single drone. The second drone was added to the pipes in the mid to late 1500s while the third, or great drone, came into use early in the 1700s.
While different styles of pipe emerged in Scotland, it is the Highland bagpipe or the piob-mhor 'the Great Pipe', which has emerged as our national instrument. These are blown by mouth and the bags were traditionally made from the skin of a sheep, although nowadays leather, rubber or other synthetic materials are used. The pipes themselves were originally made of bone or ivory, but hardwood is the modern choice. The melody is played on a reeded chanter leading down from the bag while the three drone pipes sit on the piper's shoulder and provide a constant, steady sound as a background to the melody.

Music Styles
There are essentially two types of music played on the Highland pipes: the march, strathspey and reel variety, which were composed for military or social events, and the piobaireachd (pronounced pee-broch) which is the 'symphony music' of the pipes. This classical music is an art form which can compare to the music of any other country and most of it was composed 100 years before the piano and without written notation.

So while they did not invent bagpipes, Scots can fairly claim to have made them their own through keeping them alive as part of their musical tradition and by making them one of the outstanding parts of their culture.

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