Anyone here play bagpipes?

msupples1 said:
Can't believe I missed this one...

I'm a grade 3 piper, have won multiple gold medals in competition and I instruct on the pipes for the local pipe band. I also play and instruct on the snare in our band.

I have a bad feeling you bought a set of pakistani pipes, which are ALL complete trash.

Do they look like this?

bagpipes-rose.gif


If so, they may make some good firewood, but not much else.

You'll need to start on a practice chanter, and won't be touching the pipes for at least 3 months after you start on the practice chanter. If you're really interested I can find a band and/or instructor in your area. No matter your experience (I don't care if you're a better musician than Bach), you will get nowhere on the pipes without an instructor.

I always recommend the McCallum Long polypenco chanter, found here http://www.thepipershut.info/cgi/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MBMCCALLUM_LONG_POLY

Then you'll also need to pick up the College of Piping Tutor here http://www.thepipershut.info/cgi/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=COP_V_1


EDIT:

I found you an instructor in Albuquerque. This is a world champion band that offers lessons, probably free. http://www.hdpd.org/

The pipe major's (guy in charge) email address is hyperpiper10@yahoo.com

They'll get you going.

Almost every band is hurting as far as membership, I'm sure they would welcome you with open arms.
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Can you find me one in St. Charles, IL? On a trip to Scotland about 5 years ago I bought a set of handmade pipes at a Scottish shop (cost over US$500) as well as a chanter. Tried for a year on a chanter myself and ended up getting nowhere. They've been gathering dust in a case since. Would still like to try.
 
bstratt said:
Can you find me one in St. Charles, IL? On a trip to Scotland about 5 years ago I bought a set of handmade pipes at a Scottish shop (cost over US$500) as well as a chanter. Tried for a year on a chanter myself and ended up getting nowhere. They've been gathering dust in a case since. Would still like to try.
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I didn't see anything in St. Charles, but there is plenty in Chicago. You have two Grade 2 bands (second from the top, less than a dozen in the US) in Chicago. I see that one practices in Riverside. Contact both of them and see if you can find someone within a reasonable distance from you.

City of Chicago Pipe Band - Patrick Lynch cocpipeband@gmail.com

Chicago Caledonian Pipe Band - Charlie Jenkins cjenkins@uic.edu

Hope that helps.

Just out of interest, who made your pipes?
 
I don't know anything about the bagpipes... but AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" is one of the coolest songs ever...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy0I9WKWp44

A few years back, I was at a bar that had an AC/DC cover band playing on the stage... They brought out pipers to play this song. The crowd went nuts.
 
The definition of a true Scot gentleman?
A man who can play the pipes, but doesn't. :)
 
msupples1 said:
I didn't see anything in St. Charles, but there is plenty in Chicago. You have two Grade 2 bands (second from the top, less than a dozen in the US) in Chicago. I see that one practices in Riverside. Contact both of them and see if you can find someone within a reasonable distance from you.

City of Chicago Pipe Band - Patrick Lynch cocpipeband@gmail.com

Chicago Caledonian Pipe Band - Charlie Jenkins cjenkins@uic.edu

Hope that helps.

Just out of interest, who made your pipes?
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It was at a shop in Edinburgh, on the Royal Mile IIRC. They only did bagpipes. I bought one of the cheaper sets (no fancy decorations). The guy who sold them to me was about 18 and had been playing since he was 5. He took the pipes I bought and played Amazing Grace on them before packaging them up (my favorite pipes song!). A neighbor at our cottage used to stand at the end of his dock and play the pipes each night as the sun set. Absolutely stirring!
 
I seem to recall reading somewhere that bagpipes were banned as a weapon of war. Just commenting... :D
 
Ghery said:
I seem to recall reading somewhere that bagpipes were banned as a weapon of war. Just commenting... :D
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Myth

2. However there is a also a widespread myth that bagpipes in Scotland were (i) banned after the battle of Culloden (1746) (ii) classified as a weapon of war and (iii) the playing of the pipes would be punishable by death. Which is not true. If you have a decent attention span you can read the background to the myth below:-
Like most myths it is drawn from several sources. Principally the trial of a Jacobite piper James Reid, the Proscription act of 1747 which banned the use of arms (and warlike weapons and the wearing of tartan amongst other things) in the Highlands and a work published in the aftermath of Culloden by Donald MacDonald decrying the pipes being "laid aside" and "music lost".

James Reid the piper in question was captured at Carlisle which the Jacobites had garrisoned with Ogilvy's and the Manchester Regiment as they retreated north from Derby. He was tried along with 70 other rebels and sentenced to death with 21 others. The jury recommended leniency being a piper but the judge decided otherwise. He was executed for high treason for taking part in the rebellion not for playing the pipes. During his trial his defense was he was a piper so hadn't born arms, the judge said in sentencing that any person who joined with others "though they did not bear arms, were yet guilty of high treason" but more famously for the myth that "no regiment ever marched without musical instruments such as trumpets drums and the like....a highland regiment never marched without a piper...and therefore his bagpipe in the eyes of the law was an instrument of war" and he was convicted of taking part in the rebellion. He was the only Jacobite piper executed. Following Culloden only five Pipers were prosecuted for being rebels. One was transported (pleading guilty to rebellion), one executed as above, two were pardoned and one there is no information on. The successful defenses proves the playing of the pipes was never taken into account as binding by other courts. It should be noted that any decision handed down by an English Court would not be binding on a Scottish court as Scots law is completely separate.

As to the Proscription act (passed for enactment in Scotland) this covered the carrying of weapons in a defined area of the highlands. It does not mention pipes in any way and as can be seen above they were not classified as a weapon but an instrument in an English court. There is not one single record of anyone being prosecuted for playing teaching or owning the pipes in Scotland in this era, it's a myth because the act simply does not cover pipes in any shape or form. The court records of the time do list pipers but for other crimes (thieving, breaking and entering, rape and murder to be exact) and also as witnesses. If piping was banned under pain of death why were they volunteering their profession as pipers in the records? It would only make matters much much worse.

The use of the term "instrument of war" used in the court case and the execution of the piper at York have been woven with the other quotes (Cumberland "implements of war" about his own pipers) and the proscription act especially the part dealing with weapons. The brutality of the follow up operation and the later clearances (mostly by the clans own chiefs) has added to the ongoing myth. Similarly the oft quoted line that the Pipes are the only musical instrument to ever be classified as a weapon of war can be seen to be another myth as the judge used the term instrument of war and included trumpets and drums in his definition in the sentence. Actually according to recent research fiddlers in the Jacobean army suffered more than the pipers but the instrument has never had the place in the imagination of the public that the pipes had.

The act was in statue for 35 years from 1747 - 1782. In the early years of the act few people were prosecuted for the wearing of tartan (fined for a 1st offense, transported for a 2nd) it wasn't until the advent of the seven years war where the act was utilised widely to impress highlanders into the army (instead of transportation) that this changed. The act also never applied to landed gentry or their sons and of course the Army or the lowlands.

The playing of the pipes did decline and some music was lost but there is plenty of written evidence of famous pipers (e.g. George MacLeod) pipe makers (e.g. Hugh Robertson) and piping schools including the MacCrimmon's piping college on Skye at Boreraig for several decades after Culloden. Adverts, letters and collections of music from the time all testify to the pipes being in use openly.
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http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Were_bagpipes_ever_banned_in_Scotland
 
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