Bagpipes

The bagpipe bagpipe, or (rarely Bock whistle, English bagpipe. ) Is a self- sounding interrupt Aerophon ( reed instrument ) supplies air from an air bag on a wind-cap. She is played by a bagpiper ( bagpipe players). The country of origin of the bagpipe is probably India.

Structure and sound

The instrument has a chanter (some types more than one) with which the melody is played and usually one or more drones (also Brummer ), each playing a continuous tone. The sounds in the pipes are created ( single or double), each by one reed. This is usually made ​​from the Schilfart " Arundo donax ," more recently in plastic or metal.

A drone is a always consistent sound, which must match the key of the chanter. To this end, the air supply (often goat skin, hence the term ram pipe) is carried to all pipes of an air bag from sealed leather or synthetic material, sometimes of a whole animal skin that is inflated by the player by a bellows or with the mouth by a crook. In almost all bagpipes a check valve made ​​of leather ensures that the injected air can not flow back when the player breathes or the bellows rears. The bag is more or less compressed with the arms against the body to maintain a constant air pressure in the bag as possible, regardless of the strength of the injected air and the air flowing back out of the bag on the pipes. This gives the typical for the instrument tone. The blowing pressure reaches all pipes alike. An intonation of pressure change is therefore often possible only to a small extent. In some bagpipes types, especially those with überblasbaren chanters or drones umstimmbaren, the drones are relatively insensitive to pressure fluctuations. Such Bordunkonstruktion is required to allow the over-blowing the chanter or the play in different keys with different Bordunstimmungen. Bagpipes with conically bored chanter sound quite loud, some bagpipes types with such chanters reach extreme volumes. Bagpipes with cylindrically bored chanter are much quieter.

Sackpfeifenbordune are often voted on or close to the Bordunpunkt and therefore behave acoustically as a " Lingualpfeife with cylindrical cup with cup natural length", that is, the scale length of the tube sheet fits acoustically to the length of Bordunröhre. The resulting, very fundamental tone sound is characteristic of Sackpfeifenbordune.

Special

Bagpipes are usually played only in the keys specified by the drones, deviations from this are rare. Frequently, therefore, the drones can be tuned to several drones or be muted individually. The chanter is often not vollchromatisch playable, which also limits the number of playable keys.

A specific problem is to distinguish successive repetitions of the same note from a longer note value. As a bagpipe chanter constantly generates a tone at least one other note is played briefly in between for the separation of two equal tones. From this need to sack whistle specific ornaments have been developed in which often several short intermediate tones for the separation of two identical tones are inserted.

Origin and Distribution

The country of origin of the bagpipe is probably India. Referred to in Sanskrit Nagabaddha Indian bagpipe had only one drone in the south, in the north, occasionally, a chanter. In the Ptolemaic period, the bagpipe in Ancient Egypt emerges.

The Roman historian Suetonius handed (Nero, 54) that Emperor Nero had presented as utricularius. This term is related to the Latin utriculus " wineskin " together. The translation as " bagpipe " arises from a point of reference in Dion Chrysostom, who reports of Nero, he was able to play the aulos both with his mouth and by means of a clamped under his arm bag. In the Bible, bagpipes could be mentioned in the Book of Daniel (NKJV translation, Daniel chapter 3 verses 5,7,10 and 15), in the context of the Babylonian Empire.

In the Middle Ages, the drone and thus the bagpipe spread throughout Europe. The oldest documents in Germany can be found in two documents from the monastery of St. Blaise from the 8th or 9th century.

Only a medieval bagpipe in its original to the present day, the " Rostock chanter " of the 15th century. In addition, the medieval bagpipes but are deducible by many examples in art. Until the 15th century it was predominantly einbordunige, hand-blown bagpipes.

In 18th century France, the bagpipe in the form of the musette de cour was important instrument of the courtly music, many original compositions for the instrument originated in this period. In addition, in France there are a large number of regional forms of the Boha Gascony, the Cabrette Auvergne on the Cornemuses the central region to the BINIOU Kozh Brittany.

In Scotland, the bagpipe has a special tradition as an instrument at the court. In the British " Disarming Act" after the battle of Culloden the Scottish tradition was largely prohibited. This affected the Highland dress, but not the bagpipe itself These lived on as a military instrument, and is often referred to as the Scottish national instrument.

Also in Southeast Europe playing the instrument spread, an unbroken tradition also has the zampogna in southern Italy. In northwestern Spain, in the local Escuelas de Gaitas, music schools with bagpipes lessons, tens of thousands of bagpipes students registered. But in other parts of the country, the bagpipe is widespread as the sac de gemecs in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands xeremies mallorquina.

In the Czech folk music of the Bohemian Bock stands in unbroken tradition; also in the Sorbian folk bagpipe plays an important role. The buck is also found in southern Germany and Austria in the folk music back to his place, which he had lost during the 19th century. In addition, the bagpipe wins in Central Europe by the increasing popularity of medieval festivals and markets important again. Especially the Great Highland Bagpipe place in Germany as in other countries in recent times many followers. In Switzerland, the instrument came in the 19th century into oblivion after it was still in use until the 16th century in military marches. Again, the bagpipe pleased again recently in popularity, with predominantly slightly modified models from the 16th century are produced.

On the Indian subcontinent, there was in the Middle Ages several bagpipes, including the North Indian Masak (also Mashak, mashq ) or the titti, which were replaced by imported instruments of the British colonialists in the 18th century. The local bagpipe was referred to by the British as a delimiting pungi, today in India, the name for the wind instrument of the snake charmers, which represents an early form of bagpipes for the same sound engine. Bagpipes survived in India as British heritage and are occasionally seen in processions. The traditional Masak goatskin is played in rural areas of Northern India and Pakistan, especially at weddings, in the region of Garhwal on the southern edge of the Himalayas are two bagpipes players who lead the wedding procession, practically indispensable. The Bhopa community in Rajasthan they play along with the string lute sarangi, flute and double-reed instrument shehnai.

In the popular dance music in southern Iran Bandari generates the bagpipes ney Anban next several drums and the ud from the rest of Iranian music is so different sound. The ney has Anban as the comparable jirba in Bahrain no drone.

The origin of the word part ' Dudel ' is attributed to the Turkish duduk ( " flute "). In Hungarian it is called this musical instrument also duda.

The Manessische songs manuscript contains illustrations that testify that the bagpipes in the Middle Ages was one of the courtly instruments. In 18th century France, the bagpipe experienced a courtly rebirth, as it was fashionable among the nobility, to dress up as shepherds and shepherdesses and play rural life. For the very small bagpipe Musette de Cour was developed as a supposed shepherd instrument. For this purpose, have well-known composers specially composed music.

In Germany, the bagpipe is experiencing a rebirth, especially by the growing interest in medieval festivals and the medieval rock scene..

Species

Bagpipes, which are now used in traditional music, old music and folk, among others:

• Great Highland Bagpipes, Scottish Smallpipe, Border Pipe, Pipe Shuttle (Scotland )
• Northumbrian Smallpipe ( North of England )
• Uilleann Pipes (Ireland )
• Pwyannwn and Gwenloitheg (Cornwall)
• Tibhae, Pibacwd (Wales )
• BINIOU Kozh (Brittany )
• Chabrette (Limousin in France)
• Veuze ( Poitou in France)
• Cabrette (Auvergne in France)
• Cornemuse du Centre, Musette Bechonnet, Cornemuse Bourbonnais ( Centre region of France)
• Musette de Cour ( historical, France)
• Boha ( Gascony in France)
• Pijpzak / Doedelzak (Flanders and the Netherlands)
• Schäferpfeife, Praetorius - Bock, Hümmelchen, Dudey ( Germany, historically )
• Market bagpipe ( modern, Germany )
• Kozol ( in Eb) - large Sorbian Bock, Měchawa ( in F) - so-called small Sorbian Bagpipe, Měchawka (in A, Am) - so-called Dreibrümmchen
• Dudy, Kozioł, Koza (Poland )
• Dudy, Gajdy (Bohemia, Moravia - Czech Republic )
• Bock (Bohemia, Austria, Southern Germany )
• Bagpipes (Sweden)

• Volynka (Russia)
• Torupill (Estonia)
• Dudas (Latvia )
• Duda ( Belarus )
• Gaita (Spanish provinces of Galicia and Asturias)
• Sac de gemecs (Catalonia )
• Xeremia or xeremies (Mallorca)
• Bag whistle, Sackpfyf or Sackphiffen ( Switzerland )
• Baghèt ( northern Italy)
• Piva (Italy )
• Zampogna ( Southern Italy)
• Cimpoi (Romania )

• Gajde, in Slavonia, Herzegovina, Vojvodina and Serbia, Macedonia and Albania ( südmoravisch type)
• Kaba Gajda, Djoura Gajda (Bulgaria)
• Schuta Gajda ( Pirin, Vardar and Aegean Macedonia)
• Gaida and Tsambouna (Greece )
• Askomantoura (Crete, Greece)
• Mizwed (Tunisia )
• Tulum, also guda, ( Turkish provinces of Rize and Artvin )
• Chi bonuses ( Georgian province of Adjara )
• Gudastviri ( Eastern Georgia )
• Parkapzuk (Armenia )

Across Europe, there are estimates of experts today about 180 various regional forms of bagpipes.

Meanwhile, also electric bagpipes, which can be connected midi controlled to an amplifier or to a computer on the market. Inventor was the Asturian musician José Ángel Hevia with the computer programmer Alberto Arias and the technician Miguel Dopico.

More wind-cap instruments are Krummhorn, Platerspiel, Rauschpfeife and also the practice chanter used as a training device for the Great Highland Bagpipe.