Learn the History of Scottish Bagpipes

Series Summary

Dozens of types of bagpipes are widely spread across Europe and the Middle East today, as well as through much of the former British Empire. These instruments use enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The term bagpipes or bagpipe is equally correct, although pipers usually refer to "pipes" and "the bagpipe." A bagpipe must at least consist of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually a drone. The name bagpipe has essentially become synonymous with its most well-known form, the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe.

In modern music, bagpipes are scarcely used, but remain a recognizable instrument because of their unique look and sound. However, bagpipe lessons can be hard to arrange because of their lack of general popularity. That's where our free video series comes in. With our expert's instructions, you'll learn all about bagpipes, from the proper way to hold them to the proper way to tune them to the right way to change the reeds.

Video Transcript

"NEIL HUBBARD: The history of the bagpipe is very long. It's one of the oldest instruments there is. The best explanation of its origin is probably some place in Egypt, maybe the Nile Valley, and in its simplest form, the bagpipe is a reed taken from down by the edge of the river and probably some holes carved in it for the fingers and somebody blowing through it. This is a cane bagpipe reed. It's a double reed which makes that really hideous sound when you blow through it but added into a chanter with holes carved in it, you play the melody. It's most likely thought that the Romans brought the instrument north to what is now Scotland about 2000 years ago. The British Army later picked the instrument up as something that they incorporated into bands to have the troops moved forward. Previous to that it was just a folk instrument that people played for their own musical enjoyment. A little known fact is that there are probably about 70 different kinds of bagpipes in the world in addition to this great highland bagpipe from Scotland. There's Irish pipes, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Chinese, you name it just about every country in the world has their own indigenous bagpipe."