Old style Highland piping

[Nathan]

As you may know, the Highland bagpiping tradition went through some pretty major changes when it became part of the British Army. Many people think that Highland bagpipes have always been like they are today, but this is not the case. They weren't always made of African blackwood for one thing. This was a development that went along with the British colonization of Africa. They weren't always as loud, as high pitched and they didn't even always have as many drones as they do today. They weren't always exclusively associated with the military but were associated just as much with parties and dancing. In short, there was much more experimentation among pipe builders when they were making them for individual players. A lot of people who compare Irish and Scottish pipes historically miss the fact that the modern Highland pipes weren't used in Scotland either and that the Irish warpipes referred to in early sources, could well have been the exact same instrument (or within the range of instruments) from which the modern Great Highland Bagpipe rather recently evolved.

When the Highlanders arrived in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton during the Highland clearances, they brought their pipes and piping style with them. The drones for pipes were usually turned out of local wood (often ash, maple etc...) by the local furniture maker as he would be the one with the lathe. There are drawings and early photographs of Highland pipes from the 1800s in the Nova Scotia archives, some had two drones, some had two wooden drones and a brass one and some had the three drones you see today. I haven't done the research in Scotland, but I would bet similar variation could be found in the documentary records.

These local, quieter pipes went out of favour after the Nova Scotia Scots went to Europe to fight in the Great War. Canadian military regiments used British style bagpipes and obtained them through commonwealth supply chains. These pipes were of very high quality though louder, more uniform and ornate than the ones they were replacing and players moved to them without much thought.

If there is doubt regarding the increase in volume that came with African wood and a wider bore, one only has to check the historical references (Gaidlig song lyrics, poems, paintings) to see that fiddles and pipes were routinely played together. This cannot be done on modern Great Highland pipes without electrical sound reinforcement for the fiddler as the military pipes completely drown out the fiddler. That's to say nothing about the tuning of modern pipes which have gotten significantly brighter (higher pitched) due to pipe band competitions. Most piping and fiddling repertoire is written in A but the pipes are closer to a modern Bb although admittedly, A wasn't always universally 440 Hz.

While pipe bands caught on in Cape Breton through the Canadian military and more recent immigrants from Scotland (they have never stopped coming), a tradition of piping for set dances remained in Cape Breton. As I mentioned in another thread, the phrasing and swing of the tunes was altered to suit marching bands in the military.

If you want to hear the old piping style, to my knowledge, you have to go to Cape Breton. Here is a fabulous example of traditional 1800s dance style piping. The MacKenzie Brothers from Mabou are performing in Glasgow at the Celtic Connection Festival in this clip. Enjoy the music, and you pipers out there, why not learn some of these tunes and try and revive this exciting style where you live?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLayjKtWduQ

[sailortats]

Great video Nathan, thanks for sending it along

[KiltedDixon]

Thanks for the link. A very enjoyable listen.

[Tim Little]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

[Katia]

Nifty history. Can't wait to see the video (when I'm at a computer with functional sound).

[Nathan]

Sorry if this is a thread hijack!
You mentioned bagpipes being made out of lathe turned ash. In ghe summer, I have access to a lathe as well as large quantities of ash. Would it be possiblebfor me to make my own set of pipes? Not GHBs, but an older, quiter type of bagpipes, probably cornish doublepipes (I fell in love with these pipes after researching them when another member (though I forget who :P) posted about them)
I'm sure they wouldn't be perfect, but I would be thrilled if I could make something that I could get a noise out of and could relatively make the pitch lower by covering ip a hole or two. Is this possible?
Would this be possible?
Sorry for the "threadjack" and for the long post.
Thanks!

It's possible, but I don't know how to do it. You need a lot more than a lathe. That will help you turn the drones...You need to bore the drones make the bag, season the bag, make the reeds, the chanter, etc...

It would be quite a project...

[Padraicog]

Here is a fabulous example of traditional 1800s dance style piping. The MacKenzie Brothers from Mabou are performing in Glasgow at the Celtic Connection Festival in this clip. Enjoy the music, and you pipers out there, why not learn some of these tunes and try and revive this exciting style where you live?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLayjKtWduQ

Slightly misleading in my view. Two of the tunes are modern one by the late Donald MacLeod and the other by Gordon Duncan. Furthermore the style these guys (good though they are) are playing is very common amongst Scottish Pipers and probably has been for a number of years probably even before the MacKenzie brothers were born.

[Nathan]

Slightly misleading in my view. Two of the tunes are modern one by the late Donald MacLeod and the other by Gordon Duncan. Furthermore the style these guys (good though they are) are playing is very common amongst Scottish Pipers and probably has been for a number of years probably even before the MacKenzie brothers were born.

I find your comment interesting. When I say style, the tunes can be new, it's the interpretation of them. If you can point me to other pipers who play a dance style let me know. Listen to the Barry Shears link I posted and tell me if you think he and the MacKenzie brothers play a different style. I haven't heard dance sets like this in Scotland yet, so I'm interested. Maybe Barry is making a more subtle distinction.

Cheers,

N

[neloon]

I find your comment interesting. When I say style, the tunes can be new, it's the interpretation of them. If you can point me to other pipers who play a dance style let me know. Listen to the Barry Shears link I posted and tell me if you think he and the MacKenzie brothers play a different style. I haven't heard dance sets like this in Scotland yet, so I'm interested. Maybe Barry is making a more subtle distinction.

Cheers,

N

Nathan,
I have to say that I don't really find these guys different from the usual Scottish pipers playing for dancing e.g. here in Wester Ross *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WMWZhXM3Q

Of course, the normal dance music in Scotland is provided by a ceilidh band led by a box player (usually) but, here, on Skye, the two have joined forces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ImYx15Deo

* Not much traffic in Poolewe at Easter!!

Ailean

[OC Richard]

I love Cape Breton music! I listened countless hours to Jerry Holland albums back in the 80s, and spent many an hour listening to the music live at various music camps.

In that MacKenzie Brothers clip, when there's just the piano and fiddle it really sounds Cape Breton to me, but when the piper comes in he's playing in the normal modern Scottish style that you'll hear in any good pipe band. If you heard a Grade One pipe band (be it SFU from BC or FMM from NI or Shotts and Dykehead from Scotland) play that first jig, every piper in the band would be playing it exactly like that fellow is playing it, all the same fingerings and ornamentation and timing and style.

If such a Cape Breton piper was playing in an archaic style brought over from Scotland in the 18th century and perpetuated through the generations, I would expect to see old-fashioned stylistic things, playing more in line with Joseph MacDonald.