50 Fun Facts About Bagpipes

To which family of instruments do bagpipes belong?

Air blown into the bag feeds enclosed reeds, which is why organologists file them under aerophones.

The word 'chanter' derives from the Latin cantare, meaning what?

It is the melody pipe, fingered with both hands while the drones hold a constant note.

What is the job of a bagpipe drone?

Most drones are cylindrical single-reed tubes pitched two octaves below the chanter's tonic.

What are the sockets that fasten the pipes to the bag called?

A set minimally needs an air supply, a bag, a chanter and usually at least one drone, all held in these sockets.

How many drones does a modern Great Highland bagpipe have?

Two tenors and one bass, plus the chanter and blowpipe; that makes four reeds in all, every one hidden inside the stocks.

How many notes can the chanter of a Great Highland bagpipe play?

The scale is roughly Mixolydian, and with continuous airflow there are no dynamics and no rests either.

How is the Highland pipe's chanter voiced, unlike its three drones?

The three drone reeds are single; double-reed chanters are typical of Western European pipes, single reeds of most other regions.

Which nickname do pipers give to bellows-blown bagpipes?

Because the air is never warmed or moistened by breath, bellows pipes can use more delicate reeds; the idea dates from the 16th or 17th century.

Which of these was NOT a traditional material for bagpipe bags?

Skins were often turned fur-side in to fight moisture; modern synthetic bags such as Gore-Tex may even have zips for a moisture trap.

What do pipers use to learn fingering quietly, without bag or drones?

Its much quieter reed lets a piper learn fingering and new tunes without disturbing the neighbours.

What does uncovering the 'flea-hole' on a Balkan gaida chanter do?

The tiny hole is often a metal tube or a chicken feather, and its trills give Balkan music its distinctive character.

Which Roman emperor did Suetonius describe as playing the bagged tibia utricularis?

Dio Chrysostom also wrote of a sovereign who played the pipe by tucking a bladder beneath his armpit.

Where was the earliest surviving bagpipe part, a medieval chanter, found in 1985?

Actual instruments from before the 18th century are extremely rare; most evidence comes from paintings, carvings and manuscripts.

Which 14th-century English work explicitly mentions a character who plays the bagpipe?

Chaucer's Miller blows the pipes to lead the pilgrims out of town.

The first clear reference to Scottish Highland bagpipes concerns which 1547 battle?

A French history recorded their use there, and George Buchanan claimed the pipes had replaced the trumpet on the battlefield.

Which of these was one of the famous Highland piping families of the early 17th century?

Alongside the MacArthurs, MacGregors and Mackays of Gairloch, they shaped the martial 'great music' of the pipes.

What is the widely repeated but unproven claim about the Act of Proscription of 1746?

The act's text never mentions pipes and no prosecution for playing them is recorded; the clan system's collapse did more damage.

Whose passion for the Highlands led the War Office to fund regimental pipers in the 1840s?

Each Highland battalion was allowed five pipers and a pipe major, still all the British Army pays for.

Roughly how many pipers are estimated to have been killed in World War I?

Pipers were easily identifiable targets; front-line piping was finally prohibited after heavy losses at El Alamein in 1943.

Piper Bill Millin famously played under fire on which D-Day beach?

German snipers later told him they had not shot at him because they assumed he had gone mad.

Whose personal piper was Bill Millin on D-Day?

Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, ignored orders restricting pipes to rear areas and had Millin play the commandos ashore.

Which 1962 film portrayed Bill Millin's D-Day piping?

He was played by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, official piper to the Queen Mother; a bronze statue of Millin was unveiled in Normandy in 2013.

The uilleann pipes are the national bagpipe of which country?

Their name is a 20th-century coinage by Grattan Flood, translating 'pipes of the elbow'; earlier they were called Union pipes.

How is the bag of the uilleann pipes inflated?

The dry air is kinder to the reeds, and some pipers can talk or sing while playing.

What range does the uilleann pipes' chanter have, unusually for a bagpipe?

It can be overblown into the upper octave and plays sharps and flats, and its extra keyed pipes are called regulators.

Which film and stage show helped make the uilleann pipes widely known?

Both leaned on the softer Irish pipes rather than the Highland pipes most people picture.

The Northumbrian smallpipes come from which part of England?

The Duke of Northumberland's family has kept an official piper for over 250 years, and a Pipers' Society was founded in 1928.

What is pibroch, or ceòl mòr?

Literally 'great music', it opens with a slow ground called the ùrlar followed by up to twenty variations.

What is the Gaelic term for the 'little music' of marches, reels and strathspeys?

A march, strathspey and reel set — the MSR — is the standard competition combination.

What is the slow opening statement of a pibroch's theme called?

The Gaelic word means ground or floor; the variations that follow start simply and grow ever more ornate.

Who directs the music of a pipes-and-drums ensemble?

On parade a drum major may march in front with a mace, but the pipe major directs the music.

Where is the World Pipe Band Championships held?

Staged since 1947, it now takes place on Glasgow Green with several hundred bands over two days each August.

Which band was the first from outside Scotland to win the Grade One world title, in 1987?

Until then the top prize had never left Scotland; Strathclyde Police remain the most successful band with 20 wins.

Which pipe band is the most successful in World Championship history with 20 titles?

Known as the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band until 1975, they won between 1920 and 1991; Shotts and Dykehead have 16.

Which 1977 Wings hit featured the Campbeltown Pipe Band?

It was the UK's Christmas number one and the first single to sell over two million copies there.

Which AC/DC singer, once a pipe-band member, played bagpipes on 'It's a Long Way to the Top'?

Tuning the whole band to the drone made it hard to play live, so it was performed perhaps 30 times at most.

Which regiment's 1972 bagpipe recording of 'Amazing Grace' became a hit single?

Their arrangement slowed the tempo to suit the pipes and was based on Judy Collins's version.

Which pipe tune, proposed as a Scottish anthem, was written by two Germans in 1982?

Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb composed it; it was also the anthem of the Royal Hong Kong Police until 1997.

Who wrote the now-standard lyrics to 'Scotland the Brave' around 1950?

The journalist wrote them for singer Robert Wilson; the tune is one of three unofficial Scottish anthems.

Which astronaut is thought to be the first to play bagpipes in space, in 2015?

He played 'Amazing Grace' aboard the International Space Station in tribute to a late colleague.

Which country is the world's largest producer of bagpipes?

Its industry was worth about $6.8 million in 2010, a legacy of British military piping traditions.

The bagpipe is the official instrument of which sport's world federation?

Teams process to the pipes before major championships, a nod to the sport's Scottish roots.

What is the Breton adaptation of the Highland pipe band called?

Brittany borrowed both the Great Highland bagpipe and the band concept to create it.

The gaita is the traditional bagpipe of which region of Spain?

It is also played across northern Portugal, and Asturias has its own gaita tradition.

The Italian zampogna is mostly associated with which season?

The carol 'Tu scendi dalle stelle' derives from traditional zampogna music.

What was the musette de cour?

Its short shuttle drone and two chanters gave an oboe-like tone that suited the French court.

The torupill is a traditional bagpipe of which country?

Its name simply means 'pipe instrument'; Poland's own pipes include the dudy and the koziol.

Which Asturian piper built the first custom MIDI bagpipes?

José Ángel Hevia Velasco's electronic pipes helped take the gaita to a global pop audience.

Where is the International Bagpipe Festival held every two years?

Gijón hosts the International Bagpipe Museum, and Morpeth's Chantry museum specialises in Northumbrian pipes.

Which BBC talent show brought the Red Hot Chilli Pipers to fame in 2007?

The Celtic rock band, formed in 2002, mixes Highland pipes with rock covers.