Q 01/05

To which family of instruments do bagpipes belong?

A) Strings

B) Woodwind

C) Percussion

D) Brass

Answer · why

B) Woodwind

Woodwind: the sound comes from reeds, and the bag is simply an air tank that lets the piper take a breath without the music stopping.

Q 02/05

The bagpipe's chanter takes its name from the Latin cantare, meaning what?

A) To sing

B) To breathe

C) To pray

D) To march

Answer · why

A) To sing

To sing: the chanter is the pipe the piper fingers to carry the tune, so it does the instrument's singing; chant and cantata share the root.

Q 03/05

What is the job of a bagpipe drone?

A) To play the melody

B) To hold the pipes on the shoulder

C) To sound a constant harmonizing note

D) To pump air into the bag

Answer · why

C) To sound a constant harmonizing note

To sound a constant harmonizing note: a drone isn't fingered, so it holds one pitch under the tune, and the piper tunes it against the chanter by slid...

Q 04/05

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

A) Mounts

B) Ferrules

C) Stocks

D) Collars

Answer · why

C) Stocks

Stocks are wooden sockets tied into the bag; when a bag is made from a whole goatskin, they are bound into the openings left by the neck and front leg...

Q 05/05

A Great Highland bagpipe's three drones are two tenors and one what?

A) Alto

B) Baritone

C) Bass

D) Soprano

Answer · why

C) Bass

Bass: it is tuned an octave below the two tenors, and with the chanter that makes four reeds a Highland piper has to power from one bag of air.