Scottish Bagpipe Music The Bagpipes are considered the pre-eminent instrument in Scotland today.

They have a nine note chanter, two tenor drones and a bass drone. The instrument is found in all walks of life; clan society, army, community, pipe bands and with the ordinary people and pupils in schools. The Scottish Bagpipes are now found all over the world and have even reached places such as Oman where the Sultan has his own pipe band trained by Scottish pipers. Since the 1980s a number of bellows blown pipes have seen a revival in Scotland. This has enabled pipers to play with other musicians more easily and has been a major influence in the new bands emmerging in the last few years. Chanter notes are G A B Csharp D E Fsharp G A (the C sharp is flatter than the tempered scale and the A of the chanter is close to B flat). The practice chanter is unique to Scottish and Spanish piping. It is the same length as the bagpipe chanter but sounds an octave lower. There are two major categories of bagpipe music. Col Mor - big music - piobaireachd- theme and variations. Col beag - little music - dance music, marches, strathspeys and reels, jigs and hornpipes. Earliest resources of Scottish Highland Bagpipe music concern the MacCrimmons in the 16th century on Skye. It has been said that the origins of pipe music may lie in the harp tradition which was around before the pipes and is said to have been stolen by the pipers and fiddlers. The Highland Bagpipes are a still a strong cultural emblem from Scots to the rest of the world.

Great Highland Bagpipe A pipe major of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (date unknown) The Great Highland Bagpipe (Scottish Gaelic: a' phob mhr; often abbreviated GHB in English) is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. The bagpipe is first attested in Scotland around 1400 AD, having previously appeared in European artwork in Spain in the 13th century. The earliest references to bagpipes in Scotland are in a military context, and it is in that context that the Great Highland Bagpipe became established in the British military and achieved the widespread prominence it enjoys today, whereas other bagpipe traditions throughout Europe, ranging from Portugal to Russia, almost universally went into decline by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though widely famous for its role in military and civilian pipe bands, the Great Highland Bagpipe is also used for a solo virtuosic style called piobaireachd, a.k.a. pibroch.

Bagpipes

The Tannahill Weavers Main article: Bagpipe Though bagpipes are closely associated with Scotland by many outsiders, the instrument (or, more precisely, family of instruments) is found throughout large swathes of Europe, North Africa and South Asia. The most common bagpipe heard in modern Scottish music is the Great Highland Bagpipe, which was spread by the Highland regiments of the British Army. Historically, numerous other bagpipes existed, and many of them have been recreated in the last half-century.

Bagpipe band performing in a parade in the U.S. The classical music of the Great Highland Bagpipe is called Pobaireachd, which consists of a first movement called the urlar (in English, the 'ground' movement,) which establishes a theme. The theme is then developed in a series of movements,

growing increasingly complex each time. After the urlar there is usually a number of variations and doublings of the variations. Then comes the taorluath movement and variation and the crunluath movement, continuing with the underlying theme. This is usually followed by a variation of the crunluath, usually the crunluath a mach (other variations: crunluath breabach and crunluath fosgailte) ; the piece closes with a return to the urlar. Bagpipe competitions are common in Scotland, for both solo pipers and pipe bands. Competitive solo piping is currently popular among many aspiring pipers, some of whom travel from as far as Australia to attend Scottish competitions. Other pipers have chosen to explore more creative usages of the instrument. Different types of bagpipes have also seen a resurgence since the 70s, as the historical border pipes and Scottish smallpipes have been resuscitated and now attract a thriving alternative piping community.[29] The pipe band is another common format for highland piping, with top competitive bands including the Victoria Police Pipe Band from Australia (formerly), Northern Ireland's Field Marshal Montgomery, Canada's 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band and Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, and Scottish bands like Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band and Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. These bands, as well as many others, compete in numerous pipe band competitions, often the World Pipe Band Championships, and sometimes perform in public concerts.