The origins of the bagpipe can be traced back to the most ancient civilizations. The bagpipe probably originaged as a rustic instrument in many cultures because a herdsman had the necessary materials at hand: a goat or sheep skin and a reed pipe. The instrument is mentioned in the Bible, and historians believe that it originated in sumaria. Through Celtic migration it was introduced to Persia and India, and subsequently to Greece and Rome. In fact, a Roman historian of the first century wrote that the Emporer Nero knew how to play the pipe with his mouth and the bag thrust under his arm. During the Middle Ages, however, the bagpipe was heard and appreciated by all levels of society. Bagpipes have always been made in many shapes and sizes, and have been played throughout Europe from before the Norman Conquest until the present day. Medieval pipes usually had a single drone- see contemporary illistrations of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for English single-drone pipes. Around 1400 (give or take 50 years), most shepherd-style pipes acquired a second drone. A third drone is added after about 1550. See paintings by Brueghel and the illistrations in Preatorius' Syntagma Musicum. The Renaissance also saw the advent of small, quiet chamber pipes such as Praetorius' Hummelchen or the French shuttle-drone models, some blown with bellows under the arm rather than with the mouth.
The construction of the bagpipe allows a continuous supply of air to be maintained. By sqeezing the bag with his left hand while a breath is taken, the flow of air can be kept up in both the drone pipes and chanter. Other features of this instrument are the mouthpipe and the double reed of the chanter and drone. The mouthpipe contains a round piece of leather hinged onto the bag end which acts as a one way valve. As the player blows air in, the flap opens; when he stops blowing the air pressure within the bag forces the flap shut. the chanter has seven finger holes and a thumb hole, and has a usual range of an octave and one note.
The bagpipe is ideal for solo dances and monophonic music. It has been mentioned for use in polyphony, but if so, problems would arise. The drone would prelude the possibility of any change of mode, and the continuous sound would prohibit observation of rests.During the Renaissance, the bagpipe gradually moved from country to court. Both Edward ll and Edward lll had pipers at court. King Henry the Vlll, composer and music patron, also had an extensive collection of instruments which, according to a comtemporary account, included on with pipes of ivorie and a bagge covered with purple vellet. As a rustic instrument it has been immortalized in the paintings of Pieter Breughel and his contemporaries.
Referances
- M. Mersenne:Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636/r1963)
- G. H. Askew: 'The Bag-pipe in Early Britain', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, (1940)
- E. Winternitz: 'Bagpipes for the Lord', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, (1958)
- A. Baines: Bagpipes (Oxford, 1960)
- H. Hickmann: Agyptien, Musikgeschichte in Bildern, (Leipzig, 1961)
- F. Crane: Extant Medieval Musical Instruments: a Provisional Catalogue by Types, (Iowa City, 1972)
- T.H. Podnow: Bagpipes and Tunings (Detroit, 1974)
- F. Collinson: The Bagpipe(London, 1975)
- D. Macmillan: 'The Mysterious Cornamuse', Early Music, vi(1975)
- R. D. Cannon: A Bibliography of Bagpipe Music (Edinburgh, 1980)
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