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It is one of those quirks of history that the
indigenous musical instrument from one of the smallest countries in the
world, Scotland, has become the best known and most widely used bagpipe
from anywhere. For the whole of Europe, Russia, North Africa, the Middle
East and India do have their own quite different forms of bagpipes. The
Scottish ones, however, are unique in that they have three drones and
that they were officially used by the 18th, and 19th century Scottish
regiments on active duty throughout the then British Empire. It is this
martial music of the Scots going into battle that has ensured their
somewhat unique survival. The likely earliest reference to the bagpipes comes from the work of the Greek playwright Aristophanes in his production of The Archanians, written in 425 BC. Here it was the skin of a dog which made the bag. Some centuries later the Roman Emperor Nero, who died in AD 68, is described as having used a bag beneath his armpit to play a musical instrument. There are numerous other references from this period including a Hellenistic terra cotta, dated to the first century BC, which is illustrated at right. In the conventional manner the bag from this terra cotta is held beneath the left armpit and this may be an example of a bellows blown bagpipe, as the right foot is clearly working something. The earliest British carving of a bagpipe is dated to about 1200 and is from Ford Church in Northumberland. The 13th century then brings in a remarkable number of widely differing bagpipes which is usually interpreted as indicating either the influence of near-eastern musicians or the invention or reinvention of the bag idea. Whatever the reason the pipers of most of Europe rapidly took to the bagpipes from that time onward. The earliest note, however, of a wholly Scottish bagpipe comes in the 1400's with church sculptures which depict the normal kind of bagpipe seen across the whole of northern Europe at this time. There is however an actual dated example, AD 1409, from Scotland which has exactly the same number of chanter holes, though these are oval, and two tenor drones. So whether the pipes were played at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where the Scots defeated the English and established their independence, is uncertain but it is just possible. The addition of the third drone to the Highland bagpipe, a bass drone, probably came about some time after 1700 when the instruments were taken into the Highland regiments. From then on Scottish marches were written for the benefit of the soldiers and these added to the repertoire of earlier piobaireachd, strathspeys and reels. |
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If anyone has any questions,
comments, etc. please Sláinte! Keith
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