For Scottish bagpipe music you need a Scottish bagpipe. It’s that simple! Because Scottish music is special: it uses its own scale, which does not correspond to our normal major scale. Anyone who has heard a German children’s song like ‘Hänschen klein’ played on a Highland bagpipe knows what is meant. And the Scottish scale is an important part of the typical Scottish pipe sound!
For Scottish bagpipe music you need a Scottish bagpipe. It’s that simple! Because Scottish music is special: it uses its own scale, which does not correspond to our normal major scale. Anyone who has heard a German children’s song like ‘Hänschen klein’ played on a Highland bagpipe knows what is meant. And the Scottish scale is an important part of the typical Scottish pipe sound!
Also the basic tuning, the pitch of the Great Highland Bagpipe is different from our ‘normal’ instruments: Scottish pipe music is notated in ‘A’ – but the pipe sounds much higher, because the reference frequency is not 440 Hz, but between 472 and 476 Hz. Measured with a standard tuner, the ‘A’ chanter of the Highland Bagpipe thus sounds significantly higher than the normal Bb. This gives problems in interaction with other, non-Scottish instruments.
On the other hand, in Scotland they play loud bagpipes built for ‘outdoors’. Due to the very steep cone inside the chanter and the powerful double reed in the chanter, the GHB is very loud. It goes very well musically with the Scottish drums – if you want to play along with other, quieter instruments, then you definitely need to amplify them. Playing indoors, in apartments with sensitive roommates and neighbors must therefore be well planned and a soundproofed practice room is recommended.
Outdoors, the Great Highland Bagpipe then plays to its strengths: Its wonderfully full and powerful sound is fantastic and fascinates the audience again and again! The sound of a passing Scottish pipe band is something you won’t soon forget!
If you want to learn the Scottish pipes, you must first learn the fingerings of the pipes and the typical gracings and embellishments that are indispensable to Scottish pipemusic: The ‘gracings’ and ’embellishments’ are given in the Scottish bagpipe notes. They are written down exactly to make it possible that the melody gets the right expression and that all pipes of a band really play exactly the same. All pipers of this world practice the fingering and ornamentation techniques with the ‘Practice Chanter’ (short: PC). Only what is learned there is then played on the pipe.
Those who decide to buy a bagpipe after initial practice on the PC should know that it is very important to buy an instrument from a good pipemaker. These manufacturers – and especially our partner R.T. Shepherd & Son – guarantee excellent function and compatibility with the current Competition standard! This applies to all models of the manufacturer – because in the band all should sound exactly the same! The external equipment of the pipe (combing, mounts, ferrules, silver ornaments, etc.) is then decided by the buyer’s wallet.
On the following pages you will find more information:
– How to learn Scottish bagpipe playing
– Info about our partner and supplier in Scotland: R.T. Shepherd
– Construction and equipment of our Great Highland Bagpipes
– Glossary with explanations of the most important Scottish terms
Caution: cheap offers!
Buying Scottish pipes is a matter of trust! In probably no other area are so many bad and actually not playable cheap products on the market as with the Great Highland Bagpipes. The experience of countless customers proves that you really can’t make music on the ‘guaranteed ready to play bagpipes’ offered by mail order (often priced at less than 200 euros).
These instruments are not made in Scotland and the effort to make them playable after all quickly adds up to over 500 Euros. And even with such an investment, the owner still doesn’t have a good bagpipe, despite all the work, expense and hassle!
We do not service such instruments and ask their owners to deal directly with the seller!
