In Gaelic, ‘bagpipe’ translates into P’iob mho’r, literally meaning ‘big pipe’.
Bagpipes were traditionally made from the skin of a whole animal, most often a sheep. The skin would be turned inside out and pipes would be placed where the legs and neck would have been. These days, bagpipes are usually made with artificial fabric such as Goretex.
Although the bagpipes are widely assumed to be a Scottish invention, they actually have a lengthy history. Their origin is widely disputed, with their use dating back centuries, with references to them existing in Rome and Egypt. When the Romans brought the bagpipes to Scotland, more than 2000 years ago the Scot’s added the third pipe, making the famous wind instrument their own.
Bagpipes have several parts including the air supply blowpipe, the bag, the chanter, the chanter reed, and the drone or drones. The chanter is the melody pipe which can be played by the piper, while the drone or drones provide a constant note. The bagpipe can play nine notes, from G to A; however, there are no sharps or flats, so there is no need for a key signature.
The bagpipes have a bag that holds air. The player keeps the bag full of air by blowing into it with a tube or pumping it with a bellows. To make music, the bag is pressed and the air comes out through a kind of flute or “chanter”. There are usually one or more other tubes coming from the bag that make sounds whenever the bag is squeezed, called “drones”. Each drone normally plays a different note, and stays on the same note the whole time it is playing, to play a harmony with the “chanter”. The sounds are made by a single or, more commonly, double reed which vibrates when air is blown over it.
Bagpipes have been in continuous use across Europe, and especially in Great Britain, Ireland and North-Western Spain. In Bulgaria, the bagpipes are called a Gaida. Although there are not many bagpipes today that existed prior to the 1800s there are a few examples that suggest they have existed since ancient times. A sculpture that dates to 1000 BC shows bagpipes. Other references to the bagpipes exist in written form dating to the 2nd century AD.
