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Bagpipes, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 9

Bagpipes, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 9
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periodical Publisher
Oxford University Press
periodical Editor
T. K. Penniman & B. M Blackwood
periodical Title
Bagpipes
volume Number
1
issue Content
THE BAGPIPE AND ITS COMPONENTSTHE BAGPIPE AND ITS COMPONENTSTHE BAGIn many bagpipes, including most primitive species, the bag is thewhole skin of a sheep or goat (occasionally of a calf, pig, or dog) withhead, forefeet, and hindquarters removed. It may be uncured, or pickledin brine or alum, or dressed with fat or oil. Occasionally it is tanned. Thehind end is bunched and tied with string; often the skin is then turned,bringing the tying on the inside. The openingsof the neck and forelegs are closed by tying orare utilized for holding the pipes, though freshholes may be cut in the bag for some of thepipes. In some elementary species, blowpipeand chanter (the melody pipe) are tied directlyinto their respective apertures and consequentlyhave to be untied whenever valve or reed re-quires attention. To avoid this, the generalpractice is to provide short wooden pipe-socketsor stocks, tied permanently into the bag. Thepipes are then pushed into their respectivestocks, lapped with thread to make a secureand airtight joint. To achieve the neatestappearance, the closing of the bag aperturesand the tying in of the stocks is often done asfar as possible from inside the skin, though ofcourse the last tying has to be from the out-side. Throughout its life the bag is repeatedlysoaked in brine or dressed to keep it airtight.On the higher technological levels of westernand parts of central Europe the bag is sewn from a piece of cured sheep-or goat-skin cut out against a pattern (Fig. i). Dressings to keep a sewnbag airtight, especially along the stitching, include treacle, molasses,gelatine, lard, and tallow. In the West a bag is usually enclosed in a clothbag-cover, often laced or buttoned down one side for access to thd bagwhen needed.Besides skin, bags have also been made from animal stomachs andbladders, upon which arm-pressure is applied just as with a skin bag.Such bags are found chiefly with primitive bagpipes of regions remotefrom the wineskin areas. (Examples with bladder bags must not be con-fused with that now rare type known to organologists as a bladder-i6Fic. a. Scottish Highland bag.Leather folded and sewn.pipe, in which the bladder is not touched by arm or hand but presumablypreserves enough of its own elasticity to feed the reed for an instantwhilst the player snatches a breath.) Artificial bag materials that havelatterly come into limited use in western Europe include rubber andrubberized fabrics. Unlike leather, these do not absorb and dischargecondensed moisture, but have to be drained and dried after use lest thereeds rapidly deteriorate through being left in the damp.INFLATION COMPONENTSThe blowpipe is normally a short wooden tube, either turned or simplyshaped with a knife. Across its lower opening is the valve, a round pieceI.0.FIG. 2. Blowpipe, cor,temase, France, 24. Balfour, ii .of leather usually lapped on with thread but sometimes tacked on with anail (Fig. 2). This lifts when air is blown intp the bag, but is afterwardskept closed by the air pressure within the bag. In certain bagpipes,however, the valve is arranged differently (as the Tunisian strip valve),while in others the blowpipe has no valve at all, the piper closing itbetween reinflations with his tongue. These departures from generalpractice are associated largely, but not exclusively, with the use of birdbone as the material of the blowpipe.The use of bellows instead of the mouth for the primary supply ofwind is found with certain European bagpipes, either as normal regionalpractice or as an optional alternative to mouth-blowing. The bellows(Fig. 3) resemble ordinary household bellows, but are smaller and with-out handles. The player straps the inner board to his waist and the outerboard to his right arm (assuming that he uses his left arm upon the bag),but sometimes the outer board is hooked to a band tied round his sleeve.The bellows outlet often has a flexible leather pipe with a wooden nozzlewhich is connected to the inlet stock in the bag before commencing toplay (Fig. 36)17 CB 7958
issue Number
1
page Number
9
periodical Author
Baines, Anthony
issue Publication Date
2006-01-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Bagpipes

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