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7 4 26 20110920 26 ~ THE VIEW FROM FRANCE ~ DOUBLE REEDED INSTRUMENTS WITH AIR RESERVOIR CORNEMUSE, BINIOU, ZAPOGNE, BAGPIPE, MUSETTE, ETC. THESE different instruments, some of which can still be found in the South of France, Brittany, Italy and Scotland, be- long to the same family of a very ancient origin. They are mainly composed of a leather bag (or a bladder) filled with air. To this reservoir are connected sounding pipes of various sizes. Some of these produce a fixed sound, i.e. a pedal (harmonically speaking), most frequently a double pedal, tonic and dominant, while the others, pierced with holes and fitted with an oboe reed, allow for the playing of quite fast and varied tunes, although in a very limited reg- ister. The binious from Brittany, and the Scottish bagpipes, often display scales that sound strange to us, incomplete or lacking in accurate notes: they are relics of old tonalities forgotten nowadays. From this point of view, they are in- teresting for the history of music. It is impossible not to see in this gathering of pipes around an air reservoir, in instruments of definitely very ancient origin, the concept that preceded and led to the organ. This instrument was never part of an orchestra. In England, the music of some Scottish regi- ments is uniquely composed of bagpipes and fifes. The illustration above, and the excerpt at right is from: Albert Lavignac – La Musique et les Musi- ciens, Librairie Ch. Delagrave, Paris 1896. (Trans- lation by Pascale Gaudry) In the illustration above the instrument is described as a “Scottish bagpipe”

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2011-09-22T00:00:00

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