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In the beginning...a short essay
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There are a great many examples of early bagpipes where we can only speculate as to their origin. Why
are there so many different styles and dimensions? There couldn't have possibly been that many individual
makers. To understand we need to go all the way back to the begining.
There are different schools
of thought regarding the origin of bagpipes in Scotland. Perhaps they were brought over by the Irish
during their colonization or perhaps they were brought by the Romans during their failed occupation of
a most inhospitable land and people. What we do know is that they looked and sounded nothing like bagpipes
of today.
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The MacCrimmons of Skye were hereditary pipers to the MacLeods of Dunvegan and as such established a
school of piping in the 1500's. Their compositions endure today as the classic music of the Great Highland
Bagpipe. Pipers were a status symbol among the wealthy and were sent from the whole of Scotland to Skye
to learn at the feet of the masters.
It is not fully understood just how these early bagpipes
were manufactured. Some feel that the MacCrimmons themselves made bagpipes. However it happened, it
is plausible that pipers left Skye with some knowledge of how the instrument was made. As pipers travelled
the land one can only imagine how new bagpipes would have been manufactured. Certainly there were few,
if any, woodworkers with the knowledge and skill to manufacture a bagpipe.
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A period known as "The Renaissance" occurred across Europe during the 17th century. Prior to this time,
harmonics did not exist in music. Instruments of the early Middle Ages were monophonic, in that music
was not orchestrated. Instruments were played in isolation of one another.
There is no doubt
that events of those times brought different instruments together. As various sounds mixed and co-mingled
"harmonics" were discovered. Now whether the discovery of harmonics as it pertains to the GHB was direct
or an adaptation of other woodwind instruments that had already provided for drones of different pitches
will never be known. What we do know is that the GHB with two tenor drones and one bass drone appeared
sometime in the middle of the 18th century.
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Why this lengthy preamble? How would one go about having a bagpipe made? There were certainly few
who knew the craft. Further, how would one go about creating a revolutionary add-on, the bass drone?
Keith Sanger wrote me recently regarding his important work focusing on pre-1800 bagpipes.
In a letter dated 1774 there is a recommendation regarding "one Robertson, a turner at Edinburgh, who
makes them quite well when under the inspection of a skillful person." There is strong evidence that
the "skillful person" was a piper. In other words, bagpipes of that time were custom made in close cooperation
between the turner and the musician.
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One should consider that musicians did not necessarily have knowledge of turning, boring, or other manufacturing
processes. They may have had a general understanding of these matters however we have to wait until
the late 1700's or early 1800's to find anyone with skill in both areas. One can imagine the musician
trying to explain to the turner what the various pieces should look like, how they were supposed to operate,
and the sounds they were supposed to produce. What we do know is that the GHB started to look and sound
much the way it does today sometime during the early 1800's.
Most of the surviving examples from
these early days are unique in look if not in sound. There is some commonality however there is also
general uniqueness which speaks to the notion that bagpipes were very personal and made in collaboration
between the maker and the musician. Not until the late 1700's do we have evidence of professional GHB
makers. Even as such we have a dramatic difference in the look of bagpipes even by the same maker during
these early years of commercial making.
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In conclusion, there are many factors that contribute to the growing size of the "unknown" section of
this museum. Obscure makers are discovered periodically however these are moreso in "modern" times (post
1900) than in earlier times. One friend and fellow researcher refers to the "mythical" Hugh Robertson
bagpipe. This is only because we do not have an authenticated example of Hugh Robertson's work. And
if we did it might only provide clues as to the identity of other Hugh Roberson bagpipes that might currently
be "unknown".
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