hi there, sorry for my bad english… and also i never even tryed a pipe (i play the flute), so my questions might sound very noob-ish…
theese days i was exploring the internet, looking for a kind of pipe i’d like to buy…
i’m looking for something that has a better sound than the uilleann pipes, closer to the GHB or even to the scottish smallpipe, but with a full 2 octave extension, with all flats and sharp notes, and possibly not impossible to play, but i didnt find much… does something like that exist?
actually i was wondering: how do the pipes mechanic work?
i mean, is it possible to make one with the fingering of a flute? why is it so different?
can u do slides with pipes?
thank you
looks interesting, but i dont know french (i know only italian and english) and i cant find any sound clips or video about it… there’s just one in you tube, but its not enought… u know where i can find them?
thank you david, i already knew Northumbrian pipes and unfortunatly is not wt i’m looking for…
i mean, lets say uilleann pipes are like a metal low whistle, so the northumbrian pipes are like a tenor recorder, and the HGB are a keyless irish flute, but i’m looking for a boehm irish flute with holed key! (ok after that u might think i’m crazy, and quite rightly i would say )
if anyone knows anything about the mechanics of the bagpipes please explain me why the chanter cant be like a flute…
i mean, what would happen if you get a flute and put at the top a double reed and connect everything to the bag of a HGB?
With bagpipes, your mouth is nowehre near the chanter reed. So, if there are any bad notes- scratchy, out of tune, even completely unattainable without radically changing your embouchre, etc.- you can’t just lip it into place.
Also, think of the people who play bagpipes. Unlike concert band instruments, the various sorts of bagpipes are made each for a very specific type of music; so there’s not enough demand for a fully-keyed, two-octave chanter with a perfect sound. Be pretty sweet if there were, tho.
With bagpipes, your mouth is nowehre near the chanter reed. So, if there are any bad notes- scratchy, out of tune, even completely unattainable without radically changing your embouchre, etc.- you can’t just lip it into place.
u can do it by changing the pressure of the bag i think, that wt happens normally with all bagpipes isnt it?
i still need an answer:
what would happen if you get a flute and put at the top a double reed and connect everything to the bag of a HGB?
Hey, go ahead + try it…I’m not certain the resulting sound will be what you’re looking for either.
First of all, you’d need an endblown flute, and a double reed big enough to fit tightly into its bore. Because the reed will be bigger, it will be harder to blow.
You are right in saying that Double reed instruments which overblow the octave require a change in pressure to gain the second octave. On Oboe, English horn, & Bassoon, the 2nd 8ve is gained with higher pressure exerted by the lip (which narrows the reed’s aperture) , airspeed, AND the addition of keys.
On most Bombardes & Ciaramella(Piffero), it s lip pressure, airspeed, and certain fingerings.
With the chanter being in the bag, it’s impossible to exert pressure on the reed, narrowing the aperture, to overblow. Increasing bag pressure on a mouthblown pipe can often cause the chanter to go flat.
There are some half-hole thumb tricks (a la recorder)which can gain an extra 4th on conical mouthblown bagpipe chanters, but it’ s exceptional.
There was a pipemaker, Arie DeKyser(sp?) (Belgian?) who claimed to had added an additional octave on a mouthblown conical bagpipe through the addition of keys on the chanter, but Ive never heard any of his instruments, nor can I find him on the web anymore.
With the chanter being in the bag, it’s impossible to exert pressure on the reed, narrowing the aperture, to overblow. Increasing bag pressure on a mouthblown pipe can often cause the chanter to go flat.
There are some half-hole thumb tricks (a la recorder)which can gain an extra 4th on conical mouthblown bagpipe chanters, but it’ s exceptional.
but they made uilleann pipes! the thing i dont like about them is the sound and the fingering (i heard awful thing about it)… actually, how does the GHB make such a sound? i belive that might be the reed, isnt it? so if you… but i cant be shore about it, i should talk to a maker (noway i’m not going to make one myself i dont know enough about bagpipes)…
anyway, thank you CHasR, i didnt know about the narrowing problem
The sound of any pipe comes from the reed and the chanters bore design.
Like Charlie said, we can only use pressure to change the reed aperture so the range is going to be limited. The uilleann pipes near 2 octave range (depending on reed and piper) and the Northumbrian smallpipes probably have the biggest range.
The thing with bagpipes is that just as important as the mechanics and sound of the instrument are, the tradition and repertoire that are associated with the instrument are equally important. Except for the Northumbrian Smallpipe, most bagpipes exist and thrive within their own tradition without a wide octave range and accidentals that necessitate keys.
But there’s nobody stopping you from becoming the Theobald Boehm of the bagpipe though you may get the some odd looks or dubious remarks. You will have some obstacles of physics to deal with and you’ll need an adventurous craftsperson with exemplary reed knowledge to make it happen. It’s been a while since a new bagpipe was developed. Maybe it’s time.
yes well i confess i have some ambitious project and i need a flexible instrument with a particular sound, and bagpipes has sound, but are not flexible… a shame, but when i get a bit older i’ll try to figure out something…
thank you for informations
ps: uh charlie i saw you on you tube… i think u should make longer video actually, and play something on GHB with the 13 notes, and also more video with french bagpipe… thank you for posting those ones anyway
I think that the uilleann pipes are the most flute-like of all the bagpipes, in that you switch octaves without using an octave key/register key, using only the airstream. On a D uilleann set, many of the notes are fingered in a roughly similar way to a C Boehm flute. Examples:
E, uilleann pipes, off the knee, and Boehm flute:
x/xxx/xxox
G, uilleann pipes, off the knee, and Boehm flute:
x/xxx/ooox
etc.
The group of roughly similar European pipes, including the Spanish gaita gallega, French cornmuse du centre, and the “Low Countries” pipe, and for example Jon Swaynes “border” pipes, are perhaps more recorder-like than Boehm-flute-like in that they use fork fingerings for the chromatic notes while the uilleann pipes and Northumbrian pipes use keywork. They do jump the octave like the uilleann pipes and flute.
The Northumbrian pipes are a different story in that they use keywork to extend the range rather than jumping the octave.
In fact, Joel Robinson in NYC produces Repli-Medi-Renn pipes with baroque recorder fingering, precisely so that recorder players could enjoy the bagpipe experience without having to learn all those pesky new fingerings. These I have heard & played in person, they are on many widely available CD’s, but are only the one octave.
Paul Beekhuizen in NL creates pipes like this also, (although I’m not certain what fingering his pipes use, nor have I heard them live + in person.)
Also one could look into the work of Bodo Schulz in Germany, I understand he makes a wide variety of pipes.
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