The following is only a very brief guide to learning the instrument , and should only be considered an introduction to "How to Begin to Learn the Great Highland Bagpipe", rather than "How to Learn to Play the Great Highland Bagpipe". We have been having a lot of queries recently from prospective learners, and this guide is written with the aim of informing the complete beginner of the basic essentials to starting.
The first element of learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipe sometimes comes as a surprise and a disappointment to prospective learners: You don't actually begin to learn on the bagpipe, but on a much smaller and simpler instrument called the practice chanter.
The practice chanter is a smaller version of the bagpipe chanter. The
chanter is the part of the bagpipe where we finger the melody. Because
of the nature of the Great Highland Bagpipe, it makes a lot of sense to
master the essentials of fingering first, before attempting to play the
actual bagpipe. It would not be easy to pick up the pipes and start
playing a new tune while blowing steadily, tuning your drones,
fingering your chanter, getting your timings, grace notes and
embellishments just right, keeping your drones in tune and
maintaining the correct pressure on the bag at all times, while
marching along making sure that you are two paces behind the person in
front and two paces in front of the man behind at all times. No, it
makes much more sense to learn the rudiments first, while sitting down
in comfort with a cup of tea at your elbow.The practice chanter has a much easier reed to blow than that of the actual bagpipe chanter. A child can get a reasonable tone out of it with not much effort. This gives it a softer sound. Another major difference is that the practice chanter has a straight, cylindrical bore, where the actual bagpipe chanter has a flared, conical bore which amplifies the volume of the reed. This cylindrical bore is another factor in the quiet tone of the practice chanter, but it also means that the actual pitch is an octave below that of the conical bored pipe chanter, adding to the softer sound. The practice chanter reed is usually made from plastic, which has a long life and needs no "blowing in". Pipe chanters reeds are always cane.
The Highland pipe chanter scale has 9 notes, Low G, Low A, B,
C, D, E, F, High G, High A. Certain notes in the bagpipe scale are
slightly different from what the modern listener is used to hearing
from, say, an orchestral instument, but that is because the bagpipe
chanter is tuned to an older scale that corresponds to the sound of the
drones. You can find out further information about the chanter scale
when you are further along the road of learning. Here, we are only dealing
with the basics.There are a good number of pipe makers these days who turn out excellent practice chanters. If you need help choosing one, please contact the College of Piping or the Piping Centre in Glasgow, or drop me an e-mail. My only advice here would be to steer well away from those practice chanters made of paler, cheap looking wood,. These are often (poorly) made on the Indian sub-continent, and are difficult to get a tune out of. Although African Blackwood chanters are considered to have a better tone, there are many good plastic practice chanters available nowadays. I'd recommend a good plastic practice chanter over a cheap wooden one any day of the week.
Don't for a moment surmise that once you have learned the basics of fingerings, timings, doublings, grips, throws on D, taorluaths and birls, your faithful practice chanter will be gathering dust. Every piper uses his or her practice chanter on a daily basis, not only to learn new tunes, but also to keep up technique, which can drop away surprisingly quickly if a practice regime is not adhered to. (This is how your instructor will always be able to tell if you have been practicing or not).
Of course, a practice chanter is no good at all without an instructor. The aforementioned College of Piping and the Piping Centre in Glasgow both provide excellent tutor books, but there is no real substitute for an actual flesh and blood teacher to guide you through your early learning experience. However, buying either part one of the College of Piping Tutor, (the famous "green" tutor), or the Piping Centre's tutor will give you a very good introduction that will set you well on the way to playing your first tunes on the practice chanter.
Please drop me an e-mail if you would like to attend piping lessons in the central London area in the near future.
Adam Sanderson.
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