Anybody here listen to bagpipe music?

I swear, I am the only 17-year-old that likes it!

It is just calm, relaxing, and sounds cool!

Chris

Hmm, not much, but I am in a production at the end of the year called A Wee Dram of Scotch which is all based on Scotland...Guess I will be listening to a bit more bagpipe music in the next couple of months!!

I'm a pipe fan, Chris. Even played them a bit in my younger days!

Nothing brings a tear faster to my eye than Amazing Grace played on the pipes.

I love'em!
Doug

Doug is my blood brother!!

Nothing will strike shivers like the sound of bag pipes! Not bad shivers, good ones.

The sound is pleasing, and almost...well it's just a one of a kind.

I've got hours of the stuff, much of it by world champion bands some of whom I have seen play live. I used to play (sort of) and my pipes are still in a case under my bed (I broke my chanter).
The Flowers of the Forest is another one that will bring a tear to your eye. I also like Highland Cathedral (yes, it's a duet for bagpipe and pipe organ!) and The Dark Island.

The real test to see if you really like it is if you like the style of music called piobaireachd (pronounced roughly like PEE-brook, I think), classical music for the pipes, which is the Ceol Mor, or the "big music". Marches and reels etc. are usually called Ceol beag, or "the little music".

-Reg {*}

Hey Guys,

The bagpipe is not a Scottish musical instrument. It's a class of instrument. I play Northumbrian Small Pipes, an English bagpipe. The Irish have a wonderful bagpipe, and there are different pipes all over Europe.

Sorry if this sounds like a lecture, but I'm fed up with people thinking I play a miniature bagpipe.

Just because the Highland pipes are used by the army and make a spectacular display doesn't make them special. They even forced out a lot of Scottish pipes from the borders and the Isles.
Sorry again, and I do like the Highland pipes too.

Eddie

Eddie,

You think you're pipes are small, I play binou (from Brittany) and the bombarde. Nothing better to empty a small town of its inhabitants.

Mark

If you want to hear some great bagpipe music check out:

http://www.therogues.com/

This group actually writes and plays original bagpipe music (as well as plays the standards) and is a Grammy winner.

Hey lastnitesfun/Mark, can you tell me where I can find some of that recorded (the Breton pipes)? I'd like to order a CD of it. My family ancestry is from there and I have always wanted to hear more, but the most I have ever found is just a 10 second clip on the net.

-Reg {*}

Ohhh, I love these sounds, too! I've never used them myself, but I can imagine bagpipes being flesh-tinglingly good, when used to set the scene for a little al fresco theatre. Which reminds me...

In 1994 I was at Old Trafford (Manchester United's stadium) the day they honoured the memory of the recently deceased Sir Matt Busby. (He was a Scot who transformed the fortunes of the club, and saw it through its darkest hour when eight of its young players, and several of its backroom staff, were killed—along with many others—in an aircrash at Munich, in 1958; they were coming home from a game.) As you can imagine, there was, and still is, much feeling for Sir Matt. And we went to that game after his death, heavy of heart, wanting to pay our last respects.

And I will never forget it, the vast crowd growing silent to a woman and man, as the kick-off neared. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, there came the wailing, beautiful lament of a single piper, leading the teams out onto the pitch. I can hear it now, that bright, soul-piercing cry, knifing through the winter air like a mountain stream.

And then remarkably, above it all, we heard the eerie moan of a single plane, tracking its way across the shining and endless sky...

And we knew Sir Matt was home.

Regards
Caleb Strange

While I was growing up, my mum would play a lot of bagpipe music, and still does. At first I thought, here we go with that cat-a-walling, but I grew to enjoy it.

I agree with Doug here. Amazing Grace is wonderful to listen to.

jennieprice

Hi Reg,

For Breton music, you might check with Lark In The Morning in San Francisco, Elderly Instruments in Michigan, or Andy's Front Hall in upstate NY. They all have webpages if you do a search for them (I don't have the info with me at work right now). Hope this helps.

Mark

I also grew up with the sound of the pipes playing on the "Victrola" (How's that for aging oneself?)

Both my parents were from Scotland, and I still get a chill whenever I hear the pipes.

Doug, jennieprice; I agree. Amazing Grace just isn't the same tune unless it's done on bagpipes.

I've always loved the pipes, and while I was in the army, I got a chance to work a while with some navy guys, who were stationed in Machrihanish, Scotland.

My BIG thrill was going to Campbelltown, across the peninsula, to a grade school that was having a pipers competition. It was incredible, everyone from "Bonnie wee pipers" (sorry I couldn't resist, it sounds so neat) to full grown men and women competing.

A memory I will always cherish.

I now have a chanter of my own (just purchased recently) that I am hoping to get Amazing Grace out of sometime in the future. (So far some amazing sounds, but NOTHING "grace"ful )

Steve
zzz

Hey guys,

I actually played the pipes for 5 years. (I'm 15 now). I toured around Scotland and got to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships. 200 bands, 8000 pipers. Nothing sounds better than when you hear a grade 1 (best band able to compete) play. It sounds like 1 piper when there is actually 20. As my famous instructor said, you either love em' or you hate em'. Any questions about the pipes, don't be afraid to message me.

Evan

Glendora (CA) High School's Tartan marching band usually has six pipers. When my daughter was in her high school band we would get to see (and hear!) Glendora at many, many parade and field show competitions. What a thrill to hear these high school kids launch into Scotland the Brave! I wouldn't have thought that you could find half-a-dozen high-schoolers in Southern California who play the pipes, much less at a single school.

I want to get Scotland the Brave as the ringtone on my cell phone.

I remember the first time I heard "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes it was in the movie "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan". Scotty was playing it at Spock's funeral.

The song just goes with that instrument.

I went to John F. Kennedy High School and we were called "The Fighting Irish". We had six bagpipe players in my High School Band.
I always got a bit of a shudder and a feeling of pride when marching in a parade and between songs the drums and bagpipes were all you heard.
I love the sound of bagpipes and as stated above, listening to Amazing Grace on the bagpipes tends to bring out a tear or two. Probably because they are so common at the funerals of Policemen and Firefighters.
Iven

I play the clarinet...and I figured by looking at it that the pipes couldn't be that much harder to learn. I had my opportunity while serving alongside a Scottish RAF Police unit in Southern Italy. I managed to learn a stirring rendition of "The Catfight Serenade" (that's what it sounded like to me...and my cat lost) before the Scots gave up on me and I sought out a simpler instrument. My sincerest respect to anyone who has developed their talent on this awesome instrument.

:o) Skip