Great Highland Bagpipes

Most people know about this intrument, its realy distinctive...and loud. I used to think that bagpipes were a little annoying, because they were not only loud, but they had this highpitched sound to them that used to get in my head. Then, at my granny's funeral (Doris Duncan) there was a bagpiper wearing a kilt and everything. I don't know if I had ever really been in the presence of a bagpipe before, I think I had only heard them on TV and in songs, things like that. He played amazing grace, a song that I had heard but didn't know the lyrics too deeply at that time (I found out later, and fell in love). Despite not knowing the real meaning of the song, I loved it, and I love the bagpipe. We were at the grave, and I remmember thinking that I had never heard anything so beautiful. The sound vibrated all around me, in me, and into the sky. He was beautiful playing there too, he stood by an oak tree right where the sun bounced off the leaves. It was like a single voice of hope in the middle of saddness. I was ten then.

That one moment is the only real memory I have of a bagpipe, but its a good one. I later found that celtic woman sings amazing grace and there is an amazing bagpipe part. I like her singing (though her voice is a little too...whats the word? delicate?). Here is a link to the song: amazing grace--celtic woman

When you listen to a bagpipe, you can imagine why it is from the highlands. With all that space, a bagpipe travels far, and the sound just fits with the land. This is random, but there are alot of eagles or some type of bird in scotland, when you listen to some of the songs you can almost see a bird gliding in the sky to the sound.

The military uses bagpipes, and its also the instrument of highland dancing!

I learned that there is a solo style that bagpipes are used for called  piobaireachd (pibroch). This is actually really funny to me because I've been listening to the folk song "sound the pibroch" without really understanding what "pibroch" is. Good song by the way, it gets stuck in your head but its nice. This is the chorus:
Tha tighin fodham, fodham, fodham
Tha tighin fodham, fodham, fodham
Tha tighin fodham, fodham, fodham
Rise and follow Charlie
Here is a link to the song: sound the pibroch
Tha tighin fodham is pronounced HA CHEEN FOAM and means "it comes upon me" or "I have the wish."

This instrument consists of a bag, three drones, a blowpipe, and a chanter. (Chanter, another word from folk songs that I didn't really understand!!) A piper blows through the blowpipe into the bag. The blowpipe is usually fitted with a "non-return valve" which prevents the air from coming back out the blowpipe when the piper takes a breath. From the bag, the air passes out through the drones and the chanter, each making a sound.

Here is a link to a group of great pipers: bagpipers

I remmember my father saying he wanted to make my little brother play the bagpipe, kilt and everything. I thought it was a kind of weird wish at the time, and he was only joking, but I known why he would have wanted it. My father is a person who always has a project going on. ALWAYS. Here is just a few of his recent projects...
building a pool
making our own well
making a playground in the backyard
making maple syrup
making the hot tub work on his own (and hooking it u to solar panels on the top of the shed)
building sheds (i think he has like seven)
making atrain go around the kitchen
making fire power the heat in the house (a shed for wood too)
fourwheelers
christmas lights (a huge candycane on the electrical wood thing)
making one remote do everything in the house (hes an electrician)
sending off chinese lanterns
fireworks
going places on a whim
rearranging the driveway
getting cars (his latest a truck from the 1950s)
making fires in the backyard
putting speakers near the pool
making a vegitable garden
getting chickens again (he had them when I was little too)
a camera in the woods to catch pictures of animals
a fort in the woods
a wooden pathway into the swampy area of the woods
trampolean
cooking (especially turkey soup)
making a fence
training the dog
getting people to rent the upstairs

I'll stop now, he does incredicle stuff, and he does it all himself. I don't know how he does it, he isn't exactly the richest person in the world, and his yard isn't even that big, neither is his house. Whats even more amazing is it all works! Ahahaha the point wasn't to go on a rant about him. I just wanted to say that he gets into things like culture (just like me!) so I understand why he said he wanted my brother to be a piper.



--JSparrow