World Music Monday Instrument of the Week: the Bagpipes POSTED:: August 11, 2014
FILED UNDER::
Special Programming
FILED UNDER:: Special Programming
Each week, tune into World Music Mondays on WMSE (Mondays from 9am – 11:30am CST) to not only listen to world music, but to learn about a different instrument each week, curated by program host, Ruadhan Ward, an Ethnomusicology student and WMSE DJ. Read up on this week’s instrument, here…
The bagpipe, most famous for its use in the music of Scotland, is an ancient instrument first seen in Roman history, as early as 1000 BC. Much like the jew’s harp, shown previously, almost every nation has as version of the bagpipe, specifically countries across Europe and the Middle East, even India. It is a three piece instrument: the chanter, the bag, and the pipes.
The chanter is played like a recorder, and this section must be mastered before the rest of the instrument is added. The bag is traditionally made out of animal skin, the player blows into it to fill it with air. This air is then squeezed into the pipes to make the familiar bagpipe sound. Whether used in funeral songs or in punk rock, the bagpipe is a classic instrument that everyone should know! Here is a link to a bagpipe demonstration.
And here is what we played on the last edition of Instrument of the Week:
1.) “The Flowers of the Forest”
2.) An example of the uilleann pipes
3.) “Wake Me Up Before You Go” by The Red Hot Chili Pipers
4.) “Biko” by Peter Gabriel from Peter Gabriel 3 (Melt)
5.) “Scots Wha Ha’e” by The Real McKenzies from Clash of the Tartans
Tune in next week Monday at 10:30 for the next Instrument of the Week segment!