Although now nearly 500 years old, the engraving of a piper by Albrecht Durer (dated 1514), is a uniquely detailed representation of many of the features of an early 16th century bagpipe. Taking this as my inspiration, I developed a two-droned bagpipe in D; I am now developing a new, single-droned version in G.
Although now nearly 500 years old, the engraving of a piper by Albrecht Durer (dated 1514), is a uniquely detailed representation of many of the features of an early 16th century bagpipe. Taking this as my inspiration, I have developed a bagpipe which is an exciting addition to my range.
The chanter is versatile and enormous fun to play. It is pitched in the D two octaves lower than a D penny whistle, one octave lower than a D Leicestershire or Scottish Smallpipe. It is theoretically a 'smallpipe', since it has a cylindrical bore. By combining a wide bore, a large reed and smaller fingerholes, I have been able to design a chanter which has both a low pitch and very comfortable finger spacings. Further refinements in the design enable the player to produce intermediate notes in the scale using cross-fingerings. The basic scale is D. It also plays the notes C, B flat and F. This gives enormously increased opportunities for playing in minor modes.
The two drones are in D an octave apart, and feature the distinctive goblet-hyphen drone ends shown in Durer's engraving. Each drone is made in two pieces and they are mounted in a common stock. As with all early illustrations, other interpretations are possible. I also make these pipes with a shorter base drone in G and the tenor in D. Recorder players and the more adventurous can tune the drones from D down to C and play the chanter in the key of C, using the seventh finger hole as the key note, which affords the surprise and delight of an extra note above the octave.
The bass drone is rich and powerful and the tenor enhances this richness. Like the Cornish Pipes, the chanter's sound is deep and punchy, and the overall effect is impressively sonorous.
Durer pipe in low D, (Phil Williams and Sarah Deere-Jones -from their CD Amoroso )
One of the tantalising aspects of creating a copy of Durer's bagpipe is that in the original print the drone common stock is not visible - it is concealed behind the piper's beard. I have adopted a creative approach to this by including a unique 'medallion' on the common stock of each set of pipes. These medallions are indiviualised using contrasting woods: a semi precious stone can be included as a centre piece, or I can incorporate pictures, heirlooms or other suitable items of your choice.
