#great highland bagpipes

[bagpipe101]

The Great Highland Bagpipe: A Musical Icon of Tradition and Culture

The Great Highland Bagpipe is one of the most iconic and recognizable instruments in the world, deeply rooted in Scottish culture and history. Known for its powerful sound and association with ceremonial events, the Great Highland Bagpipe has played an important role in both military and cultural traditions. Whether you're interested in learning to play or simply fascinated by its rich history, the Great Highland Bagpipe offers a unique experience that combines music, heritage, and skill.

A Brief History of the Great Highland Bagpipe

The origins of the Great Highland Bagpipe date back centuries, with evidence suggesting that early forms of bagpipes existed in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. However, it was in Scotland that the instrument truly found its place. By the 15th century, the Great Highland Bagpipe had become a symbol of Scottish identity, often played during battles, celebrations, and cultural events. The powerful, resonating sound made it an ideal instrument for outdoor performances, particularly in the Scottish Highlands.

Historically, the Great Highland Bagpipe played an important role in the Scottish clans, used to signal the start of battles, celebrate victories, and mark important events such as weddings and funerals. Today, it continues to be an integral part of Scottish and Celtic festivals around the world, ensuring the tradition lives on.

Structure and Components of the Great Highland Bagpipe

The Great Highland Bagpipe is composed of several key components, each contributing to its unique sound. The instrument is designed to be played by inflating a bag, which then forces air through reeds to produce music. Here’s a breakdown of its main parts:

Bag: The air reservoir that allows for continuous sound production.

Chanter: The melody pipe, where the player produces the tune.

Drones: Three pipes that create the characteristic drone sound. There is one bass drone and two tenor drones.

Blowstick: The pipe through which the player blows air into the bag.

The combination of these components produces the rich, full-bodied sound of the Great Highland Bagpipe, with the chanter playing the melody and the drones providing a harmonic background.

Learning to Play the Great Highland Bagpipe

Playing the Great Highland Bagpipe is a rewarding but challenging endeavor. It requires practice and dedication to master the techniques involved in creating the right sound. Beginners usually start by learning to play the practice chanter, a simplified version of the instrument that helps build the necessary finger coordination and control.

Bagpipe101.com offers detailed guides for beginners looking to learn the Great Highland Bagpipe. From proper fingering techniques to maintaining airflow and mastering basic tunes, the resources available can help aspiring pipers develop their skills.

Steps to Learning the Bagpipe:

Start with a Practice Chanter: Before moving to the full bagpipe, it's important to get comfortable with the chanter.

Master Basic Tunes: Start with simple tunes that focus on developing finger agility and breath control.

Learn the Drones: Once you’re comfortable with the chanter, introduce the drones to create the full sound.

Maintain Proper Bag Pressure: One of the most challenging aspects is maintaining steady air pressure while playing the bagpipes.

With persistence and practice, playing the Great Highland Bagpipe becomes a highly rewarding experience.

The Role of the Great Highland Bagpipe in Modern Culture

While steeped in tradition, the Great Highland Bagpipe has also found its place in modern music and popular culture. Its distinctive sound is frequently heard at military events, parades, and cultural festivals. Additionally, many modern bands incorporate bagpipes into contemporary music, blending traditional sounds with rock, pop, and folk genres. Famous bands such as The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have brought bagpipe music to a wider audience by fusing it with modern music styles.

Today, the Great Highland Bagpipe continues to be featured in:

Weddings and Funerals: Bagpipes are often played at Scottish and Irish weddings and funerals as a nod to cultural heritage.

Military Ceremonies: Bagpipe bands are a staple in military parades and ceremonies, evoking pride and tradition.

Competitions and Festivals: Piping competitions and Highland games across the world celebrate the art of playing the Great Highland Bagpipe.

This instrument has become a global cultural ambassador for Scotland, with players and enthusiasts found across every continent.

Choosing the Right Bagpipe for You

If you're considering purchasing a Great Highland Bagpipe, it's essential to select a high-quality instrument suited to your skill level. Bagpipe101.com provides in-depth advice on choosing the right bagpipes for beginners and experienced players alike. The site also offers information on selecting the best reeds, drones, and maintenance tools to keep your instrument in peak condition.

When choosing a Great Highland Bagpipe, key factors to consider include:

Material: Traditional bagpipes are made from wood, but modern options may include synthetic materials.

Reeds: The quality of your reeds significantly impacts the sound of your bagpipes.

Bag Size: Choosing the right size of bag ensures comfort while playing.

At Bagpipe101.com, you can find everything you need to make an informed decision and invest in an instrument that will last for years.

Conclusion

The Great Highland Bagpipe remains a powerful symbol of Scottish culture and tradition, known for its distinct sound and historical significance. Whether you’re a beginner eager to learn or an experienced player looking to refine your skills, Bagpipe101.com offers all the resources needed to explore the world of bagpipes. From tutorials and maintenance tips to purchasing advice, you can rely on Bagpipe101.com to guide your bagpiping journey. Visit Bagpipe101.com to start your adventure with this legendary instrument today.

[gothhabiba]

For Hobsbawm and Ranger, historicizing tradition means finding the historical means by which a tradition was first invented and then naturalized as tradition. Tradition is sharply distinguished from custom [...]. Custom simply refers to a set of practices that combine flexibility in substance with formal adherence to precedent [...]. Tradition, on the other hand, is a set of rituals and symbolic practices that are fundamentally ideological rather than practical. Tradition, as Hobsbawm uses it, is bad, because it is usually a kind of modern ideological mystification which is installed as a constant by the elites and governments whose real interests are thereby served. To show that traditions are invented is in effect to show that traditions are not true, nor real, not legitimate.

[...] The clearest example of how the "invention of tradition" ploy can go wrong can be seen in the article by Hugh Trevor-Roper, "The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland" (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983, 15-41). Trevor-Roper begins by arguing that the kilt, the tartan, "the clan, and even the bagpipe, rather than being signs of great antiquity and cultural distinction, are "in fact largely modern." If these things existed before the Union with England at all, Trevor-Roper asserts, they did so only in "vestigial form," and as signs of "barbarism." Trevor-Roper goes on: "Indeed, the whole concept of a distinct Highland culture and tradition is a retrospective invention. Before the later years of the seventeenth century, the Highlanders of Scotland did not form a distinct people (15)." And so Trevor-Roper proceeds to demonstrate, with convincing historical flair and wit, the recent vintage of Scottish national culture.

The only problem with Trevor-Roper's argument is that while Hobsbawm debunks mystification in general as well as in the particular forms of its manipulation by states, ruling classes, or colonial powers, Trevor-Roper debunks the the necessary claims of Scottish nationalists — necessary because of the hegemonic terms that became set in the eighteenth century for nationalist or populist political aspirations — that Scotland had its own authentic traditions, epics, and histories. Indeed, Trevor-Roper's argument has a genuine colonial ring to it, for, in recounting the invention of clans and kilts and the forgery of the great epic Ossian, it uses smug notions of authenticity and historical privilege to contest what appear to be absurd claims about Scottish customs and traditions. At the same time, and with similar colonial resonance, Trevor-Roper uses his historical mastery to conceal his own moral position, one that appears to justify, at least to support, the unification claims of the British state. The effort to historicize tradition and custom can thus both expose the mystifications of cultural hegemony, and be appropriated by them. When historical methods are used as if the methods themselves are exempted from historical scrutiny and critique, history becomes a way of deauthenticating everything but its own authority, denigrating difference and displacing the categories and logics of historical discourse.

– Nicholas Dirks, "Is Vice Versa? Historical Anthropologies and Anthropological Histories." In The Historic Turn in the Human Sciences. Terrence J. McDonald, ed. pp. 17–51. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. pp. 21–2.

[scotianostra]

17th September 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart declared his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, to be the rightful King of Scotland.

Just a wee follow on from recent posts regarding Charlie's stay in Edinburgh.........

The Prince remained in Edinburgh until the end of October before moving south to begin his ill-fated invasion of England.

An interesting anecdote survives from this visit. The Prince’s band of Highland followers “....with their bagpipes and plaids, rusty rapiers, matchlocks and firelocks.....” had camped on a nearby field of nearly ripe pease (peas). The tenant farmer, David Wright, called at Grays Mill and demanded compensation for his ruined crop. The Prince offered a promissory note in the name of the ‘Prince Regent’ (which would have been his Royal title when the Stuart’s regained the throne), but this was not acceptable to the farmer as it relied upon the Stuart's regaining the throne. The name of the ‘Duke of Perth’ was then offered by an amused Prince as being a more credit worthy guarantor, which was accepted.

It was not until around 1835 that my Great Great Grandfather Matthew Cochrane took over the lease of Grays Mill with his son in law William Henderson becoming Mill Master at the adjoining grain mill. It was on this farm that my Grandfather learnt his farming skills under his own Grandfather, then upon the latter's death in 1870 took over the lease himself at age 19 before emigrating to New Zealand in 1879. I have visited Graysmill three times but sadly all that is evident are industrial buildings, warehouses and car parks. The only points of reference now are the Water of Leith Lodge no 1267 at 26 Inglis Green Road, the railway viaduct, and the aqueduct carrying the Union Canal, all visible in the 1933 aerial photo shown above. Gray's Mill Farmhouse will be one historic building that will unfortunately not carry the roundel

"Prince Charles Edward Stuart Slept Here, 16-17th September 1745"

http://the-lothians.blogspot.co.uk/.../bonnie-prince...

[torchflies]

More Scotish!Mav headcanons please????

*breaks open my notes after a shitty day* 

Thank goodness somebody asked!!!!!

All my love @immacaria ❤️❤️🥹

Maverick can Highland dance, really really well. He was a hyperactive little shit so his uncles brought in a tutor who taught him the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance, the Seann Triubhas and the Reel of Tulloch. Those are competition dances and I've linked some examples below under the cut. He’s also great at the “Irish jig” and the “Sailor’s Hornpipe” (the latter of which is done in a sailor suit and the flyboys never let him live the pictures down). 

He is decent at the pipes (Great bagpipes), by that I mean he whined through ten years of lessons and plays it ceremonially, because it was cute at the time and none of his uncles wanted to do it. 

All of Scotland calls him their “bonnie wee prince” and “wee Prince Paddy” even though Mav is well into his twenties. He is the country’s bairn, their communal little boy. He also very much hates this fact. 

He has been betrothed six times, and not a single arrangement has lasted past the point of the little lass meeting him. 

When Cougar left the Navy to be with his wife and little girl, he lost everything with it (housing, insurance, etc). So Mav made a call to his Uncle Jamie with a fresh round of crocodile tears and now Cougar’s little girl is growing up in a rural Scottish castle. “You’re always saying I skirt my duties, well, I found the perfect substitute to take care of Lews in my stead!” 

Also Slicemav is my favorite thing in the world and I have somehow managed to create the perfect Soldier (Sailor), Poet, King configuration with these three and I'm so excited for you guys to read it. 

If I haven't made it abundantly clear — Angus and Mav’s mother were twins, and he's consumed with guilt over her death. In fact, all the uncles are. Fergus because he feels like he broke her heart, angry that she wanted to go and told her if she went he'd never speak to her again. Jamie because he was so consumed with doing what his father wanted, that he missed how unhappy she was. Then, adding insult to injury, their father never recovers from her death and he dies soon after, thrusting Jamie onto the throne in his twenties. 

Mav inherits the throne by default, the same way Queen Victoria got hers — by simply being the only living child

Thank you dear!!!!!!

Links!

[birdofmay]

Clarinet/woodwind Tumblr, quick question because I'm not sure if I should bet against a fellow student or rather not:

Is it possible to quickly learn to play the clarinet decently if you're already quite good with tin whistles, shawms, and certain bagpipes (Great Highland Bagpipe, Uilleann pipe, Scottish smallpipe, German Marktsackpfeife)?

My intuition tells me that a clarinet is VERY different regarding technique and posture, etc., and that you can't just grab a clarinet and play a jazz standard within a week if your only other instruments are pipes, etc., and the piano.

But then again I only play the piano and the guitar, so I don't know much about wind instruments 😅

Should I bet against him or is it actually feasible?

[critical-birb]

Random things I feel people outside of Scotland should know about Scotland.

-Kilts are formalwear. You only wear that kinda thing to like - weddings and funerals and stuff usually, maybe a fancy party. You wear a sporran with a kilt, it's like a little pouch that's usually fuzzy.

-If you live in Edinburgh/Glasgow/Aberdeen you probably hate bagpipes because everywhere you go there's buskers with bagpipes. They just....appear. you'll be trying to work your 9-5 and suddenly there's a bagpiper on the corner by the office and for the next six hours you have to listen to it. There is only one song that is played on the bagpipes and it gets real repetitive real fast.

-I am ruining the joke for everyone but as an autistic person who would be super confused by this unspoken rule in another country I need to share - literally everyone in Scotland will try to convince you as a foreigner that the wild Hagis is a real animal that lives in the Highlands. Every single museum has a Haggis exhibition with like a weird taxidermy animal that's usually a mash up between like a hedgehog and a bird or something. People will, with a straight face, talk to you about how they were hunted to near extinction. Zoos and safari parks will have empty exhibits with signs saying there is wild Hagis living in there hiding. This is the most widely known Scottish joke that literally every Scottish person is in on.

-Haggis is lamb, fat and oats boiled in a sheeps stomach with a bunch of spices. It's unironically good actually if you give it a chance. It's basically fatty spiced meat.

-Other popular foods in Scotland include Cullen Skink, which is a rich cream based soup with potatoes and fish. Black pudding, a sausage made with blood - great for iron deficiency. White pudding, a sausage made from oats, grains, herbs and spices. Stovies, which is basically potatoes/onions/meat boiled together and usually eaten with bread, Neeps and tatties which is mashed potato and sweed. We are also known for deep frying anything, any corner shop chippy will deep fry a chocolate bar for you. Somehow we are obsessed with sugar and fat but at the same time we also put salt on our porridge.

-A Ceilidh is a group dance - a similar concept to square dancing if you're in the US. Except a lot more violent. Someone will usually briefly teach everyone the steps and then you are thrown into chaos and the music gets faster and faster. Someone will inevitably be thrown into you at high speeds and you will break a bone. It's extremely fun. Often done to accordion music. Lots of larger pubs do ceilidh nights you should go to one if you can, it's good if you go alone because they only work with an even number of people and 99% of the time they're begging for a single person to join to make up the numbers. You'll make a lot of drink friends and possibly get vomited on as you're thrown around at high speeds and kicked in the shins laughing like a loon.

-The more North you go the less you will understand people. I'm from Edinburgh and live near Glasgow and for the fuck of me I can't understand a word anyone says here. I went to Aberdeen once and I swear they were talking gibberish. They felt the same about me. The dialects are too strong.

-We also have a rich history of language including Gaelic and Doric and a few others. Scots is what you probably think of when you think Scottish people - it is technically its own language but is very similar to English just with lots of different terminology. Our native languages like Gaelic were outlawed by England when they colonised us and it's only in recent decades we have started to try to reclaim them.

-We dislike England. Don't ever call a Scottish person 'British' rather than Scotish, it opens up a whole can of worms I am not about to go into right now.

-Iron Bru (the bright orange soda that tastes like a candy store) is more popular than Cola here. Scotland is the only place worldwide where Coke isn't the most popular carbonated beverage. Iron Bru is the lifeblood of Scotish people and it is literally everywhere.

Anyway there's your Scotland facts of the day

[dustedmagazine]

Brìghde Chaimbeul — Carry Them With Us (tak:til)

First of all, for any interested non-Gaelic speakers, the young Scottish piper’s name is (per her own site) pronounced “Bree-chu CHaym-bul.” And secondly, while the music found on this, her third album, sounds like what most would identify as bagpipes, it’s… well it is and it isn’t. To the extent that bagpipes are known to the wider world it’s something like the great Highland bagpipe (musician blowing into a reed, pipes extending over shoulder). Chaimbeul can certainly play that too, but she specializes more in the Scottish smallpipes, a bellow-driven instrument of more recent vintage (the 80s!) albeit from a lineage going back hundreds of years. The details are worth noting up front, because the music on Carry Them With Us is so viscerally enchanting it might be hard to keep track of them once you’re mid-listen.

Both varieties of bagpipe share some seemingly contradictory qualities. Drone instruments that (due to the various chanters used and other aspects of their design) can handle complex, fast-moving melodies; intensely analogue devices that, due to their precision and lack of sonic decay, can feel almost electronic in nature. Capable of simultaneously evoking melancholy and spritely joy, one on its own, played well, can fill a whole room with sound almost to the point of oppression. Unsurprisingly for a musician who’s been winning awards since she was a teen, Chaimbeul is an exceptional player of the smallpipes and from the opening blast of “Pililiù: The Call of the Redshank” these 35 minutes practically put on a clinic on why any listener might want to get to know them.

Not that Chaimbeul is strictly solo; after Canadian saxophone dynamo Colin Stetson reached out to her about a documentary soundtrack, the two of them wound of working together on six of the nine tracks here. If you’ve never previously considered the way sax and bagpipe might sound like each other, or take on similar roles, or complement each other, their completely natural fit here might take you aback. Stetson fans are well aware of the head of steam he can build up, but Chaimbeul’s no slouch either; a track like “Tha Fonn Gun Bhi Trom: I Am Disposed of Mirth” already feels delirious before you notice Stetson’s whirling flutters unspooling in the background. Even when their roles diverge more, like the impossible to miss saxophone tessellations towards the end of “’S Mi Gabhail an Rathaid: I Take the Road,” they feel like kindred spirits.

The most notable element aside from Chaimbeul’s pipes and Stetson’s sax is her voice, singing in Gaelic. It only shows up a few times but it’s an arresting presence whenever it does. Maybe if you speak the language it turns out she’s singing about something more mundane, but based on the song titles here and the incantatory, almost vatic feeling those passages bring to the rest of the music it’s hard not to feel like there’s something of deep significance being passed on. Like the rest of Carry Them With Us, it's intensely striking.

Ian Mathers

[racingliners]

Euro 2020 pics Part 2!

So as mentioned in the prev post, I had six different shifts across six of the eight matches Wembley hosted (ngl I got so lucky with my shift selection).

MD1 - Group Stage: England v Scotland

My first shift was for ingress (event organiser terminology for the spectators arriving at the stadium) at Scotland v England which... was an experience. Not gonna lie I was really relieved when it was announced that there was going to be a limit on spectators as part of the covid protocols bc I don't think I would have survived dealing with 90,000 Scotland and England fans at once 😭

(Also the irony of me being half-English/half-Scottish and getting Scotland v England as my first shift... the football gods clearly love me.)

I was fully expecting the journey to the stadium to be awful but bc I have to be there hours before kick-off it was fine, though I still saw some Scotland fans on the tube and they clocked my uniform and asked me about what I was doing and wished me luck for the day which was actually really sweet.

For my first shift manicure I did my nails a pastel lime green to match the accent colours on my uniform, going super super neutral (as volunteers representing UEFA we had to be neutral anyway, but for me even more so).

Genuinely I don't think I had ever seen so many people wearing kilts on one place (a couple of people were in formal highland dress, the rest were just in football shits, kilts and trainers, sadly there wasn't many bagpipes where I was)

The one thing I remember from the day was that were my group was stationed towards the back of the stadium was so windy. It was literally early June and I was having to do star jumps to keep myself warm (either I took my hoodie as a just in case or my Sister-in-Law told me to take it, either way I was so glad I had it on under my raincoat)

As I wasn't on shift for egress (the bit where everyone leaves the stadium) I left just after kick-off with my packed lunch dinner and hot footed it back to my relatives place to avoid any carnage, pretty sure I was the only person in the whole city thrilled with a 0-0 draw dvhsjdvhdfjzhj

MD2 - Group Stage: Czech Republic v England

Besties for my second shift I came prepared. I had so much stuff in my backpack it was a good thing I was on shift for both Ingress and Egress as I struggled to fit my food bag into it before going home.

This shift was really fun as it was pretty minimal stakes, England were pretty much guaranteed to be through into the knockout stages so the spectators were mostly fine. For this shift I was based on Wembley way so I spent 90% of the time taking pictures of people with the stadium in the background. For my nails I went with a bright orange (it's my favourite colour so I had to fit it in at some point)

We were all stood down just before kick-off and were sent to the volunteer centre to have our meal, which was a sandwich, packet of crisps, fruit, chocolate, and at either this match or the next one we got some hot soup as well. The eating area was literally in the middle of Wembley arena (as in the bit where the concerts happen), which was wild but with social distancing they needed plenty of space. It was actually quite fun getting to decompress and chat with everyone.

Egress was super simple, just smiling and waving goodbye but some of us had light sticks which led to a bunch of us pretending we were in Star Wars, naturally. (I had a criminal amount of fun, sadly I had to hand the light stick back before I left).

MD3 - Round of 16: Italy v Austria

So for this shift I got given a megaphone :D

It was so much fun, obviously I used it for Serious and Official Volunteering Messages, but I did have a bit of fun by saying Buona Sera to any Italian fans which... their costumes were so good. We had Mario and Luigi and some people dressed up as pizza slices. They brough such a great vibe and were just living their best lives and were really nice to all of us. The entrance I was posted at was at the Italian end so there wasn't that many Austria fans, but I did see one lady wearing a really pretty dirndl which I complemented her on.

This match started the recurring theme all of us had of "please don't go to extra time I want to get home before midnight"... none of them listened which was very rude and bc I was a bit weary of travelling round London super late at night I asked to leave early since my London based fam live on the other side of the city to Wembley and I got back safely!

For this match I did my nails bright pink, and if you ever want a good picture of your manicure take pictures on the tube bc the lighting will never let you down (especially if they're shimmery of sparkly)

[the-casbah-way]

Ok so like I live in the south (like yeehaw American south) and I never would have guessed you were from a completely different continent just off down then left bc you write the dialect so well. But like also it makes sense!! trying not to infodump about how a “country” accent is really evolved from highland immigrants and also the accordion is really the American bagpipes bc i will run out of characters soon but yeah lots of crappy accent writing out there and yours is really good!!

wait this is such a great compliment thank you sm, i was worried about writing someone who talks the way jed does and i felt like it would be SO obvious to every american who read it that i don't really know what im doing in that regard,,,,,i have an irl from the south so i just kind of copy whatever he says so i am glad it's working lmao. we actually learned a bit about that kind of thing in school, it's rlly interesting !!! but also never refrain from infodumping in my inbox if you so desire, i enjoy it very much

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Top ten instruments?

1: The Viola d'Amore

2: A Fiddle

3: A French Horn, or the "Trombonhorn"

4: The Trumpet

5: A Trombone

6: "The Great Highland Bagpipe"

7: Guitars

8: the Banjos (of Texas)

9: The Bongos

10: a Big Drum

This was probably a weird year for me to do this. (I actually don't like most of these and I can't make myself say any of them without giggling, but I do like at least one of them, and they are all instruments that I would never actually want to play but can't not like them, in a sad kind of way, anyway.)

[muttball]

Great Highland Bagpiper

[bagpipe101]

Discover the Great Highland Bagpipe in New York

The Great Highland Bagpipe is a symbol of Scottish heritage, known for its distinctive sound and cultural significance. In New York, the presence and popularity of this remarkable instrument have grown, offering both residents and visitors the chance to experience its unique charm. Whether you're a music enthusiast, a cultural explorer, or a budding piper, this guide will help you navigate the world of the Great Highland Bagpipe in New York.

The Great Highland Bagpipe: An Overview

What Is the Great Highland Bagpipe?

The Great Highland Bagpipe is a traditional Scottish musical instrument consisting of a bag, a chanter, and several drones. It is known for its powerful, resonant sound, which is produced by blowing air into the bag and manipulating the chanter and drones.

Historical Significance

Cultural Symbol: The bagpipe is deeply rooted in Scottish culture and has been used in various ceremonial and military contexts.

Global Influence: Over the years, the Great Highland Bagpipe has spread worldwide, becoming an integral part of diverse musical traditions.

The Great Highland Bagpipe Scene in New York

Growing Popularity

Cultural Festivals: New York hosts several Scottish and Celtic festivals where the bagpipe takes center stage, drawing enthusiasts from all over.

Pipe Bands: Numerous pipe bands in New York showcase the Great Highland Bagpipe, performing at parades, competitions, and private events.

Learning Opportunities

Bagpipe Schools: Several schools and instructors in New York offer lessons for beginners and advanced players.

Workshops and Classes: Regular workshops and classes provide hands-on experience and expert guidance for aspiring pipers.

Where to Experience the Great Highland Bagpipe in New York

Live Performances

Cultural Festivals: Attend Scottish and Celtic festivals like the New York Tartan Day Parade and the Long Island Scottish Festival to enjoy live bagpipe music.

Concerts and Events: Look for concerts by local pipe bands and solo pipers at various venues across the city.

Pipe Bands and Competitions

Local Pipe Bands: Join or follow local pipe bands such as the New York Metro Pipe Band and the Police Pipes and Drums of Bergen County.

Competitions: Attend regional and national bagpipe competitions to witness high-level performances and support local talent.

Purchasing and Renting Bagpipes in New York

Buying Bagpipes

Specialty Stores: Visit specialty stores in New York that offer a wide range of bagpipes, accessories, and maintenance supplies.

Online Retailers: Consider reputable online retailers like Bagpipe101 for a convenient and reliable shopping experience.

Renting Bagpipes

Rental Programs: Look for rental programs offered by local music stores or bagpipe instructors, which are ideal for beginners who want to try before committing to a purchase.

Tips for Aspiring Bagpipers

Choosing Your First Bagpipe

Starter Kits: Opt for starter kits that include a practice chanter, instructional materials, and basic maintenance tools.

Seek Expert Advice: Consult with experienced pipers or instructors to select the right bagpipe based on your skill level and budget.

Learning and Practice

Regular Practice: Consistent practice is essential for mastering the Great Highland Bagpipe. Set aside dedicated practice time each day.

Join a Band: Joining a pipe band provides valuable experience, camaraderie, and opportunities to perform in various settings.

Maintenance and Care

Regular Maintenance: Keep your bagpipe in good condition by regularly cleaning and inspecting the components.

Professional Servicing: Periodically have your bagpipe serviced by a professional to ensure optimal performance.

Conclusion

The Great Highland Bagpipe holds a special place in New York's diverse musical landscape, offering rich cultural experiences and opportunities for personal growth. Whether you're interested in listening to live performances, learning to play, or purchasing your own bagpipe, New York provides ample resources and vibrant communities to support your journey.

For more information on the Great Highland Bagpipe and to explore a wide range of bagpipes and accessories, visit Bagpipe101. Embark on your musical adventure today and become a part of the storied tradition of the Great Highland Bagpipe.

[bikepackinguk]

Day Twenty-nine

After some fond farewells and exchanges of contact details with some of the great folk at the hostel, and waiting out a little late morning rain, it's time to hit the road once more!

A gentle roll down the hill and through the city centre, I get to depart Inverness as I entered it, with the sound of bagpipes in the air. Whilst they're much maligned by some, I've always been quite fond of them, and it's a cheering sound to hear as I start the next stretch.

Following the Ness round the corner, we come up to Kessock Bridge which takes us over the Firth, and follow along the path next to the A road before switching off to the right and back into the country lanes across the Black Isle.

It's another day of hills in the aptly named Highlands, but with some rested legs they are handled without much bother, an soon there's a payoff of some lovely views across the Dornoch Firth of the opposite coast. It's quite pleasing to now be up in the hills that I'd been fondly looking at in the distance a few days ago!

A little more journeying and finally the hills give way to some nice long gebtle descents that allow a nice easy cruise down to get into Cromarty, where I'm just in time to roll straight onto the ferry as it's about to depart.

A short boat ride later and after rustling up a late lunch, it's onward through Nigg and a few climbs before passing the Seaboard Villages and on past Portmahomack to reach Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, which is a really beautiful classic red & white structure. There are also some fantastic views of the gills across the water from Wilkhaven Point which I take the opportunity to savour.

I do suffer a bit of a malfunction with my handlebar bag on the way, with a strap giving way, but fortune smiles again and as I'm busying myself with cable ties, another pannier-laden cyclist appears from the opposite direction on his way back from finishing his ride from Land's End to John O'Groates. After deservedly congratulating Martin on his success, he was kind enough to hand me a spare strap of his that allowed me to nicely fix up the issue. Thanks and hope you're resting up!

I've had a bit of light going so far with a gentle tailwind, but now it's time to turn around and meet with a bit more resistance when heading on to Tain, but the legs are still in good condition so the miles are soon cranked out, and I'm able to stop off for a quick resupply and break at around 7pm.

From here there's a bit of a rough road ahead - the A9. There's not much avoiding it if going up the east coast from here, and it's a fairly major road, but there's not really another option.

Though I also am party looking forward to it, as I have ridden it before some years back doing a damn fool ride through the night when riding LEJOG, so there's a certain amount of nostalgia in tackling it once more.

With the time approaching 8pm at this point, I figure that the road will generally be a fair bit quieter at this time, and there's still a good bit of daylight left, so with no time like the present I hit the road and start chewing out a few more miles before bedtime approaches.

Out of Tain, the road leads up and over the Dornoch Firth, and I'm distracted enough in the views and memories that I keep chugging along the A road for a good ways before remembering that I'm not on a charge up to John O'Groates this trip! But thankfully there are additional turn offs towards Dornoch, so I'm not forced to backtrack.

The clouds have held much of the day but are looking threatening now, so the tent gets pitched up by some nearby woodlands and just as I'm finishing up climbing in, the rains begin, so couldn't have been timed better.

[scotianostra]

As of 1st August 1747 the Act of Proscription prohibits the wearing of highland garb, in particular tartans and kilts, except within the British army.

Although the act became law in 1747, it is called the 1746 act as this is the date the act started it’s journey into legislation.

Perhaps the most widely and frequently repeated ‘fact’ surrounding the early history of tartan is that its use was banned by the 1746 Act of Proscription following the defeat of the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in April the previous year. The Act has also been credited with banning the playing of bagpipes, speaking Gaelic and gathering family members together in public. In fact, the Act banned none of these.

The post-Culloden legislation followed the earlier, and ineffectual, 1716 and 1725 Acts and was:

‘An act for the more effectual disarming the highlands of Scotland; and for the more effectual securing the peace of the said highlands; and for restraining the use of the highland dress.’

Essentially, the third Act was a revision of the earlier 1725 one but with an extra section added to ban what the Government considered to be a martial dress that was central to the Jacobite identity. The relevant section of the Act stated that:

“That, from and after the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and forty seven, no Man or Boy, within that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, other than such as should be employed as Officers and Soldiers in his Majesty’s Forces, should, on any Pretence whatsoever, wear or put on the Clothes, commonly called Highland Clothes; (that is to say,) The Plaid, Philebeg or Little Kilt, Trowse, Shoulder belts, or any Part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the Highland Garb, and that no Tartan, or Party-coloured Plaid or Stuff, should be, used for Great Coats or for Upper Coats, under the Penalties therein mentioned; and the Time appointed for laying aside the said Highland Dress was, in certain Cases therein mentioned, further prolonged by several Acts, one made in the twentieth, and the other in the twenty-first Year of the Reign of his said late Majesty King George the Second: And whereas it is judged expedient that so much of the Acts above mentioned as restrains the Use of the Highland Dress should be repealed: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That so much of the Acts above-mentioned, or any other Act or Acts of Parliament, as restrains the Use of the Highland Dress, be, and the fame are hereby repealed.”

Not only were Soldiers explicitly exempt from the Dress Act but women were implicitly excluded too; and, judging from the number of surviving portraits the ban seems to have been widely ignored by gentry of both Jacobite and Hanoverian persuasions.

The Act proved difficult to enforce in the remote Highlands and the period of grace proved inadequate and had to be extended (except for landowners and their sons); initially to 1st August 1748, and then to 25th December 1748, for the plaid and kilt and to 1st August 1749, for the other proscribed clothing. As seen in the second pic John MacKay of Rosshall in Strathnaver was one of those that ignored the Act. In October 1751 he appeared before the sheriff in Inverness for ‘wearing the Highland Clothes’ (note, it was not for wearing tartan). There is no indication of what clothes he was wearing but, in accordance with the Act, he was convicted and imprisoned for six months

If you look at the third image I have posted you will see the date is 1761, so tartan was clearly being marketed and so, at least in Edinburgh., it would be another 21 years before the act was repealed.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

HAVE A BONNIE BURNS NIGHT, FRIENDS!

This Wednesday the 25th celebrate the 264th birthday of Robert Burns the National Bard in style.

Burns Night honours the iconic Scottish poet, who wrote the New Year’s Eve anthem Auld Lang Syne. Many Scots host a Burns supper on January 25, the poet’s birthday, although they can be held throughout the year.

There'll be celebrations aplenty in the highlands tonight with feasts of haggis, neeps and tatties and more than wee drams of whisky flowing - and what we think is the best ingredient, plenty of reading aloud - as it is Burns Night; the annual celebration of Scotland's national poet.

Some of the suppers can be grand affairs; others less formal. The events will often feature a bagpiper or traditional Scottish music, and the Scottish pudding, Haggis, is served, combines with whisky and poetry with lots of fun and laughter whether they are in Scotland or further afield, across the world.

Wherever you are, however you celebrate, have a great #BurnsNight2023

Sláinte Mhath! 🥃

A Red, Red Rose

My luve's like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June:

My luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune:

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till all the seas gang dry -

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun -

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run!

And fare thee weel, my only luve,

And fare thee weel, a while -

And I will come again, my luve,

Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

Robert Burns

[macvicarpipetunes]

Complete repertoire of tunes for the bagpipe

all tunes are Scottish unless otherwise stated

In case of doubt, ask for tunes with a connection to your clan or area

An average tune has a duration of +\- 40 seconds, so make sure you pick plenty or ask about the standards for weddings

A

Abide With Me -

Ae Fond Kiss - Burns

All the Fine Young Men - Irish

All those Endearing Young Charms - Irish

Amazing Grace

An Dro - Breton

Andy Renwick’s Ferret

St.Anne's Ballad & Reel

Arrival Song - Abba

Ash Grove - Welsh

the Ass in the Graveyard

Atholl Highlanders ( Clan Murray )

At Long Last

Auld Lang Syne – Burns

Auld Town March

B

the Back o' Ben Achie

Banjo Breakdown

Bannocks of Barley Meal

Barbara's Jig

the Barlinnie Highlander

the Barnyards of Delgaty

the Barren Rocks of Aden

the Battle of the Somme

the Battle of Waterloo

the Bells of Dunblane

Belmont

Ben Gullion

the Black Bear

the Blackthorn Stick - Irish

the Black Widow's Dance - Irish

the Bluebells of Scotland

the Bloody Fields of Flanders

(All the) Blue Bonnets o'er the Border

Bonnie Dundee

Bonnie Gallowa'

the Bonnie Hoose o' Airlie

the Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie

Boys of Bluehill - Irish

(the Standard on) the Braes of Mar

Braveheart theme - film theme

Brenda Stubbert's Reel

Brian Boru's March - Irish

the Bride's Jig

the British Grenadiers - English

Brose & Butter - Burns

the Brown Haired Maiden ( a.k.a. Horo, my Nut Brown Maiden )

Bugle Horn

Busindre reel - Spanish

C

Cabar Feidh ( Clan Gordon )

Caledonia

the Campbells are Coming ( Clan Campbell )

Campbelltown Loch ( a.k.a. the Glendaruel Highlanders )

Camptown Races - American

Carlingford Loch - Irish

the Castle Walls

Changing Your Demeanour - Irish

Chariots of Fire - film theme

Clueless

the Clumsy Lover - Irish

Cock o' the North ( Clan Gordon )

Cogadh no Sidhe – the True Gathering of the Clans / War or Peace - Pibroch

Come by the Hills - Irish

Comin' thru the Rye ( a.k.a. gin a Body meet a Body ) – Burns

the Conundrum

Cork Hill - Irish

Corn Riggs ( -are Bonnie ) – Burns

Corriechoillie's Welcome

The Crags of Tumbledown

Crossing the Minch

Cwm Rhondda ( a.k.a. Guide me Oh Thou Great Jehovah ) -Welsh

D

Dana ( et les trois Matelots ) - Breton

Dancing Feet

the Dashing White Sergeant

the Day ( Thou Gavest, Lord ) has Ended

Death of a Space Piper

De'il Among the Tailors

Donald Blue

Donald Where's Yer Troosers

Donald Willie and his Dog

The Dornoch Links

Dream Angus

the Dream Valley of Glendaruel

Drops of Brandy

Drowsy Maggie - Irish

Drunken Piper / Red Rory

( What shall we do with a ) Drunken Sailor - English

Dulaman - Irish

Dumbarton's Drum

Duncan Gray ( Rob Roy MacGregor )

Duns Dings A'

E

Earl of Mansfield

El Alamein

Emerald Echoes - Irish

En Ferus Hostis

Erchless (Chisholm's) Castle

Erin Shore ( a.k.a. Paddy's Green Shamrock Shores ) - Irish

an Eriskay Love Lilt

F

the Fairy Dance

My Faithful Fair One

the Famous Bridge

Fanfare Salute Alba

Far Away in Australia – Irish

Fare Thee Well

Farewell to the Creeks ( a.k.a The Hills of Sicily )

Lá Fhéile Pádraig - Irish

the Fields of Athenry - Irish

the 51st Highland Division

Finnegan’s Wake

500 Miles (I’m Gonna Be)

Flower of Scotland

the Flowers of the Forest ( lament )

the Foggy Dew - Irish

For Ireland I'll Tell not her Name - Irish

the 42nd ( Black Watch )

Friendship

G

Galway Girl - Irish

The Garb of Auld Gaul

Garryowen - Irish

Ghillie Calum (Sword Dance)

Gin I were a Baron's Heir

Ms. Girdle

the Girl I Left Behind

Glasgow Police Pipers

Going Home ( Largo )

the Gordon's March ( Clan Gordon )

Grand March ( Aida ) - Italian

Grannie Duncan

Gravel Walk

the Green Glens of Antrim - Irish

Greensleeves - English

Greenwoodside

Grimstock - English

the Gruagach

H

Happy We've been A' Tegither

Harris Dance

The Harvest Home - Irish

Haste Ye to the Wedding

Here's a Health unto His Majesty - English

Hearken my Love

Hector the Hero

Heights of Dargai

the Herding Song

the Heroes of Vittoria

Heyken's Serenade

Hielan' Laddie

The Highland Brigade ( at Tel el Kebir )

Highland Cathedral

Highland Cradle Song

Highland Lassie

Highland Wedding

Highland Whisky

High Road to Gairloch (a.k.a. We will take the Good Old Way)

High Road to Linton

HLI Hornpipe

Hot Punch

I

I'll Tell me Ma - Irish

I Love a Lassie

the Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies - Irish

the Irish Pub - Irish

the Irish Washerwoman - Irish

I See Mull (, Land of my Youth )

the Isle of Skye (Three Bonnie Maidens)

Itchy Fingers

J

Jennie's Bawbee / Put the Kettle on

Jig of Slurs - Irish

Jimmy Allan's Fancy

John Anderson, my Jo - Burns

John Barleycorn - English

Johnnie Cope

John Ryan's Polka - Irish

the Jolly Beggar

the Jolly Beggarman - Irish

K

the Keel Row

Kelsey's Wee Reel

Kennie Gillies (of Portnalong, Skye)

Kenmuir is Up and Awa (, Wullie) - Burns

the Kesh Jig - Irish

Killiecrankie - Burns

the Kilt is my Delight

the Kilworth Hills

King George V's Army

the Kitchen Maid

L

Lady Carmichael's Strathspey

Lady Ramsey's Strathspey

(Dae Ye Mind / Lang ) Lang Syne (John Peel)

the Last Cradle song

the Last of the Mohicans ( the Gael ) - film theme

Laugh and Half Daft - Irish

Leaving Port Askaig

Leezy Lindsay - Burns

Let's Have a Ceilidh ( a.k.a. Liberton Boys’ Pipe Band / Polka )

Lexie MacAskill

Lillibullero - English

Limerick's Lamentation - Irish pibroch

Little Drummer Boy

Lochaber no More ( lament )

Lochanside

Loch Lomond

it's Lonely at Night in the Bothy

Lord Lovat's Lament ( Clan Fraser )

Lord of the Dance - Irish

Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes

M

Maggy - Irish

Mairi's Wedding

MacCrimmon Will Never Return ( Cha till MacCruimeinn ) - pibroch

MacDonald's Awa' Tae the War

Ms. MacLeod of Raasey

MacPherson's Rant

A Man's a Man for A' That - Burns

Marching Though the Heather

March of the Cameron Men ( Clan Cameron )

March to the Battle (Los San Patricios) - Irish

the Mason's Apron - Irish

Mingulay Boat Song

the Minstrel Boy - Irish

Mist Covered Mountains

Mo Ghile Mear - Irish

Molly Malone ( a.k.a. In Dublin’s Fair City ) - Irish

Morning Has Broken

Moving Cloud

the Muckin' of Geordie's Byre

Mull of Kintyre

The Munro's Wedding

My Ain Fireside

My Home

My Love is But a Lassie Yet – Burns

My love is like a Red Red Rose - Burns

N

Nairn

Nick MacVicar's Reel

The Noose and the Ghillie

The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen

O

Orange and Blue

Oft in the Stilly Night

Oh, Danny Boy

Oh, Mairi

the Old Rustic Bridge ( - by the Mill )

Oro se do Bheatha Bhaile - Irish

O'Sullivans March ( Rob Roy Theme ) - Irish

Our Wedding Day ( a.k.a. She Moved Through the Fair ) - Irish pibroch

Over the Hills (and Far Away) - English

P

Pack Your Baggage

Paddy McGinty's Goat - Irish

Paddy's Leather Breeches - Irish

the Panda

Perfect Day

Pibroch of Donald Dubh ( Clan Cameron )

The Piper's Cave (Ms. Ainslie Grant Duff)

Piper's Prelude

the Piper's Waltz – Irish

the Point of War

The Price of a Pig

The Pride of Petravore - Irish

Q

Queen Elizabeth's March

The Queen Of All Argyll

Queen Victoria's Jubilee

R

Rab's Wedding

Raglan Road - Irish

Rantin' Rovin' Robin - Burns

Rip the Calico

the Road to Dundee

the Road to the Isles / Bens of Jura

Rose among the Heather

the Rose of Allandale

the Rose of Kelvingrove

the Rowan Tree

the Royal Irish Polka - Irish

the Royal Scot Polka

S

Saint Andrew's Cross

Salute to the Royal Fendersmith

Scarborough Fair - Irish

Scarce of Tatties - Irish

Scotch on the Rocks

Scotland Forever

Scotland the Brave

Scots Wha Hae ( a.k.a. Hey Tutti Tatti )

Scottish Soldier

the 79th's Farewell to Gibraltar

Skye Boat Song

the Sick Note - Irish

Sleep Dearie Sleep

the Sleeping Tune

Snug in the Blanket

Soft Lowland Tongue

Soldier's Joy

The Soldier's Return

Some Say the Devil's Dead - Irish

the Spanish Lady

Speed the Plough - Irish

the Star of the County Down - Irish

Stars and Stripes Forever - American

Staten Island

Steal Away - Irish

the Steamboat

Step it out Mary - Irish

Stolen Kiss – Irish

Stop Yer Ticklin’ Jock

Streets of London - English

Suil a Ruin - Irish

Sunshine on Leith

Suo Gan - Welsh

Sword Dance (Ghillie Calum)

T

Tail Toddle

Tartan Army ( a.k.a. We'll Be Coming )

Teribus Ye Terioden

Theme for the Greenlands

There were Roses - Irish

These are my Mountains

Tommy Tully's Air

Toots and Hickory Edwards

Troy’s Wedding

Turkey in the Straw - American

the Twa Corbies

U

Up and Waur Them A'

Up in the morning Early

V

the Victory Polkas

W

Waltzing Matilda - Australia

the Water is Wide

the Wearing of the Green ( a.k.a. By the Rising of the Moon / Sae Wull We Yet ) - Irish

the Wee Cooper o'Fife

the Wee Highland Glen

Wee Highland Laddie

the Wee Spree - pibroch

We're no Awa' tae Bide Awa'

Westering Home

When the Battle's Over ( a.k.a. After the Battle )

Whiskey in the Jar - Irish

Wild Mountain Side - Burns

Wild Mountain Thyme

the Wild Rover - Irish

Will Ye No Come Back Again

Willie Allan's Fancy

Willie Stewart - Burns

Wings - RAF march

With a Hundred Pipers

Wooden Heart

Y

Yankee Doodle - American

Ye Banks and Braes – Burns

Yellow Rose of Texas - American

Ye Jacobites by Name - Burns