Instruments

Bagpipes

Despite their identification with Scotland and Ireland, bagpipes are of wide distribution and great antiquity. Basic to their design is a bag, inflated by either the player's breath or a bellows mechanims, that sounds several attached pipes with enclosed reeds. One of these, the so-called "chanter" pipe, is outfitted with holes or valves to enable the player to sound a melody on it; the others are typically drones of fixed pitch. The bag was originally an animal skin but now more often made of cloth. Bagpipes are capable of enough volume to be suited to outdoor playing, but they also come in indoor versions such as the Irish union (or "uilleann") pipes, which is among the bellows-operated versions of the instrument. Continental versions of the bagpipes include the French musette.