Bagpipes and chanters

Bagpipe History

Captain Bruce Hitchings MBE BEM - Piping

The origins of the Bagpipes is slightly unclear as there is evidence of ancient civilisations playing instruments similar to Bagpipes. There are arguments that the first records are from the area that would be modern day Iran.

Around 400 BC there are references to Bagpipes made by the Athenian poet Aristophones whom talked about the pipers of Thebes blowing pipes made of dog skin and bone chanters.

There are descriptions of the Roman Emperor Nero playing 'tibia utricularis' with his mouth and arm pit.

The first records of Bagpipes in the UK are unclear with Roman Bagpipe Statues having been found. Ireland has references going back at least to the Middle Ages, as well as stone carvings dating back to the 8th century. The Bagpipes started to become popular in the 12th Century and some of the tunes used by Robert Burns are said to be the same as those used by Robert the Bruce to stir his men as they marched to the Battle of Bannockburn. As Art and culture developed in Europe at this time so did many derivatives of the Bagpipes.

Examples of antique Bagpipes are hard to find (from before the 18th Century) but there are many instances of Bagpipes in paintings and engravings and these show the wide variances of the instrument. Bagpipes have had various uses over time. From rallying troops into battle, for wedding ceremonies, entertainment and dancing. However the popularity of the pipes diminished as other instruments developed with new technological advances. Bagpipes have seen a renaissance over the recent past. As The British Empire grew as did the spread of Bagpipes. The British Army had a good representation of Scottish Highland regiments and with them came the Bagpipes.

More and more countries are becoming interested in local folk music and as a result Bagpipes (or variations of) have started to be used again. In English-speaking regions, a bagpipe player is known as a 'bagpiper' or 'piper', and the surname Piper derives from it. Other European surnames, such as Pfeiffer (German), Gaiteiro (Portuguese-Galician), Gaiteru (Asturian), Gaitero (Spanish), Gajdar (Czech), Dudás (Hungarian), Tsambounieris (Greek), Gaidarski (Bulgarian), Gaidar (Russian), Duda, and Dudziak (Polish) may also signify that an ancestor was a player of the pipes.

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