Bagpipe Lessons - How Do the Bagpipes Work?

[@justinnaramor6050]

I think I wrote a comment on another one of your videos once, but I had an interesting thought as I watched this one: One other bagpiper here on KZbin described the bagpipes like this: "I like to think of the bag as the engine that powers everything, and your breath as the fuel for that engine" (I sort of paraphrased that, but I think you get the point). That's definitely different from other wind instruments that are powered directly by your breath. In other words: when we play music with bagpipes, we do not play it with our breath, as on a more "conventional" wind instrument, but rather we play it with our arm, which is pressing on the bag. Our breath is used strictly to supply air to the bag. So we have absolutely zero control over the delivery of the music with our breath.

[@KyleBantaMusic]

Cant argue that your breath is the fuel that powers the bagpipe's engine. When talking about the delivery of the music, your breath plays a fairly large part because keeping the tone as steady and consistent as possible really adds to the music. To a well-trained ear, significant waves in the tonal consistency can be a distraction from the phrasing and melodic delivery of the tune. Yes, we use our breath to supply air to the bag, however our breath does more than simply keep the bag inflated.

[@justinnaramor6050]

@@KyleBantaMusic It is possible that my wording was slightly wrong, but the principle I'm trying to illustrate is indeed correct. I understand what you're saying about consistent tone, because my understanding is that, when we do use our breath to re-inflate the bag while playing, the amount of "squeeze" we put on the bag will vary a little (in simpler terms, we essentially have to get more air into the bag while still putting some amount of squeezing pressure on it to keep the music going... we can't just lift our arm away from the bag while re-inflating it). The amount of "breath" we put into the bag, then, basically determines how much we have to squeeze the bag to, in turn, keep the tone consistent (I hope this makes sense, this is actually pretty hard to explain in words). So, still, I maintain that the breath on its own does not control the tone/delivery of the music like it does on other wind instruments (in other words: on a trumpet or flute or whatever, the dynamics and tone of the music is controlled entirely by what you do with your mouth... you're not squeezing a bag with your arm. In the bagpipes though, even though the breath plays an important part, it's really, ultimately, the arm pressure (squeezing on the bag) that affects the tone/dynamics/pitch/"delivery" of the music. In fact, it is exactly for this reason that we have other types of bagpipes in the world that use a set of bellows to blow up the bag instead of the player's mouth. Don't know if you were aware of this or not, but it needs to be mentioned... we don't just have one kind of bagpipe in the world. I guess what I'm ultimately getting at is this: on the bagpipes, our breath alone plays absolutely no part in controlling and triggering musical notes like on other wind instruments... the breath is there primarily to keep that bag topped up with air (or at least nearly topped up with air) while playing. Squeezing down on the bag with the arm is really what causes the sound in the first place... the bag takes care of the "blowing" for you, it is literally performing the same function as your mouth and lungs as the blowing object for the sound-making portion of a wind instrument... all your breath does is provide the bag with the air it needs to perform that task. Regarding the re-inflation part: this is kind of obvious, but when you exhale into the bag (through the blowing tube or blowpipe or whatever you'd like to call it), the bag expands, like a balloon, because that's what any inflatable object will do. So, as a result of this, your arm on the bag is gonna naturally move in an upward direction (contrary to the downward direction your arm moves in when you deflate the bag with your squeezing). If you just lift your arm away from the bag when it tries to push your arm up while you blow in the air from your lungs, the pipes will squeak or else sputter out, basically. To avoid this, your arm still needs to be applying some squeezing pressure onto the bag. So as you blow in from your mouth, you have to decide how much of that squeezing pressure you need to keep the tone stable, and this is basically proportional to the amount of breath you're putting in... the breath and the squeezing pressure have to be working together, if you will. I guess another much simpler way to put it is: you inflate the bag, which causes your arm to naturally move upward, but at the same time your arm still has to move downward to still allow air to pass out of the bag and through the pipes so they can continue to sound... does that make sense? As I said... this is very hard to explain in words.

[@KyleBantaMusic]

@@justinnaramor6050 I agree with you that the breath does not influence the sound of the instrument on its own. Instead, we can think of the breath as part of the overall system that allows the bag to stay inflated and supplying the air to the reeds that produce the sound. It was the last sentence in your first response that made me think "hold on, lets analyze this a bit more" lol.

[@justinnaramor6050]

@@KyleBantaMusic I see. I suppose I should've said more specifically, "we have absolutely zero control over the delivery of the music with only our breath alone" or something. You do make a correct observation though... my earlier comment sort of read more like "we have no control of the performance of the instrument with our breath, at all, in any way, shape or form"... Which would obviously be incorrect. It's more like what I said before; the breath and the squeezing pressure are really working together, and the amount of breath you put into the bag dictates how much you'd be squeezing to, in turn, keep the sound from wavering all over the place or otherwise cutting out entirely. It's interesting we're actually talking about this, because I can distinctly remember watching another bagpipe video (I find bagpipes quite interesting as you probably know by now :)). Anyways, it was a video of a kid playing bagpipes at a school talent show. The performance wasn't bad at all (although the tuning of the drones was quite off, unfortunately), but the real issue was how the MC introduced the act; he said something like "now, I don't know how this next kid doesn't lose his breath. It's Nicholas playing bagpipes"! I heard that, and I was like, "umm... who wrote these MC notes? Clearly they don't know how bagpipes work"! Now look, I get it, it was an elementary school talent show, for kids. But still. That statement was incorrect. When we play bagpipes, we can take in a breath of air while the music keeps going... and this goes right back to what I say about how we do not control the music on bagpipes using our breath alone, but rather with our arm squeezing on the bag. The arm does a whole lot of the work. Therefore, we don't really have to worry about "losing our breath" (quoting the MC at the talent show again :)). I suppose the only time it would feel like bagpipers lose their breath is when they keep re-inhaling the carbon dioxide they exhale, kind of like what would happen if you tried breathing into a completely airtight container with absolutely no way to vent off exhaled gas... yikes!

[@KyleBantaMusic]

@@justinnaramor6050 I agree with your first paragraph about the amount of breath dictating how much squeezing is required. For your second paragraph, I had to chuckle about the MC's comment about not having enough breath. This is a very general misconception that bagpipes take a lot of breath. One could compare blowing into a bagpipe the same way you blow up balloons (think way more than a few balloons). The MC would probably think that the balloons take less air to inflate, which I would argue is debatable; the balloons would still tire the person out, as do blowing bagpipes. I remember competing in solos and band in Portland, Oregon years ago. I played solos in the morning then band in the afternoon. By the time the band played the slow air in the medley, my energy was nearly depleted and my lips were giving way (not what you want happening, especially in a tune that requires consistent blowing). I also know of a player who competed in the grade 1 worlds and they nearly (or perhaps they did) swallow a bee while playing. I heard they kept going! Moisture conditions and hydration all play a part in determining our comfort level when maintaining a full bag.

[@djxtube64]

How can i get bagpipe??

[@KyleBantaMusic]

I recommend you explore bagpipes from reputable dealers such as Naill, mccallum, rg hardie and hendersons. There are others but these are common ones. The instrument will be more expensive, but you will be getting a far better bagpipe than from eBay and even Amazon.

[@robingray6611]

I would add that you should not get a cheap bagpipe. I skimped on my first bagpipe, which came from Pakistan, and nothing worked. Reeds were defective, blowpipe had an air leak, bag was full of leaks. It's hard enough for a beginner to start with a good bagpipe, it's a damn near impossible task to start with a defective one.