Bagpipers: How to Play FAST

Some pipers think that it is really hard to play fast, but they’re wrong. It’s very easy to play fast, even at a tempo that comes close to matching that of Stuart Liddell. Thus, a fast tempo is really no problem at all. The problem arises when we expect to play fast and at the same time make anything that sounds close to good music.

Visualizing ALAP/ASAP—Part 1

On the bagpipe, we cannot play a note with more volume in order to add expression to a phrase. Indeed, our goal is to play at a steady pressure so that the pitch of the chanter and the drones remains constant. Nor do we have techniques such as staccato or legato available to us on the Highland bagpipe. On the Highland bagpipe, we express our music by holding notes longer than we would normally hold them, playing them As Long As [Musically] Possible (ALAP) and playing contrasting notes As Short As [Musically] Possible (ASAP).

Chanter Reeds: Differences and Uses

While each chanter reed may look mostly the same, individual reed makers will often incorporate individual design changes that make subtle changes to the shape, configuration and construction of the reed in order to produce different harmonics. Different reed makers also use different sources for cane (the material of the reed blades), making the quality reed to reed from maker to maker, different. Chanter reeds from maker to maker will also perform differently from chanter to chanter.