How to get started n Medieval Bagpiping

So you want to play medieval bagpipes? You probably have questions, like "where to start", and others. So this, in brief, is what to do to make everything easier.

There are 2 ways you can go about it.

The first way is to actually find a Bagpiping instructor, and learn the traditional way. The Second way is my suggested way, which will attempt to leave you less frustrated.

When I started Medieval Bagpiping, my goals and desires were essentially strictly to learn and play Medieval bagpipes. I had no desire to learn Highland piping, or play Highland music, or play anything Scottish at all. I just wanted to learn Medieval Pipes, and nothing else. Eventually I wanted to buy a set of Medieval bagpipes. I was on a budget. I didn't want to spend the bulk of my money on Highland pipes. I wanted to jump right in.

One thing that you need to know ahead of time is that Highland Bagpipes and Medieval Bagpipes, while very similar, have significantly different fingering (what hole you have to cover with your fingers to get a certain note). Highland pipes are specialized instruments -- they are designed and tweaked specifically for playing Highland music, and when you learn them, you learn Highland fingering, rhythmic finger work, and music that is all specially tailored for the instrument. After accomplishing music on the Highland pipes, you will have one disadvantage -- you will be an expert Highland piper, and will have to learn a totally different style of piping, different fingering, etc. Though most of your skills can be transferred, you will have to un-learn a lot of what you learn. Highland piping is very hard. It's highly technical, and to be good at it requires a lot of practice -- not just playing melodies, but practicing rhythmic fingering techniques. You may not have what it takes to become a highland piper, if you want to play medieval music, but you may be cut out for medieval piping or other period instruments, and not know it.

If you don't want to get frustrated and quit Highland piping, because your reflexes aren't quick enough, and you can't master certain playing techniques, my method might be a good alternative. Also, I have nothing against Highland piping. It just may be too hard for someone who is not interested in Scottish music. It's also not good for someone who is impatient, and wants quicker results

Step 1: learn how to play the recorder

First of all, get a good plastic recorder. I highly recommend the Mollenhauer Dream Flute line of recorders. The Plastic "Medieval style" recorder, with the single holes, is an excellent instrument, and

Note the double holes on the lower section of this Mollenhauer Dream Flute. Most recorders have double-holes on the lower notes, like this.

Below is the Medieval-style Mollenhauer Dream Flute. Note the large single-holes

Though the fingering is the same, you will find that the medieval-style recorder is closer to a bagpipe. You don't have to get the single-hole version. Both cost about $20 - $30, and will last forever, barring accidents. Sure, you can get a $5 plastic recorder. It won't be different, but the Mollenhauer one is an excellent sounding instrument compared to the majority of plastic recorders.

I'm not going to write about how to play the recorder. Every recorder has a fingering chart (if you buy it new, and in a box). Learn it well. Practice it. I have found that practicing your recorder in your spare time for just 10 minutes a day is all you need to be able to get the hang of it.

The reason for learning the recorder is simple. Most medieval instruments, including medieval bagpipes, have nearly the same fingering. If you can master a recorder (Or at least become Intermediate at it), you can play a medieval bagpipe. By learning the recorder, you will develop the skills needed to play a variety of instruments -- Rauschpfeifes, Conamuses, shawms, oboes, clarinets, and various other woodwinds. Focusing on this simple, inexpensive instrument will prepare you for making music on nearly anything.

Did I mention that I still do not really know how to read music? This is because I have a well developed ear for music. This gave me an ability to figure out how to play songs accurately that many people don't. Don't worry -- if you learn how to read sheet music, you will be a better musician. It just wasn't for me.

A little background, now. When you learn Highland piping, you learn on a "Practice Chanter", which is softer-sounding, easy to blow, and has the same fingering as the Highland piper's chanter. By using the practice chanter, you eliminate the need for waking your neighbors up when you try to practice your pipes, plus you can play indoors, or anywhere, for that matter. I used to practice (and still do) on the toilet. Seriously, When you have 10 minutes to dump a load, it's perfect time to practice. Essentially, using the recorder to practice is going to accomplish the same task -- you will learn how to play songs and learn the fingering required to play most bagpipes.

Step 2:What to practice

You should pick some actual medieval songs to practice, preferably your favorites, preferably simple songs. My first song was Herr Mannelig. It's a very simple melody, and very short. Other simple songs to learn are In Taberna, and some of the Cantigas De Santa Maria. The important thing is to learn some short, easy songs. When you can play a few songs without mistakes, you are ready for the next step.

Step 3: Mimicking a Bagpipe

One thing that is different about bagpipes, is that once you get them going, you don't stop. The noise is continuous. To make breaks in your playing, especially when you play the same note several times in a row, you quickly lift the finger on the note just above the note you're playing, and put it back down again. Try blowing your recorder without stopping, while playing a tune. Use this technique to mimic what a bagpipe sounds like. You can also practice circular breathing. Most of the music from medieval times is made of short segments. Breath after playing one segment, and before beginning the next. Eventually, you can practice inhaling through your nose, while using your cheeks for storing breath (like a bag on a bagpipe) and blowing. It's a tricky thing to learn, but if you get the hang of it, playing bagpipes will be easier.

Eventually, you will want to be able to play several songs through without stopping, and without making mistakes. If you can accomplish this, you will be ready for playing bagpipes. What bagpipes to buy is detailed in my other posts.

Step 4: Your first set of pipes

If you have made it this far, and think you're ready for buying a set of medieval pipes, the one piece of advice I have is this -- Get a professional quality instrument, and avoid cheap pipes from online music stores.

Cheap pipes are exactly that -- they are cheap, crappy, and will make you yearn for something better. Plus, there really aren't any cheap medieval style bagpipes. Mid-East Musical instruments sells a loud medieval and a soft medieval bagpipe, and they both are under $200, and both, as of late, have been plagued by quality control problems. I got the smallpipes years ago, when quality control was better, but I haven't seen new ones that were as good, lately. Plus, the ones that I got took a lot of fussing to get working.

The best thing for you, is to contact a bagpipe maker, and order a professional quality instrument. It will cost you over $1000, on average, but it is an investment that will eliminate spending more money on a series of poorer-quality instruments over time. When you get these instruments, they will treat you nice almost from the start, and will last for decades if you treat them nice. They are not just instruments, they are works of art. But most importantly, they are manufactured with such precision and from such quality components, that playing them will be easy, even for lesser accomplished musicians.

Step 5: Going Droneless

When you get your instrument, you should not play it fully assembled. You need to go in stages. Plug up all the drone holes with corks so that only the chanter is connected. Essentially, this is to get you used to playing with the bag -- to practice breathing, controlling the bag, and so on. Basically, you will play the tunes you've learned with the bag and chanter, so that you can be used to when to breath into the bag, and when to squeeze the bag. When you can play all of your tunes correctly without making mistakes, and without getting stuck breathing out of rhythm, you can add the bass drone. You will need to blow more to keep the chanter and the drone going at the same time. Just using the chanter was a stage to help you build up your ability to keep the bag full while playing. When you add the drone, it's essentially going to take more breath, but you will already have a sense of when to breathe from that stage. By adding the drone, you will only need to adjust your breathing a little bit, and it will be a small step to add drones, if you have more than one.

Of course, I leave out a lot of details here. This is an overview. There are lots of details on the care and use of the bagpipes that are difficult to convey in a short blog posting. I intend to cover those things in more detail later.

Goats -- For food AND music instruments...

Behold the wonder of GOATS!

First, you can milk them, and use the milk for drinking, making butter, and cheese.



While alive, the goat acts as your garbage disposal, eating all the food waste that you have (along with paper and other materials that they probably shouldn't eat). Their feces can be used for great fertilizer.

When they're at the end of their lives, You can cook their meat, which is among the tastiest of the meats of the world.

Using their entrails, you can make the famous Scotch meat pudding known as "haggis".

Few people, however, are aware of the musical properties of goats.

Yes, that's right. Goats are musical. How so?



Well, for millenia, the Jews have used their horns to make the Shofar; the goat's horns are turned into "musical" horns. In fact, this is how the class of music instruments known as horns, got their name.

The epitome of musical goatiness, however, is that goats make great bagpipes! The Ancient Greeks made bagpipes out of goats. Goat-bagpipes are still made today, in Balkan countries.

After watching this video of a goat-bagpipe being played, don't you just want one?

It doesn't stop there. Early Greek Theater often had music. The word for a Greek play in which someone suffers was called a Tragedy. The Etymology of "Tragedy" comes from ancient Greek. The Greek word "tragōidía", made up of trágos (goat) + "ōide" (song). So since Greek bagpipes were literally made from the skin and bones of a dead goat, by playing them, you were playing a "tragoide'" or "goat song"!

Of course, when a goat bagpipe is played by an inexperienced musician, it really is a tragedy to hear them being played!

Steffen Fischer, Instrument Craftsman

After months of waiting, a birthday present I bought for my girlfriend and fellow medieval minstrel, finally arrived, care of Steffen Fischer, an instrument craftsman whose instruments are well known to the German Spielueter (minstrel) community.

Initially, issues of language and the postal service used to send the instrument had me worried that I'd either not see the instrument, or that we wouldn't get quite what we ordered. After all sorts of delays, mostly the month that the instrument spent in Customs at a New York City Airport, the instrument arrived, and well, we were simply amazed!

Out of the box, the instrument was beautiful. It was made of Cocobolo, which is a very pretty hardwood with interesting grain. The bell and cap of the instrument appear to be pear or maple.

What was most surprising was the ease of playing the instrument right out of the box. Most reed-cap instruments have a limit, where, if you breathe too hard or too soft, the reed will let out a nasty shriek, or be out of tune. This is especially true of plastic reeds, because the plastic tends to be more sensitive -- the price to be paid for ease of care and playing. This makes playing staccato (playing each note separately, with a brief silence betwen them, as opposed to playing fluidly, from note, to note in one breath) Though this instrument has a plastic reed, it didn't squawk or shriek at all when I played it.

I played several tunes in staccato without running into the shrieking problem. I was totally amazed at how easy it played, and how in perfect tune it was. I am putting Mr. Fischer on the top of my list of Instrument Craftsmen to consider when I plan on purchasing future instruments. All of the waiting, and the struggles between my lack of German and his lack of English were worth the price, which was actually a very reasonable price considering the average price of similar instruments on the market. I only hope I can let my girlfriend use her birthday present... I am fighting the urge to grab it and play it constantly! The idea was to let her be a new melody player in the band, and I have to let her play it... but the urge...the urge....

Anyway, I stole the instrument, just long enough to record a couple of sound-clips. Here they are:

This is the High-C Rauschpfeife all by itself:
Cantiga 1 Sample

This is the High C: Rauschpfeife joined by my Soprano Rauschpfeife from Moeck:
Andro Sample

Oh yeah, did I mention that it's really loud?

Fun with recording software

This will be a quickie.

I recently got a Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro, that $300 sound card and audio interface box that is tailor made for music creation. I saved up and debated if I should get it for months, then I just went and got it. I now had the power to run pretty much any sequencing and sound mixing software I wanted.

One of the problems I faced when I switched over to Windows XP was that the software I learned everything on was never meant to run under XP. The old version of cakewalk was written for Windows 3.11, and under XP, there was a lag when using a MIDI keyboard. I'd record, but everything was delayed by a 1/2 second, making it difficult to record.

Of course, now that I purchased all of these accoustic instruments like bagpipes and other wind instruments, I faced a new problem. I don't need MIDI equipment to record them, but I never had anything but a small audio-in jack on my PC to input sound. It worked okay for most stuff -- most of the samples of my old blogs were done with a PC headset mic hooked into my computer's built-in audio.

So I now have this box that lets me plug in real recording equipment like we used in the studio, but I needed some modern software to use it.

I tried Cakewalk's Sonar program, and I could not figure out how to do anything, even after reading the help filesa and quick start guide. For some reason, the creators decided to make their product only for people who were already audio engineering professionals, as opposed to the earlier incarnations of the program which were intuitive enough to figure out without reading the instructions. I tried demos of other programs, and they were all made for people who were already experts. In other words, I needed to take a course to figure it out (the music stores offer them too, because they can make more money that way. Piss on them! I threw away the demo discs I got, and went to the internet to download some old outdated software that a friend recommended.

The piece of old mixing software was Cool Edit Pro 2.1 -- no longer made, and a shame, too, because Adobe Audition, which is what it's replacement was, is not intuitive, and not so simple and quick to use that I can make my own CD-quality recordings with in minutes. I literally had Cool Edit Pro 2.1 on my PC for only about an hour before I put the sample below together. That's me on the drums, me on the tambourine, me on the bagpipes, and me on the recorder, in a "church" (one of the ambient settings you can add), playing Cantiga 100:

Cantiga 100 Sample

My Band's First Album!

I should have mentioned this a few months back, but we just came out with our new CD, Vibrabimus! Click on the CD-Baby image above to hear samples from it!


We worked on this for about a year, and had all sorts of issues with recording various instruments, discovering how to use recording equipment, what the best microphones for each instrument were, and so on.

In the end, we came out with a CD that not only we all were happy with, but which most people who have listened to it seem to like as well.

What follows are my notes on each of the songs on the album.

(1) Quen Amoroso -- This song is Cantiga 353 "Quen Omagen" (See the online tribute to The Cantigas De Santa Maria) with Amoroso, an Italian love song. There is a break with a more modern song that is sort of a joke that developed when we were working on this. Basically After playing Quen Omagen dozens of times, I noticed that it sounded like the theme song from an old popular TV show, so I played it for a laugh, and the rest of the band liked it, so we kept it in. See if you can tell what it is!

(2) Ravensballade -- This medieval song made it all over Europe. There is a version of this song in nearly every country. The "Olde English" version of the song is in a dialect of English that has too many words that nobody knows anymore, and part of the reason for my revamped lyrics was to make the song totally understandable to the people we were playing it to (at renaissance festivals). In every language, the story is about 3 Ravens who see a dead knight on the ground, and want to eat him, but are thwarted by the Knight's dog, his hunting falcon, and finally, his wife who comes to bury him. In my version, this is still the same story, but I throw in a twist at the end. In the original song, the wife dies after burying the Knight, and the Ravens all exclaim "Such Devotion.. Such love..." In my version, the knight wakes up and says "I'm not quite dead..." as an homage to Monty Python.

(3) Douce Dame Jolie -- A French Love song, played very romantically, very tenderly, on several large drums and a Bagpipe! This song is pretty traditional, and we play it like many other bands do. We decided to make it interesting by changing the instrumentation on the B-part of the melody. We have My German Dudelsack start off the song, then it's joined by recorders and a shawm.

(4) Vibrabimus -- Vibrabimus started out as a joke. I originally heard In Extremo play "We Will Rock You" on bagpipes. Jocelyn had translated the entire Queen Lyrics into Latin for her Latin class to have fun with. Originally, we were going to sing it in Latin, but we realized that not everyone could handle the foreign language, and it wouldn't sound good as a solo. We really wanted to have the song sung in a medieval tritone to give it that authentic medieval sound, but ended up just repeating the "Vibra, VibraBimus" in tritone. We added a famous Breton Andro to it, and out came our song.

(5) Herr Mannelig -- I always wanted to do this song differently than everyone else does it. Absolutely every other band I've heard sing this ancient Swedish Ballade does it the same way -- a slow heartbeat rhythm, and the song us sung slowly and sadly. We toyed with a "wind up monkey-band" version of it where we'd play it fast and furiously, but it never worked out, so we do it just like everyone else. We added in one of the cantigas to fill in.

(6) Song #23 is a song we heard a band called Patrask play. They call it Tretaktslaten, which is Swedish for "Song in 3/4 time". It's a pastiche of Turlough O'Carolin's songs from the 1600s, and their execution of it was interesting. We don't have 3 or 4 shawm players in the band, so we had to use different instrumentation. We used to play it with one Rauschpfeife, but the instrument I had at the time was difficult to blow, and tempermental. So I insisted on playing the Sopranino recorder for practices, so I wouldn't strain myself, and the other band members liked it much better. This is a very pretty song, but we don't play it at most faires, because audiences seem to prefer the louder music.

(7) Platerspiel -- Platerspiel is a traditional Bagpipe tune that was borrowed from the A-part of Cantiga 77. Bagpipers usually play it as a duet, with the A and B melody played at the same time, on 2 or more bagpipes. We only had one bagpipe, so we decided to do this song as a rauschpfeife and hurdy-gurdy duet. We're pretty sure that our version is significantly different from most others. After all, in the dozens of albums, and hundreds of MP3 files of medieval music I've listened to, I don't believe that there are any Hurdy-Gurdy duets with Rauschpfeifes. Many medieval instrument players and music buffs say that Gurdies and Rauschpfeifes go great together, and we kind of agree -- but I think we're one of the very few bands that do it.

(8) Tourdion -- The quintessential Medieval Drinking song. Tourdion is a 15th century drinking song, written by Pierre Attaingnant. It's a rather short and simple song. It's about all the French I ever learned. The song is so short that I decided to translate it into English for American audiences, because I've never heard an English version before. I decided that I'd do a literal translation, because the lyrics don't rhyme in French or in the German versions I heard. I also wanted it to be as close to the original meaning as possible. I think I managed to not only get the meaning of the song accurately, but I think I also got my lyrics into the correct meter, as well.

(9) Agni Parthene -- Agni Parthene is actually a 19th century Greek Orthodox chant, which is written in medieval style. We thought of many different forms of instrumentation, from Hurdy Gurdy and Rauschpfeife to several Rauschpfeifes, to a whole ensemble of recorders, crummhorns, violin, and even shruti-box. In the end, it became a bagpipe solo, with no tritone harmonies at all. At the end of the song, we added a clip of us poking fun at the song, by showing that it's actually a perfect dual-use song. When sped up, it sounds like a celtic dance tune!

(10) The ballade Of Brother Gryppeweade -- I heard a medieval song called Falkenlied which told the story of a man who trained a falcon only to have lost it, because he didn't train it properly. Then he loses his girlfriend, and his wife, presumably because he wasn't nice to them. It certainly wasn't a happy song, but the melody was. I hijacked the meody, and kept the bit about the Falcon, but tried to craft a funny story that matched the tone of the original. The result was an attempt at a backstory for one of our band's characters.

(11) Chiftitelli in "B" -- This is a song written by Black Bart in the key of C. The "B" is for Brian, which is Black Bart's real name. This song evolved as an improvisational jam around the basic melody. Chiftitelli is a specific rhythm played on a doumbek in middle eastern music.

(12) Fuertanz/Totentanz -- Fuertanz is German for Fire Dance, and Totentanz is German for Death Dance. The actual name of Fuertanz is a medieval German melody called Mailied, or "May song". There are many variations on this tune. Since it's a short tune, we paired it with another tune that has the same 3/4 time. Totentanz is a very old and very popular tune in the Medieval music circles of Europe. It's usually played as a funeral, but like many of the "dual use" songs or the time, if you speed it up, it makes a great dance tune, as well.

(13) Anatolya -- This middle eastern song exists in many different countries throughout the Mediterranean, and has many different names. We call ours Anatolya because after researching it, we found that both the Armenians and Greeks agree that it originated in Anatolya, which is now part of Turkey, and it matches many similar Ottoman military marches. The Armenians even say that it was called Anatolya, before they added their own lyrics to it and gave it a different name.

(14) Nonesuch -- Nonesuch is our signature tune. It is a 17th century English Country Dance. Before the band started, I was playing this, and a friend of mine even recorded it as a Rock-n-roll bagpipe number. We really liked it, and turned it into a medley after the band formed and we had more instruments. We originally wanted to include as many different instruments in the song as possible, to give audiences a taste of as many different sounds as possible. I used to just play random songs in the medley, but we eventually settled on the 3 that now make it up. Nonesuch starts the number, then we do the Saltarello, a medieval Italian dance. The last tune in the medley is Dödet, which is part of a collection of tunes that accompany the Macedonian Skudrinka dance. There is a group of Skudrinka songs that became part of a collection that made it's way around Europe, and can be found in the traditional music of many countries.

Please have a listen to the samples of our music, and buy the CD if you like it. People who have bought it at faires and in the SCA have loved it, and well, keepig the instruments going can be expensive. Thanks for all of your patience waiting for posts, and if you saw us live at King Richard's Faire, or at an SCA event, let us know!

I've been silent for a while!

Well, I know it's been a while since I posted, but I have good reasons for it. Work picked up a lot, and I've been working non-stop at my job for months. It's tiring, but feels good.

With my band recording our music for the last year, all of our home improvement projects had to get pushed aside, because weekends are the only time we have to get them done, but the band consumes our weekends.

So I've just not had time to write anything of substance. But there is good news to report.

The Band will soon be releasing it's first CD. My next post will be notes on the tracks, plus samples and info on buying it. It sounds really good, and isn't just another ren-faire busker's crudely made recording. It ended up sounding much better than we anticipated. Oddly, I appear singing on more tracks than I do playing the bagpipes! Don't worry -- my voice is excellent, from what I've been told.

Be patient, and I'll reward you!

Rebirth of My Hummelchen

After I learned to play bagpipes a few years ago, I decided I needed to get myself a quality instrument to play, as opposed to the cheap Pakistani ones that I learned on. Truth be told, the cheap pipes were great, and they served me very well, as they taught me everything I needed to know to play and care for bagpipes, but because of their cheap quality, they were a little high on maintenence, and the lack of precision is identical to what musicians who play recorder know -- it's better to get a high quality recorder with a sweet voice, that will keep it's sweet voice and literally play perfectly in tune every time, whenever it's picked up. With cheaper instruments, you have to constantly tune them, or find that they don't quite get along with other instruments from time to time. The same is true with Bagpipes, as with any other instrument. Cheap pipes make you spend a lot of time not playing them. So found Sam Coulter, a craftsman in the USA who made Medieval bagpipes. He had a selection of pipes based on medieval designs, and I thought that since he was in the USA, that it would eliminate a lot of the expected issues with foreign currency exchange, and so on. So I contacted him, and ordered a Hummelchen. What I didn't expect was that he'd as me questions like:

• What key do you want them in?
  
• What kind of fingering?
  
• Do you want A=440?

Keys
The key of the instrument can be summed up as what is the first note on the instrument, and what is the range it plays in. The Renaissance saw the creation of a standard in music -- instruments were divided up into Sopranino (Key of F), Soprano (Key of C), Alto (F), Tenor (C), and Bass (F). From the renaissance on, you would only see these instruments in C and F, with the occaisional descant D.

With bagpipes, since most of them were not chromatic, they were available in a variety of different keys. What I didn't know was that a Hummelchen is a chromatic bagpipe by design, and it was usually available in the Key of C and D (You would get the instrument in C, and could tune the drones to D. Luckily, since my problem was that I couldn't play with recorders, I asked for them in C, which was pure serendipity.

A=440 Explained
See, since I knew nothing about music prior to learning the pipes, and was pretty much self-taught, these questions didnt' mean anything to me. A=440 is "modern tuning", where the A above middle C equals exactly 440 Hertz, which is a measure of audible wave frequency. See, in medieval times, before we had electronics and sensitive tools with which to gauge the construction of instruments, all tuning was done by ear, and the tunings were more like A=315 or A=385, which, to an untrained ear, can sound almost identical, except when you play them together, ahd hear the slight wavering sound of dissonance. Since the main reason I had for getting a real instrument was to play with other people, and I knew that most people had A=440, I decided on A=440.

Fingering
There are several types of fingering in simple wind instruments -- Highland, Recorder, German, French, and others. Many different instruments have unique fingerings, meaning covering different holes with your fingers produces different notes. There is closed fingering, such as in Highland pipes, where you keep the holes of unused notes covered. OPen fingering, like on a recorder, has most notes below the one you're playing left open. Cross fingering is a technique that you use on some instruments to produce half-tones (sharps and flats). Highland fingering only allows for whole notes, while cross fingering on a recorder offers a complete chromatic range. With Highland fingering, you just have "a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a-b" (this is an oversimplified example), but on an instrument with recorder fingering, you have A-A#-B-B#-C-C#-D-D#, and so on. The advantages of recoder and cross-fingering is that you can play a much larger range of music. WIth Highland fingering, you're limited to Highland music, or having to adapt music to the instrument's range. Since I had only used Highland fingering, I decided on Highland fingering. This was a crucial mistake on my part.

Asking for Highland fingering sort of made my instrument a hybrid, and totally inappropriate. Unfortunately, you cannto blame the craftsman, because he builds pipes for all sorts of people with all sorts of specifications, and he cannot tell which ones are making bad choices, and which aren't. He has no idea if a customer is a genius or a total novice, if they want a set of pipes like I asked for for convenience, or for a special project, or whatever. PLus, the customer is always right -- if you ask for a set of pipes with characteristic A, B, and C, he is obliged to deliver those things in his instrument. So I got this set of pipes that sounded really great, but they still played in a highland scale, and were sort of still not compatible with other instruments. I played them occaisionally, but for the most part, didn't touch them a lot. I started thinking of new pipes -- actually buying a real German-made Hummelchen, but then thought "Why not just get a new chanter for the one that I have?" So I contacted Sam again, and asked if he could make a new chanter for me. I told him that I needed the following things on the new chanter:

• Key of C
  
• Chromatic
  
• Recorder fingering
  
• It needs to get B flat, and E flat (common required notes in a lot of medieval music)

He said he could do it, so I sent him my hummelchen, and in a few months, the newly reborn instrument arrived at my door. It works perfectly.
Above is a picture of the original highland-fingered chanter on my Hummelchen. Note the large holes.
This is the new chanter. Note the Double-holes. These allow it to play chromatically, almost exactly like a recorder.

I have included sound samples of it in it's different modes (C and D-minor). For more versatility, I crafted a leather drone-plug, which allows me to turn off the baritone drone for easier tuning, or to just shut it off when less drones are required. I will eventually make a second plug for the bass drone, because I discovered that the new instrument sounds great with the Hurdy-Gurdy, but we have to shut the drones off, because the gurdy already drones loud enough, and more drones means that nobody would hear either instrument's melody. So for some duets, I need no drones to work at all.

Here is a sample of my Hummelchen playing in C, with the drones tuned to C anf G. The song is a German folk tune I heard from favorite band called Spectaculatius. The good thing is that My hummelchen sounds exactly like theirs, which means that I have an authentic instrument now.
Here's the same pipes playing in D-minor, with the bass drone set to D, and the Baritone set to A. This tune is one I heard Wolgemut play. This also demonstrates the chromatic nature of this bagpipe, as there is a ubiquitous B-flat in this tune.

Full Bladder?

I just got myself a bladder-pipe from a historic instrument craftsman in the Czech Republic. More pictures are on the way.

The Bladder pipe is one of the rarest medieval instruments to see these days. The earliest references to it are from the 13th century, but it may actually be a lot older. It's not so much an ancestor of the bagpipe, as much as it is a cousin, though, if we find earlier references to it in the future, there might be reason to believe it is at least an ancestor of some smallpipes. However, it's most likely that it was a simplified version of a bagpipe, easier to set up and use, cheaper to make, and smaller than conventional bagpipes. In the later years of it's popularity, it was associated with peasants.

The pipe looks similar to the legendary Indian "snake charmer" instrument, but it is not. The Indian "Been", as it's called, is a completely different instrument, and has no bag or bladder.

Back in the day, the bag of the bladder pipe was an actual sheep's bladder -- when fresh, it was very elastic, and able to be filled so as to expand and allow the player to breathe. Unfortnately, sheep's bladders do not last very long before they need to be replaced, so the modern bladder pipes use a thin leather kid-skin bag. It's less elastic, but it works, and last a lot longer. Until I learn how to play it correctly, I'm sort of usig the bag as a bagpipe bag, smooshing my face into it while closing the hole with my tongue, and inhaling. Maybe that's how you're supposed to do it, but it takes a bit more coordination than bagpipes. By the time I'm done, I might have the skills required to play digeridoo!

Here is a sound sample of my new toy!

Another source for Medieval sheet music and instruments

Well, I met a new friend, and found a great resource. In the SCA circles I am part of, I meet lots of other people with similar musical ambitions and abilities. Recently, I put a call out for people to join a blogroll for medieval music, since we are such a small community, and one of the responders was "HL Aleyn Wyckington Gentleman Pyper and Maker of Devices Most Musical.

Like me, Aleyn plays medieval bagpipes, and shares my pain. :)

Though his blog is rather personal, and really only useful to people who actually know him, he has a non-bloggy website that he uses to sell his music instruments and offers free information on their care and maintenence, or as he likes to call it "Care and feeding".

His site is called Aleyn's Instruments, and I should draw your attention to the "Docs & Downloads" section. Here is a wealth of information about how to use and care for your Saxon lyre, Epinette, Cornamuse, Various specialized bagpipes, and the Scottish hornpipe (not just a chanter with a windcap). He also has one of those things from my last blog -- a PDF of sheet music for bagpipes! Dig in.

While you're at it, check out his incredible hand-made instruments. He makes authentic medieval Bagpipes, cornamuses, recorders, harps, and other instruments. Since I know that not a lot of people know of my blog yet, I'm sure that he won't get inundated with orders. There's a sort of double-edged sword to being a historic instrument maker. On the one hand, you can guarantee yourself business since few people make the instruments that you do. On the other hand, you can get inundated with work, because it takes weeks and sometimes months to complete a single instrument, and customers can wait upwards of a year or more for their instrument if you become well known. sadly, not all instrument makers earn enough off of their craft to quit their day job. I've never met one who has, but that's the nature of the beast. Only by achieving real national or international fame can instrument makers, like recording artists, earn their living from their hobby. Let's wish him luck, anyway. So, Aleyn, I'd like to order a cornamuse from you, before you get flooded with work! :)

Song Notation for Medieval Musicians

I was recently on a quest for a friend of mine. He wanted to learn how to play "Spielmannstanz", which is an old German Medieval standard. Pretty much every medieval band knows it, as they did back in the day. However, there doesn't appear to be many sources of sheet music to learn the song. So I started looking for music notation online. I found some interesting things on the way, and I'm listing them here in case anyone needs some good reference material for new songs.


First, I found the Codex Verus site. This has a PDF file of sheet music for damn near every medieval song I know. Well, with the exception of Spielmannstanz! Oh, well... It was the first trully wonderful find on my search, and though it didn't have what I was looking for, it had enough songs in it to be valuable to my musician friends and myself (even though I don't read notation that well!)


Then I bumped into Claudia Walla's Musik im Mittelalter page (meaning "Music in the medieval period"), which has a series of links to sheet music for many other songs. Sadly, Spielmannstanz is not among this page, either. But again, this page has so much other music on it, in notation form, that I had to bookmark it, and share it with friends.


Possibly the best find I made was http://www.spielleut.de", which like the other pages, contains sheet music for a lot of medieval standards in PDF form. Spielleut goes one step further with MP3 files of many of the songs on the page.

I never managed to find notation for Spielmannstanz. But then, it's no loss for me, since I still don't really read music, and already know the tune from listening. However, for those interested, Spielmannstanz is a 13th century song that is anonymous in origin. The name means "Minstrel's Dance". In the day, it was known to most musicians in Germany, and played everywhere. Musicians were expected to know it. It never really traveled far from Germany. In fact, the only bands that play it regularly or who have done new versions of it are all German. The tune has had an interesting evolution in the Medieval/folk/rock fusion genre. It was brought back to life from early manuscripts, by the group Corvus Corax. Another band, In Extremo, married the tune to the lyrics of Ludwig Uhland, a 19th century German Romantic poet (They named this version "Spielmannfluch").

Postscript -- After reading through the Codex Verus, I realized that the song on page 38, "Propinan de Melyor", was Spielmannstanz, just with a Spanish title. The fine print under the title mentioned that it was also known as "Spielmannsfluch (InEx) or Spielmannstanz (CC)." So I did manage to find the song, but it wasn't apparent until I read through the stuff I found on the first day. I quickly mailed the information to my friends, and hope they appreciate the effort!

Videos of Diabolis In Musica

Okay, after weeks of wrangling, we got all the tapes that people took of our shows at King Richard's Faire, and digitized them onto a computer. We then cut the best stuff down to our favorite songs, and put it up on You Tube. So far, we only have seven complete videos, but there are more being worked on. We have about 4 GB worth of video to go through, and what you see so far is merely one weekend's worth of tape.

You can check the videos out at the new official YouTube channel for Diabolis In Musica:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MinstrelKrampf

Alternatively, we have also embedded the videos on our Official Website:

http://www.diabolisinmusica.com/mp3.html

Some notes:

• Raven's Ballade

  
  On "Raven's Ballade", the song is medieval, but the original English Lyrics were full of words that nobody uses. "Twa Corbies" means "Tree Ravens" in Old English, and "dithers" refers to "innards", and there are other words that would require explaining to the audience. I've heard plenty of people just play the song with the original lyrics, but the story is a bit lost, since the audience doesn't know the meaning of the words, and would not sit still for a lecture on the word meanings. So I made new lyrics, based on the old ones, with modern words that people understand.
  
  
  Since the song is rather morbid and dreary (it ends with a maiden burying her husband, and then dyng herself,presumably of grief), and our band is comedic, we introduced it as a kid's song, "because it's got animals... and kids love stories about animals!", and then, as the grossest part of the song, Lady Jocelyn screams in protest. I invent new lyrics on the spot to make it less gruesome, all for laughs, of course.
  
  
  
  

• Douce Dame Joliet

  
  In the middle of this song, Lady Jocelyn plays a solo... very badly! This was intentional. Watch how the dancer reacts to the dissonant notes!
  
  
  
  

• Falkenlied

  
  This song is a real medieval song from the 14th century. It's a happy tune, but the original lyrics were downbeat, and about infidelity and how a man's wife leaves him because he doesn't treat her well. Since this isn't really a happy topic, I decided to take a theme from the original song (Training a Falcon, then losing it), and I made up new lyrics to tell a funny story that audiences would like. The music is true to the original, though.
  
  
  
  

• Eisbärentanz

  
  This song is one of our signature medleys, and was played at the end revels of the faire, in which all the musicial acts show up, and play one last time before closing. The boar's head theater is the location, which we loved to play at, because it's curved shell-design allowed us to work without amplification, even with soft numbers. It's also one of the biggest crowds we saw, and we played it a little faster than usual.
  
  
  
  

• Cantiga 100

  
  Cantiga 100 is a real medieval song, written by King Alfonso Xavier X of Spain in the 13th century. It's notable for having an A-part that's in a major chord, and B part that's in a minor part, which is unusual to today's ears. We decided to stage it as a battle between the parts, with the A part being dainty, and the B part being rowdy and obnoxious. Listen to how Lady Jocelyn describes the sound of a Rauschpfeife.
  
  
  
  

• Nonesuch

  
  Nonesuch was the band's first song, and is our most popular number. I used to randomly play different tunes that fit with the 4/4 beat, but we eventually settled on a consistant medley where the same songs are played every time. Nonesuch is an English Country dance from the 1600s. Saltarello I, the second song in the medley, is a long-popular medieval dance song. "Dödetium" is the third song in the medley, and was simply selected because it kind of fit, and allowed for a drum break. We conclude every show with Nonesuch, and usually, dancers come and join us.
  
  
  

King Richard's Faire is finally over!

And boy, are we beat! This was the biggest weekend we've seen. Attendance was huge, and we got seen by hundreds of people every day. The place was mobbed to the extent that you could hardly walk around because people were in lines waiting to get to various attractions.

On saturday, we played to some of the most packed shows of the season. We're new, so lots of people don't know us yet, but we got a lot of tips and cheers. We saw a lot of people taping and taking pictures, too. it was very encouraging. We noticed that several people came back for a second show, too.

At the end revels, we played our weird version of Platerspiel, which got some "WTF" looks from a lot of people. They didn't know what to make of it. Our version of the song is done with Rauschpfeife and Hurdy-Gurdy, as opposed to the traditional bagpipe duet that most bands to. It sounds very strange, and we bang our heads like heavy metal musicians during the fast part, which makes it even stranger, but funny, because people don't expect medieval music to rock.

At the gate closing, we had our first time ever where the whole band was able to show up. We played a few of our numbers, and used the opportunity to practice some new material, like Bransle Burgunde. All in all, Saturday was great. We got home tired and aching as usual, but thrilled that it turned out well.

Sunday was equally fantastic. It was packed just as much as Saturday, and we made about the same in tips. We invited dancers and children on the stage with us to be our "Diabolettes", quite out of the blue. It just sort of happened, and so we continued inviting people up on stage to dance while we played. We played Eisbaertanz for the end revels, and the crowd loved it.

Monday, our last day of the Faire, was the best of all. We ran the Musicians of the Realm, just as we did the first weekend. The magical Madrigals played a few English carols on kazoos, and it was hilarious, because they did it all so well, and it sounded like a consort of crummhorms. As we left, all the actors stopped us to let us know ho much they appreciated us and what we did. It felt really good. The Entertainment coordinator told us that they'd like us back next year (and no audition required, either). We know we'll do it, but we don't know about doing it every weekend yet. It certainly was a lot of work, and we're all tired. Perhaps money may convince us.

We are planning on spending the next few months recording a CD to sell at future shows. We can make hundreds more per show that way. All the hard work seems to be paying off. I think we're a success.

Our performances at King Richard's Faire

Well, our run of King Richard's Fair is almost over, and it's been plagued by bad weather. We had one whole weekend cancelled due to rain (The remains of Hurricane Ike), and had one day where the fair decided to open in the rain, because the rain was dying down, but attendance was extremely low.

Not a lot of people have seen us as a result, and we've only seen one review on a rennie board, which gave us a "wow" review.

So here is how everything went so far.

On the weekend of Aug 30, 31, and Sept 1:

Our debut weekend was prepared for by having band members go to the fair a week before the show, and scope out the stage. We were told that we needed to be amplified, because the stage is in an open area, and sound doesn't travel far. The stage is electrified, so we looked where the power outlets were, and made sure that we had enough cables to reach everything. We also had to map out where we were going to stand, as we had to ensure enough room for the dancer.

Our first weekend had slight misty showers, but thankfully they stopped in time for our shows. We performed 4 shows, and got a sort of feel for which songs people liked, and which ones they didn't. After the first day, we realized that the March of Cambreadth was not a hit. Part of the reason is due to the fact that it's got a few strong words in it, and it's all about blood and war. With lyrics like "Send these bastards back to hell!" and "fight till everyone is dead!", parents with children could be seen picking up their kids and moving away. So we abandoned that number.

Since I had injured my Achilles tendon a week earlier, I wasn't able to dance around much at all, and was sort of stiff while playing. Fortunately, I wasn't in too much pain, but I played it safe to prevent re-injury.

On the second day, we were asked to take over the "Musicians Of The Realm" part of the show, which is a slot where all the music acts show up at the end of the day, and do impromptu jams. We had no idea what we were supposed to be doing, but we fell into the role quite well, and the other musicians really loved us. We played along with several musicians, and made new friends. By the third day, we were being stopped around the fair by various performers and they complimented us, which felt really good. Sometimes, a few good words really makes up for lack of pay.

On the weekend of Sept. 13 & 14:

We returned to soggy weather. We heard that the weekend before, one which we were not scheduled to play, that the fair actually closed due to rain. They were expecting to close on Saturday, because it was pouring. We all huddled in the barn, and waited for the official word on what would happen. As the time approached 11:00am, the rain started to taper off, and they said the Faire would open.

As we set up our stuff on the stage, the rain started up again, and we put our instruments back in their cases, and moved everything under a nearby roof. Fortunately, the roof we sheltered under was an un-used food court stall, and it was not scheduled to be open all day. We got permission to play there, since the rain was not stopping. The attendence that Saturday was terrible. It looked like only about 50 patrons showed up. Fortunately, our shelter allowed us to play without amplification. At the time slot of our first performance, the rain got rather heavy, and patrons sheltered under the roof with us. We took this opportunity to perform a nice close and personal show for the people, of both our usual numbers and some impromptu jams. People really liked it, and near the end of the performance, the rain stopped, and we were able to do some bagpipe numbers.

This weekend, my Achilles tendon was much better, and I danced around with my pipes, which seemed to really improve the act. From that point on, I made sure to dance around during all the bagpipe numbers.

Sunday was clearer, and there was no rain. We seemed to repeat our success of the previous weekend, albeit, the damp weather didn't help.

On The Weekend of Sept. 27 & 28:

Rain, rain, and more rain! The remnants of Hurricane Ike were over New England, and the fair was called off. We stayed home watching the weather reports, but there wasn't any encouragement. We were slightly disappointed.

On The weekend of Oct. 11 - 13:

As we approach the last weekend of the fair, the weather forecast is clear and dry, and only slightly cloudy. We're preparing to make this last weekend work well, by having a large banner draped on the front of the stage, as well as planning on some new numbers to do for the Musicians of the Realm and the closing ceremonies. The Faire decided to stay open for another weekend to make up for all the closings, but we already had other plans made, since we had to put aside all of our weekend time for the fair. We're hoping to get some videotaping done, so we have video to send around to other faires, and for publicity. We want this final weekend to go out with a bang, and be remembered so we can get better paying gigs in the future.

My Band gets into King Richard's Faire!

My band, Diabolis In Musica, just got accepted into King Richard's Faire, the largest ren faire in New England, which has been going on for 26 years. This is a really big thing for us, because the whole experience sort of validates what we set out to accomplish, musically.

The audition was quite an experience. We were all nervous, and trying to make sure that everything was just right. The acts that were on before us all seemed like acts we've seen before. a duo or trio of people, with a guitar and occaisional penny-whistle, singing 19th century Irish drinking songs (LIke the Wild Rover), and a few sea shanties and pirate songs (like Drunken Sailor). The judges actually interrupted people's performances to tell them to play something else, because they were sick of hearing people select the same music for 26 years! That sort of worried us, since our music is loud -- we were thinking we either wouldn't hear them when they wanted us to stop, or they would just tell us that we were too loud. The room for auditions was not large, either -- just a large office, as opposed to a stage. We didn't find out why people were interrupted until after the whole experience was over, so seeing it without knowing why was sort of scary.

We apparently were the only people who came in costume. That was a plus. They thought it showed dedication. We also went right into character as soon as we were in costume, and agreed to enter the room like we were at the faire, so that the judges would get a feel for our show as we perform it.

We started out with Tourdion, a 14th century French Drinking Song, where the Violinist drinks a bottle of wine and gets progressively tipsy as the song goes on. As soon as we started playing, the smiles came to their faces. They did not interrupt us. So we went right into our second number, which was a bagpipe & shawm number, our famous "Nonesuch" medley. Their jaws dropped, and they looked astounded. When we were done, they actually applauded, and started asking how long we'd been playing. Then one judge asked "Where have you all been for the last 26 years?"

They said we were probably the first real medieval music act they'd seen, and they asked for an encore, so we hit them with our comical version of Cantiga 100, which is like a battle between me and the violinist, Where the Violinist and I keep pushing each other out of the way, to play the song. I "win" by breaking out the bagpipes and startle her from behind. They loved it. We were in. This means a huge commitment, since the fair lasts 2 months on weekends, and we don't even know if we'll all be able to do all 8 wekends. We agreed to do at least 4 weekends, because that's realistic.

It's a huge break because they pay well, and we will be seen by a lot more people. We're all just so excited and I kind of have the feeling, from their comments, that we are trully pioneering. Ren Faires in the USA rarely have this kind of music, and there is this list of about 12 songs that minstrels play all over the country ad nauseum. The Scottsman Song, Wild Rover, Drunken Sailor, Greensleeves, greensleeves, and more greensleeves, done on guitars gets really tired after a while. There's plenty of bagpipers around -- but most are strictly Highland who don't do the ren faire thing, and shawm and other period instruments are prohibitively expensive for a lot of people.

So we're probably the first in New England to give real authentic European-style medieval/renaissance/folk performances. Most people have never heard the music we play, except maybe on a BBC historical drama on PBS, or as background music in one of the Elizabeth movies. To Americans, we're fresh and new. To Europeans, we're just imitating their groups. That's our niche, and we're hoping to encourage more people to get into this kind of music.

Hopefully, we'll have a whole CD of music to sell people when Faire Season comes around. After that, I just hope the band stays together and we can focus on putting together a show that has staying power. I know from past Ren Faires that stagnation is a problem -- If you do the same act each year, without much variation, then your act will be forgettable. We'll need to come up with new music each year, new comic schtick, and be fresh year after year.

Street-performance hazards and preparations

If you think you're ready to unleash your bagpiping on the general public, there are a few things you'll need to know. This article will brief you and give you some tips to help your busking (performing on the street for money) be less stressful on you.

Local Laws

First of all, you should inquire with your city's arts council on whether they allow bagpipes played in public. Many cities don't permit loud instruments, and most cities designate certain places for performances. Most importantly, some cities require permits. Before you go out in public, you should check out what your town requires you to do. You don't want to accidentally break a law and get harrassed by the cops (even though most cops love pipes).

Lighten the Load

You should limit your load to what you can easily carry in one trip. Your instrument bag, a money-jug, and supplies should easily fit on a small luggage-cart, or on your person. You don't want to make multiple trips to your car, if you're parked far from your spot. Also, if you use public transporation, it is doubly important that you pack lightly.

You should include in your load, some snacks and a jug of water. Piping dehydrates you, and you will get very thirsty while playing, especially if it's summertime. Among your gear, you may be tempted to carry a sign explaining your instrument, or a music stand. Don't bother, unless your sign can stand up to a good wind. I used to take a music stand with me, but it would always blow over. I switched to using a sign that folds out and can be weighted down with a rock in my instrument case.

You should also have business cards. People will always ask for more info as they walk by, or if they wait around for you to stop.

Distance Yourself

Well, you know what you've gotten yourself into, since your instruemnt of choice is loud. You'll need to keep track of where other musicians are around you. If you're the only one, great, but if other people are playing guitar, string quartets, portable keyboards, or other instruments, you don't want to piss them off by drowning them out. If there are rules about scheduling in your city, you'd be best to keep tabs on the other musicians to work out a schedule with them. The best thing to do is give the other musicians a good warning. You may want to walk around and ask them if you're too loud. The more you go out of your way to talk to other performers, the better you will get along with them. Musicians appreciate being given a warning, and will be less likely to be angry if you are.

Move Around

If you have the ability to play every day, don't play in the same place day after day. People nearby will get very annoyed very quickly. Choose several locations, and rotate between them. This way, people will not see you as a constant annoyance, just an infrequent one.

Derelictus Interruptus

We all have to deal with drunks, homeless people, crazy people, mischeivous kids and rude old farts, but we have to know how to deal with them so that they do not bother you or your audience. First of all, select a spot where there are plenty of other people regularly passing through. You don't want to be isolated, because if a violent person assaults you, you'll be left on your own. Sticking to peopled areas with lots of foot traffic not only gets you more money, but offers some potential deterrant to derelicts and whinos who may annoy you. Your audiences may even help shoo them away.

Secondly, If a drunk or insane person tries to talk to you, ignore them, or keep playing. They want to be your friend, and trust me -- you don't want to get acquainted with them. They will either try to take money from you, or they will keep talking to you and distract you. If they persist, you will have to ask them to please stop bugging you, but ignoring them tends to work. Threatening to call the cops or park rangers seems to work well, as many cities have laws against public drunkenness.

I was violently attacked by an insane old fart once, who objected to my costume of all things. Apparently, my medieval robe looked too much like a monk's outfit, and he got some idea that I was impersonating a monk to get religious people to give me money, or some foolish idea like that. He started ranting and raving, and kicked my money-jug away. I told him I'd get the police, and he ran away. The guy must have been in his 80's, too. This can happen, and the best defense is still a populated area.

Talking to People

Talking to people is inevitable, and the only problem is talking for too long. People will have questions about your instrument, if you're in a band, if you've heard of this group or that group, and if you'll play funerals. People always ask me to play amazing grace. The more you talk, the less moeny you'll make, although some people give you a five-dollar bill if you talk with them. If you have a time limit to play in, talking will give you less time.

Learn some Modern Tunes
One way to stir up interest in passers-by is to play an unexpected song. Nobody expects to hear bagpipes playing TV theme songs or 80's pop tunes. I highly recommend learning a few tunes, like Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, and other familiar tunes. People will laugh, and they will appreciate it. You'd be surprised to find out how many times an unexpected tune on bagpipes will draw people near.
Off you go, then!
Remember, it's not just about the money, you're getting valuable practice time. If you're learning new tunes, this will be your way to practice them or test out variations. If you suck, then you may want to wait before busking, but if you are reasonably competent, you should be able to start pulling in $20-$30 an hour playing pipes (well, depending on how many people there are, and whether they actually like bagpipes). Staying safe, prepared, and hydrated is important. Hopefully, this advice had given you enough ideas to avoid common mistakes.

Tips for medieval bagpiping

I wrote this article a while ago for Steffan's Florigium (http://www.florigium.org), and I realized that it contains a lot of good links to follow.

Tips for medieval bagpiping in the SCA

(1) Great Highland Bagpipes are a 17th century instrument. Though you could plug up one drone hole, and just use 2 drones instead of 3, the actual style of the Great Highland pipes, even the "antique chalice" styles seen on many websites, are simply not ancient enough to look like a medieval instrument. It's like playing a metal transverse flute with valves in a renaissance orchestra. You should look for a period instrument. If you could dress your Highland pipes so that they looked like the pipes in medieval art, then go for it. If you are a pre-1600 person, and you wear kilts, then you most likely would be using a 1 or 2 drone instrument. The closest direct ancestor of the Great Highland pipes are the Biniou Kosz from French Brittany. A Spanish Gaita is a close ancestor of the Great Highland pipes that is borderline pre-1600.

Basically, if you cannot afford a real medieval-style bagpipe from a professional craftsman (and let's face it, most people cannot blow $1000 on a music instrument), there are cheap options available. Check E-bay periodically for medieval bagpipes. Avoid Mid-East's Medieval Bagpipes in the Key Of F, as they do not work. These are ubiquitous, so watch for them. Most of the actual cheap, working medieval style bagpipes are either Pakistani-made or German made. Go for German, if you can afford it. They are usually between $300 and $800. There is a certain cheap Pakistani Medieval Bagpipe on the market that has distinctive conical-shaped drones. These bagpipes, which I own a set of, work, but only for people with a lot of experience. I started off playing them with just one drone until I could build up my lung capacity to play both drones.

There are about 2 or 3 cheap "medieval smallpipes" on the market. One is made by Mid East MFG (Pakistani-made, but sold from a warehouse in Florida), and they are in the key of D. Another is made by a company called Airstream, and they are distinguished by their conical drones and a spiral-carved blowpipe. Smallpipes are a lot easier to play, and usually a lot cheaper -- in the under-$200 range.

(2) Your costume should be appropriate to the time period you're playing from. If you have 13th century pipes like me, you might want to dress like the people in Cantigas De Santa Maria's illustrations -- robes with tights underneath, maybe a coife. If you are going as a 14th or 15th century German or Italian, you may want to get out your tunic and codpiece, with your puffy-hat. Dress either from the exact same period as

your pipe's design, or LATER. It's arguable that bagpipes and other instruments were passed down from generation to generation. I happen to think they were, since they were expensive and rather durable. There are museums that have actual working medieval instruments, as opposed to reproductions, and if a bagpipe or recorder can be playable 600 years after it was made, then playing your great-grandfather's 100 year-old pipes would be very appropriate.

(3) Play period music! I can't tell you how many times I've been to events where people are playing medieval bagpipes, but are playing modern (post 1600) music on them, and nearly always Scottish music. If you are playing medieval bagpipes, you really need to learn some medieval songs, and stick to them. There's actually thousands of songs available to you, and most are easy to learn. The Scottish Highland music from the 16th to 19th century that most people are familiar with, is highly refined and technical. Medieval music is much simpler, and if you play Highland music fairly well, you should be able to pick up medieval tunes with hardly any work at all. Nearly all medieval music can be played effortlessly on Bagpipes, as the instruments of the time that the music was typically written for, such as recorders, shawms, crumhorns, flutes, etc, use the exact same fingering, and have the same one-octave range. Most people will recognize tunes like Stella Splendens and Ecce Mundi Gaudium, and Greensleeves. It adds to the authenticity of your performance. The songs from the Cantigas De Santa Maria (13th century Spain) and the Carmina Burana, or Buranus Codex (13th century German) provide a plethora of music. You can find sheet music from these two books all over the web, and much of it for free, as it is of historical value.

(4) Drummers are essential! You should have a drummer to accompany you. A lone bagpiper is sad! If you have large, loud pipes, you should get a couple of drummers and some other percussionists with bells, tambourines, or other rhythm instruments. Middle-eastern and African rhythms are very appropriate for a lot of the Spanish music, because of the influence of the Moors. For more northern European music, though, you need to play different beats. English and northern European minstrels could often be found with a Frame Drum (usually called an Bodhran or Irish-drum), and a larger drum similar to a tom-tom (Usually a rope-tension drum with a thick head made of animal skin). The Frame drums were typically used for the overall rhythm, and the tom-tom was used for accenting. If you can get other bagpipers, great, otherwise, just fill up with Rhythms. In many occasions, you will bump into drummers and do impromptu jams with them. This can be fun and useful, as you can test playing songs to different rhythm styles.

(5) Smallpipes, singing, and recorders... One of the problems I encountered with playing smallpipes among other musicians is the musical scales. Most Bagpipes use the Mixolydian scale -- a musical scale that goes back to the Ancient Greeks, and which became replaced by Gregorian, Renaissance, and finally Baroque scales (well, finally, the modern scale). Bagpipes retained the older musical scale because they were considered "folk" instruments, not part of the standard court ensembles of the renaissance and Baroque periods. Essentially, when people playing a Baroque recorder play some notes, the Bagpipe chanter will play a sharp or a flat.

The modern standard on all modern instruments, for the frequency of the A above middle-C is 440 Hz (cycles per second). On medieval instruments, the A above middle C is anywhere from 470Hz to 480 Hz. You will see this a lot when you delve into the technical aspects of music. A Bagpipe's Chanter plays one octave, usually from Low A to high A. Compared to the modern scale, the notes in a Bagpipe's scale sound like A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A. The C# and the F# will sound dissonant when played together with a baroque or modern instrument. Of course, if your bagpipe is in a different key (the example provided is the key of B, which most Highland pipes are in), different notes will be sharp, or even flat. Stringed instruments, because they can be fine-tuned, and play in any key that the musician wants, have almost no problem getting along with Bagpipes; The musician only needs to tweak the tuning of a couple of strings, and play normally.

Other early instruments cannot be fine-tuned as easily as stringed instruments. There are several ways to overcome this. One way is to have a bagpipe maker custom-make a set of pipes that is compatible with the baroque scale. Many craftsmen will do this, but it's not something you will find already built into a cheap set of pipes. You have to have the instrument custom-made, so this is an expensive option. Another method is to have the recorder players adapt their playing to play the sharps or flats that your bagpipe does, if possible, or avoid the notes that sound dissonant when played with your bagpipe. This can be difficult, but it can be done. One method that I've heard several professional musical groups use is to play the piece using only the other instruments of the ensemble, while the bagpipes are silent, or with just the drones playing. Then, for the finale of the song, the other instruments stop, and the Bagpipes play alone with just the rhythm instruments. This works extremely well most of the time.

Smallpipes and Singing go together just fine, but forget being heard if big pipes are playing. The band "In Extremo", A Medieval-heavy Metal crossover band, plays big pipes with singing. They accomplish this by not having any singing going on when bagpipes are playing. They alternate between singing and the big pipes. This can easily be done without a heavy metal band. One problem for pipers with equally good singing voices is that you cannot pipe and sing at the same time, and transitioning between playing pipes and singing in the same piece can be a difficult juggling act. It's best to keep the piping and singing separated. Some custom-made pipes have a cut-off valve that allows the player to stop playing instantly, but this is usually just on the chanter. The drones still need to be pumped, which means that you will either have to deal with the sound of the drones losing air pressure (sounds like an airplane going down... or a sick cow), or keep your singing parts quick so you can pump the drones and get back to blowing before they become unstable (Usually, you have about 10-20 seconds of air in the bag to play just the drones). It's hard, and I've never really seen anyone do it, so i don't recommend it. Personally, I would look for other bagpipers to allow you to sing while he plays.

Great accompaniment for large pipes are shawms. Shawms essentially use similar reeds to the large bagpipe's chanter, and are as loud. In fact, medieval German bagpipe chanters are practically identical in construction, shape,and sound to the shawms from the same period. Corvus Corax, one of the most popular contemporary Medieval bands in Germany, uses shawms and bagpipes together with great effect. Though their arrangements are very modern, Corvus Corax's instruments are all authentic, and deliberately custom-made to be in compatible keys.

(6) Final thoughts. I'd like some input on these suggestions. I can be contacted at priscus.forem at gmail,com. I'm interested in hearing from other pipers all the time. Thanks! Please distribute this article only in it's entirety, and with proper credit to the author.

Related Links (where I got most of my info from).



Highland Bagpipe History Links:
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History of the Great Highland Bagpipes
The Edinburgh Bagpipe Company
The College Of Piping
The Pre-Seventeenth Century Highland Bagpipe

Medieval Bagpipe history links:
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Bagpipes in Germany

Bagpipe historical illustrations:
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Bagpipes and Shawms

Cantigas:
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Cantigas De Santa Maria illustrations Index
Launeddas
Hurdy-Gurdy/Symphonia
Strange Double-flute with resonator
Bagpipes

Wikipedia on Cantigas De Santa Maria
The Cantigas De Santa Maria

Carmina Burana (Burana Codex):
-----------------------------
Wikipedia entry for Carmina burana
The Carmina Burana

Online text of the Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana Online

Historical Bagpipe Illustrations:
--------------------------------
Bagpipe Iconography page (large collection of medieval bagpipe images)
the Bagpipe Iconography page


Places to buy Medieval Bagpipes from:
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The best bargain in Medieval Smallpipes:
Medieval Smallpipes in D from Mid-East Ethnic Music

Alternative link for same set of pipes:
Same pipes as above from a different vendor

The medieval Bagpipes in F, which you should avoid at all cost:
Medieval Bagpipes IN F from Mid-East Ethnic Music

Alternative link to same set of pipes:
Same pipes as above from a different vendor

Dancing Stickmen (Bagpipe Craftsman)
Sam Coulter made a nice Hummelchen for me (link is now dead, hopefully Sam isn't!

Stefan Fischer, Sackpfeifenmacher (German) -- Makes a variety of Medieval and Renaissance era bagpipes
Stefan Fischer, Sackpfeifenmacher (German)

Jens Guenzel (IN German and English) -- Makes most famous Medieval Bagpipes
Jens Guenzel Dudelsack Werkstatt (German, limited English text)

Folkster Music Netshop -- Some interesting offerings
Folkster Music Netshop">Folkster (German)

Andreas Rogge (German and English) -- Some really nice and versetile pipes
Andreas Rogge (German and English)

Von Huene Workshop, The Early Music Shop of New England -- Boston's finest repository of early music instruments. He doesn't have bagpipes, but he occaisionally gets shawms, Rauschpfeifs, and other instruments.
Von Huene Workshop, The Early Music Shop of New England

Paul Beekhuizen's Early Woodwind Instruments -- A few authentic designs
Paul Beekhuizen's Early Woodwind Instruments

England's Early Music Shop, LTD -- EMS has many kits for hobbyists to assemble and play.
England's Early Music Shop, LTD
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My Christmas Bagpipe tale...

On Christmas day, 2006, I had a real Christmas moment, the kind that they usually make after-school specials about. It's all about Piping, so I'll share it with you.

For the last 20 years or so, my family has gathered at my oldest sister's house, who goes through great trouble to make a well-organized, Martha Stewart-esque dinner party where everything is intricately prepared and the food is painstakingly displayed on cute little arrangements. Ever the Emily Post afficionado, she sends out Christmas cards, inviting everyone to attend, but I always found this
unnecesary, since we always went there every year without failure.

Now I've been playing bagpipes for the last few years, and as a special treat (mostly for me), I'd show up at family gatherings with my pipes and play them as guests arrived, or intermittantly during the gathering, for fun. Every year I know more and more songs, and this year I practiced a whole bunch of Christmas tunes. So I was all set to have a lot of fun, and I went to my sister's house early in the afternoon at the time I thought we were supposed to show up.

Now my sister, because she was such a Martha Stewart clone, had to have everything perfect. She was always the anal-retentive one, expecting everyone to follow all the proper etiquette, and expecting everything to follow the set plan. I apparently arrived too early, and she gave me this look, as though I just ran over her dog or something. I asked "What? Am I too early?" Instead of being polite and saying "well, yeah, you're early, but make yourself at home, and everyone will get here at
their own time," she got all upset and started yelling at me "Don't you know what RSVP means? I asked that everyone RSVP in my Christmas card, so I'd knw how many people to make food for. You didn't RSVP, so how was I supposed to know you would show up?!" Now it's true that I blew off the RSVP, and it could have been perceived by the Emily Post crowd as disrespect to her, but her reaction was totally mean and rude. For about 5 full minutes, she scolded me, as though I were a child who got
caught with his hands in the cookie jar or something. I was shocked at her over-the-top reaction to what I consider to be a minor misunderstanding.

As she rattled off one put down after another, I simply got angry, but maintained my composure. I waited for a pause in her berating, and finally got one. Not wanting to make an already bad situation worse, I simply took all the presents I had, put them on the counter in front of her, and left, saying "Here's your stuff, Bye!". I
got into my car and drove off.

My sister had always been sort of a bitch, ever since I was a kid. I guess she was always disappointed that the rest of us -- my other sister, two brothers, and myself -- ended up being less Ozzie-and-Harriet types of families than her "perfect little family". She was the conservative one, listening to Rush Limbaugh, going to church, and beign exactly what June and Ward Cleaver dictated. I never had a good time at her house when we went there for holidays -- so stuffy and proper, it was too much work to be there, because nobody could really relax. That she would treat her own relatives like that was unusual, but expected. She was always the kind of person who would complain about other people's imperfections, and I often got mouthfuls of her disapproving rants from time to time. But we're adults now, and this kind of scolding was for kids. I drove off my anger an headed to the beach, hoping to get some take out chinese food and just enjoy myself in spite of her. I convinced myself that I should show up later when everyone else had arrived, and just ignore her. So I parked my car at the beach, and figured I'd warm up my bagpipes before showing up again.

So there I am, playing on a deserted beach to a flock of seagulls, playing the Christmas songs I knew, and other tunes, until my pipes got in tune and stayed stable. It was an unusually warm day for a new England Winter, and my fingers weren't really getting too cold. Then a few people -- a man, his wife, and 2 children, showed up on the beach and watched me while I played. A few more people showed up, two couples, one old, one young. Soon I had about 8 people swaying and listening to my music. I changed from Christmas music and just started playing my usual renaissance faire songs. An older man and his daughter drove up, parked their car, and got out and walked up to stand with the rest of the crowd. I broke into
the Feuertanz (Fire Dance) Totentanz, and a few other dance tunes, and the couples all started to dance in circles. They really were enjoying this, and I was, too. The old man just stared with a delighted expression on his face, and his daughter stood attentively by his side.

Eventually, the wind picked up a bit, and my fingers got cold, and I had to stop playing. I put my pipes back into their case, while people applauded, and went on their way, saying thanks, and expressing appreciation. The old man walked up to me, and said "Oh, I love bagpipes! I listen to CDs of them all the time! This is the first time I got to hear them live and up close! They're wonderful!"

I was very flattered by all of this, he looked longingly at me, and asked if I could play a few more tunes for him. I thought for a moment, and decided "Why not?" So I pulled the pipes back out of my case, and blew into the bag, and started playing again. Another couple showed up with a camcorder, and tehre was more dancing, including the old man, who took his daughter by the arm, and danced in a circle with her. After a few tunes, the old man had tears in his eyes, and just had the look on his face of a man who was very emotionally moved. I stopped playing, and he applauded, tears streaming down his cheeks, and his daughter holding him by the arm. The other people left, and I started to put the pipes back into their case. The old man's daughter helped him into her car, and she closed the door. She walked up to me, as I zipped up my case, and said "Thank you so much! You made a very sad old
man really happy just now, and I can't thank you enough. His wife died a couple of months ago, and this really made his day!"

I was stunned, flattered, and generally feeling all Roland Dahl-ly or Gene Shepherd-like. Something weird happened. I had a Christmas moment, the type of which fills movie scripts and television melodramas. I had had one of those "I learned the true meaning of Christmas" experiences! I thought to myself, Hmmm. I just had more fun with a bunch of strangers than I ever did at my sister's house. I thought, "Screw my
stuck-up sister! I'm going to go hang out with my friends now!" So I got back into my car, and called my pals up on my cell-phone, and went over their house, and we made our own holiday. We ate KFC, watched Movies, made music, and later on, my girlfriend joined us and we had Egg Nog and Vodka, while watching action/adventure movie DVDs. This was simply the best Christmas I had in ages.