The bagpipes. One of the most influencial items of Scotland. Many people think there is just one bagpipe and that is the great highland pipe. In fact there are many countries that have their own version of the bagpipes, including The lowland's of Scotland, Ireland, Greece, and even China. But still for others their is only one REAL bagpipe. And that is the Great Highland Pipe. It is the only pipe where the piper can stand with his head high and proud and that is the highlanders way. For example with the Irish pipes one must bow ones head and press the bag to ones cheast. For centuries Scots have been playing the pipes but now many other countries have started to catch on to the highland way. The Edinburgh Tattoo shows this in all its glory. Although the bagpipe is one of the grandest instruments its sound can often be very flat and off key. Of course this simply adds to the primative effect. When it is played it is truely a haunting soud you will never forget. The recording of me playing in the shockwave presintation is not a bagpipe but a practise chanter. It is still played in the same way as a bagpipe it just does not have the bag and drones so it does not have the same haunting sound.
Below is a link to my shockwave presentation designed by myself to give you a rough Idea
of how the bagpipes work and what they are. DO NOT touch or press anything until you hear
the sound of a bagpipe playing when you click the link. This will mean it has finnished. The song was recorded by myself
on my practise chanter. Another way to see if it has finnished is to look and see if the Netscape 'N' or the Explorer 'E' is still moving. If it isn't it has finnished and you should hear music.
Also when it has finnished the quality of the text will enhance. Please DO NOT press anything until you know it has finnished.
If the browser says it has finnished but it is not playing music and/or the quality doesn't look good then right-click the image and select 'Play'. This will probably be the case on most computers.
You will need shockwave to view this show. It can be downloaded free from the Macromedia site.