How to begin?

[jeremy j starche]

(Assuming you are talking about learning the Great Highland Pipes)

You really do want to buy a quality practice chanter. This has been discussed quite a bit over on another forum (BobDunsire.com) and I have to agree with the general responses there.

Inexpensive practice chanters:

• Tend to sound like a kazoo
• Are difficult (or impossible) to tune
• Are made of a low quality wood that splits easily

A acceptable delrin (plastic) practice chanter:

• Tends to sound better. Its nice to have an instrument that you enjoy the sound of.
• Is usually fairly in tune
• Near indestructable

Although with that in mind, my answer tends to be shorter: "Buy whatever your instructor says to buy. He may want you to play along with him and having the same chanter means the two can tune together."

Don't have an instructor? For the Great Highland Pipes -- you need one. You really do.

[English Bloke]

Yes you probably would...

I am no expert but here is what I have got from my foray into bagpipes.

The fingering of both the Great Highland Bagpipes (GHB) and the practice chanter (PC) is completely different from that of the recorder or tin whistle. On the Bagpipes, the chanter and drones are fed with air from the bag whereas the recorder is mouth blown. The fingering of the GHB differs from that of other whistley type instruments because the supply of air from the bag is constant. Once you get them started you can't pause between notes. In order to break up a long note into shorter notes of the same pitch a technique of "grace-notes" is employed. These are very short notes of a different pitch which are interjected to create the gaps between longer notes. (There are other complex techniques as well but grace-notes are the simplest). On other mouthblown istruments these short gaps would be created by either tonguing the note or pausing the blow. As I said, neither is possible on the GHB. Playing these grace-notes on the pipes is cleaner and faster if some finger holes are kept covered during playing, hense the different fingering. On the PC it is possible to tongue the note or pause the blow but that's not the point of it. It's designed to allow the bagpiper to practice the correct fingering for the GHB without striking up the pipes everytime.

The difficulty with this different fingering is if a beginner bagpiper has previous experience with whistles or recorders the fingers seem to automatically go to the whistle fingering and it is very hard to unlearn this and adopt the new finger positions. If you on the other hand have no experience of other instruments this makes learning the pipes or chanter that bit easier as you're starting all learning from scratch.

There are many diffent types of practice chanter available, some good, some rubbish. Most cheap ebay chanters are central asian and made of softwoods which absorb too much moisture (it's a very spitty instument) and they split and crack very easily. I wouldn't recommend those at all. Scottish or North American made, hardwood (African Blackwood) chanters are best although although they can be expensive. Mine is made of plastic with a synthetic reed and plays very well. It is reasonably intune (the high A is a smidgen flat) but mostly it's very robust which suits me as I travel quite a bit. I would definately recommend getting a "poly-penco" (plastic) PC to start with.

If you haven't got an instructor handy and I haven't either, I would recommend getting "The Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book 1" from the National Piping Centre online shop. It's quite expensive at £25.00+p&p (about 30EUR) but it's the best book I have found and I've looked at a few. I've also not found it any cheaper elsewhere.

It is very detailed and takes you though all the basics of the PC including music notation theory and applies the written score to your instrument's finger positions so you learn to read the dots as you progress on your chanter. The National Piping Centre also do a complete starter pack which includes a Poly-penco, St Kilda PC and the above book for £39.95 (48EUR) I have the book and a poly chanter from a different maker and supplier and mine came to £44 (52EUR) in all. I wish I'd found this source first as that is excellent value for the quality of chanter alone...

You do not need to buy Book 2 unless you are going to make the transition to Bagpipes proper. If you do, I'll give you a pointer there too.

A word of warning. I play a few instruments and assumed the bagpipes would be a doddle. What can be hard about an instrument that can only sound nine notes?

It is the hardest instrument I have ever attempted, but then, I think that's what makes it such fun... It is DEFINATELY a challenge and without argument you would be better with an instructor. There is online instruction available and some good instructional clips on You-tube. It's not as good as a proper one-to-one instructor but in Slovenia I would imagine bagpipe teachers are a bit thin on the ground.

Good luck with it!! You'll enjoy yourself I'm sure. I'm having a ball with my adventure.