More about The Pipes
The Northumbrian Pipes is a term covering two different types of bagpipe played in the region. These are The Northumbrian Smallpipes and the Border or Half-Long pipes.
The Northumbrian Smallpipes are a melodious, bellows blown bagpipe. They are rather quiet by comparison with other bagpipes and are normally played indoors. The chanter has a closed end and is played with closed fingering, giving a unique staccato character. Three drones are normally used as accompaniment – a bass and tenor tuned an octave apart, and a baritone tuned a fifth above the bass. The sound of the chanter has been likened to the singing of a lark over the drones sounding like the buzzing of bees.
Almost every European country has its own form of bagpipe. The Northumbrian Smallpipes are the only English bagpipes with an unbroken tradition. Other English bagpipes have been revived after they died out for a while
Here is a track of Rob Say playing the smallpipes.
You can hear more on our Listen to the Pipes page.
The current form of the pipes was developed by makers in Newcastle-on-Tyne and North Shields towards the end of the 18th century, when the addition of chanter keys extended the melodic range of the chanter beyond an octave. This allowed pipers to explore the fiddle repertoire as well as the older pipe tunes of the region. Playing tunes with different key signatures required a variety of drone tunings which led to: the addition of more drones; stoppers to turn off those which conflicted with the melody; and tuning beads to widen the selection of pitches.
The Society also supports the Border or Half-long pipes (also known in Scotland as the Lowland pipes). These are also bellows-blown but have an open-ended, conical-bored chanter and are somewhat louder than the Smallpipes.
Also known variously as the ‘common pipes’ or even just the ‘big pipes’, they were played throughout most of Northern England and Scotland until the late 1800s and possibly had a repertoire similar to the early smallpipes.
Here is a track of Ian Gelston playing the Border pipes. (see also our “Listen to the Pipes” page
more information
More Recordings and Videos
See our pages on this website:
There are also many relevant recordings on Soundcloud, and albums at https://bandcamp.com/discover/northumbrian-pipes and https://bandcamp.com/discover/border-pipes
There are plenty of interesting videos to search for on Youtube. You can search by instrument name or for specific tunes or artists. There is also a selection of videos on the NPS channel at https://www.youtube.com/@npsvideo45/featured
commercial recordings
A very small selection of some of the best known recordings
IN 5615 “Spirit of the Border, Northumbrian Traditional Music”
“Cut and Dry Dolly” then “Cut and Dry #2” mostly reissued on Topic as “The Wind in the Reeds”
Topic TSCD487 The Northumbrian Smallpipes
LERCD4006 Billy Pigg, the Border Minstrel
The Northumbrian Piping Culture
Being an indoor instrument the Northumbrian smallpipes are not often used in marching bands with drums. They are occasionally played in procession, e.g. opening the Morpeth Gathering which is held the weekend after Easter, Ovingham Goose Fair on the 3rd Saturday in June , and leading the Alnwick Shrove Tuesday Football Committee and teams to the field of play. (This is an ancient traditional type of football game with almost no rules. You may know Shrove Tuesday a Pancake Day in the UK). However the Northumbrian pipes are most often played in sessions or small groups. Pipers sometimes dress in the Northumbrian Plaid for special occasions such as weddings or funerals, but on most occasions they dress informally. There is a very personal element to the culture, and the embellishment or gracing of tunes is individual.