The Bagpipe Society

Tidbits

30 years ago I got my first set of Swedish bagpipes, not knowing that they even existed until the year before. Despite efforts from me and many others, most Swedes still don’t. But I’ve learned a lot! Here are some random tidbits and tricks about Swedish bagpipes I have learned over the years:

Never tune a Swedish bagpipe chanter after the 6-finger note!

There are two reasons for this. One is that Swedish tunes most often have their tonic in the middle (the 3-finger note), and it’s therefore reasonable to tune after that. A more important reason, however, is that Swedish chanters tend to be the most stable there, in the middle of the chanter range, and more unsteady towards both ends. The 6-finger note is not a good reference. It’s a moving target which frequently needs to be adjusted. I sometimes do that even while playing (see below). By the same reasoning you should never tune the drone after that note. Tune the drone after the 3-finger note first, then tune the 6-finger note after the drone!

...

Member only article

Members have exclusive access to the most recent two years of articles, and can download PDFs of Chanter editions. To read the whole of this article, please join the Bagpipe Society or sign in.