CORNISH PIPES HAVE A SURPRISINGLY LOUD PUNCHY SOUND WITH ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES FOR HARMONIES, COUNTER MELODIES AND RHYTHMIC AND MOVABLE DRONE EFFECTS.
The inspiration for these pipes is a very fine carving in Altarnun Church, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. It was carved by one Robart Daye sometime between 1510 and 1530.
It shows a piper playing a bagpipe with two very long chanters of slightly different lengths with small bell ends. At the piper's feet is his dog and behind his shoulder is surely the carrying tube that he would keep his pipes in.
From this carving I have developed a bagpipe with a very deep and wondrous tone that is enormous fun to play and is proving extremely popular.
Chanters
The Cornish bagpipe has two chanters that are fingered independently. One plays the upper half of the octave, the other the lower half. Both chanters can play the tonic note and thus, using covered fingering, one can create a constant drone whilst playing the melody. This drone effect is a striking feature of the pipes. Initially, you can play tunes exactly as if you were playing on one chanter. After this you can begin to explore the possibilities of playing the chanters independently. The Cornish Pipes are also great for low, rich bagpipe accompaniments.
The chanters have wide cylindrical bores and are pitched in low D (two octaves lower than the penny whistle). They are very stable to play and have good finger spacing.
Keeping double chanters in tune using cane reeds is notoriously difficult because of the instability of cane. The secret of the stability of my Cornish pipes lies in the use of plastic reeds.
Drone
These pipes have no actual drones; a virtual drone effect can be created by using covered fingering.
These pipes sound at their best when played with ‘covered’ fingering (lifting one finger at a time). Though the pipes have no actual drones, a 'virtual' drone effect can be created by using this fingering.
Bag
The large, upright leather bag is hand-sewn can be made in one of a choice of colours. It is possible to make these pipes bellows-blown
Teaching yourself to play these double pipes is an exciting challenge, but there is always lots we can learn from others. With this in mind Cornish piper Steve Bliven contacted most players and compiled a very impressive HANDBOOK based on their collective suggestions, arrangements, discoveries. The Double Chantered Bagpipe contains 114 A4 pages packed with helpful suggestions, articles on the history of double pipes and thirty tunes and arrangements for these double pipes.
When you order a set of these pipes you will receive a free copy of this handbook, but you can buy one HERE
Ex-York Wait James Merryweather playing the cornish double pipe
Keys
High G, D, C and low G.
I started making these pipes in 1993 and the original design is pitched in D, with the ability to finger C sharp or C natural at the top; the bottom leading note is C natural. One of their striking features is their lovely deep resonant sound.
In 1997 I developed a smaller one in high G, a fourth above the D. This has a sprightlier tone.
In 2015, shortly after I began working in conjunction with Callum Armstrong, we finalised the design of a Cornish pipe in C; one note lower than the D. Like the D pipes, the finger spacing is very comfortable and it is a joy to play. And it retains that lovely deep resonant sound.
Callum & I then started exploring the joys of playing the high G pipes alongside the low D or C pipes; a quartet! It had always been a long-term ambition of mine to make one in low A, but he soon convinced me that we should set our sights one note lower and aim for low G. We commenced prototype work for this design in 2015, after I received an order for one by a trusting customer who was prepared to wait for us to design and make it! The design was eventually finalised in 2018.
By far the biggest challenge was to find a comfortable way to produce the bottom 7-finger F natural. The Laws of Acoustics (which I always have an instinctive urge to disobey!) seemed to demand that this hole should be about 4 inches lower than the 6-finger hole. No amount of drilling this hole at an angle would bring it within reach of a human pinkie. And I was obstinately determined not to resort to fitting a metal key for this note.
Over the next two years there were two Eureka moments which lead me to the cunning design that I eventually developed and have named The Sahibabab Bend. This is an unobtrusive looking feature that takes the bore on a double S- bend, between the 6 and 7 finger note. This reduces the effective outside length of the chanter and, with an angled finger hole, makes the pinkie note comfortable to play. And what a glorious note it is! What we have produced is a big beastie, which visually is more in scale with the original carving at Altarnun.
You can hear it in consort alongside the High G and C pipes played by The Cornish Bagpipe Sextet. Has there ever been a lower bagpipe chanter note than this glorious bottom F?