Quote Originally Posted by CMcG View Post
Slightly off-topic, but I'm curious about the quartertone sharp tuning of a chanter. Is that a sharper than the drones, thereby giving a richer sound from the tones rubbing, or is everything tuned up a bit? Also, what other organological modifications do competition pipers make to increase the volume and brassiness?
davidlpope has it right. The tenor drones (the two shorter sticks on the shoulder) are tuned one octave below the chanter's Low A, and the bass drone (the long stick) is two octaves. (The chanter is where the tune/melody comes from, the drones provide the 'hum'.) And yes, bagpipes can be (and definitely should be) tuned.

From what I've been told, the relative pitch for bagpipe competitions has been rising every so slightly from year to year from the mid-1980's or so (because the flatter tone sounds dull by comparison and consequently doesn't place as well). From what I understand, the pipes started out slightly sharper than concert A=440 anyway, but that's another discussion. Unfortunately, that means the higher notes are sounding more and more shrill. I've read that we're now approaching the limits of what the current design of drone/chanter bores and reeds can produce.

The volume (and brassiness) comes from using a stiffer reed. There's a lot of ebb and flow to the dynamics between the drums and pipes of a band. The pipes start going sharper, so the drums (which can be tuned as well) have to follow. Since the drum tension goes higher to get a higher pitch, their volume goes up, so the pipes have to get louder as well.


Regarding Richard's comment about soloists using their band setup - sometimes, that's all a piper has. Not everyone can afford a second set of pipes, or even has the time to maintain a second chanter (with backup reed, etc.) and using just one set of drones for both band and solo duties. When mini-bands are hired (like I'm playing with later today), it's easier to use the band setup (we're already matching in pitch) than trying to get all of our solo chanters (those of us that have them) to match note for note.

Anyhow, this is all off topic....