FAQ about the bagpipes

Is it hard to play? Yes!

How long does it take to learn?

It takes a couple of years to learn to play the bagpipe and then several more to learn how to play it well.

Where do you learn to play the bagpipe?

While there are some private bagpipe teachers around most pipers learn by joining a bagpipe band. Joining usually involves just showing up and buying a practice instrument (practice chanter) to learn on. Most bands will teach you for free because they are hoping you will stick around long enough to play the damn thing in the band.

Where did you learn and who did you play with?

I learned from one of the best pipers in Chicago, Jim Imlach. After playing in several smaller bands,I eventually joined the oldest pipe band in Chicago, the Stock Yard Kilty Band, founded in 1921. Talk about tradition!

What's so hard about playing the bagpipe?

Well, let's start with the obvious, it takes a lot of wind and a good lip. You have to learn how to take a breath now and then and let your arm take over and keep the same pressure on the bag so that the reeds don't stop or squeal from too much pressure. The mechanics of coordinating the breathing and arm pressure is only one thing that takes time to master.

Reeds? What reeds?

The bagpipe is a reed instrument. An oboe, a clarinet, a saxophone, are examples of reed instruments, except that they have only one reed. The bagpipe has four reeds. Four reeds, subject to change at any moment. If you know anyone who plays a reed instrument, they'll tell you how much fun it can be working with one reed, multiply that by four and you have another reason it takes so long to master the bagpipe.

Happy fingers.

The fingering is the other hard part of playing the pipes. The melody notes that people recognize are supplemented by very short notes called grace notes. These grace notes make those little chirping sounds that you associate with the bagpipe sound. The grace notes can take a lifetime to master and get more complicated as the music gets more difficult.

Why can't I get a hour or two of bagpiping?

Where do I start to answer that one? First, it's a loud, commanding instrument, — it stops the action — it can be hard on the ears. Physically, you can't play the bagpipe continually like you would play a piano. You are usually using the bagpipe to punctuate a ceremony not as a background instrument or concert instrument. Playing the bagpipe is usually done in short increments.

Where did the bagpipe originally come from?

Sorry, not Ireland. No, not Scotland either. It's a middle eastern instrument according to ancient records. One papyrus drawing puts it back at least 4000 years. The Romans brought the instrument to western Europe. The Scots added the third drone (those three wooden tubes that stick up in the air). Bagpipes can have one, two or three drones or none at all.

Do you wear a kilt when you play?

A piper always wears the kilted outfit when they play the pipes. See Pics Funeral Info or Weddings.

Is Bagpiping all you do?

No. Paul S. Palmer also has a real job. I have run a stop-smoking clinic for 30 years. Palmer Smoking Clinic in Palos Hills, Illinois. http://www.palmersmokingclinic.com

9-11-01 Questions

Since the senseless attack by Muslim extremists on September 11, 2001, many have asked about the reason the bagpipes were played for the fallen police and firefighters. The playing of the pipes at a wake or funeral is a centuries old tradition among the Scots, Irish and British, particularly the solo piper as you might have seen. British military units often had pipe bands and would salute their fallen comrades in this fashion. In the last century many larger US cities formed bagpipe bands often sponsored by the local Emerald Society or St. Andrews Society. Because of the large number of Irish and Scots in both the Police Departments and Fire Brigades, when one of their own passed away in the line of duty, they would bring out the band or the lone piper to honor their fallen countrymen. The tradition expanded to honor any police officer or fireman killed in the line of duty.