Scottish Bagpipe

The Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe is among the most iconic and evocative musical instruments in Western tradition, its sonorous drones and piercing chanter immediately conjuring images of misty glens, tartan-clad clansmen, and stirring Highland ceremonies. Although bagpipes of various kinds have existed across Europe and Asia for millennia, the development of the Scottish variant during the late Middle Ages gave rise to its distinctive configuration: a blowpipe, a chanter for melody, and usually three drones—two tenor and one bass, mounted in a common stock. Together, these elements produce a continuous harmonic backdrop that supports the chanter’s plaintive, ornamented melodies.