I just love bagpipes

[yvr girl]

They make me think happy thoughts. Anyone else love them.

[Bluebear]

1. They remind me of funerals

Only because you hear them playing Amazing Grace for police and fire funerals.....

On the other hand, a lone bagpiper played us out of the pier in St. John's, N.B. on a cruise...but it still had a melancholy ring to it.

[yvr girl]

9. I think of parades and weddings first

I've heard them on solemn occasions too, but mostly festive.

[Calvinist Basset]

2. Yes!

And I want to learn how to play them, too!

[Maple]

3. Listen to

'Itchy fingers' on the bagpipes...or 'Carnival reel'.

A group out of Texas called 'Silver Thistle' does both.

You'll love them.

[demosincebirth]

4. Years ago, I think, I was told that they were...

classified under Weapons of war. Could be wrong...anyone else ever here that?

[Maple]

11. There are the war pipes

and at one time bagpipes were indeed considered weapons and banned.

[realisticphish]

12. bagpipes

were the first psyops weapons. they were designed to terrify the enemy, and to give commands in battle. so i can see how they could be considered such


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[NV Whino]

5. Oh yeah

They always bring tears to my eyes. And it doesn't have to be a sad occasion. Just very soul-stirring music. And you haven't heard them properly unless you have heard a lone piper on the moors.

[babylonsister]

6. I also love 'em, but

they now remind me of 9/11; I've never heard so many, so many days in a row.

[Nightowl_2004]

7. Bagpipes are awesome!

[RT_Fanatic]

8. I love 'em, too.

and btw, a great Brit folkie guitarist name of Richard Thompson can make his strat sound like 'em. So good and so good for you.
:beer:

[Cerridwen]

10. Oh yeah. I love bagpipes. And my favorite (this week) is

Scotland the Brave - surprise. The version I have has some wonderful war drums as well.

[Lady Effingbroke]

13. Mull Of Kintyre!

PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - "Mull Of Kintyre"

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of Kintyre
Far have I traveled and much have I seen,
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green.
Past painted deserts the sunsets on fire,
As he carries me home to the mull of Kintyre.

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here,
Oh Mull of Kintyre.

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then.
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the time of the Mull of Kintyre.

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine
And tears in the rain
Still take me back to where my memories remain
Flickering embers growing higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre


There's pipin' aplenty in this song!

[NamVetsWeeLass]

14. At my Aunt's Funeral (who was 100% Scottish)

we had a Bagpiper. Incidentally, he wore Our Plaid (we are Blackwatch due to My Great Grandfather's Involvement in that regiment.) He played every 20-minutes and stood guard at her casket when he wasn't playing. The funeral home that we use has a covered carport, and after the viewing, he went under that carport and broke into "Amazing Grace" I have never heard something so beautiful or haunting in my life. Truly haunting and beautiful are bagpipes, They raise the half of my Blood that is Scots---(Rocky movies get the Italian half LOL) My littlest one will do the "Rhiannon Dance" to them, and the Oldest one remembers that he has heard the pipes somewhere, but can't recall my Aunt. He always asks, "Mom, where did I hear those before?" We also had the same piper play at my Ex Hisband's Brother's Burial. The Boy tugged on my sleeve and asked that same question.

[yvr girl]

16. We have them at our Remembrance Day Services

Do you have them at your Veteran's Day Services?

[NamVetsWeeLass]

27. The closest thing in the end of WV is a jug band.

Up home they did.

[martinolich]

15. ..Absolutely love bagpipes!...yes..!

...People seem to either love them or hate them..I've always loved them...

[JaneEyrez]

As Me Mither Used to Say...

You either luv them... or you hate them. Not much in between. She always said they sounded like pigs squealing, but I can't think of anything that "gets" me like Amazing Grace on the pipes. :cry:

[babylonsister]

21. or 'Danny Boy'.

[Blue in a Red State]

17. Skydance...

Has some wonderful arrangements with bagpipes. I especially love Bannockburn.

[phaseolus]

18. yes.. and, there's more than just the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipes too

They've existed for a thousand years or more in single- and double-reed versions from India to the Atlantic. If any of you like Early Music you should check out the group Piffaro, a wonderful wind band that often arranges music for some of the less-familiar kinds of bagpipes. (...and Shawms and Sackbuts and Recorders and Krummhorns and Dulcians and the occasional Vihuela and Guitar...)

[Rjnerd]

24. Heard them a month ago

They played the Isabella Stuart Gardener museum. Had a great afternoon. Took a class from one of the people playing, knew two others.

I made a set of Northumbrian small pipes for Susan. A lot quieter than war pipes, they have a cylindrical rather than conical bore.

Regarding "weapons", as far as I knew the ban was on mouth blown pipes, the result being the irish bellows fed pipes.

Oh yea, keeping the small pipes company, this house has two shawms, 3 Rauchfipes, 3 crumhorns, a bunch of recorders, a spinet harpsichord, and a clavichord. Unfortunately, with the exception of the harpsichord and clavichord, most don't ever get played. (my hands are mostly decorative now, and I was the primary wind player)

[another5bdem]

19. My husband plays the bagpipes...

My main impression of them is just how LOUD they are. They are truly meant to be carried in battle and strike terror into the hearts of your enemies. Hubby serenades the neighbors every Christmas morning from our back deck. By "neighbors" I mean everyone in a three mile radius...

It's quite surreal to hear an athiest asthmatic belching out "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.

So yes, I like them too! B-)

[Hotdiggitydog]

23. Does he wear one of dem skirts, too?

Personally, I can't stand bagpipes. I'm afraid of them to some extent, they sound more shrill than Tom Delay.

[another5bdem]

31. Kind of a personal question, dontcha think?

They are nice from a great distance, can be quite shrill up close. They do drown out those voices in my head, though, so they aren't all bad.

[Nightowl_2004]

20. This topic gave me the urge to hear some pipes

For anyone else interested...

http://www.wspd.wellington.net.nz/resources/set48.mp3

http://www.wspd.wellington.net.nz/resources/medley80.mp3

[Hotdiggitydog]

22. Bagpipes make me cringe.

Worse than wet fingernails on a chalkboard.

Good god, can you imagine the sound an 11 year-old makes trying to learn to play bagpipes? Probably sounds like an ostrich dying or something.

[Rjnerd]

25. You start them out with a

Practice chanter. No bag, no drones, no volume to speak of. Looks like a bulbous plastic recorder. A lot cheaper than real pipes... Just like the headphone systems they have for electric guitar players to practice with.

[Downtown Hound]

26. Bagpipes kick ass!

My neighbor plays them, and sometimes they're really loud. In spite of this, no one in the neighborhood complains, 'cause we all love 'em.

[kanrok]

28. They make me sad

They play them when police officers die in the line of duty.

[EstimatedProphet]

29. I do too

Make me cry sometimes, but they make me happy too.

[Wapsie B]

30. It amazes me as to

how they can play those things and make music. It's a cool instrument.

[FizzFuzz]

32. me, I love them

for me there's a melancholy tone that I love.

I tried to learn to play them years ago, have a chanter and even found a practice bagpipe on the web...but I have a terrible habit of getting all fired up about a hobby and then getting sidetracked. Music is the worst, I have an awful time getting myself to practice! Drat!

[Mr. McD]

33. I play bagpipes

I have never had any complaints from the neighbors so I assume it don't bother them.:)