Bagpipe
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The origins of the bagpipe can be traced back to the most ancient civilizations. The bagpipe probably originated as a rustic instrument in many cultures because a herdsman had the necessary materials at hand: a goat or sheep skin and a reed pipe. The instrument is mentioned in the Bible, and historians believe that it originated in Sumaria. Through Celtic migration it was introduced to Persia and India, and subsequently to Greece and Rome. In fact, a Roman historian of the first century wrote that the Emporer Nero knew how to play the pipe with his mouth and the bag thrust under his arm. During the Middle Ages, however, the bagpipe was heard and appreciated by all levels of society.
Bagpipes have always been made in many shapes and sizes, and have been played throughout Europe from before the Norman Conquest until the present day. Medieval pipes usually had a single drone - see contemporary illustrations of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for English single-drone pipes. Around 1400 (give or take 50 years), most shepherd-style pipes acquired a second drone. A third drone is added about after 1550. See paintings by Brueghel and the illustrations in Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum. The Renaissance also saw the advent of small, quiet chamber pipes such as Praetorius' Hummelchen or the French shuttle-drone models, some blown with bellows under the arm rather than with the mouth.
The construction of the bagpipe allows a continuous supply of air to be maintained. By squeezing the bag with his left hand while a breath is taken, the flow of air can be kept up in both the drone pipes and chanter. Other features of this instrument are the mouthpipe and the double reed of the chanter and drone. The mouthpipe contains a round piece of leather hinged onto the bag end which acts as a one way valve. As the player blows air in, the flap opens; when he stops blowing the air pressure within the bag forces the flap shut. The chanter has seven finger holes and a thumb hole, and has a usual range of an octave and one note.
The bagpipe is ideal for solo dances and monophonic music. It has been mentioned for use in polyphony, but if so, problems would arise. The drone would preclude the possibility of any change of mode, and the continuous sound would prohibit observance of rests.
During the Renaissance, the bagpipe gradually moved from country to court. Both Edward II and Edward III had pipers at court. King Henry VIII, composer and music patron, also had an extensive collection of instruments which, according to a contemporary account, included wone with pipes of ivorie and a bagge covered with purple vellat. As a rustic instrument it has been immortalized in the paintings of Pieter Breughel and his contemporaries.
Musica Antiqua's collection includes a replica with two drones patterned after Brueghel's Peasant Wedding, and a Hummelchen (little bumblebee) bagpipe which is modelled after the smallest of the four included in Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum of 1619. The Brueghel model is smaller than a highland pipe and loud, but not as piercing as a today's highland pipes. The Praetorius model is tiny and has sweet and delicate tone, making it useful both as a solo instrument and in ensemble with other Renaissance instruments. The chanter has a range from c1 to d2 and two drones tuneable to f and c or g and d. This boxwood replica was made by Wolfgang Lentelme of Germany.
Additional Resources:
- Aron Garceau's Bagpipe Iconography page
- Andrew Lenz's Bagpipe Journey
- The Universe of Bagpipes with photos, sounds, and links
- Bagpiper.com
- RootsWorld Bagpipes of the World
- Ewan Macpherson's Bagpipe Page
- La cornemuse en Europe et en France
Scottish National Piping Centre- the Bagpipe Society
- Tone Czar Bagpipes
- M. Praetorius: Syntagma musicum (Wolfenbuttel, 1619/r1958)
- M. Mersenne: Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636/r1963)
- G. H. Askew: 'The Bag-pipe in Early Britain', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, (1940)
- E. Winternitz: 'Bagpipes for the Lord', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, (1958)
- A. Baines: Bagpipes (Oxford, 1960)
- H. Hickmann: Agyptien, Musikgeschichte in Bildern, (Leipzig, 1961)
- F. Crane: Extant Medieval Musical Instruments: a Provisional Catalogue by Types, (Iowa City, 1972)
- T. H. Podnow: Bagpipes and Tunings (Detroit, 1974)
- F. Collinson: The Bagpipe (London, 1975)
- D. Macmillan: 'The Mysterious Cornamuse', Early Music, vi (1975)
- R. D. Cannon: A Bibliography of Bagpipe Music (Edinburgh, 1980)
There is evidence of the hurdy-gurdy in Europe in the twelfth century. By the end of this century, the instruments was highly regarded. Before 1300 the instrument was often long enough to require two performers, one to crank, and one to push the keys. Single player instruments developed in the thirteenth century when the hurdy-gurdy became the ideal instrument for dance music. 
Early images of bladder pipes sometimes show the instrument with a second pipe parallel to the first, apparently serving as a drone. The instrument existed before medieval times with Aristophanes in Lysistrata mentioning a wind instrument called a physalis (a word derived from bladder). It is mentioned in medieval literature and is shown in art from the time. Two bladder pipes, for example, are among the instruments illustrating Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of sacred songs written for the court of Alfonso el Sabio (reigned from 1252-1284). By the sixteenth century, the bladder pipe had become an instrument associated with beggars and peasants.
Additional Resources:
(dulzaina?)
The name cornamusefrom the Latin cornamusa commonly meant bagpipe as in the French cornemuse. The use of the name dolzaina, from the Latin dulcis (sweet), is thought to be the same or a similar instrument to the cornamuse, and yet the name is often intermingled with the dulzan or dulzian of the curtal families. These two names were sometimes used in the same sentence, as in an ensemble consisting of dolzaina, cornamuse, shawm and mute cornett.
Dulcimers often had one or two bridges over which the strings crossed providing the opportunity for more pitches because the performer could strike a sound on each side of the bridge. In 15th century images, dulcimers had single courses of six to nine strings and were played on the lap or on a table. The hammers seem to be held between the index and middle fingers. A century later, the multiple bridges were more common, with between eight and twelve double courses. A neck strap could be used for portability. Soundboards were commonly decorated.
(krumhorn)
Crumhorns have a characteristically sharp attack which is very effective in an ensemble. Depending on how their reeds are voiced, they range in tone from a gentle, somewhat nasal humming of a bumble-bee to a rich, resonant buzzing.
Despite its strange shape and the amusing reaction of listeners when the instrument is played poorly, the crumhorn played a serious role in all kinds of renaissance music ranging from dances and madrigals to church music. As early as 1500 crumhorns were used along with other instruments to accompany two masses performed for the wedding of Duke Johann to Sophia of Mecklenburg. King Henry the Eighth of England owned 25 crumhorns, so they may have been played at his court. However, they were not as popular in Great Britain as on the Continent, especially Germany, Italy and the Low Countries, from where a small repertoire of music specifically for crumhorns has been preserved.
