Scottish smallpipes

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The Scottish smallpipe is a bellows-blown bagpipe developed from the Northumbrian smallpipes by Colin Ross and others, to be playable according to the Great Highland Bagpipe fingering system. There are surviving examples of similar instruments - for instance the Montgomerie smallpipes from the mid 18th century, but the modern instrument is typically larger and lower pitched. Few modern instruments are directly modeled from older examples. The instrument is distinguished from the Northumbrian smallpipes by having an open end to the chanter, and usually by the lack of keys; this means that the sound of the chanter is continuous, rather than staccato, and that its range is only nine notes, rather than the nearly two octaves of the Northumbian pipes. A further distinction from the Northumbrian smallpipes is that there has been no unbroken line of traditional playing.

The instrument has a cylindrically bored chanter, most commonly pitched in A, although any key is feasible; D, C, and B flat are the next most common keys. Being cylindrically bored, the chanter sounds an octave lower than a conical-bored chanter of the same size, such as that of the Border pipes.

They are normally bellows-blown like the Northumbrian pipes and Border pipes. Mouth-blown versions are also available, but they are less common because it is difficult to produce quality tone due to the reed's delicate construction.

They are most commonly unkeyed, but occasionally G sharp, F natural, and C natural keys are added. Though it would in principle be possible to add as many keys as to the modern Northumbrian smallpipes, no prominent pipers are known to use a set with more than a few keys. Most music written for the instrument uses only the nine notes of its unkeyed range.

The drones, typically 3 in number, are set in a common stock and are usually tuned to the low "A" of the chanter, usually the tonic note, to the fifth above it, "e", (or sometimes the fourth below "E"), either being the dominant note of the scale, and to the lower octave of the tonic, "A,". For tunes in the key of D, the dominant drone can be either shut off or retuned.

It is perhaps the youngest bagpipe with any popularity, having only existed in its modern form since the early 1980s.

It is, however, extremely popular, particularly with Highland pipers, many of whom keep it or a set of border pipes as a second instrument. It has to some extent supplanted the musically unsatisfactory Highland practice chanter as a relatively quiet rehearsal instrument for Highland pipers. Many Border pipers also play Scottish smallpipes; as makers have made Scottish smallpipes louder, and Border pipes which are quieter, ensembles of Border pipes and a few Scottish smallpipes are becoming feasible.