Woman in medieval costume playing the Bagpipes at Dover Castle
Woman in medieval costume playing the Bagpipes at Dover Castle. A woodwind instrument; the player blows air into a bag and squeezes it out through pipes, now used chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland. It consists of a leather bag, which receives the air by a tube that is stopped by a valve; and three sounding pipes, into which the air is pressed by the performer. Two of these pipes produce fixed tones, namely, the bass, or key tone, and its fifth, and form together what is called the drone; the third, or chanter, gives the melody. A bladder pipe was a medieval modification of the standard bagpipe. Bladder pipe comprised of blow pipe, a bladder bag and a chanter. The player would blow into the blow pipe which was connected to the bladder bag. The bladder bag comprised of the bladder of an animal which was, in turn, connected to the chanter. The earliest examples of a bladder pipe date back to the 13th century. In the latter part of the medieval era, bladder pipe became immensely popular all over Europe. However, towards the end of the medieval era, the use of the bladder pipes declined rapidly and it became associated with beggars. Medieval mentions of bladder pipes exist alongside mentions of bagpipe. This shows that the two types of pipes existed side by side, although bladder pipe itself evolved out of the original design of the bagpipe.
Size: 3215px × 4911px
Location: Dover Castle, Dover, Kent, UK.
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: authentic, bagpipes, bladder, castle, costume, dover, entertainment, historical, instrument, kent, medieval, musician, performance, performing, period, pipe, pipes, reinactment, woman, woodwind
