Fritz Park

If you want to come over and listen to any of the bagpipe tunes in the 30 or so books out of which my husband regularly plays, you would be welcome to! There are thousands of tunes, but only nine notes. :)

AJ: here you go.

Bagpipes were originally designed to be weapons of war. Their primary purpose was to make an awful, terrible sound in order to frighten the enemy. I think they have succeeded in their original purpose. And as weapons of war, like machine guns and hand grenades, they should be banned!

Love bagpipes. I wouldn’t play it for background music, though. It is a ceremonial and majestic experience. I once had the experience in Scotland of being “piped in” for dinner. I’ll never forget it. (Yes, we had haggis.)

Actually Johnboy, they weren’t designed to be weapons of war, any more than fifes, drums, trumpets or any other instrument used in wartime were.

There are many different types of bagpipes, with lots of different sounds, used all over the world. The ones people think of most often are the Great Highland pipes. They are loud, but remember, not everyone who plays them is good, so what comes out can vary from awful to beautiful.

They are used in wartime because they don’t need amplification to be heard. Not to frighten the enemy (although I’m sure that has happened), but primarily to motivate and lead their own troops. They have even been used in recently military actions for communication from camp to camp when sand messes up more complicated technology.

Mostly though, they are used for music, which you might not enjoy, but many, many people do.