Practice Chanter - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

The practice chanter is essentially a long, thin piece of wood or plastic (in two parts) with a small-diameter hole bored lengthwise through the center. Air is directed into and through this bore hole and passes over a reed, the vibration of which causes the sound. On the lower portion of the chanter, holes are bored into the instrument at right angles to the central bore hole. These holes are then covered or uncovered to produce the melody.

Practice chanters come in various sizes and can be made out of various materials. They are made in both a short size which is designed for the smaller hands of a child and a regular size (as shown in the photo at right). The regular size is the traditional chanter length. There is a long or extended length version. The longer length chanters are long enough to accommodate a melody hole spacing identical to that of the bagpipe chanter itself. On some long chanters, the melody holes are also countersunk so that the outside face of the melody holes will have the same diameter as the bagpipe chanter holes.

The central bore hole can be straight or conical in shape. The conical variety will have a larger sound hole at the base.

Pipe Chanters and practice chanters are typically made out of a hard wood (such as African Blackwood), although before the expansion of the British Empire, native woods were used, as are still in many folk instruments. In the 1960s African Blackwood was in very short supply, and Ireland's only bagpipe maker, Andrew Warnock of The Pipers Cave in Northern Ireland, stumbled across a new alternative material, which, at the time was used for making police batons: an extremely strong and durable machinable acrylic composition known by several names - most machinists are familiar with it as Delrin while some call it Polypenco. Unaware that he was about to revolutionise the world of piping, Andrew began making chanters from the new dense material. The Gibson and Dunbar chanters are made out of polypenco plastic. It is a material that can be machined and polished much like soft metals. Since there is no danger of splitting with a plastic chanter, there is no need for a sole (see below), although some models retain it for decorative purposes.

The practice chanter can be played either sitting or standing.