Scottish Smallpipes

Scottish Smallpipes

The Scottish smallpipe, in its modern form, is a bellows-blown bagpipe re-developed by Colin Ross and others. There are many surviving bellows blown examples of similar historical instruments as well as the mouth-blown Montgomery smallpipes in E, dated 1757, which are now in the National Museum of Scotland. There is some discussion of the historical Scottish smallpipes in Collinson's history of the bagpipes. But more reliable research and information can be obtained in Hugh Cheape's "Bagpipes: A National Collection." Some instruments are being built as direct copies of historical examples, but few modern instruments are directly modelled from older examples; the modern instrument is typically larger and lower pitched. The innovations leading to the modern instrument, in particular the design of the reeds, were largely taken from the Northumbrian smallpipes.

Although there is evidence of small pipes dating back to 15th century, in its current form it is perhaps the youngest bagpipe with any popularity, having only existed in this form since the early 1980s. The playing tradition copies that of the Border Pipes, which use few if any gracenotes.