RNPS

There are many articles, books and websites devoted to the art of tuning a bagpipe which go deep into the technicalities of the instrument but basically tuning depends upon:

• the pressure of air being passed through the reeds and into the sound tubes (chanter and drones)
• the moisture content in that air
• the design of the reed and the length of the sound tubes

The pressure of air is down to the player and his choice of reeds. The important thing is to maintain a constant and steady pressure.

Moisture content is again down to the player but mininal moisture content will achieve the most consistent results and much design effort has gone into modern bagpipes to help achieve this. From the simplest water trap to more complicated moisture control systems the aim is to keep it under control with good care of the bag and its storage arrangements when it is not in use.

That leaves reed design and tube length. We all have our favourite reeds and many are claimed to be "matched" to particular chanters and drones. Most will however work with most chanters and drones and reed choice is a different subject all on its own. The intention here is to concentrate on setting up a bagpipe given working reeds that are a comfortable blow for the player.

The diagram below shows a section through two chanters. The top chanter illustrates the modern band chanter which naturally tunes on what we call Low A to somewhere between 475 and 480 Hz. The bottom chanter looks the same but illustrates the difference in hole spacing that has taken place over the years. The A hole is about 5mm further away from the mouth of the chanter reed and it tunes to somewhere around 466 Hz. This is representative of where the tuning point was in the days when it was more normally recognised as being close to concert B flat. The main points to remember are:

• the longer the sound tube (chanter or drone) the flatter will be the sound
• individual chanters will have a natural frequency due to construction

The scale of the bagpipe - from Low G to High A - does not match exactly any scale recognised by modern western concert music. Nominally with our Low A sounding at 466 Hz we would be playing at what is called Concert B Flat (Bb). This causes lots of confusion when playing with brass or wind ensembles - us calling it A and them called it B Flat! The problem is a subject tackled in the article on this website under "tuning with a concert band". Up to the mid 20th Century, in the 60/70's, pipes were very close to that pitch but have since been the subject of "pitch creep" and modern bands, especially competing bands, now play with chanters pitched to about 478 Hz - somewhere between concert B Flat and B Natural. This means that they are very much out of tune when playing with concert instruments tuned to B Flat. The confusion when working with other instruments is made worse by the piper having his notes named differently as a piping convention.

In principle the main issues for tuning a single bagpipe are to:

• establish the natural pitch of the chanter with its reed
• then set the remaining notes in a proper scale to that pitch
• and finally tune the drone reeds to the same pitch

Establishing the natural pitch of the chanter means checking that the Low A and the High A are a perfect octave apart and therefore in harmony. It is achieved by seating the reed in its seat such that they are. Nowadays this is best done using an electronic tuner by seating the reed so that High A and Low A are at the same frequency on the tuner. By ear you will be cleverer than most but those with perfect pitch will find it relatively easy to do. Using electronic tuners:

• With a Saul Bagpipe Tuner this means in the Chanter mode pressing the up/down buttons untill both High A and Low A have a null reading on the tuner (identified by the central green led lit and no bars showing either side of the scale). This may require setting the reed higher in its seat to flatten the notes or lower to sharpen them.
• With a Korg CA-30 Chromatic Tuner this means doing the same with the up/down calibration buttons.

Setting the chanter scale may require a bit more effort depending on which tuner is in use and whether the remaining holes on the chanter produce a flatter or sharper note with respect to the now calibrated Low A. If they are sharper the solution is to tape over a portion of the hole nearest the reed - this effectively lengthens the sound tube for that hole making it flatter. If they are flatter then the solution is more complicated because the sound tube to the hole needs to be shortened and that can only be achieved by carving some of the hole away nearest the reed - possibly a bit desperate unless an expert is on hand to advise! Another solution is to sharpen the whole chanter by sinking the reed in its seat, recalibrating to the new Low A and then flattening the notes that are too sharp using tape.

Once the chanter is set up the drone reeds should be relatively easy to do especailly with an electronic tuner. By ear it is a question of using each drone in turn and tuning it to the Low A of the chanter by reducing the "beating" noise to zero. Easy to do on modern plastic drone reeds if you read the instructuions and have been taught properly. Remember that the sound properties for the drone tube are identical in principle to the chanter - lengthen the sound path (from reed bridle to end of drone) and the note will be flattened, shorten it and it will be sharpened.