Bagpipes

The Bagpipes is a member of the double-reed instruments (Hornbostel–Sachs 422.112+422.22-62). Listen to 2 recordings and learn how it makes its sound.

Listen to the Bagpipes

Mari Bagpipe - Erik Juzykain

1:22CC BY-SA 3.0by Cseremisz ElianWikimedia Commons

1:22

Amazing Grace (bagpipe) - Pipe Band - United States Air Force Reserve Band

2:47Public domainby Composition: traditional; Performance: Sandy…Wikimedia Commons

2:47

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

How the Bagpipes makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the Bagpipes belongs to the double-reed instruments: two reeds beat against each other – oboes, bassoons, shawms and the duduk.

More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.

Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.

From Wikipedia

The bagpipe is a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Scottish Great Highland bagpipe is well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, North Africa, West Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia.

The term bagpipes is also used, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes".