The World of Bagpipes : British Isles
Brian Boru Warpipes
Irish System Chanters
Irish System key layouts
The Irish system is the type most commonly found.
IRISH SYSTEM
This instrument was designed by William O'Duane and Henry Starck in 1908 and replaced the earlier Dungannon Bagpipes.
The chanter, based on the Highland pattern was made longer and the tone hole arrangement altered to leave the lower hand little finger free to operate the downward extension keywork. The top 'a' tone hole was moved to the front and covered by a key, the top 'g' retuned to 'g#' was moved to the back. Further keywork was added to give semitones as required, the basic scale of the chanter being that of 'A major' as the lower g was also retuned to g#. The open style fingering coupled with alterations to the tuning meant it was not really a practical proposition for the dedicated highland piper.
The Brian Boru Irish System Chanter could be supplied with keywork arranged to suit natural fingering in any key signature with several different versions available including one with a thumb hole for the minor third. Up to fourteen keys could be fitted making it fully chromatic from low E to high c#. The drone system used was that of the Dungannon Pipes of Tenor, Baritone and Bass which could be in either a common stock or three separate stocks.
SCOTTISH SYSTEM
As the "Irish System" did not find favour with the Highland Pipers a chanter was designed that would suit standard fingering and therefore be acceptable. The chanter which was designed by Henry Starck in 1910 is slightly longer than that of the normal chanter to give the downward extension to E and in it's simplest form had four keys. The lower two were normally open and when activated in turn gave F# and E and two normally closed keys at the top to give b and c#. The top g and low G were retuned to sound g#. Up to a total of ten keys were added to give semitones as required although Starck does not seem to have built a fully chromatic version of the Scottish system. My own Scottish system can be supplied with extra three keys bringing it to a total of thirteen - in line with the compass of the Irish system but requiring one less key.Scottish System : Highland Pipe Chanter Scale
The keyed chanters for highland pipes that I have been making since 1978 have evolved from the "Scottish System" pattern described above but have kept to the normal highland convention of the two "G's" being kept as naturals (flat) so as to preserve the full effect of the pipes and to allow the chanter to be played like the usual unkeyed chanter with the normal fingerings and gracing thus the experienced player of the instrument can gradually become acclimatised to it. The keywork is arranged so that it does not hinder the normal fingering of the chanter and is positioned to give the best articulation making use where possible of the little finger of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand not normally used for playing. The chanter is slightly longer than the normal pattern and has the two lowest vent holes transposed to the rear and covered by keys that are sprung open thus preserving the lowest note at the normal low G very important for the "birl".
The two keys covering the vent holes can be closed in turn to sound low F, and low E using the little finger of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand, operating this latter automatically closes the low F key as well so that two keys do not have to be operated simultaneously. A closed key operated by the right hand thumb opens a low G vent. At the top of the chanter there are two keys which when operated give high b, and high c and a further key on the main section of the chanter gives a high g. Further keys may be fitted to provide other notes such as low c1 and high c11 (although the former may also be obtained by the usual cross fingering as well.) up to a total of thirteen to make the chanter "chromatic". The drones that I make to go with my keyed chanter pipes can be of either the highland pattern of two tenors and one bass or the Brian Boru pattern of tenor, baritone and bass. The baritone drone can be tuned to either the fourth or the fifth (d or e) to make this arrangement even more versatile.
In response to requests by several pipers an optional "slim line" chanter was introduced in 1990 that feels more like the traditional highland pipe chanter - this has raised blocks left on the chanter where the key pillars fit, the rest being turned thinner. A thumb rest is incorporated into one of these raised areas. The idea for this style is based on an 18th century flute in a local museum.
The slimline Brian Boru Chanter
Scottish System Chanters
Front View
Left side
Rear view
Right side
Materials:
African Blackwood or similar exotic hardwood with mounts of Ivory and nickel silver ferrules / keywork.
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