The World of Bagpipes : France

Biniou Bras

This is in reality the Great Highland Bagpipe (Cornemuse Ecossais) which has been adopted by the Bretons and to some extent replaced the traditional Biniou Koz. The Breton pipe bands, known as Bagads use them alongside the drums but also include Bombardes whose sound tends to get merged with that of the pipes and the effect is not as striking as the Biniou Koz-Bombarde combination. Not being bound by Scottish convention the pipes are used to their full potential and a tutor giving details of the full pipe scale with cross fingerings was published in 1942.

I base my Biniou Bras on an example by Dorig le Voyer who is credited with introducing the instrument into Brittainy. The general style of turning is different to the Scottish and chanter has slightly smaller tone holes that are better placed to give accurate cross fingering for semitones.

It is also possible to have keywork fitted to the chanter as per the Brian Boru Scottish System warpipes to extend the compass and give a semi-chromatic scale.

For the fingering chart detailing the full pipe scale see "Fingering Chart section"

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