The basic principle of any bagpipe is the same: An air reservoir (usually a bag) is squeezed so as to force air through a series of pipes, thereby producing sound. Scottish bagpipes seem to have come into use during the 1200s, although it is unknown whether they were adapted from a Roman instrument or developed independently. There is no question that the Scottish Highland bagpipes are an outdoor instrument.
Pipers also led assaults during both of the World Wars, but the practice was largely abolished due to the high casualty rate. The last appearance of pipers on the front line took place during a 1967 uprising in the British protectorate of South Arabia (now part of Yemen). Pipers continue to serve in the British military into the present day, although their role is now only ceremonial and they are no longer deployed in combat. Attribution: User “jpellgen” License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Image 12.9: The Scottish Highland bagpipes are particularly loud and powerful. In this conflict, bagpipes served not only to urge troops into battle but to mark the identity of the combatants: the Jacobites carried Scottish Highland bagpipes, while the British troops carried Lowland bagpipes (a related instrument that has fallen out of use).
Pipers were regularly attached to combat regiments, and they could be heard on both sides of the famous Jacobite rising of 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart sought to regain the British throne. The first written account of bagpipes being carried into battle dates from 1549, when the piercing sound of bagpipes was found to carry across the battlefield even better than that of a trumpet. Scottish Highland bagpipes are certainly a military instrument.
Performance: Pipes and Drums of the Gordon Highlanders (2008) When we talk about marches, we are often talking about military tradition, and it is nearly impossible to disentangle military history and practice from national identity and pride. Our next example would be even more at home in Chapter 9: Both the tune-“Scotland the Brave”1-and the musical tradition-Scottish Highland bagpiping-are intimately connected with Scottish history and identity. Not only is it the official National March of the United States, but it has come to be associated with patriotic events, especially Independence Day. Our previous example, “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” might just as well have been discussed in Chapter 9 as an example of music embodying national identity.
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