I had never even heard of shuttle pipes before but someone mentioned them to me this weekend followed by friends lending me a CD which just happened to have a couple of sets of a shuttle pipe playing. Sounded pretty neat but I don't know much of anything about them. I tried to do an on-line search and just came up with the info that they date back to the 1600's, are in the key of A, follow the same fingering as the GHB, BP, SP's, and can be either bellows or air blown.
So I'm curious about them- in terms of playing what do they compare to? Level of sound volume? How else do they differ from BP's or SP's? I'm also curious about the drone construction- the little bit I saw described didn't make a lot of sense to me. Would appreciate any info you've got- thanks- Do any of you play them??
What do you know about shuttle pipes??
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AaronMalcomb
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Nowadays when people talk about shuttle pipes they're referring to the John Walsh product. Other makers have a shuttle droned smallpipe too. Dave Shaw has been making them for some time and R.T. Shepherd & Sons recently released their Highland Musette. These are usually mouthblown but the Shaw pipes are bellows driven.
They have a similar timbre and play in the same register and volume as smallpipes, unlike border pipes which are an octave higher in pitch, are louder and have a timbre more like Highland pipes.
The historical shuttle pipes would have been bellows blown but wouldn't have had the GHB fingering system. The modern ones could be set up for bellows if needed.
The drones are a series of chambers inside the shuttle. The chamber dimensions emulate the properties of a conventional drone bore. The sliders adjust to distort the chamber dimensions enough to tune the drones. The reeds look similar to practice chanter reeds.
I haven't heard or played the Shaw or Shepherd pipes. I've played the Walsh pipes and they can sound pretty good. The chanter uses a practice chanter style reed. Walsh also makes a smallpipe that sounds, to my ear, better than the shuttle pipe. The Walsh smallpipe, like most top tier smallpipes, uses a NSP style reed which gives a slightly different timbre. I've played Shepherd smallpipes (not the musette) and they used the NSP style reed too but I don't know if the musette does.
They have a similar timbre and play in the same register and volume as smallpipes, unlike border pipes which are an octave higher in pitch, are louder and have a timbre more like Highland pipes.
The historical shuttle pipes would have been bellows blown but wouldn't have had the GHB fingering system. The modern ones could be set up for bellows if needed.
The drones are a series of chambers inside the shuttle. The chamber dimensions emulate the properties of a conventional drone bore. The sliders adjust to distort the chamber dimensions enough to tune the drones. The reeds look similar to practice chanter reeds.
I haven't heard or played the Shaw or Shepherd pipes. I've played the Walsh pipes and they can sound pretty good. The chanter uses a practice chanter style reed. Walsh also makes a smallpipe that sounds, to my ear, better than the shuttle pipe. The Walsh smallpipe, like most top tier smallpipes, uses a NSP style reed which gives a slightly different timbre. I've played Shepherd smallpipes (not the musette) and they used the NSP style reed too but I don't know if the musette does.
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pancelticpiper
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Yes beware that the term "shuttle pipes" is a new one and refers to the plastic and wood Scottish smallpipes made by John Walsh in Canada.
The historical instrument is the French Musette du Cour. It indeed has "shuttle" drones but is always called the Musette du Cour, never "shuttlepipes".
It was developed by the Hotteterre family (musicians/composers/instrument makers to the French court) as part of an entire family of instruments: the Hotteterre family turned the Renaissance shawm into the Baroque oboe, the Renaissance chalmeau into the Baroque clarinet, the Renaissance flute into the Baroque flute, the Renaissance recorder into the Baroque recorder, etc. All of these instruments, including the Musette, were intended for orchestral use and a number of French Baroque composers composed works for it.
The chanter of the Musette du Cour has keys making it fully chromatic. Side-by-side with the chanter ("petite chalmeau") is the "grande chalmeau" which works like the regulators on uilleann pipes. It has six closed keys, three on the front, three on the back, which are activated either by the upper-hand pinkie or the lower-hand thumb (these being the only digits not covering an open hole on the chanter). These keys give extra high notes. Both chanters can be played at the same time giving two-part harmony.
The Musette du Cour is bellows blown.
I have a terrific CD which I cannot find at the moment of a number of Baroque works being played by a Baroque ensemble of Musette du Cour, Bassoon, Viols, and Harpsichord. One piece is by Vivaldi and is simply fantastic.
Anyhow some early Northumbrian smallpipes have the shuttle drone system borrowed from the Musette, and John Walsh likewise borrowed it for his Scottish smallpipes.
One Highland pipe maker is now making something he calls the "Highland Musette" which likewise uses the shuttle drone system.
Both the Walsh "shuttlepipes" and the "Highland Musette" use Scottish fingering. The actual Musette du Cour, I believe, used closed fingering.
The historical instrument is the French Musette du Cour. It indeed has "shuttle" drones but is always called the Musette du Cour, never "shuttlepipes".
It was developed by the Hotteterre family (musicians/composers/instrument makers to the French court) as part of an entire family of instruments: the Hotteterre family turned the Renaissance shawm into the Baroque oboe, the Renaissance chalmeau into the Baroque clarinet, the Renaissance flute into the Baroque flute, the Renaissance recorder into the Baroque recorder, etc. All of these instruments, including the Musette, were intended for orchestral use and a number of French Baroque composers composed works for it.
The chanter of the Musette du Cour has keys making it fully chromatic. Side-by-side with the chanter ("petite chalmeau") is the "grande chalmeau" which works like the regulators on uilleann pipes. It has six closed keys, three on the front, three on the back, which are activated either by the upper-hand pinkie or the lower-hand thumb (these being the only digits not covering an open hole on the chanter). These keys give extra high notes. Both chanters can be played at the same time giving two-part harmony.
The Musette du Cour is bellows blown.
I have a terrific CD which I cannot find at the moment of a number of Baroque works being played by a Baroque ensemble of Musette du Cour, Bassoon, Viols, and Harpsichord. One piece is by Vivaldi and is simply fantastic.
Anyhow some early Northumbrian smallpipes have the shuttle drone system borrowed from the Musette, and John Walsh likewise borrowed it for his Scottish smallpipes.
One Highland pipe maker is now making something he calls the "Highland Musette" which likewise uses the shuttle drone system.
Both the Walsh "shuttlepipes" and the "Highland Musette" use Scottish fingering. The actual Musette du Cour, I believe, used closed fingering.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Björn
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
I have a set of two drone Walsh shuttle pipes. Not to denigrate them but I mainly use them as a sort of glorified practice chanter. I find them quite difficult to blow steadily, as the chanter reed is extremely sensitive to varying pressure. I'm used to the GHB, and the shuttles take so very little air to keep going. Another guy in my pipe band has a three drone set, and gets a lot more volume and a better sound out of his, but then he is a better player than me, and has tinkered quite a bit with his set.
Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Thanks for the info all of you- figured someone would know this. I was wondering what the difference would be then between a smallpipe and what is being called a shuttlepipe- can't see why they would both be made then if they are so similar in volume...... and interesting to know the history-wonder if anyone is actually making the old style ones?? And what is meant by "closed " fingering as opposed to Scottish fingering??
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AaronMalcomb
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
'Closed' fingering usually means having all holes closed and opening only one to sound a note, then covering it and lifting another for another note.
The whole smallpipe thing is kind of modern anyways. There were historical smallpipes in Scotland and northern England but they had a different pitch and a different fingering system. The NSP is a vestige of this. Then about 30 years ago the NSP maker Colin Ross experimented with an NSP chanter that played with GHB fingering. The NSP chanter is closed on the end and uses closed fingering.
But also around the Victorian era, GHB makers offered 'parlor pipes' which had a chanter like a practice chanter and small drones to go with it. They looked like small GHBs. The production of those instruments tailed off until over the last 20 years they made a resurgence but were influenced by the smallpipe trend. GHB makers tried to come up with their own unique spin on the parlor pipe and the shuttle pipe was John Walsh's. So you began to have two different kinds of smallpipes. There are the Colin Ross derived pipes with NSP style reeds and then those that are more parlor pipe derived with practice chanter style reeds.
Now that the NSP derived smallpipe has begun to build its own tradition the GHB makers have begun producing these kinds of smallpipes and not just the 'parlor pipe' derived kind.
It all gets wordy and devolves into flame wars on other bagpipe forums.
The whole smallpipe thing is kind of modern anyways. There were historical smallpipes in Scotland and northern England but they had a different pitch and a different fingering system. The NSP is a vestige of this. Then about 30 years ago the NSP maker Colin Ross experimented with an NSP chanter that played with GHB fingering. The NSP chanter is closed on the end and uses closed fingering.
But also around the Victorian era, GHB makers offered 'parlor pipes' which had a chanter like a practice chanter and small drones to go with it. They looked like small GHBs. The production of those instruments tailed off until over the last 20 years they made a resurgence but were influenced by the smallpipe trend. GHB makers tried to come up with their own unique spin on the parlor pipe and the shuttle pipe was John Walsh's. So you began to have two different kinds of smallpipes. There are the Colin Ross derived pipes with NSP style reeds and then those that are more parlor pipe derived with practice chanter style reeds.
Now that the NSP derived smallpipe has begun to build its own tradition the GHB makers have begun producing these kinds of smallpipes and not just the 'parlor pipe' derived kind.
It all gets wordy and devolves into flame wars on other bagpipe forums.
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BigDavy
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Hi Anita
In most cases the shuttlepipes here in Scotland sound like smallpipes/border pipes, as they are being used as an alternative to those pipes. (Normally by a piper who has had his smallpipe/border pipe drones snapped in a session.) That is thier main advantage, the drones sit within the aegis of the body, so are less likely to be damaged.
David
In most cases the shuttlepipes here in Scotland sound like smallpipes/border pipes, as they are being used as an alternative to those pipes. (Normally by a piper who has had his smallpipe/border pipe drones snapped in a session.) That is thier main advantage, the drones sit within the aegis of the body, so are less likely to be damaged.
David
Payday, Piping, Percussion and Poetry- the 4 best Ps
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AaronMalcomb
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Intriguing. How well do shuttle drones and a border chanter mix?
Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Why would someone get their drones snapped in a session??
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BigDavy
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Hi AaaronAaronMalcomb wrote:Intriguing. How well do shuttle drones and a border chanter mix?
Quite well actually once you get the drone reeds right, at least according to Alan MacDonald the first piper I heard play the combination - he was using Eezeedrone reeds (I think they were custom set up for him) and a cane chanter reed.
David
Payday, Piping, Percussion and Poetry- the 4 best Ps
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BigDavy
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Hi AnitaAnita wrote:Why would someone get their drones snapped in a session??
Smallpipe/Border pipe drones stick out to the side of the pipers body, in a crowded session people walking past can catch the drones inadvertantly and they snap, usually at a joint, where the wood is thinnest. I have seen it happen to smallpipes and border pipes (one poor sod this happened to had just got the pipes the day before, his face was a picture
). One reason why I would never take anything but a practice set of UPs to a session.David
Payday, Piping, Percussion and Poetry- the 4 best Ps
Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Wow- didn't know that. I'm still waiting for a set of pipes- BP's- but given how long I'm waiting for them and how much they cost 
- will be very careful. I play fiddle in sessions and I've taken some serious hits on the fiddle and the bow by people being careless with their passage past me so I can relate. Interesting to know the BP chanter could be used in shuttle pipes too.... thanks
and how much they cost - will be very careful. I play fiddle in sessions and I've taken some serious hits on the fiddle and the bow by people being careless with their passage past me so I can relate. Interesting to know the BP chanter could be used in shuttle pipes too.... thanks-
AaronMalcomb
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Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Edinburgh/Glenuig Allan MacDonald or another? I may have to enquire the folks at Ezeedrone. Usually shuttle drones take a practice chanter style reed.BigDavy wrote:Quite well actually once you get the drone reeds right, at least according to Alan MacDonald the first piper I heard play the combination - he was using Eezeedrone reeds (I think they were custom set up for him) and a cane chanter reed.
Out of curiosity, what maker did you go with?Anita wrote:Wow- didn't know that. I'm still waiting for a set of pipes- BP's- but given how long I'm waiting for them and how much they cost - will be very careful
Re: What do you know about shuttle pipes??
Aaron-
Michael MacHarg is making them- he's actually local, just a few towns away- and his son is my pipes teacher, coupled with he makes nice pipes and it's in US dollars as opposed to pounds or euros- easy choice. I found when I started looking for a set this spring that BP's are just not very widely available, especially used ones- and by having a set made, I can get them sized to fit me(smaller bag and bellows than the average set) so this will be helpful; in terms of actually being able to reach the chanter!
Michael MacHarg is making them- he's actually local, just a few towns away- and his son is my pipes teacher, coupled with he makes nice pipes and it's in US dollars as opposed to pounds or euros- easy choice. I found when I started looking for a set this spring that BP's are just not very widely available, especially used ones- and by having a set made, I can get them sized to fit me(smaller bag and bellows than the average set) so this will be helpful; in terms of actually being able to reach the chanter!