Triple pipes
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Triple pipes, Cumbrian pipes or the cuisle were woodwind musical instruments of medieval Celts, featured in medieval artwork of the Irish, and Scottish and English peoples during the 8th to 12th centuries.[1] They were possibly "precursors" to Irish and English bagpipes and functioned as an organ for the Irish Celtic Church.[1][2]
The instruments fit into a wide family of single-reed reedpipes, which includes the ancient Greek aulos and ancient Egyptian memet,[3] and today includes the Egyptian arghul, Sardinian launeddas, Balkan diplica, Greek/Turkish zummara, Iranian dozaleh, Iraqi mijwiz, Basque/Spanish alboka/albogue, and Berber zamar.
No original instruments are known to exist today.[4][1] Musicians have begun to revive the instrument, borrowing from the launeddas playing traditions in Sardinia, which did not go extinct.[5]
Images of the instrument survives in Scotland and Ireland in sculptured stone, including the Cross of Scriptures at Clonmacnoise, Ireland (circa 900 A.D.), a Picto-Scottish relief carving at Lethendy, Perthshire, Scotland (10th century A.D.), Muiredach's High Cross at Monasterboice, Ireland, one at Ardchattan Priory, Argyll, Scotland (9th century), one on the Saint Martin's Cross at Iona Abbey, an example at St John's, Hawkchurch, Devon, England (circa 1200), and an example in Westminster Abbey, London (13th century).[5][6][7]
Besides the sculptures, the instrument was also portrayed in a miniature painting in the Hunterian Psalter, York, England (circa 12th century A.D.), the Cantigas de Santa Maria Codex of the Musicians (circa 1280), and the English Bestiary at the Oxford, Bodleian Library (12th century).[5][7]
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A musician playing triple pipes on the Cross of Scriptures at Clonmacnoise, circa 900 A.D. -
Circa 922 A.D., Ireland. Triple pipes from the head of Muiredach's High Cross (Monasterboice South Cross, East Face). Two images shown for detail. -
Circa 922 A.D., Ireland. Muiredach's High Cross: Christ (center), David plays the harp (left) with a trumpet and singers behind him; a man plays the triple pipes (right) with a devil driving away condemned souls behind him. -
13th century, England. Harpies with triple pipes and harp, Bodleian-Library-MS-Bodl-602, folio 10r. -
Circa 1225-1240, France. Triple pipes from the Lewis Psalter, Lewis E 185, folio 1v. The instrument does not appear to have fingerholes.
Muiredach High
The instrument
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The pipes were reedpipes, each pipe tipped with a single reed held in place with beeswax.[5] The instrument included a single pipe with fingerholes held in the player's right hand and a pair of pipes (joined together) held in the player's left hand.[5][6] The right-hand pair consisted of a shorter pipe with fingerholes and a longer drone pipe.[5] Researchers have indicated that the drone may have had a cup on the end made of animal horn.[6] The combination is likely similar to the launeddas of Sardinia, and researcher Barnaby Brown has begun a revival of the instrument based on his experience with the launeddas.[5][6]
Place in culture
[edit]Modern interest in the instrument is tied to interest in reviving Celtic or Scottish musical traditions. Barnaby Brown has speculated that pibroch music may have descended from triple-pipe playing, where today the music is tied to the Celtic harp-playing traditions.[5] He suggested that early references to "pipes" in medieval texts may refer to the triple-pipe tradition, rather than the later bagpipe tradition.[5]
Looking in art for clues to the triple-pipe's place in culture, Brown notes that the instruments were carved into the artwork in high crosses, played by clerical figures, placed musically with a harp or lyre.[5] These things possibly indicate an elevated status for the instrument in medieval Gaelic society.[5] The instrument may have been played as late as the 14th century, supplanted by the bagpipe, which was easier to play (because it did not require circular breathing).[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Brown, Barnaby. "History". triplepipe.net.
In northern Europe, a triplepipe tradition died out completely in the late Middle Ages. It was known as the cuisle in Scotland and Ireland, where it enjoyed prestige between the eighth and twelfth centuries. It appears on five elaborately-carved high crosses and grave stones, in scenes that suggest it was played by Celtic Christian monks.
- ^ "Biography". barnabybrown.info.
...revival of the northern triplepipe, the 'organ' of the Celtic Church and precursor to the bagpipe in Britain and Ireland.
- ^ Kroll, O (1968). The Clarinet. New York, NY: Taplinger Publishing Company.
[note: this ref for the name Memet for ancient Egyptian instrument]
- ^ International Study Group on Music Archaeology. Symposium (2004). Musikarchäologische Quellengruppen: Bodenurkunden, mündliche Überlieferung, Aufzeichnung. M. Leidorf. p. 228. ISBN 9783896466457. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Retrieving Gaeldom's forerunner of the pipes: triple pipes" (PDF). Piping Today. No. 21. The National Piping Center. April–May 2006. pp. 30–33.
- ^ a b c d I Fisher; F A Greenhill. "Two unrecorded carved stones at Tower of Lethendy, Perthshire". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 104. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: 238–240.
- ^ a b Brown, Barnaby. "Images". triplepipe.net. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007.
[note: images of examples with sources]
External links
[edit]- Triplepipe.net (supported by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama)