Pipe dreams
Question: During a conversation about playing the bagpipes at high altitude,
I wondered what would happen to the sound of the bagpipes if they were played in
the helium/oxygen mix used by deep sea divers, which distorts speech. Would the
double reed chanter (the output part of the bagpipe that consists of a tube with
holes and is played with the fingers) be affected in the same way as the
single-reed drones (the output pipes confined to single notes)?
Answer: The construction of a bagpipe allows a continuous supply of air to be
maintained. A flexible bag is…
