George Grey Armstrong (1877–1961) was a noted player, teacher and maker of the

Northumbrian smallpipes The Northumbrian smallpipes (also known as the Northumbrian pipes) are bellows-blown bagpipes from North East England, where they have been an important factor in the local musical culture for more than 250 years. The family of the Duke of N ...

. He also composed several tunes for the instrument. He lived in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. He learned to play the instrument from the

Clough Clough ( ; ) is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits about 3 miles from Dundrum, County Down, Dundrum on the A2 road (Northern Ireland), A2 between Newcastle, County Down, Newcastle and Belfast. The A2 road (Northern ...

family, and studied pipemaking with John E. Baty. There is a photograph of him with his pipes, from the Cocks collection, at. He taught 36 pupils, including Joe Hutton,

Tommy Breckons Tommy Breckons (1928–2009) lived all his life on his family's Foundry Farm, Bellingham, central Northumberland. He was a noted player of the Northumbrian smallpipes. Learning Tommy learned at first from G.G. Armstrong, and subsequently takin ...

and Colin Caisley, and passed on his pipemaking skills to William Cocks. Some of his teaching was for Scout troops – the

Northumbrian Pipers' Society The Northumbrian Pipers' Society was founded to promote both types of Northumbrian bagpipes – the Northumbrian smallpipes and the half-long pipes, now generally known as the Border pipes. There had been several attempts to encourage the pipes a ...

led a move to introduce the instrument among Scouts in Northumberland between the wars. From the playing of these and other pupils, it is clear that Armstrong must have been not only a fine piper but an excellent teacher. Tommy Breckons recalled learning first from Armstrong, and later from Tom Clough: "Now as to the difference between Tom and George. Tom wouldn't have been much use to a novice piper.... But George had a gift for teaching a novice. He could show you how to do things. I don't quite know how he did it!" He was widely respected as a pipemaker and repairer, in collaboration with his brother-in-law John MacCalman; the wood and metal parts were turned and shaped by MacCalman, while Armstrong's part of the work was to "assemble the parts, fit the stoppers, tune the chanters, pad the keys, and reed the pipes." In 1936 he repaired an old James Reid set for Joe Hutton to learn on, and subsequently made two complete sets for him, in 1938 and 1943. He also repaired and re-reeded pipes for

Billy Pigg Billy Pigg (1902 – 1968) was an English player of Northumbrian smallpipes. He was a vice-president and an influential member of the Northumbrian Pipers Society from 1930 until his death. Life and music He was born at Dilston Park, near Corbri ...

and others. He was married to Ella, the sister of William Cocks, the noted pipe-maker and collector. His own 17-key set of pipes, a family heirloom, made by James Reid, is now in the

Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum The Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum is located in Morpeth Chantry, Morpeth, Northumberland, England. The museum, founded in 1987, contains a large collection of historic bagpipes, especially, but not exclusively, historic Northumbrian smallpipe ...

.Woodhorn Museum Website
/ref> He used this as the model for the 17-key chanters he made himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, G. G. 1877 births 1961 deaths Musicians from Northumberland People from Hexham Players of Northumbrian smallpipes