The pipasso is a type of
bagpipe
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...
found in northern France and Belgium. It is commonly called the "Picardy bagpipe". In the Belgian province of
Hainaut, it is also known as the
muchosa
The muchosa is a type of bagpipe dating back to the late 13th century in Hainaut, Belgium and northern France, where it is known as the pipasso.
The muchosa has a chanter with a conical bore and double reed, pitched to B-flat. It has two singl ...
.
History
The pipasso was traditionally played by shepherds in festival processions,
[Rice, Timothy, James Porter, and Chris Goertzen, eds. "Low Countries." ''Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 8 - Europe''. Taylor & Francis Group. Routledge, Array. 549-69. ''Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music''. Web. 24 Sept. 2016.
] and was often played alongside popular instruments such as the
hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...
and the
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
. However, by the 1700s,
it had largely been replaced by the fiddle and by
bass instruments.
There are a few outliers in the tradition that continued on beyond the 1700s. Unfortunately, no recordings of the last living players (whom were mostly shepherds and beggars living in the 1900s
) exist, and scarce information survives about the typical repertoire a pipasso player would have been able to perform. The historical models that have been preserved have a one-octave range.
Construction
According to the eighth volume of the ''
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music'' is an academic reference work. It was initiated by editors at Garland Publishing in 1988 as a 10-volume series of encyclopedias of world music. The final volumes appeared in 2001, but editions have since ...
'', illustrations dating back to the 1300s and 1400s suggest that the instrument consisted of a simplistic bag made from a bladder, as well as a single-piece, often conical,
chanter
The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the ...
. These illustrations did not include a drone. By the 1450s - 1550s, the most common model of the pipasso was made from a sewn bag, a one-piece conical chanter, and also included a two-jointed bass drone (see
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
for technical definition of drones as they pertain to musical instruments).
In the second half of the 16th century, another German model came into existence.
In this particular model, a second drone (tenor) was added below the bass drone. The single surviving model is currently held in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
in Vienna, Austria.
By the 1700s - 1800s, despite the beginnings of its ultimate decline and near disappearance, yet another model with a slightly different configuration had been created.
The bass drone rested upright on the shoulder, while the tenor drone would have been in a parallel formation in the same stock (the socket that attaches the pipe to the bag itself - see:
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
) as the
chanter
The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the ...
. There are currently three extant samples of this model in the
Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels, Belgium.
Modern usage
Though documentation of the instrument dates back as far as the fourteenth century,
today very little information about the pipasso circulates among the public and the academic realm of music studies. However, several groups are working to make the instrument visible and known to the general public, including Amuséon and ch'Pipasso Greench Binde. A revival movement for the instrument began in the 1970s and continues today.
There is an annual Pipasso festival (Le Festival du Pipasso) that is held in
Flixecourt
Flixecourt (; pcd, Flichcourt) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
Flixecourt is situated on the N1 road and the banks of the river Nièvre, a tributary of the Somme, some south of Abbeville. ...
, Northern France. The 13th edition will take place from 27 September to 29 September 2019.
See also
*
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
*
Hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...
*
Muchosa
The muchosa is a type of bagpipe dating back to the late 13th century in Hainaut, Belgium and northern France, where it is known as the pipasso.
The muchosa has a chanter with a conical bore and double reed, pitched to B-flat. It has two singl ...
References
External links
www.Pipasso.frAmuseon.frCor-Wynn.com
Bagpipes
French musical instruments
Belgian musical instruments
Culture of Picardy