The Savannah morning news., 1900-10-08
THE DECAY OF BAG-PIPING.
SCOTS DsPLoHE THE LAPSE or
OLD CUSTOMS.

tary In the Ara oS Playing It-scots
Like u,c Music.
From the New York tribune.
once every year the scotchmcn Of New
York lay aside their American habits and
sometimes their American clothes, aud
for q few hours become clansmen again
rnis occasion IS the unnull outing % the
New-York Caledouisn Club The last out
ing was successful. Ike the forty -thre
previous entertainments. ana the dancing,
the games and the merry making will D.
remembered and spoken OF until II g. time
20 plan FOR the next picnic. but there are
members Of the organization and also
seotchmcn who are not In the fold who
think that these outings are no, what they
used 20 be. that they vii. never bc quite
as attractive as they were in their beet
days until the piping competitions are re-
vived
Undi i've Years ago one Of the features
Of the Calcd-nian Day was this contest
The pipcrs played their hest Their work
Was Judged BY committee. and the man
who WAS pronounced the winner because
o. his performance on the pipes ana his
appearance carried away his prize with
all the pomp OF hero m the eyes ~
many OF tho spectators the prize piper
was higher in rank than the men who ex-
ceiled IN tho games ana 40 dancing Tho
men who failed 20 win a prize practsed
hard during the next year. learned new
tunes and invented now variations on Old
ones In order 70 win the laurels az the
next contes'. and gave lessons 20 boys
who hoped some DAY Ia be recognized as
pipers
But now there's no incentive" said a
Caleionian pirer. and the consequence e
that piping is going down hill No one
takes lessons. and those who 30 know how
90 play do not practise enough The only
people who know good music when they
hear Il are those who were raised in Scot
land. where people know what pine Is
In this country fakirs are allowed 20 play
ana their performance give people false
idea Of the haEplper They are responsible
for the impression that all pipe music Is
disasresable and inharmouious
There are only about twelve plpers In
New York They an play on the Scotch
nipef and with q few exceptions they play
by note The instruments used hy these men
are imported
Once IN a while" said the piper. YOU
can hear piper do popular tune. but
it doesn's sound right Nothing seems to
come so well from the pipes as the old
Scotch tunes named Ter people and places
dear to the scotchman
The hsEpipe mas not declined IN popu-
larity IN Europe The Scotch regiments
SIN have their pipers. and no great house
would be complete without a piper tie
always goes with the head ~ the house
and when az home he plays every morning
ana on all occasions ~ ceremony The
ripper greeis the guest on his arrival ana
the strain OF the pipe hid him farewell
An antiquarian and student % folklore
who has made the history OF the bagplne
a study when asked to tell what he knew
about hagpipes said
IT'S bagpipes YOU want 20 know about
g. ~ Well II that's all the information
you're after this Is The shop FOR H. Look
az the pretty picture OF some specimens
IN the collection % my friend Eugene do
BricqueVillc a. Versailes and didn't 7
sec that same friend handling pretty
little instrument with carved ivory pipes
in 70 this summer IN Paris and hear him
try TO persuade the jury Of Classe Dix
sept that "a man who could make 30 pretty
q musical bag az the tail end 81 the nine
teenih century ought 20 get a gold medal
or q grand prix or cross ~ the Legion
OF Honor or some such dlsiinction7 Yea
verify 7 ala hut that was n French bag
and they called IL musette The pipes
In the picture. too are French. and relies
- the time when kings and an. ems. ladies
and mobiles thought e q graceful pastime
70 play a. shepherds and shepherdesses
and sing dainty pastorals 20 the drone Of
the pipcs
The history OF tho Instrument n
were Highlander Ia bet my hliibeg that
IL was invented in Scotland Tor doesn't
Arlstides Quintilanos tell about It's pre-
valsnce in the Scottish Highlanders ever
50 long ago. and can ANYBODY remember
when II wasn't used 90 tune up the High
landers 10 fghtinF pltch7 But n ! were
an Irishmnn Ia swear by the piper that
PLAYED before Moses that Il came into ex-
istence IN tho Emerald fsle. and that the
piper himself hailed from tn old sod
However. seeing a. how I'm only an
American with love for study and an
tiquities I'm bound 20 say that neither
scotchman nor Irishman invented the bag
pipcs. hut that u trne 20 them both. in
al PROBABILITIES. from tho Romans
THE ancient people Of Italy had the in
strument and distributed n over Europe
as they did their laws and other things
slngulnrly enough. The Italian peasantry
preserve q record u the source from
which they may have derived IL IN the
name which they give T.. The common
Italian name Is cornamusa. but IN country
districts sou may stiil hear II spoken or
as the zampoRnia, and n you are interest
cd In the philoloRy ~ the subject YOU may
find in that word not only traces Of the
Arabic zummsrah bl-soan and the Greek
svmphonela. but also ~ the Chaldaic sam
ponia. or sampoueyah. guess snmponia
Is Chaldaic: AZ any rare it's IN the Biblical
Eook q Daniel. which has about the
earliest reference 20 the baEplpee that !
know about All the words that ! have
mentioned with their likeness IN physiog-
nomv means hagpipe. although YOU never
would have gu ssed Il from the transll N
which the Seventy gave 20 the chaldaic
word in the third chapter Of Daniel They
called Il dulcimer which was ana Is a
qtringed instrument. played upOn with
hammers You remember the passage
Il Is In the story about Shadrach. Meshach
and Abednego. the three Hebrew gentle
men who refused 20 fan down ana wor-
ship the golden image that Nehuchadne1-
zsr the King had Get up. though an good
citizens had heen commanded 30 20 do AZ
what time they heard the sound OF the
cornet. flute harp. sackbut psaltery. dull
elmer and an kinds Of music The Old
Testament revisers fifteen years ago put
'baRpipes' as marginal reading, not be-
ing brave enough 20 follow the musical
scholarF, who had long told them that the
Chaidale word meant bagplpe. But what
rau YOU do with Bible translatorH7 There