Star Wars Theme Played on Bagpipes


[YouTube Link]


Here is YouTube user Copinated performing John Williams' opening to Star Wars on bagpipes. 57 sec. long.

Bagpipes: people either love them or hate them. I'm in the first category. How about you?

Bagpipes are fine if played by someone who really knows what they're doing, and is at least one city block away from my ear.

People who are just learning to play the bagpipes should probably do it on the surface of the Moon. The far side of the Moon, ideally.

That said, I stumbled across this rendition of the Star Wars theme quite some time ago, and my immediate response was, "This -- the propagation of this video to the world at large -- is what the Internet was created for."
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These pipes sound like whiny children. That would have sounded so much better with bulgarian bagpipes (gaida). Just listen to this, it's so outer-worldly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWLMZnhUvUo&feature=related
(note: lower the volume a bit)
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lol, I absolutely love bagpipes (I've let my husband and family know I want "Amazing Grace" played by bagpipes at my funeral). Now I have a question for you, have you ever tried to PLAY them? As a classically trained vocalist, I have learned over the years how to manage my breath and have pretty good lung capacity, yet the one time I tried out a friend's pipes (only using the chanter, not the bag or drones) I was amazed at the sheer amount of air that had to be pushed into it to vibrate the reed.

Very difficult to play.
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I first heard the Star Wars theme on bagpipes about 10 years ago. A guy on campus played the pipes and one day he took requests. Someone suggest Star Wars and he did it. We imagined John Williams going over the sheet music for this wondering how he should play it. Full orchestra? Maybe experiment with something electronic? However, you know that somewhere in the back of his mind was a little Scot jumping up and down screaming "PLAY IT ON THE PIPES!! THE PIPES MAN!!"
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Courageous Grace: My sister tried to learn the bagpipes. She got pretty good on the chanter, but had dizzy spells and maybe even a couple blackouts trying to keep the drone inflated.
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Finally, a topic I can comment on with some authority! I learned the pipes in the early 90s, courtesy of a former Black Watch Pipe Major. I gave it up after I left the band, because I found the Pipes incredibly limiting: only one volume setting (bloody loud), either "on" or "off" (no silence between notes). Only 9 notes (just over 1 octave) in a major scale, and they can not be tuned except to themselves. When we played with an orchestra, the whole orchestra had to retune to match the Pipes!
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My alma mater had a pipe and drum corps, and so I became quite fond of hearing the sound of the pipes calling - from glen to glen and across the parking lots...

I will note, however, that the sound of poorly played and/or out-of-tune bagpipes makes me want to find the culprit and shove the chanter down his/her throat.
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0 comments on the exquisite buddhist paintings, 18 comments on bag pipe playing schmoe with darth vader helmet.

and i think to myself, what a wonderful world.
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