Bagpipes : a national collection of a national instrument

Based on a 'national collection of the national instrument' now assembled in National Museums Scotland, this book offers an account of the musicology of the bagpipe in its European context, including the remarkable influence of the Baroque on Scotland's musical traditions.

The record is meagre for the evolution of the bagpipe in Scotland and perceptions of the 'national instrument' have depended on a stereotype Great Highland Bagpipe assumed to have a continuous history from a distant past.

The evidence, as far as it goes, suggests that Scotland adopted a 'great pipe' from the European bagpipe tradition and made it, through the strength of the Gaelic language and its music, very much its own.