biniou

biniou in British English (binju ) noun. a small high-pitched Breton bagpipe.

The Breton musical ecosystem The Breton traditional bagpipe - the biniou koz, pictured right - has an altogether different status. Its main characteristic is that it plays a secondary role vis-à-vis the bombarde, which has always been and remains the leading instrument.

Scotland's national instrument, the Bagpipe or in Gaelic “piob-mhor” (the great pipe) is not, contrary to popular belief, an instrument which has its origins in and has diffused from Scotland.

Breton melodies, like those composed in Wales, are often written in major or minor keys and employ complex harmonies, but the modal tunings and unison structures more usually favored in Ireland and Scotland are also used. Much of Breton traditional music is built on call-and-response patterns.

The piper with his bagpipes has been understood for years to be a symbol of Scottish patriotism, fierce, a brave fighter, and a cultural icon. Seeing the piper on the front lines of the First World War had the effect of energising the soldiers and lifting moral.

The chanter in the bagpipe is never silent. This means that there is no rest between notes and the volume of the instrument cannot be altered. The use of grace notes means that a variation can be created, rather than through dynamics.

But the word 'Breton' is misleading ; while it now refers to the inhabitants of Brittany, in medieval literature 'Breton' and 'Briton' were undifferentiated, applying to the early, non-Germanic inhabitants of Britain and Armorica, whose language was Old Welsh.

The ermine is an important symbol of Brittany reflected in the ancient blazons of the Duchy of Brittany and also in the chivalric order, L'Ordre de l'Hermine (The Order of the Ermine). The triskele is also an important symbol in Breton culture.

It's not the emotion behind the sound, it's the fact that they're loud. It's a feedback loop: One of the reasons people get sad is because of long, slow notes, but also because of the fact that it's used in these sad situations.

Bagpipes play a simple scale of nine notes. These notes form what music theorists call "mixolydian mode". Anyone with a music theory background knows that "mixolydian mode" is a major scale with a flat 7th.

The piper with his bagpipes has been understood for years to be a symbol of Scottish patriotism, fierce, a brave fighter, and a cultural icon. Seeing the piper on the front lines of the First World War had the effect of energising the soldiers and lifting moral.

Drones are the key to producing the pipes' unique sound Scottish pipes have three drones, two tenors which play exactly the same note and the bass which plays an octave below. They are powered by drone reeds, which is a cylinder of wood split into two pieces for tuning purposes.