¿BOMBARD OR PISTON?

World/Folk Flutes & Winds
1

Hi everyone!

I have a little problem right now, hope some Breton expert, or somebody with experience in breton music could help me, I would be very grateful.

I have a band named Ancares were we play Breton, Irish and Asturian music. My job in the group is to play the wooden flute, I play a Lehart’s tuned in D.
As time went on we started to get more and more influences from bands like “Kornog”, “Barzaz” and “Skolvan”. The thing is, I decided I wanted to play the Bombard, and I wanted to find one tuned in D (So I could switch easily from Bombard to Flute). The issue is, a lot of people from brittany tells me that a Bombard in ‘D’ sounds very very sharp, even annoying.

I really don’t know what to do, I also heard that there was a guy called Youenn Le Bihan (who plays in Skolvan) that created a new bombard called " Piston " .. and the one I heard (in a recording) gives a great low D, and I think it can be easily played with the Wooden Flute.

¿Does somebody knows about Pistons? how much would they cost, if Mr. Youenn Le Bihan makes them for sale, etc..

¿Does somebody has a Bombard in ‘D’? ¿Does it has a sharp and annoying sound to be played with the Flute?

¿Which maker would you recommend me? (I only know Gilles Léhart)

Thank you very much!!!
Diego.

2

Diego, This Wikipedia page may help…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piston_(music)

You may also wish to e-mail the people at the “Thistle and Shamrock” radio program. Bretons are a tribe of the “Celts” and I have heard many Traditional Breton Music programs on Thistle Radio. This organisation is very interested in promoting traditional Celtic music in all forms.

http://thistleradio.com

Thomas Hastay
thomashastay@yahoo.com

3

Talk to Gilles Léhart. On his website he only mentions making bombardes as low as Eb but maybe he could make a D piston.

I’d heed he advice against a high D bombarde. A piston is the way to go. During my brief stint in a bagad we used a piston in our competition suite and it was very effective.

Keep in mind that these instruments have stiff reeds and aren’t usually played for sustained periods. You might have to do the call/answer thing like in bagadoù and sonneurs couples.

4

Thank you both of you, I spoke to Gilles and I’ll buy a Bombard in G.