Greetings, Chiffers. At the risk of sounding super dense, what are the differences between band and solo chanters for the Highland pipes? I’m dusting off my beast after years of concentrating on the uilleann pipes (be still, my beating heart) and am looking at getting a new chanter. Looking at some of the stuff on offer these days, I get the feeling the Highland piping world has moved on a tad since I last paid any attention to it.
The most I’ve picked up so far is that there seems to be greater emphasis on sweetness of tone with solo chanters.
If you have been outside the GHB world for a while you might want to visit bobdunsire and read up on numerous posts about the pros and cons of various chanters, band and solo.
My understanding is that the Naill chanter has been the most popular solo chanter for a number of years now. (By “solo” is usually meant solo competition.) I think what happens is that judges become accustomed to a certain sound and it behooves the competitors to go with that.
Recently McCallum came out with the MC2 chanter which has been getting some good reviews.
The top pipe bands (Grade One) use a variety of chanters: Sinclair, Shepherd, McCallum is my understanding.
The band chanters are usually louder, brighter, and higher-pitched. Leading pipe bands nowadays are pitched quite high, usually around A=453 by orchestral reckoning, around 480 cycles for the so-called “low A” of the GHB chanter.
Solo chanters are usually pitched a bit lower, often around A=448 to A=450 by orchestral reckoning, around 474 to 477 absolute cycles, the GHB player’s method of reckoning pitch.
For playing the GHB along with pipe organs and brass bands and orchestras one needs a chanter which “Low A” is 466 cycles, a “466 chanter”, which plays in the key of concert B flat at the pitch A=440. Several makers make such chanters: mine is a McCallum which plays great.
Thanks so much for that. Yes, I’ve only recently discovered the Bob Dunsire forum. It’s all feeling like a sudden re-education. I drifted away from the GHB years ago when I became hooked on the uilleann pipes. I’ve come to the realisation I can have both in my life, even if the neighbours would probably prefer if I just stuck to the UPs.
Well you could play SSPs, even more soft-sounding than UPs. But there’s no getting around the noise level of GHBs!
My McCallum 466 chanter is probably around as mellow as GHBs can get, a very pleasant warm sound.