Okay so I have been trying to find out as much as I can about these highland hornpipes, I have the review form the old chiff newsletter… and the website… But if you have ever heard one first hand or played one whats your opinion… Hows in play? I play whistle, accordion, and pipes, but also played sax for 4 years or so in a orchestra after learning to play in my teens… but my love is Irish music rules all and well a reeded hornpipe sounds fun to me…
Ps. I did do a search on here and had a hard time finding anything, and I posted on the whistle page because of the broader audience and use.
Pretty much anything you want to chime in about this I would like to hear…
It looks like a Xaphoon with GHB fingering. I guess the “Wee Dee” model might be usable for ITM, if it can be overblown beyond the normal octave+1 range. Interesting.
I know oyu know this Doc, but again as a caution, that also overblows at the twelfth, not the octave, if anyone is concerned. I say this cause I was confused at first too
I was on their wait list and I recently got an email informing me that they had a batch available which would be their last- they are ending production.
In the interim I actually made my own, putting a clarinet barrel and mouthpiece on a Susato F whistle, which plays great! I had to bore a thumbhole so that I could play an entire octave. Of course that uses whistle fingering. A range of tone colours can be got, from a full-bodied round clarinet sound to a mystical Duduk-like tone. I’m going to try making a new PVC body in a different key.
Technical info on these instruments can be found in Anthony Baine’s book “Woodwind Instruments and Thier History”(Dover Pub.) and "Ancient European Musical Instruments by Bessaraboff "(Library Ref Book?).
The Highland Hornpipe was invented a couple years ago in North America, so obviously authors who died before it was invented can’t mention it.
It has nothing to do with the historical instrument called the Hornpipe. The “Highland Hornpipe” is a sax mouthpiece stuck on a piece of PVC pipe with holes drilled so that you can use normal Highland bagpipe fingering.
