Small Pipes - Scottish Smallpipes

Small Pipes is an amazingly authentic sounding set of Scottish Smallpipes.

Be sure to check out the cool demo videos on my website!

Compared to the big Scottish Highland pipes in the key of B-flat, the Smallpipes are in the key of A, and have a rounder, mellower tone.

The chanter fingerings are based on those used for the Highland pipes.

The left half of the chanter image is for the "top" hand, the right half is the "bottom" hand.

The bar at the bottom center is the left thumb hole that is on the back of a real chanter.

Playing tip On the real Scottish Smallpipes, you have to keep your left thumb covering the back chanter hole for all notes except the highest one. On the app, the back chanter hole is provided by the gray bar (lights up green) at the bottom of the screen under your left thumb. If you arent hearing any different notes, make sure your left thumb is on the bar.

Touch the i icon at the upper right corner of the main screen to show/hide the on-screen volume and drone startup pitch ramp controls. All settings are saved and restored the next time the app is run.

Touch the drones in the background painting to start/stop the drones.

The drone and chanter sounds are provided by ePipes in Glasgow, Scotland, and are based on an extremely high quality per-note studio recording of one of the finest sets available.

Rotate the iPad to Portrait orientation to see the fingering chart. Rotate back to Landscape orientation to play.

To get started, make sure that the orientation lock switch on your iPad (just above the volume controls on the side) is in the off position, then rotate the iPad to landscape orientation to play.

Next, touch the bar at the bottom with your left thumb, and touch the left half of the chanter starting with the tips of your left index, middle, and ring fingers. Next touch the right half of the chanter with the tips of your right index, middle, ring, and little fingers. The tips of the fingers must be used, not the flats.

Once you are comfortable playing the easy fingerings for the notes on the chanter, use the help screen (rotate the iPad to portrait orientation) to assist you in learning the proper Highland bagpipe chanter fingerings. These fingerings are used when properly executing all the Scottish piping ornaments.

On the fingering chart, touch the Tradlessons logo to visit the app support website. Touch the ePipes logo to visit their website to learn more about their virtual bagpipe instruments and controllers.

Play along with tunes in your iPads music library by starting a music track playing using the iPads iPod app, then launching Small Pipes. Adjust the chanter and drone volume by touching the i icon to show the on-screen volume controls. I like to use this feature to play marching snare drum music files to create a virtual Pipes and Drums Corps. (Please check out the demo videos!)

Using the iPads Settings app, under General/Home, enable the "iPod Controls" setting to allow you to bring up the iPod music control panel by double-clicking the home button while Small Pipes is running.

Important notes for experienced Highland players and piping students

The app is not a 100% replacement for a mouth blown practice chanter or dedicated electronic chanter and sound module. While it is fun to play, sounds great, and is very responsive, there are fundamental difference between the app and a physical chanter.

Please visit the app support website to learn the specific differences and limitations of the app compared to a dedicated electronic practice chanter before purchasing the app for this purpose.

For more fun and to experience the full quality of the samples used for the app, try playing the app through an external amplified speaker connected to the headphone jack on your device.