The Reivers - curiosities

Scottish smallpipes (keys of A, Bb, C and D) – a bellows blown chamber bagpipe, one octave lower than the more familiar highland bagpipe, and ideally suited to mixing with the harp and acting as a tenor voice in collaborations with the violin.

Borerpipes (key of A)- another bellows blown Scottish bagpipe. Borderpipes are chromatic and have a medium strength – rather like a mezzoforte trumpet. Ideally suited for leading and duetting vigorously with the violin and able to fill a dance hall with sound without being overpowering.

Highland Bagpipes - no introduction needed really – these are the pipes everyone thinks of when they think of bagpipe. A very powerful instrument, like an entire orchestra playing fortissimo. They make a dramatic entrance and also suit very well with Ryszard’s drumkit or snare drum and can even play duets with the timpani.

Dudy wielkopolskie – Rarely needed but it can be done. Lindsay has Polish bagpipes from the Poznan region which can be played in their traditional line up of bagpipe and violin. Polish bagpipes are tuned quite differently, and are quite loud and so we tend not to use them with the harp. We have a collection of some of the traditional repertoire.

Irena plays:

Concert pedal harp – an orchestral harp. This gives the possibility to play the entire classical harp repertoire, including that with the violin. It also allows quick changing of keys to vary colour and effect within a single piece. Red Moon is an example of where we use this possibility to put pipes in a completely unexpected harmonic setting.

Celtic lever harp – a big clarsach! This is the traditional instrument used by harpists in Scotland and Ireland. Levers are used instead of pedals to change the string tension and pitch which gives some interesting possibilities. On the concert harp, one pedal is connected to many strings, but the lever harp allows the player (and composer) to introduce contrasts not otherwise possible – F with F# and G for example. The lever harp is not only the ideal traditional harp, but also the contemporary composers dream harp!

Pawel plays:

Violin – not only violin but also fiddle style. There is a difference in bowing techniques and embellishments between violin playing and Scots fiddle playing. Pawel is one of the very few exponents of fiddling in Poland.

Ryszard has a list needing a separate website to catalogue his instrumental possibilities but amongst those instruments most frequently used with The Reivers are:

Drumkit – a traditional rock style drumkit

Box – a wooden box on which the performer sits and creates a surprising variety of noises

Rainstick – we play lots of Scottish music…

Castanets – to bring some Iberian colour to our performances

Marimba – duets with Pawel on violin and some ensemble pieces when needed

Chinese water bells – small cup like ‚bells’ which are tuned by filling them with water and then gently struck – a delicate and beautiful sound

Glockenspiel – another melodic percussion instrument which can be used in many situations.

Snare drum – Ryszard uses a conventional orchestral snare drum but highland snare style in duet with Lindsay.

Bongos – every piper needs a bongo player..

Bodhran – the traditional Irish hand held drum played with a tipper.