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What is a bladder pipe used for?
The bladder pipe is a very distinctive loud instrument which has a reed which is enclosed by an animal bladder. The performer blows into the bladder through its mouthpiece, a wooden pipe. Like the bag of a bagpipe, the bladder serves as a wind reservoir keeping the lips from touching the reed directly.
Where was the bladder pipe used?
While the first creation of a double reed pipe with a bladder controlling breath is unknown, it is believed to have originated in Europe before the 13th century. As an intermediate phase between the almost pan-European bagpipe and the Renaissance crumhorn, the Bladder pipe flourished from the 14th to 16th centuries.
Why is the bladder pipe named as such?
Like the crumhorn, the bladder pipe is a wind-cap instrument. Thus, the reed, which is mounted to the top of the wooden body of the instrument, is not held between the lips. The ‘cap’ at the top of a bladder pipe that encases the reed is traditionally made from an animal bladder, hence the name bladder pipe.
Where is the bladder in humans?
Bladder. This triangle-shaped, hollow organ is located in the lower abdomen. It is held in place by ligaments that are attached to other organs and the pelvic bones. The bladder’s walls relax and expand to store urine, and contract and flatten to empty urine through the urethra.
What is a bladder pipe?
Like the bag of a bagpipe, the bladder serves as a wind reservoir keeping the lips from touching the reed directly. The bladder pipe’s sound is unusual because the player is unable to tongue or otherwise control the reed. This medieval instrument was one of the principal early wind cap instruments and is considered the forerunner to the crumhorn.
What is the difference between a bladder pipe and chanter?
The reed, inside the inflated bladder, is sounded continuously, and cannot be tongued. Some bladder pipes were made with a single drone pipe, and reproductions are similar to a loud, continuous crumhorn. The chanter has an outside tenon, at the top, near the reed, which fits into a socket or stock, which is then tied into the bladder.
What is a drone on a bladder pipe?
The bladder pipe is commonly constructed with a drone, an additional pipe that produces a single tone. You may have have noticed that the instrument pictured at the top of the page has two wooden bodies. The shorter of the two is the drone.
What is the difference between a bladder pipe and crumhorn?
Like the crumhorn, the bladder pipe is a wind-cap instrument. Thus, the reed, which is mounted to the top of the wooden body of the instrument, is not held between the lips. The ‘cap’ at the top of a bladder pipe that encases the reed is traditionally made from an animal bladder, hence the name bladder pipe.