Bagpipes are bad for your health.

[George R. Lane]

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...layer-78?lite=

We all should be wary of mold in our instruments.

[Tobin]

I shudder to think of the mold that grew in my tuba and baritone back in junior high and high school. I, like every other brass instrument player, had to regularly open the "spit valve" and blow through the mouthpiece to drain the saliva out of the instrument. I washed my mouthpiece somewhat regularly, but never the inside of the instrument. For all I know, it had not been washed in years of playing (including many students before me). Blech!

[OldSausage]

Hey, I wouldn't touch your instruments with a ten foot pole.

[Jacob]

My trombones and baritones got regular complete cleanings, disassembled and submerged in hot soapy water in the bathtub. Glad I didn't play tuba. That would have been a major undertaking.

[Tobin]

Hey, I wouldn't touch your instruments with a ten foot pole.

Don't worry, I drain the spit out of my mandolins monthly!

[John Kelly]

And remember that the bagpipes are organic, not metal - the bag is made of sheepskin, so a great habitat for growing cultures! The move to Goretex bags over the past few years has been reversed by many of the top pipe bands reverting to the sheepskin bags as the pipers say the bag is just better. Goretex being lighter material spoiled the balance of the instrument, among other limitations. I'm glad I play stringed instruments, though my two daughters both play the Highland Bagpipe!

[xiledscot]

Hello John....I think I know your location.Mum and Dad used to rent an old schoolhouse,for holidays,somewhere between Ardbeg and LochEck.
I think you have the World Championships just down the road.
Can you confirm as true? Pipers swirled single malt whiskey around the inside of the bag to keep it moist and presumably deter infection!
Not sure if they drank it afterwards..........or before!!

[mandroid]

Oregon's state flower is a Mushroom.. at least on the west side ..

[ptritz]

Here's another bagpipe health hazard to worry about. Some years ago, I was playing in a session and sitting across from an uilleann piper. No, let me correct that. I was sitting across from a guy who owned a set of uillean pipes. We finally found a tune he knew, and were playing away when there was a "pop" sound like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle. The valve assembly came shooting out of his bellows, and ricocheted off the edge of the fingerboard of my brand new Fylde mandola. That lovely little couple-ounce chunk of ivory left a very nice dent in the fingerboard, which is there to be admired to this day. Had it hit a person, it would definitely have hurt and could have done some real damage. Had it hit the face of the instrument, I suspect it might have gone right through. Beware - never sit across from the piper.

[Tom Cherubini]

Never sit in the same room with a piper!

[citeog]

Wsn't it G.K. Chesterton who said that the definition of a gentleman is someone who can play the (highland) bagpipes------------- and doesn't!!!

Paul

[Jim Ferguson]

Alfred Hitchcock is purported to have said: “These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.”
Ouch Alfred.......OUCH!!!!!
Being from Nova Scotia (New Scotland), being a Ferguson & also with MacKenzie & Shillington ties & having served in the Kings College cadet corps of the Black Watch.........the bagpipes have been a big part of my life & I still love the sound......Hitchcock can kiss my grits....:-)
Peace

[allenhopkins]

At last, a bagpiper who made himself sick!

Oscar Wilde on the bagpipes: "Thank God there's no odor!" But of course, if there were enough mold/fungi, there would be one…

Is there a disease one gets from the bodhran?

[John Kelly]

Hey, xiledscot, you have indeed found my hideaway! I live just south of Loch Eck in Sandbank on the Holy Loch here in Argyll. The Cowal Championships are held each year in Dunoon on the last weekend in August and they are the last of the big pipe band competitions held annually - the Five Majors, they are called. Unfortunately the RSPBA (the governing body for piping in Scotland) may well be taking away Cowal's status as a major after the 2014 Games, but this is at the moment under negotiation.
Allen, you ask if there is a disease you can get from bodhran? Unfortunately there was a case of a bodhran maker in the Scottish Borders dying from anthrax back in about 2006, and a London maker in 2008. It seems that the imported skins were infected with anthrax spores and the victims inhaled them while working.

[Bertram Henze]

imported skins

There goes my naive picture of the honest bodhran maker visiting his goats back in the shed with a knife...

[Barry Smith]

My son, upon hearing my chanter practice CD, proclaimed, " I didn't know dying seals made recordings." I went back to the mandolin and haven't looked back, though I still love to hear the pipes.

[xiledscot]

O.K. Think it's time to circle the wagons.
The Great Highland Bagpipes are currently played all over the world. Musicians of many nations, even in countries having their own native form of bagpipes, are arranging traditional folk tunes for play on the Highland pipes. In a parallel development, some Celtic musicians have rediscovered ancient airs and piobaireachd tunes and arranged them for other Celtic instruments, such as the MANDOLIN, harp, fiddle, and guitar. The Great Highland Bagpipes and their repertoire continue to evolve, and research into all aspects of traditional music and styles persists. Many other cultures across the globe have abandoned the more traditional aspects of their arts and music; on the other hand, the Scots and the other Celtic peoples continue to celebrate ancient and traditional instruments, keeping them an integral part of their musical heritage.
As for Alf Hitchcock......wasn't he Engleesh???.......and Oscar Wilde........darling!!
They and other unfortunate Sassenach's only deserve our pity.An acquired taste? Possibly, but a taste that is greatly misunderstood.

[Steve L]

I would rather hear good bagpipe playing than good bluegrass playing any day of the week.

[journeybear]

I would rather hear good bagpipe playing than good bluegrass playing any day of the week.

Oh, if only 'twere possible.

... Can you confirm as true? Pipers swirled single malt whiskey around the inside of the bag to keep it moist and presumably deter infection!
Not sure if they drank it afterwards..........or before!!

Beat me to the punch there. As I was reading the article, I noticed this:

"A 35-year-old man suffered from so-called “trombone player’s lung,” or hypersensitivity pneumonia triggered by bugs including the same Fusarium fungi that affected Shone. The trombone player had a bad cough that lasted for 15 years, according to a 2010 article in the journal Chest. His cough stopped once he started disinfecting it [the trombone] with rubbing alcohol."

It occurred to me to suggest pipers do something similar with a wee dram of the uisgebauh, which they may well have close at hand. If they would be willing to sacrifice a bit for this purpose, of course. BTW, I would strongly suggest one NOT drink the whiskey used for cleaning the bag!

Don't worry, I drain the spit out of my mandolins monthly!

Good for you. If only banjo players would follow your lead, and do it more often as well.

[Randi Gormley]

Hmmm. Isn't this the time for the obligatory joke about even stages meaning the drool comes out of both sides of the banjo-player's mouth?

I just was at a gig with our piper and he's always very careful about keeping his pipes (both the uillean and great highland) cleaned, part of which is because he's always mucking about with the reeds and taking it apart. Now I wonder whether germs from a cold can get caught in there and I shouldn't have sat beside him since I'm currently hacking a lot (behind my hand, of course). I'll recommend the whiskey wash to him. I think it will be well-received!

[journeybear]

Should produce a chuckle and a knowing smile. I'm sure pipers have heard plenty of jokes.

Though only while not playing, of course ...

[Beanzy]

Is there a disease one gets from the bodhran?

I always suspected the bodhran was the symptom.

[Dan Hulse]

... there was a case of a bodhran maker in the Scottish Borders dying from anthrax back in about 2006, and a London maker in 2008. It seems that the imported skins were infected with anthrax spores and the victims inhaled them while working.

John, have you no goats in Scotland?

I've heard that the Irish gave the Scottish the bagpipes, but they never got the joke.

[Steve L]

Uillean pipes are driven by bellows, so there's no human contaigion entering the system. If you were sitting next to a Great Highland Piper, you'd probably loose your hearing before you caught a cold

[Bertram Henze]

...His cough stopped once he started disinfecting it [the trombone] with rubbing alcohol."

It occurred to me to suggest pipers do something similar with a wee dram of the uisgebauh, which they may well have close at hand. If they would be willing to sacrifice a bit for this purpose, of course. BTW, I would strongly suggest one NOT drink the whiskey used for cleaning the bag!

"Well we went ashore and up to the Inns, and he asked if they could give him
treacle for his bagpipes. They said they had none. 'Weel,' said he, 'next to
that the best thing for it iss whusky - give me a gill of the best, and the
Captain here will pay for it; I'm his piper,' He got the gill, and what did
he do but pour a small sensation of it into the inside of his pipes and
drink the rest? 'It comes to the same thing in the long run,' said he, and
we got aboard again, and away we started.

(from Neil Munro Para Handy's Piper)