The single Chanter 2 is the first publicly released recording to feature the groundbreaking Lindsay System Scottish smallpipes. The new pipes, featured in the current issue of the National Piping Centre’s magazine Piping Today (issue 89), were developed by musician Donald WG Lindsay, leading Scottish smallpiper, resident smallpipes tutor at The College of Piping, and current convenor of The Lowland & Border Pipers Society.

The new pipes have met with great enthusiasm amongst pipers, and amongst traditional pipe makers, who recognise the subtlety and innovative nature of the design. Developed at home from 2014-15 using desktop 3D printing, the chanter does what was fairly considered impossible for Scottish pipes of any kind. Without the use of any keywork, it provides the traditional Scottish smallpipes with a musical range comparable to the Irish Uilleann pipes, the Northumbrian pipes, the traditional flute and the low whistle, (although an octave below all of these instruments) while importantly preserving the fingering system and the characteristic Scottish sound & techniques within the core traditional range. The resulting instrument allows the familiar sound and style of Scottish piping to be applied to a much wider range of music.

Uniquely, the design of the Lindsay System chanter has been marked as Creative Commons, and the project is based on the Open Source ethos, in the hope that cooperation and collaboration between both amateur and professional makers can proceed over this design, in much the same way as happens with the older traditional forms of the instrument. This decision was taken, based on an understanding that an innovation like this arises, and is developed, through a process of feedback within the wider community of pipers, makers, reed makers and more, and that the design developed thus far is one more link in a chain of development that stretches both back to the earliest origins of the pipes, and forward hopefully a long way into the future!

Following the release of Chanter 2, work will begin on a full album titled MakerSpace, with a star studded list of guests and collaborators, that reflects the widespread goodwill which exists towards the new pipes’ project within piping, and traditional music communities.

The album will feature new music written for the new pipes by leading Scottish and piping composers including John Purser, Ross Ainslie, Matt Seattle, Mark Saul, and others, alongside a wide selection of traditional & contemporary music suitable for the new-found range of the pipes. The full album will include contributions from leading pipers including Lorne MacDougall, Brigdhe Chaimbeul, Jori Chisholm, Mark Saul, Calum Stewart and Alana MacInnes, alongside world class musicians including sax player Konrad Wiszniewski, bassist Dave Marks, concertina player Mohsen Amini, whistler Kevin Meehan, fiddler Roo Geddes, clarsair Rachel Hair, electronic musician Paul Baran, drummer Mark Scobbie, and clarinettist Alex South, with vocalists including Alasdair Roberts, Mairi Morrison, Lavinia Blackwall, and Sajid Sabri.

The MakerSpace album project will seek to raise funds on Kickstarter.com until the 31st of January 2018, with recording expected to begin at Watercolour Studios in Ardgour, Scotland during the early summer of 2018.

For now, we hope you enjoy the sound of this new instrument, and we look forward to exploring it further in the future!

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