Northumbrian Small Pipes
Northumbrian small pipes are a quiet, sweet-toned, bellows-blown instrument. They are known to have existed in Northumberland from the 17th Century, and developed in the industrial triangle of South-East Northumberland. They have a range of up to two fully-chromatic octaves. The chanter is of cylindrical bore, stopped at the bottom, and fingered so that consecutive notes are separated by silence - this gives the characteristic "staccato" rippling effect to the music.
Download MP3 file of Chris playing Walsh's Hornpipe here
Below: Chris in Concert, Quebec, Canada, 1994
Chris plays Northumbrian pipes by: