Star Wars Theme Played on Bagpipes

1. Mr Pudifoot
   December 21st, 2007 at 10:45 am

   If it wasn’t for those blasted Democrats, it would be legal to kill bagpipers. And mimes.

2. Doctor Slack
   December 21st, 2007 at 11:20 am

   The worst things in the world are war, poverty, bagpipes, mimes, Star Wars nerdery and David Hasselhoff, not necessarily in that order.

3. Thomas
   December 21st, 2007 at 11:54 am

   Hey, nothin wrong with bagpipes. I feel for folks who play unusual instruments. I play the didjeridoo.

4. Pat J
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:11 pm

   Bagpipes are fine if played by someone who really knows what they’re doing, and is at least one city block away from my ear.

   People who are just learning to play the bagpipes should probably do it on the surface of the Moon. The far side of the Moon, ideally.

   That said, I stumbled across this rendition of the Star Wars theme quite some time ago, and my immediate response was, “This — the propagation of this video to the world at large — is what the Internet was created for.”

5. xayzer
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:16 pm

   These pipes sound like whiny children. That would have sounded so much better with bulgarian bagpipes (gaida). Just listen to this, it’s so outer-worldly:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWLMZnhUvUo&feature=related
   (note: lower the volume a bit)

6. Courageous Grace
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:16 pm

   lol, I absolutely love bagpipes (I’ve let my husband and family know I want “Amazing Grace” played by bagpipes at my funeral). Now I have a question for you, have you ever tried to PLAY them? As a classically trained vocalist, I have learned over the years how to manage my breath and have pretty good lung capacity, yet the one time I tried out a friend’s pipes (only using the chanter, not the bag or drones) I was amazed at the sheer amount of air that had to be pushed into it to vibrate the reed.

   Very difficult to play.

7. Jay
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:20 pm

   I first heard the Star Wars theme on bagpipes about 10 years ago. A guy on campus played the pipes and one day he took requests. Someone suggest Star Wars and he did it. We imagined John Williams going over the sheet music for this wondering how he should play it. Full orchestra? Maybe experiment with something electronic? However, you know that somewhere in the back of his mind was a little Scot jumping up and down screaming “PLAY IT ON THE PIPES!! THE PIPES MAN!!”

8. Marina
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:22 pm

   the Darth Vader mask is a nice touch. i’m all for bagpipes.

9. Pat J
   December 21st, 2007 at 12:22 pm

   Courageous Grace: My sister tried to learn the bagpipes. She got pretty good on the chanter, but had dizzy spells and maybe even a couple blackouts trying to keep the drone inflated.

10. kid icarus
    December 21st, 2007 at 1:25 pm

    at pat j. you don’t keep the drones inflated. you keep the bag inflated. i’m all for the pipes, as i play them (grade 2 solo piper).

11. brian t
    December 21st, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    Finally, a topic I can comment on with some authority! I learned the pipes in the early 90s, courtesy of a former Black Watch Pipe Major. I gave it up after I left the band, because I found the Pipes incredibly limiting: only one volume setting (bloody loud), either “on” or “off” (no silence between notes). Only 9 notes (just over 1 octave) in a major scale, and they can not be tuned except to themselves. When we played with an orchestra, the whole orchestra had to retune to match the Pipes!

12. Mel
    December 21st, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    My alma mater had a pipe and drum corps, and so I became quite fond of hearing the sound of the pipes calling - from glen to glen and across the parking lots…

    I will note, however, that the sound of poorly played and/or out-of-tune bagpipes makes me want to find the culprit and shove the chanter down his/her throat.

13. VonSkippy
    December 21st, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    Get a Synthesizer, it is after all the 21st century.

14. dkvideo0
    December 21st, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    Do you know the difference between and onion and a bagpipe?

    No one cries when you cut up a bagpipe.

15. Jon C
    December 21st, 2007 at 6:16 pm

    I think I’m in the second category.

16. Chris
    December 21st, 2007 at 11:55 pm

    You gotta have MORE BAGPIPE!

    LoL dkvideo0

17. Tim Giachetti
    December 22nd, 2007 at 7:36 am

    Any old rockers out there know pagpipes are great correctly infused into rock. April Wine - Harder and Faster album has a great example of it.

18. Pudifoot
    December 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 am

    lol @ Chris

19. yeah
    December 27th, 2007 at 9:16 am

    0 comments on the exquisite buddhist paintings, 18 comments on bag pipe playing schmoe with darth vader helmet.

    and i think to myself, what a wonderful world.

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