Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed text > Story of the bagpipe

Shepherd's Pipe
produced a musical sound. Most readers are familiar
with the Pandean pipe (fabled to have been invented
by the god Pan), which was the develop-
ment of the shepherd's pipe, or chanter, e * n "
... „ . .. , ,, .. dean Ftpe
whilst the Egyptians attributed the invention
of the flute to the god Osiris. Another name for the
Pandean pipe is the syrinx.
The very first form of wind instrument must be
sought in the simple reed, and its origin may, with
much probability, be attributed to a pre-
historic shepherd, who, when tending his _,
i 1 iu I i e ■ c f A' Simple
sheep along the bank or a river, first dis- t, j
covered the musical capabilities of a bored-
reed. Naturally, the name "shepherd's pipe" has
clung to this primitive attempt at a wind instrument.
Even if it be disputed as to the origin of the pipe,
a not unlikely explanation has been offered to the effect
that the wind among the reeds produced musical sounds
akin to the /Eolian harp, and so opened up the field
of discovery for some wandering minstrel-shepherd.
Surely the existence of reeds or bamboos must needs
have suggested the latent possibilities of the reed
pipe. And, naturally, from the simple
reed-pipe, blown at one end by the mouth, , 1,
, n , , , 'the Flute
the II ute was also evolved : thus, the reed is
the parent of the pipe and the flute. In the course of
years, whether by accident or design, the advantage of
two holes in the reed was discovered, and then the
transition from two holes to four holes was obviously
due to the disposition of the two fingers of either hand.
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