BAGPIPE MUSIC SHELF WINDOWS

This harmony is possible because the notes on a chanter are tuned to sound their best with the drones. вЂњMost bagpipers, myself included, are just kind of obsessed with that interaction,вЂќ Banton says. вЂњItвЂ™s very warm, and itвЂ™s a very friendly instrument,вЂќ says Banton.ДЄll three types of bagpipes are distinguished by the harmonic interaction between the melody-playing chanter and the drones. At the same time, the smallpipesвЂ™ quiet tone makes them ideal for playing in groups. вЂњSmallpipes I play for simplicity,вЂќ he says. They are BantonвЂ™s favorite member of the bagpipe family. The smallpipes are softer and the chanter plays an octave lower in pitch than either of the others. Nate tends to make sweeter, quieter border pipes.вЂќ Some can have that more sneery tone, that slightly feral quality to them,вЂќ he says. вЂњThereвЂ™s some variety within border pipes. But over time, he says, he has come to appreciate their вЂњimpish sneer.вЂќ вЂњI used to hate the border pipes,вЂќ says Timothy Cummings, a friend of Banton who plays the highland pipes and also composes bagpipes music. They play at a higher, more piercing pitch than the smallpipes, and have a conical, or trumpet-shaped, chanter, which makes their sound louder. Nate BantonвЂ™s apprentice Will Woodson playing a five drone set of Banton Border pipes.Д®ven so, the border pipes sound remains edgier and less mellow than that of the smallpipes. But IвЂ™m always trying to make them better.вЂќ Of his pipes, he says, вЂњI think theyвЂ™re among the best being made today and possibly ever made. вЂњThere are customers who want the Swiss army bagpipe,вЂќ he says вЂњThey want as many drones as possible and as many chanters as possible all to fit in one bag.вЂќ But whatever the request, Banton is an exacting craftsman. The bagpipes Banton makes are evolving, becoming capable of playing more notes and a wider range of music under his hands. Soft-spoken yet determined, Banton is more than a craftsman-he is an innovator. Today, they have joined the larger highland bagpipes to infuse the pub performances and parades that pipers use to keep Scottish music alive.Д«agpipes of all sorts live on the fringes of musical and public awareness, but even in this niche trade there is room for development. In the early 1980s, the folk music resurgence slowly revived the smallpipes and border pipes, which were adapted to be the right size and volume to play in pubs. But the niche market for pipes has opened to allow the smaller, softer cousins of the famous highland pipes to reemerge. However, the border pipes-which are larger than the smallpipes, but not as large as the highland pipes-and smallpipes he spends his days making fill an overlapping musical (and social) function.ДЄ few years ago, Banton reckons, he couldnвЂ™t have made a living making them. His specialties are not the enormous, ear-splittingly loud instruments that people usually imagine when they think of Scottish bagpipes. вЂњThatвЂ™s what weвЂ™re aiming for,вЂќ he says, indicating the pipes, whose spindly drones and leather bag he has crafted himself.Д«anton spends his days refining hunks of wood, metal and antler into the delicate curves and ridges of an instrument that has existed in some form since before the Middle Ages, and whose strident tone is irresistible to some and bizarre to others. He sits, cradling his own set of smallpipes-the smallest Scottish bagpipe, cousin to the great highland pipes most people are familiar with-in his lap. It is drafty inside the workshop, and Banton is dressed accordingly in a gray wool sweater, sturdy sneakers and a green wool hat pulled over a baseball cap.

BAGPIPE MUSIC SHELF WINDOWS

The bars on the windows rattle in the breeze as Banton, who is thirty-six, explains how he puts bagpipes together. The lathes are by far the largest tools in the room, but there is also a buffing wheel, a grinding wheel, a drill press and a torch for silver soldering.

He shares this building with jewelry-makers and metal- and woodworkers, but has a вЂњsomewhat soundproofвЂќ tuning booth in which to test his bagpipes. Here, for the past six years, Banton has served as New York CityвЂ™s only bagpipe maker. They are easy to miss in BantonвЂ™s packed workshop, which is tucked into the back of a two-story brick building, behind a door peppered with white and orange graffiti.

вЂњEverything starts out as blocks of wood,вЂќ Nate Banton says, standing in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn workshop, where a heap of rough, rectangular wooden blocks-future bagpipes-sits on a shelf overlooking one of the lathes.

Bagpipe music shelf