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Instruments |
The Cabrette literally 'kid' or 'little goat' |
Devised at the end of the XIXth Century by makers from the Auvergnat community who had emigrated to the Paris suburbs.
It is usually bellows-blown. Its leather bag, covered with velvet or brocade with contrasting fringes, is round in shape, with a high curved neck ending in a carved head into which slots a short turned wooden tube. Attached to it and feeding from it with a small internal air outlet, are a chanter and a small drone, the latter often being a dummy in larger instruments.
The original instrument was reeded with double reeds throughout, the chanter bore being conical and the small drone bore parallel.
The player often accompanies himself with brass footbells strapped to his ankle.
The basic design is influenced both by the original instrument still used in the West of the Massif Central, the 'Chabrette Limousine', and by the French Baroque smallpipes, the 'Musette' - literally small bag.
From the former it inherited its overall small size and conical chanter, and from the latter its joint chanter-drone arrangement and its bellows.
Its music is characterized by the constant return to the 6-finger tonic note which usually sounds in unison with the small drone, when the latter is reeded. If the drone is a dummy, this technique creates the illusion of the missing drone note. It is also used for percussive effects to emphasize the rhythmical melodies typical of its repertoire: bourrées in 3/8 or 2/4, waltzes, polkas, mazurkas.
In slow airs called '"regrets", much used is made of an elaborate sliding and vibrato technique.
The best players are able to combine both techniques to make the instrument 'sing'.
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The 'Musette' or French Baroque Smallpipes |
The true Baroque smallpipes evolved rapidly between the first model illustrated in detail in Michael Praetorius's Syntagma Musicum of 1610 and its final description in Diderot & D'Alembert's Encyclopaedia of 1785.
They consisted of a rich cloth-covered leather bag (placed under the player’s left arm) with a lower air inlet connected to a small pair of bellows (placed under the player’s right arm, and secured to the waist by a belt and to the lower arm by a smaller strap).
A gooseneck-shaped air outlet at the top of the bag fed down into a short tube, itself connected to one or two detachable chanters topped with double reeds protected by one or two windcaps.
The unique drone system stuck out of the front-facing part of the bag and consisted of a series of interconnected tubes bored within a short single round piece of wood partly hidden inside the bag. Its double reeds were protected by a hollow wooden casing of the same diameter, and the various tubes could be opened and tuned with the help of sliders (called shuttles) placed within easy reach of the player’s right hand.
The instrument was thus extremely compact, and the combination of double reeds with small parallel bores throughout created the distinctively quiet and even combination of sounds suitable for chamber music.
(Excerpt from forthcoming publication: "Jean de La Mer") |
The 'Grande Cornemuse' and 'Musette' (great pipes, smallpipes) Central France |
The Great Pipes from Central France have a long history: they are first described in exact detail by Marin Marsenne in 1636, complete with all the components: The pear-shaped bag, the chanter and parallel two-part small drone in the same stock, the large three-part bass drone placed high in the bag and facing backwards, the mouth blowpipe with a valve, and the reeds: oboe-type for the chanter and primitive clarinet-type single reeds for the drones (see illustration).
They were the subject of a novel by XIXth century ruralist writer George Sand: "Les Maître-Sonneurs" (The Master-Pipers) and still celebrated in the largest gathering of French pipers at the Festival de St Chartier every 14th July week-end.
This model is still in current use in the old central provinces of Berry, Nivernais and Bourbonnais where hundreds of instruments can be found.
It has been made in a variety of sizes, from the small "onze pouce" (11 inch-long chanters, i.e.in high C) model, then called 'musette', to the enormous "vingt-six pouce" (26 inch, i.e. in low C). |
The 'Musette Béchonnet' Bourbonnais / Auvergne |
A hybrid instrument devised by Auvergne maker Joseph Béchonnet from the middle of the XIXth century. His instruments are considered to be the epitome of traditional instrument-making.
He seems to have inspired himself from the Baroque smallpipes (see above) which he is known to have repaired (his name appearing inside a set of Baroque smallpipes bellows).
The Instrument has three drones in octaves, the tenor is in the same position as in the cornemuses from Berry and Bourbonnais: parallel and close to the chanter, and feeding from the same soundbox.
The bass drone has been placed much lower down the bag and tied to the gooseneck end of the latter, thus half-disappearing behind the bag when the player faces the audience.
The third drone is also feeding from the same soundbox and is either placed at an angle behind the other two (a rather exposed position) or tucked inside the soundbox itself so that only a tiny tuning slit is showing -this system has some similarities to the drone sliders of the Baroque smallpipes-
The sound of the instrument is much more ‘rounded’ than that of the other peasant instruments, with the three relatively quiet drones producing a sort of ‘sound halo’ also reminiscent of that of the Baroque smallpipes
It is also the most versatile of the folk instruments, being fully chromatic over one and a half octaves.
Modern instruments makers have added a supplementary lower thumbhole at the back of the chanter to facilitate the production of a minor third note, and occasinally a double hole for the lowest finger.
The volume produced by the modern instruments has been reduced somewhat to allow for easier overblowing and more stable drones throughout the range. |
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droneless bagpipes
Cantiga de Santa Maria |
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Baroque Smallpipes Hotteterre's
'Méthode de la Musette' (1737) |
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Cabrette in A /D
by Joseph Ruols |
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Shepherds' Great Pipes
Mersenne's Book of Instruments (1636) |
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French Baroque smallpipes
in F#/B by Rémy Dubois
after Nicolas Chédeville |
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"Musette Royale" or "Chèvre"
XVIIth C. (print XIXth C.) |
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Musette Béchonnet in G/C by Bernard Blanc |
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