Highland pipe chanter, the scale, played by Iain MacInnes (audio clip)

The Highland pipe chanter is a conically-bored instrument, with a double reed characteristically made of French or Spanish cane (arundo donax). The chanter being played was made by Peter Henderson in Glasgow in the 1890s.

The Highland bagpipe has a scale of nine notes. In music collections the keynote is written as A, although in reality modern pitch is slightly sharp of B flat. The scale runs from A to A' on the treble clef (incorporating the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G and A'), with an additional note (G) pitched a full tone below the low A. All the notes are produced by directly covering and uncovering the 8 holes of the chanter, without the use of additional keys.

In its origins, the Highland bagpipe in common with other European and World bagpipes is a prehistoric wind instrument. Its main elements are the melody pipe or 'chanter' on which the music is played with the fingers (usually on a scale of nine notes) and with an accompanying fixed note or chordal accompaniment from the drone or drones, all of which are held in stocks tied into an animal skin bag (now coming to be replaced by synthetic materials). The player blows into the bag to supply a constant pressure and flow of air onto the reeds which are set into the chanter and drones and which make the sound. The air flow is controlled by a simple non-return valve on the blowstick.

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