An early type of pipe, or hornpipe, by tradition played in Scotland up to the 18th Century. Instruments were made of a variety of materials, including bone, sycamore, boxwood and, most commonly, hollowed branch of elder, known as bourtree. Horns attached to the reed pipe were commonly made of goat or cow horn. The Stock and Horn is mentioned as a characteristic folk instrument in literature of the late Medieval period.
This is a mouth-blown reed instrument with similarities to the bagpipe chanter. The tune being played is the North-East song melody Far O'er Bogie. In the guise of the 'shepherd's pipe' the instrument features in pastoral dramas of the early 18th Century, such as Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd of 1725.
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