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Perhaps some mention should be made here of the Goose and Small Pipes. The Goose is a practice chanter with a bag and mouth blown blowpipe but no drones, an intermediate stage between the practice chanter and full bagpipes. Also, the chanter on the Small Pipes (usually bellows, but occasionally mouth blown) is very similar, and sometimes identical to the practice chanter, except that it has to be more carefully tuned, to harmonise with the drones. Practice chanters are often very badly out of tune, as they are designed just for practice, not as an instrument in their own right. It seems to be much more difficult to match a reed to a narrow bored cylindrical chanter than a wider bored conical one, hence the discrepancies in tuning.
In the band we play in, students move from practice chanters to pipes in stages. Nobody would buy a Goose, as you describe it. Instead, we just plug the drones, to have only the chanter go. Or, for parades, the new folks use the "Tiger Woods" chanter reed, meaning a golf tee fitted into the chanter hole with waxed hemp string so only the drones play, as many drones as that person can maintain with good cut-offs and clear sound, which marching.
I'm experimenting with a Goose adapter, which is a device that necks down the bagpipe hole for the bagpipe chanter, to be able to use a practice chanter on the bagpipe. It takes a little getting used to, but allows a pretty sound more fit for indoor use.
Practice chanters can and have to be properly in tune, when played in groups, such as band practice nights. The band keeps a variety of reeds in stock and we "tune" the reed by screwing it more in or further out. We actually tap the chanter for a screw thread right where the reed goes, to make this more effective. The result is all chanters used by the bandmembers are very much in tune with each other.
A well made chanter can be played as a serious instrument on it's own. We have people who can get the full chromatic scale and do note bending similar to a harmonica, although none of this is done on the real bagpipes in highland music.
It is a pretty sounding reed instrument, except for the cheap crappy ones.
Bptdude 05:56, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
The practice chanter is only used by people who want to play GHB later and the article should carry this. Currently this article uses bagpipe as a synonym for GHB.
Viller 18:05, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
Not true - it also can be and is used to practise the Scottish Smallpipes, Reel Pipes, and Lowland (or Border) Pipes. All of these are different instruments with very different sounds, although they all share the same fingering, which is why the same practice chanter can be used for them all. User:Wmck 17:56, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
The text says that the image shows the three most common tutor books in use. Obviously the College of Piping "green book" is one of the most well known and widely used, but having played for over 20 years (and taught for the last six) have never heard of, or come across, either of the other two. Books that are in more popular use include the National Piping Centre's book and the Logan's tutor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.170.56.108 ( talk) 21:00, 19 November 2009 (UTC)