Torupill: Estonia musical instrument

The torupill is a type of bagpipe instrument from Estonia.

source: pillimeister.torupilli..

It is not yet clear when the bagpipe instrument was established in the country.

The musical instrument was known all through the Estonian nation. The bagpipe tradition was the longest preserved instrument in the western and the northern part of the country where folk music maintained archaic characteristics for a longer period. When the fiddle was later taking over the folk music, many bagpipe tunes were set down for it.

Usually, the bagpipe musical instrument was used for performing dance music; othe musical instruments served this function only in the absence of the bagpipe. Some ancient ceremonial dances like the Round Dance and the Tail dance were played together with a bagpiper who walked at the head of the column. As seen from the literary sources of that time, ceremonial music took a crucial place in the repertoires of the bagpipers in the 17^th century. For example, the presence of a bagpiper was seen as important during wedding, where he had to take part in some ceremonies. There were special tunes, marches or riding melodies that were played in the wedding procession. The bagpiper was an unavoidable participant in dances and social gatherings of the country. The bagpiper accompanies the minstrels during the Christmas and the Martinmas.

In the contemporary days, playing the bagpipe is a part of the curriculum at the University of Tartu Viljandi culture Academy’s traditional music faculty and in a number of constant music schools around the nation.

The musical instrument of the Estonia has a bag, a mouth-pipe that is used for inflating the bag, a melody-pipe and one or two drones or three. The bag was often manufactured of the stomach of a grey seal in the western and the northern part of the country and also on the islands. Most appreciated were the stomachs of large seals. The bag that was produced of a seal’s stomach was not spoilt either by aridity or by humidity. The bags were also manufactured of the stomach of an ox, a cow, an elk or a dog, but sometimes they were sewn of the skin of a dog, a cat, a goat or a seal, or even of the skin of a lynx. The blow pipe of the instrument was made of wood.

The chanter of the musical instrument was produced of pine, ash, juniper or more seldom, of a tube cane. The musical instrument had five to six holes. The chanter of the instrument was single-reeded, commonly with a parallel; instead of conical bore. The bottom extreme of the chanter sometime had one to two holes in the side bored indirectly into the pipe, so that some straws or twigs can be put in to control the pitch of the instrument. The chanter of the musical instrument was placed in an oval wooden stock.

The drones of the instrument were manufactured of wooden pipes that are of different diameters and shapes. The number of pipes determines the length of the instrument. If there is only one pipe, it is quite long, if the pipes are two, they are shorter. Bagpipes that have 3 drones could be found in some rare cases. The drone is made up of separate joints. In the lower extreme of the instrument, there is a wooden bell. The joint of the drone can be pulled out so as to tune the drone. The drones of the instrument are placed in an oval or round stock.

The musical instrument remains simple in their structure, even though they can be quite long sometimes.

The music for the instrument has much in common with the melodies of ancient Estonian runic songs. A good number of tunes like the musical instrument itself are of foreign root. Assumingly, they chiefly derive from Sweden.