Cornemuse

What it is

The French bagpipes of the bal folk. The cornemuse du Centre (also cornemuse bourbonnaise or musette du Centre) is played in the Berry, Bourbonnais, Nivernais and Morvan, and less in the Limousin and Auvergne. Its chanter (hautbois) is named by length in inches (pouces): the 16 and 20 pouces are the usual sizes. Relatives with their own traditions: the cabrette of Auvergne, usually bellows-blown, with one drone beside the chanter that is often stopped, the main instrument of the bourrée and the origin of the name "bal musette"; and the mouth-blown chabrette.^5,4,7

Also called French bagpipes, cornemuse du Centre, cabrette.

Range

F4 to C6^4,5349 Hz – 1.05 kHz

For a 16 pouces chanter: lowest note F (fa 3), an octave and a half per the maker's text. Read with the French octave numbering, in which do 3 is middle C (C4): my conversion, and the top note is my addition of an octave and a half, because the maker's table gives top notes that don't match its own 'octave and a half'.

Tuning: Not equal-tempered, so the chanter plays in tune with the drones. Drones: an octave and two octaves below the chanter's tonic (Wikipedia), or the small one on the tonic and the large an octave below (a maker). No pitch reference found.^6,4

• 16 pouces (in G): Key sol 3, lowest note fa 3 (G4 and F4 by the French octave numbering, my conversion). English Wikipedia: 16 in, G.^4,5,6
• 20 pouces (in D): Key ré 3, lowest note do 3 (D4 and C4 by the French octave numbering, my conversion). English Wikipedia: 20 in, D.^4,5,6
• Cabrette (Auvergne): Usually bellows-blown; one drone beside the chanter, often stopped; pitch named by chanter length in centimetres (a 'pied de 39' for C).⁷
• Chabrette (Limousin): Mouth-blown only.⁷

The sound

A bag, usually mouth-blown through a blowpipe (a bellows is an option), feeds a conical chanter with a double reed, seven front holes and two thumb holes, and two drones with single reeds. On the cornemuse du Centre one drone sits on the stock and the large one rests on the player's shoulder.^5,6,4

Where the sound goes

Two groups of sources: the chanter, which a forum poster calls "highly directional" and rich in harmonics, with nothing of the harmonics behind the player; and the drones, "much more omnidirectional", which a chanter mic picks up if it is not too close. A commenter in a sound engineers' Facebook group: the sound and the power "don't always come from the same place" from one kind of bagpipe to another.^1,3

About the range

Range: about an octave and a half per chanter. One maker's table gives each size's key and lowest note: 16 pouces in G with F as the lowest note, 20 pouces in D with C as the lowest; the table's top notes are not consistent with its own "octave and a half". French Wikipedia gives 16 pouces as sol 3 and 20 pouces as ré 3; English Wikipedia lists the sizes from 6 in (upper G) to 30 in (lower G), with 16 in in G and 20 in in D.

Tuning: not equal-tempered, so that the chanter plays in tune with the drones. The two sources differ on the drones: the small drone an octave and the large two octaves below the chanter's tonic, or the small drone on the tonic and the large an octave below. No pitch reference (A = 440 or other) found.^4,5,6

Recording it

An Audiofanzine thread on recording a cornemuse (2003-2006; bagpipe type not stated, the posters compare Scottish, Breton and Centre pipes): a mic with extended highs roughly level with the chanter, and the drones either from the chanter mic or a second mic; an AKG C414 or Schoeps CMC 6 with MK 4 preferred, the SM57 "only for live". One poster recorded with an SM57 on the chanter and a RODE NT3 above and a little back from the drones, mixed together. Another suggested an SM57 behind and above the player, and was contradicted: the chanter's harmonics don't reach behind the player.¹

Mics i

No mic is named by more than one source yet: each names its own.

On stage

A commenter in a sound engineers' Facebook group, asked how to put cornemuses on radio mics: the player in a professional folk group he mixed wore a trumpet-style clip mic on her wrist with the radio pack on her belt, which she called the best solution she had found.³

Problems to watch

A mic behind the player loses the chanter's harmonics; the drone balance depends on the chanter mic's distance.¹