Great Highland Bagpipes•Woodwind instrumentMade of African Blackwood (some sets also made of polypenco plastic as more cost effective, but don’t sound as good). In the photo, the white bits on the pipes (known as ‘mounts’) are made of ivory – these can also be made of silver, nickel, African Blackwood or plastic, depending on cost.•Consists of:

Bag – can be made of sheepskin or hide, can also be synthetic (gore-tex)Bass drone – longer of three dronesTenor drones – two shorter drones

oThe three drones lie over the shoulder and consist of several pieces joined at sliding ojoints that can be tuned to pitch

Chanter – creates the melodyMouthpiece – has a valve to stop air coming back out

•Four reedsChanter reedOne drone reed in each drone x 3

Scottish Smallpipes•Normally bellows-blown (as below) but can also be mouth blown (less common)•Can be made of plastic, African Blackwood, Cocobolo, bloodwood, ebony and boxwood (amongst other hardwoods)•Consists of:

Bag – can be made of sheepskin or hide, can also be synthetic (gore-tex)Bass drone – longer of three dronesTenor drones – two shorter drones

oThe three drones lie over chest Chanter – creates the melody (available in various keys)Bellows – made of wood and leather, these provide an air supply to the pipes.

•Same set-up of reeds as GHB, only on a smaller scale

Clàrsach (Gaelic), is the Gaelic word for 'a harp'. In English, the word is used to refer specifically to a variety of small Scottish harps. The characteristic features of the historical clarsach are its strings of metal wire, usually brass but possibly also gold and silver. These are attached to a massive soundbox typically carved from a single log of willow, a reinforced curved pillar and a substantial neck, flanked with thick brass cheek bands. Usually played with the fingernails, it produces a brilliant ringing sound.

The accordion is a portable box-shaped musical instrument of the hand-held bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist.It is played by compressing or expanding a bellows whilst pressing buttons or keys causing valves, called pallets, to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds, that vibrate to produce sound inside the body.The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the right-hand manual, and the accompaniment — consisting of bass and pre-set chord buttons — on the left-hand manual.

Bodhrán

The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads, or other animal skins are sometimes used). The other side is open ended for one hand to be placed against the inside of the drum head to control the pitch and timbre. One or two crossbars, sometimes removable, may be inside the frame, but this is increasingly rare on modern instruments. Some professional modern bodhráns integrate mechanical tuning systems similar to those used on drums found in drum kits. It is usually with an allen wrench that the bodhrán skins are tightened or loosened depending on the atmospheric conditions.

The tin whistle is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, and other woodwind instruments. A tin whistle player is called a tin whistler or whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Celtic music.

A fiddle typically consists of a spruce top, maple ribs and back, two endblocks, a neck, a bridge, a soundpost, four strings, and various fittings. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its hourglass-like shape and the arching of its top and back.

A fiddle is usually played using a bow consisting of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and frog at opposite ends.

The hair of the bow traditionally comes from the tail of a grey male horse (which has predominantly white hair), although some cheaper bows use synthetic fibre.

The guitar is a musical instrument of the chordophone family. The standard guitar has six strings. The two primary families of guitar types are the electric guitars and the acoustic guitars. The tone is produced by the vibration of the strings which is amplified by the body of the guitar, which acts as a large hollow resonating chamber, or they may rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Traditionally, guitars have been constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut, or more recently, with either nylon or steel strings.