Because the congregation will kill you. LOL.

I know of no law that prohibits bagpipes.

My opinion? It's purely practical. Bagpipes are stunningly loud. So have them in a church - that's 7 blocks away. :-)

By bagpipes, I assume you mean highland pipes, yes? A zampogna or a musette, or even a softer gaita would be just fine indoors.

The bigger question here is what the pipes will be playing. "Amazing Grace"? Okay, I guess. "Scotland the Brave"? Absolutely not.

We have a pretty good piper in our midst and he plays Kirkin of the Tartan every year at Holy Trinity Church for the gathering of the Celts in our community. He is cognizant of how loud pipes happen to be and has a 'church' set that has much softer reeds. It's almost tolerable. Almost. It's still the antithesis of Compline. Usually processional and recessional and one hymn: Amazing Grace. The problem is the pipes are not tuned to any know pitch center (like A:442Hz) and cannot be accompanied by any fixed pitch instrument. You must tune to the drones. I have heard his loud pipes for outdoor events, and that sucker is loud and maybe even appropriate during the Boor War. Being that I'm a former orchestral bass trombonist, I know loud. Maybe appropriate for Marching to Pretoria or Scotland the Brave.

Maybe the people think that Highland bagpipes should not be played inside the Church because they used to be a weapon - to terrify the enemy.

I have to ask.... "Amazing Grace" is a Catholic hymn?!
what kind of grace is it singing about?
Not sacramental grace - there is no mention of sacraments, it's jes' you 'n' me, God.
and not actual grace - actual grace does not save, not even a wretch like me.

thanks !! :-)

lol Charles W - I've long thought that people who have a trace of Scots blood in them like the pipes, and those who don't... don't.
I asked me Da, do we have any Scotch in us?
Yes, he deadpanned, about a fifth.

I now return you to your original thread, Saspnmusic.

When my husband and I were stationed in Germany in the 80's (before the wall came down), the regiment used to have formal functions in a nearby castle... they had bagpipers come (I think they may even have been from one of the military units in the British sector) to play during those events... in a huge castle, it was still loud, but somehow very fitting... I'm not sure if you would get the same sort of effect for a church service. (btw, my husband doesn't have a drop of Scottish blood, but absolutely loves them).

Pipes in church on certain occasions would not be strange to some stripes of Anglicans. Not, though, within a liturgical context - unless it was St Andrew's day or something like that. St Thomas' Episcopal School, here in Houston, where I have piano students, has a world class and highly decorated pipe and drum corp. They routinely play at graduations and other similar events in the church. For those of us who love pipes, they are never too loud. They are marvelously thrilling. It is said that the last infantry charge in history led by pipers was that of the Black Watch at a certain battle with the Afrika Korps in the second world war. The Germans were terrified of them and called them the ladies from hell.

(Incidentally - it was the Romans who brought bagpipes to the British Isles.)

As an ex-pat English person living in Scotland:
To my knowledge there is no such thing in Scotland as patriot day (we're not in Glasgow) but the SNP might well bring it in.
The Scots are well aware of the properties of their national instrument and in my experience bagpipes are always played outside the church, commonly at weddings, sometimes funerals. Apart from one disastrous occasions where two of them played the Skye Boat song inside a church to accompany a hymn called 'Spirit of God'. Ear-splitting. They were in a sort of E flat. Thankfully this was never repeated.
In these parts they don't usually accompany singing at all, the purists wouldn't stand for it, except for Flower of Scotland etc at rugby matches. They tend to stick to traditional music, pibrochs etc, although I did hear of one (outside) play Faith of our fathers to the tune 'Sawston'. The scale they're tuned to doesn't seem to accommodate most hymns. Even 'Flower of Scotland' has to have its 3rd-last note altered when played on the pipes.
Today I'm playing for a wedding and there will be a piper outside (fortunately rain is not forecast).

St Andrew's day would be the closest us Scots have to Patriot's day.

N.B. Bagpipes are not the sole preserve of the Scots,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpipes

Veering a bit off-topic, what Mass will you be using for Patriot Day (which, for several reasons, is a terrible name for the observance, and not just in Massachusetts)? I'm not too conversant with all the votive Masses possibilities out there, and the Mass of the day with some extra national-day trappings would be more than a little weird.

Personally, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bagpipes along with the drums! I haven't a pinch of Scottish in me (100% German here) but my husband and children (obviously) do. We have a family tartan and my sons proudly wear their tartans in many forms.

But, back to the topic . . . do the pipes assist the Mass? Do they lead the people to focus more on the Eucharist or just draw attention to themselves, like P&W "music"? If the latter, leave them outside (and let me know when they're playing--I'll be there).

Quite. I also agree that it’s an awful name for the 9/11 observances.

I'm a piper so maybe I can give some insight

There aren't any rubrical prohibitions on the pipes, one could say they are forbidden on principle of not being a sacred instrument in which case pianos and guitars should also be forbidden.
Generally at weddings and funerals we are asked to play before and after, basically outside of the liturgy where organ could be used. Procession and recession generally shouldn't be a problem. I'm of the opinion that they are absolutely inappropriate inside of the liturgy.

There is a recent novelty of playing hymns on the pipes, I consider it a tacky. Many if not most pipers can't stand "amazing grace" but people know it so that's what they ask for it, it was introduced in the 70s at the world competition as a "showstopper".

They are loud with one volume setting, but I doubt they are louder than a pipe organ at full bore.

As someone mentioned there are lots of other types of bagpipes other than the GHB, it is my understanding that the native Spanish variety has been used for religious processions for centuries.

A little warning- here in the US there are a lot of hacks doing gigs who have no business playing in public. Make sure your piper can, at the very least, tune their instrument.

I’m not really sure “Scotland the Brave” works in this context, however.

Yes. If the piper has an orchestral or Bflat chanter playing together becomes a possibility.

we have a lady who plays "Victimae Paschali Laudes' (from the Liber Usualis) on the folk harp (solo), and I must say it's one of the highlights of the Easter Day Mass during distribution of Communion. You feel as if you can really see that garden, with mist rising from the earh in the earliest dawn hours.... or maybe your soul seems like a little boat that gently pushes off from shore floating on that heavenly music. very contemplative.