I found that moving two or more fingers in the same direction at the same time normally was not difficult but moving two fingers in opposite directions, as in a ‘fork’, could be harder. In my youth I had played no instrument but belatedly, at the age of 47, took up the flute the basic fingering was not difficult to learn.

A physiologist in Scotland cannot miss the potentialities for possible studies of pipers and piping. A 16th century woodcut by John Derrick (Flood, 1911).įor many years I worked in the Edinburgh Medical School and was especially interested in muscles, the way they work and the way they control movements (Walsh, 1992). The fingers of a piper can move with extreme rapidity, the commonest grace note, ‘High G’, is made by flicking the left index finger, its hole is vented for merely about 20 ms.įigure 1 Irish war pipes. The sound is continuous, there are no gaps by contrast the Northumbrian pipes are usually played ‘staccato’. There are a number of different types of bagpipes (cf Figure 1) when the word is used without qualification it invariably refers to the Great Highland Bagpipe of Scotland. The Physiological Society’s blue plaquesĪ physiologist digresses about piping As a physiologist in Scotland, Geoffrey Walsh cannot miss the potentialities for the study of pipers and piping.The use of animals in educating the next generation of life science researchers.Sport & Exercise Science Education report.The Future of Interdisciplinary Research Beyond REF 2021.Scotland at the Heart of Meeting Global Challenges.Physiology and Basic Research Funding in Ireland.A National Post-Pandemic Resilience Programme.Supporting the development of public health guidance for long COVID.Translating Knowledge and Research into Impact.Advice for attending your first meeting.Early Career Life Scientists’ Symposium.Michael J Rennie Oral Communication Prize.The Journal of Physiology Early Investigator Prize.Experimental Physiology Inaugural Review Prize.Experimental Physiology Mid-Career Researcher Prize.Experimental Physiology Early Career Author Prize.The Otto Hutter Physiology Teaching Prize.The Journal of Physiology’s Virtual Journal Club.Human, Environmental & Exercise Physiology.

Scottish bagpipe player equipment