The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or by pumping air into it with a bellows. The bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous, even sound. Such pipes include the Irish uilleann pipes the border or Lowland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, Northumbrian smallpipes and pastoral pipes in Britain the musette de cour, the musette bechonnet and the cabrette in France and the Dudy, koziol bialy, and koziol czarny in Poland.

In these pipes, sometimes called ' cauld wind pipes,' air is not heated or moistened by the player's breathing, so bellows-driven bagpipes can use more refined or delicate reeds. The use of a bellows to supply air is an innovation dating from the 16th or 17th century. In recent times, there are many instruments that assist in creating a clean air flow to the pipes and assist the collection of condensation. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their tongue while inhaling, but most blowpipes have a non-return valve that eliminates this need. The most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks-sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag. A detail from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch showing two bagpipers (15th century).Ī set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone.

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