Do you know why bagpipes sound the way they do? They are run by bellows (the bag part) that, when inflated, forces air through the pipes. The pipes are fitted with reeds (like shawms, remember those?) that vibrate and make the sound. The drone sound is from one or more long pipes that have no finger holes. Drones are called drones because their sound never stops. It is always present while the instrument is being played.
To get the melody part, one of the pipes has finger holes and is played like a shawm or recorder (of course the fingerings aren't always the same). There is yet another pipe that the play has in his mouth. The bagpiper blows into this pipe to keep the bag inflated. Air from bag is forced through the pipes and then the player can make music. Kind of neat, really.
Anyway, what I discovered the other day is why bagpipes always have the unique melody line. Because the player does not have direct contact with the finger pipe (the one that makes the melody, it's actually called a chanter) it's impossible to articulate (tongue, separate notes). So, to make the notes sound separate the player must add in lots of embellishments. Musicians call these embellishments grace notes or appoggiaturas.
So now you know. :)
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