The phrase "outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes" is etched into the memory of film buffs, though many misremember its exact origin. It comes from the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart , referencing the historical ban on the Great Highland Bagpipe imposed by the English Crown following the Jacobite uprisings (specifically the Act of Proscription 1746).
: For other instruments (piano, violin, or flute), sheet music for the "Braveheart Medley"—which often includes this tune—is available at Musicnotes Social Media Previews : Musicians like Aaron Dolan
If you are a piper, historian, or curious musician, here are the best sources for legal, accurate sheet music: outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes sheet music
One reason “outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes sheet music” is such a specific search is that uilleann pipes were (and are) notated differently from other instruments. Standard staff notation often fails to capture:
Horner utilized the more melodic and versatile range of the uilleann pipes to create a haunting, emotional atmosphere that the Highland pipes, with their nine-note scale, could not easily replicate. Historical Reality vs. Fiction The phrase "outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes" is
This ballad was composed in the mid-19th century during the rise of the Young Irelander movement. It was first transcribed in and later appeared in the Fleet Street Collection of Rebel Airs (1921) .
The haunting, sorrowful solo heard in the film is not played on the Great Highland Bagpipe. It is performed on the (Irish bellows-blown pipes) by master piper Eric Rigler. Standard staff notation often fails to capture: Horner
Despite the Scottish setting, the sound heard in this track is actually the Uilleann pipes (Irish pipes), played by virtuoso Eric Rigler , rather than the Great Highland Bagpipes.
The pipes themselves—the Irish uilleann pipes (pronounced “ill-in”)—were forced underground. Unlike their Scottish cousins, which roared on battlefields, the uilleann pipes were quieter, sweeter, and suited for indoor “house sessions.” But even these were banned under the Draconian Statute of Kilkenny (1366) and later acts that forbade “any Irish minstrels, pipers, or rhymers” from entering English-held territories.
