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FREE BAGPIPE & DRUM LESSONS! CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION & COME JOIN THE FUN!
Playing music is as much about muscle memory as it is about generating a pleasing combination of sounds.
As bagpipers, we need to learn how to cleanly, consistently, and accurately sound our notes.
We have only nine notes in our scale and a sound that can't be paused once started, so this is the most important foundation.
Adding gracenotes and embellishments to the melody is done to separate notes, add emphasis (having only one volume: LOUD), marking time, or for adding interest and expression to the flow of the music.
Not only must we play these primary nine notes well, we must do the same with all the embellishments in combination with the main melody notes, in order to even begin to achieve a sense of mastery over the instrument.
Each exercise should be done through the nine-note scale. First, running through the scale itself, without any embellishments. Then running through the scale while inserting a single embellishment, working on the grace-note timing and focusing on maintaining precise note fingering.
Lastly, mix this up. Go up and down the scale, skip around the scale (i.e. play a low A then jump up to an F or a high G), play notes at random and start with inserting a single gracenote: a simple high 'g', executed simply with the tap of your index finger.
"CONGRATULATIONS!"
As improvement comes, we can start adding in several other gracenotes (i.e. D, E) and then, once comfortable with those simple gracings, move on to the embellishments.
"At this point,
you're almost
playing a tune."
As a matter of fact, you're going to pick up alot of the technique and embellishments from the wild world of tunes.
Be careful, though, as many of the old music books, even the recent tutors, have had errors, but these can usually be figured out quite easily.
Once you have your fundamental gracenotes and embellishments, you are ready for a tune.
There are several kinds of gracenotes and embellishments in most tunes, and your ability to execute these accurately are what determines if a tune is 'easy' or 'hard' to play.
Once a player has mastered the nine melody notes, can accurately play the basic gracenotes and embellishments, most bagpipe tunes become readily accessible.
Start by playing a tune without any gracenotes or embellishments, and focus on maintaining the proper flow of the music.
Eventually, more and more gracenotes and embellishments will be incorporated into the tune so that, finally, we're able to play the tune in its entirety and hear it the way it was meant to be heard.
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