Categories of Pipe Music : Scottish pipe music falls into two main categories.

"Light music" and "Piobaireachd"

Light Music · Also called Ceol Baeg, or "Little Music"

"Light music" consists of Marches, Dance Music (jigs, reels, hornpipes), Airs, Waltzes and Songs.

Time signatures include 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8

Piobaireachd · Pronounced "pea-broch" with the guttural "ch". Gaelic word for "bagpipe playing" or "piping". Piping in it's purest and most ancient form and considered to be the classical music of the bagpipe. Also called Ceol Mor, Gaelic for "Big Music"

MacCrimmons - Hereditary pipers often credited with inventing Piobaireachd and bringing piping to Scotland.

The MacCrimmons operated a piping school on the Isle of Skye where Scottish lords would send their pipers to study. The pedigree of piobaireachd instructors is a proud tradition. Many of the best instructors can trace their tutelage of the great music straight back to the MacCrimmons themselves.

Several schools, or styles, of piobaireachd playing emerged over time and different teachers would subscribe to a particular playing style. Recently there has been interest and research into the traditional, Gaelic style of piping. There is amovement in Scotland and abroad to resurrect and preserve the Gaelic piping tradition.

A piobaireachd tune begins with an "urlar" or ground, upon which several variations are added, each more intricate than the last. A piobaireachd can be anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes in length, depending on the composition.

Piobaireachds are divided into various categories including Marches, Gathering tunes, Laments and Salutes.

Written Bagpipe Music

Pipe music (piobaireachd) began to be written down from the oral tradition in the early part of the nineteenth century. A few pieces appear as early as 1784 but they are piobaireachds published in the form of fiddle music. Joseph MacDonald's was the first book of pipe music written in full, in 1760. It wasn't published until 1803, after his death. (See Cannon, p73) ·

Canntaireachd - Before written sheet music, pipe tunes were conveyed via an oral tradition called Canntaireachd (can-troch). The piper sang the tune in vocables which had no meaning as words, but rather corresponded closely to the actual notes and embellishments of the pipes. (Cannon, p67)

Since piping has existed in relative isolation from the rest of Western instrumentation, the written music has evolved to it's own particular needs. Since the pipes cannot feasibly change keys, key signatures have largely been done away with. All melody notes are written with their stems pointing downward, leaving room for the gracenotes and embellishments above, their stems pointing upward.

Accidentals such as sharps and flats generally have no place in traditional Scottish pipe music, as the traditional Scottish scale has nine fixed notes only (the French and Spanish traditions use alternate fingerings to achieve notes such as C natural and F natural, these fingerings show up in some contemporary Scottish compositions). And of course rests are not an option because (much to some peoples' dismay) the highland pipes are never silent from the moment they are started until the tune or set of tunes is finished.

Music Tonality and Scale

Pitch - "The actual pitch of the chanter seems to have risen appreciably over the years. The names of the notes were decided in the late eighteenth century, and all writers agreed in calling the keynote A. In 1954, Lenihan and MacNeil found the average bagpipe A to be 459 cycles per second, considerably higher than the International Standard A (440cps) and almost up to standard B flat (467cps). It was suggested at the time that 459 might be adopted as a piper's standard. Actually, the pitch has continued to rise…" (Cannon p23) Many chanters are now tuning comfortably at 470cps to 480.

Scale - Most of the notes conform to the A major scale except for the 7th, G, which is flatted. Much of Scottish music is based on the pentatonic scale (the black keys of the piano). The pentatonic sound is what gives the music it's "Scottishness".

Keys - the effect of playing in different 'keys' is achieved by focusing on different parts of the pipe scale. See Cannon, p37. · More information is available in the Highland Bagpipe and its Music by Roderick D. Cannon.

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