Kevin Fraser Bagpipes – The Man in the Kilt
Loud Pipes Save Lives!
C Doublings to Low A, and B Doublings to Low G with E Gracenote as used in Strathspey playing (Round movement)
In orchestral music the Tachum is known as the Scotch Snap
Being able to play The Tachum (half doubling) is a requirement for SCQF Level 3
Being able to play The Tachum as a Doubling with E Gracenote (Strathspey movement) is a requirement for SCQF Level 4
Apparantly the Toarluath has changed over the last 300 years: (http://thesession.org/discussions/21801) Toarluadhs and the like have changed considerably over the last 3 hundred years. From; low G/d/low A /E/ A to; low G/ D/ low G / low A/E/ A to ; Low G/D/G/E/A
The original taorluath movement was much more rhythmically complex and open than is performed today. (altpibroch.com). Today the older version is known as the “redundant A” taorluath, and few people play it. And yet, the rhythmical expression is very pretty, the movement sounds quite dexterous, and the melody is retained. It is worth noting that today’s taorluath movement was introduced as late as 1907 with John McLennan’s collection; thereafter the Piobaireachd Society adopted it.
This is a grip with a E gracenote added onto it before ending on the melodic note. Therefore, all that applies to Grips applies here as well. The E gracenote is what leads to the melody note. The E gracenote is played on the beat.
The steps to play the Taorluath:
Things that can go wrong:
There is a variation on the Taorluath where if you are coming off of the D, you use a B gracenote instead of a D gracenote.
The Toarluath is introduced in SCQF Level 3.
In Canntaireachd, the Taorluath is known as a darid.
The symbol for the Taorluath beat is darid, e.g.,
Taorluath to low G is darem, e.g.,
the same with the addition of one note according to the scale chart.
is expressed
Being able to play The Taorluath to Low A from each note of the scale is a requirement for SCQF Level 3 Being able to play The Taorluath to Low A from D using the B gracenote is a requirement for SCQF Level 3
Something to note is that the technical quality of current recordings is much higher than in the past. Some of this is due to technology such as computers rather than vinyl.
Bags were solely leather pipe bags, reeds were only cane, chanters were hand carved.
Now we have synthetic bags, synthetic reeds, machined chanters.
Also, with modern zipper bags with moisture control systems, there can be less moisture differences on the reeds today.
Plastic chanters came out in the 70’s.
Years ago the pipe band tunes were very quick compared to today.
Todays bands seem to be more about the expression of the tunes.
With the Social Distancing recommendations, it is extremely difficult to have an in-person lesson. Fortunately, technology comes to the rescue.
All you require for a lesson is Zoom installed on a computer or cell phone or tablet, and a practice chanter! My store the Fraser Highland Shoppe can help with the chanter if you don’t have one already!
Also see https://thesession.org/discussions/33221
Compound time has a 1-2-3 underlying feel as opposed to the simple time 1-2.
Crossing Noises are unintentional notes (usually sounds like a blip) between the notes you are trying to play.
Crossing noises are caused by the closing of the fingers of the note you are playing before the opening of the fingers for the note you are going to play.
For example, if you are moving from an E to a C, you want to lift the middle and ring fingers of your right hand before closing the ring finger of your left hand. Similarly, going from C to E, you want to open the left ring finger before you close your right hand’s ring and middle fingers.
These mainly occur when you are going from the high hand to the low hand, or the low hand to the high hand though there are a couple of places where moving between notes on the same hand can cause a crossing noise.
With just 9 notes on the scale, there are 36 note pairings. Of these, only 4 of the pairings involve moving only 1 finger. Therefore the other 32 pairings can have one or more of the following Crossing noises:
One cause of crossing noise is your hands being out of sync (lift/drop crossing noise). These occur when your dropping fingers close the chanter before the fingers you are lifting opens.
Another cause is if the shape of your hand is such that moving multiple fingers to close the next note results in the fingers hitting the chanter at different times, you end up with a rolling crossing noise (sounds like a mini-run) (E to High G and back, Low G to any high hand note, B to low G, low G to B, etc).
There are also Phantom crossing noises (false notes) where the lifting fingers lead the dropping notes, so you end up with a false fingering, which results in a pitch and tone change in the middle of the movement. From a technical perspective this is the inverse of the lift/drop crossing noise.
The following exercise will assist you in eliminating the crossing noises. Note these were generated by a computer script and have not been validated for playability.
