Teach Yourself Bagpipes by Lindsay Davidson

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Men of Argyll

menofargyll.png

This tune was composed by the eminent and hughly regarded piper and composer, John McLellan of Dunoon

There is a special website dedicated to him and his music and poetry.

His compositions include some of the most successful, well known and loved tunes in the general pipingrepertoire:

'The Road to the Isles', 'Lochanside' and 'The Bloody Fields of Flanders'

Five discussion points

1   The first throw needs a longer low G to have any effect. To achieve this you need to make the low G in the throw the same length as the preceding E.
2   The tachums have been given D gracenotes that are shorter than the preceding C. This is different to the writer's own style but will help your band play more exactly together and reinforce lessons about rhythmical contrast.
3   Before the doublings, the high G gracenote are typically longer than the cutting gracenote. Listen carefully to the midi file for this and be aware.
4   "Hiri" and "Dili" - the high G and high A doublings should sound identical to each other in rhythmical terms.
5   The taorluath at the end of each part takes a quarter of the beat. This is short and crisp and will give a great effect as the whole band plays it together.. Think "ta-atifi ta".

  These videos show the music and you can hear midi generated tracks where the rhythm of the gracenotes and embellishments is maintained in proper interprative proportion. You should try to feel the rhythm and also count it out exactly. Start with the fastest files and as you get better, go to the slower files, as this is a true measure of your security of technique.
 
This section of the website has tunes taken from the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Asociation (RSPBA) prescribed tune list.

If you learn these tunes, there will be a large number of people you can be sure to find tunes in common with.

The RSPBA update their list from time to time and the versions here followed their original published versions, pending updates in due course.
These videos show the music and you can hear midi generated tracks where the rhythm of the gracenotes and embellishments is maintained in proper interprative proportion. You should try to feel the rhythm and also count it out exactly. Start with the fastest files and as you get better, go to the slower files, as this is a true measure of your security of technique.

Each file is given at two pitches, A and B flat. This reflects the different practice chanter tunings commonly found. Please scroll down to what you need (site updated for smart phone and tablets)

The exercises below are chosen to help with some particular trickiness in each tune.

Videos to play along with
(coming soon....JUly 2023)
Low Pitch normal speed
Low Pitch half speed
Low Pitch quarter speed
High pitch normal speed
High pitch half speed
High pitch quarter speed

 
The following exercises may be of particular help:

Exercise 4Exercise 6, Exercise 9, Exercise 20, Exercise 27

  




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