Teach Yourself Bagpipes by Lindsay Davidson

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MacKay’s Farewell to the 74th

MAckay's Farewell

Link to RSPBA (Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association) source

Midi files  

Please click on these files to hear the music played through midi.

Low PitchHigh Pitch
Full speedFull speed
Half speedHalf speed
Quarter speedQuarter speed

For more information on how to use these midi files please follow the link on the left.

Five discussion points

1   Rhythmical contrast is the trickiest thing about this tune. For the  sections like bar 3 you need to say "bouncy bouncy" together. Have fun - be a bit silly.
2   The G gracenotes to F in bar 3 need to be very short. This gives lightness of touch and bounciness in the interpretation, but at the same time blends your band playing style together asd there is basically only one way to approach this sensibly and get a good effect.
3   All the doublings have the same rhythm in this tune - the first high G gracenote is longer than the gracenote used to cut, or double the note. Listen carefully to the examples.
4   Make sure all of the throws have a short low G before the beat and open on the beat. The throws can afford a longer low G as well but this may give your pipers an awful lot to think about in this context.
5   Watch out for the bouncy Cs in the second part. There may be a temptation to cut these Cs. In some interpretations this will be OK but it is not what the RSPBA have asked for. Holding on slightly to the Cs here also has the effect of slowing the tune down a little, or rather, not having it speed up.

Five exercises

For more information on how to use these exercises and videos to play along with please click on the links.

Exercise 1

mapex6
 
Exercise 2

mapex21graphic.png
 
Exercise 3


mapex16
 
Exercise 4

mapex19graphic
 
Exercise 5

mapex27graphic.png
 



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