Cairngorms National Park (Scotland): Bagpiping and beauty (continued)? ~ Scottish Small Piping - 'Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry' Piobaireachd * * * Thanks, Ted, the Great Greek Professor! And hello all! How are you doing? It's been a long time since Semester at Sea in 1999, Ted! :) * Appreciating Lessig, and the role that law is playing, in informing the great creation of Democracy, now in 2020 in the USA * * * Twin Peaks' Sutro tower

Good playing this evening of "Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry"!

Here again below are "Ian Whitelaw's Guidelines for Interpreting Piobairreachd" in the body of an email, below. 

I think it would be interesting to focus on a number of his points explicitly next week with "Alastair Jearg" further. 

And here are the interpretations, I mentioned, besides Angus MacLellan's in the Piobraireachd CoP Yellow Tutor Vol. 4's CD: 

Neil Clark's "Alasdair Dearg" on the practice chanter here - https://youtu.be/S53Kd1WEZB0 -

Major Gavin Stoddart performs the piobaireachd

"Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry"
https://youtu.be/5mrSdRPVY0A

(are these 3 the same?)

Bob Brown 

Which "Alasdair Dearg" is most compelling? Which has the most beautiful expression in a relative way for you (and regarding both Ian Whitelaw's guidelines, as well as Ma's and Marsalis's guidelines)?

And here's the reel "Loch Carron" in sheet music- 

And let's begin to explore the Piobaireached "Glengarry's Lament next week as well. 

Musical cheers, 

Scott

Ian Whitelaw's Guidelines for Interpreting Piobairreachd


1. Establish a beat (nonmensurally)! The 1st is strong, the 4th is the strongest. (For Piobairreachds in ¾, the third note is the strongest beat).

2. Show contrast between the long and short notes, emphasizing the long notes and really shortening (de-emphasizing) the short notes.

3. Watch for mirrors? - where the same theme is played on different notes. (Call and answer).  

4. If you're already on a note before a cadence, give the following note, after the grace note, the time, to link phrases together.

5. When playing a 'he heran' (cantairreachd for ...) always hold the E.

6. If the note has embellishments, accent it! Hold it.

7. Give space longer to a note before and after the cadence, and before and after a double echo.

8. Always hold the A after a birl.

9. Two notes are never the same, and usually the 2nd note is longer than the first.

10. If the note has a doubling on it, you always hold it.

11. When a cut note is the first beat in the bar, make the first note of bar absolutely on the beat.

12. In a Braebach (Piobairreachd) tune, in a crunluath singling, count to 3 before playing the crunluath, and make the following two notes even.

13. In a Braebach doubling, count to two before playing the crunluath movement.

14. In the taorluath movement, play the melody notes in this order: long, longer, longest. Make each note a different length, and make the third the longest!





Piobairreachd

Structures:

Primary
a a b
a b b
a b

Secondary
a b c d
b c

Tertiary

Regular

Irregular



Types of Piobairreachd

Braebach tune

Strong, sing song rhythmic beat


Fosgailte tune

Instead of Taorluoth, play GDF for crunluath

Play the theme note followed by short note followed by eedree

Also, in fosgailte, never play the crunluath a mach (open)


Standard

Cheers, Scott

Karen, am trying to recall what the Scots' Gaelic word for 'barbarian, bumpkin, heathen' is, per Univ of Edinburgh Prof (and American) Wilson MacLeod (from my studying online St. Kilda there in 2003-2004), as you'll see in my blog post from yesterday - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/11/cairngorms-national-park-virtual-harbin.html - with much about Piobaireachd classical bagpipe music, with this email thread too. Any thoughts? And are you busy these days with SAS, Karen, since both autumn and spring Semester at Sea voyages have been cancelled? :)