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THE PIOBAIREACHD STUDY GROUP
When I was a young competing piper
my main interest was not so much in
becoming a ‘clone’ of another better
player but rather to study Piobaireachd.
I wanted to learn more about different
styles, I wanted to ask questions about
the things which to me just didn’t make
sense and, most of all, I wanted to
experiment with different ways of
playing a tune.

I couldn’t do that on the contest platform so I sought out people with whom I could discuss those issues. For instance, I wanted to ask “why is there a ‘closed’ Fosgailte when it means ‘open’.” I remember once playing a tune with an Open Crunluadh Fosgailte and being told how ‘brave’ I was. I didn’t understand (Tune 3. ‘The Munros’ Salute’ goes into this in detail).

Over the years I came into contact with a group of people who were prepared to discuss tunes and styles as well as learn new tunes. For a few years there was a vibrant Piobaireachd Club in Sydney, Australia when I was serving as a pipe major in the Royal Australian Regiment. It always amazed me that there was a more enlightened group of pipers 12,000 miles away from my home town of Edinburgh than I ever found in Scotland.

Father Denis Alexander was perhaps the main thrust of this group and he was in regular communication with people such as Barry Orme in Melbourne, Andrew MacNeill in Colonsay, Peter Cooke at the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh and George Moss in Inverness. We all chipped in a few dollars every month or so and the get-togethers were terrific. A tune, a discussion and a cup of tea - they were heady days and they propelled me on my way to an all-consuming thirst for learning more about the high-art of Piobaireachd than I ever could by reading the all-too few books in print at the time. It was there that I first heard ‘The Massacre of Glencoe’ played in the John MacDougall Gillies style, by an elderly piper who had been taught by Farquhar Finlayson, a pupil of Jack Gillies. It was all riveting stuff.

That has been the idea behind the formation of our own ‘Piobaireachd Study Group’. Each month (on the first day of the month) the study of a new tune will be made available. The study will be in detail, a studio quality recording made available, along with notes on different styles and settings. There will also be a lesson outline for those who wish to learn the tune either in part or in full. The Piping School Distance Learning Program makes this available to anyone anywhere in the world. It has been impossible to make this available by internet transfer because of the size of the files. The study tune and notes are therefore all contained in a CD ROM which is shipped airmail. This is reflected in the cost.

A word about the Piobaireachd chosen; they all represent tunes which should be in any Piobaireachd player’s repertoire. But there are no finger-breakers here or marathon 25 minute pieces. In that they should prove to be popular with a majority of pipers. There is also an attempt to cover different styles of construction and different types of variation in successive tunes.

There is a small cost to help fund this program, but it is a very small one. A token fee of £6 secures you each tune as it comes complete with studio audio recording of the complete tune on pipes, plus word/Pdf files with historical notes, style notes, playing notes and phrase break-down notes. Once you are on our list we’ll send you out a notice each month as the new tune is ready - and you can either subscribe or ignore as you wish.

It is intended also to hold an ‘email discussion forum’ for this group although it might take a while to get up and running! Questions on style and content will be answered to the group who may then add their own thoughts (group email addresses will be ‘closed’ for privacy and only study group members will receive these emails).

If you would like to make any suggestions or comments please contact Bruce Campbell pipingschool@hotmail.co.uk

Includes;
Studio quality recording sound file
Tune historical notes PDF
Style notes, Playing and Phrase break-down notes Word/PDF

It has been impossible to make this available by internet transfer because of the size of the files. The study tune and notes are therefore all contained in a CD ROM which is shipped airmail. This is reflected in the cost.

Includes;
Studio quality recording sound file
Tune historical notes PDF
Style notes, Playing and Phrase break-down notes Word/PDF

The study tune and notes are therefore all contained in a CD ROM which is shipped airmail. This is reflected in the cost.

Includes;
Studio quality recording sound file
Tune historical notes PDF
Style notes, Playing and Phrase break-down notes Word/PDF

The study tune and notes are therefore all contained in a CD ROM which is shipped airmail. This is reflected in the cost.

Includes;
Studio quality recording sound file
Tune historical notes PDF
Style notes, Playing and Phrase break-down notes Word/PDF

The study tune and notes are therefore all contained in a CD ROM which is shipped airmail. This is reflected in the cost.