A Guide to the Piping Competition

"The best pipers compete. The best competitive pipers go one step farther and play piobaireachd...the ancient music of the pipes." (Advice from my first piping teacher.)

Take a moment and listen to a few pipers in a competition. They play one at a time, with the piping judge constantly writing down observations and advice about what went wrong or what went right. Give some applause at the end of the piper's tune. There's always a couple of minutes between each player as the judge completes his or her comments, so know that the event isn't over until it's announced to be done.

In many ways, listening to a piping contest may seem a lot like watching a marathon--unless you can follow what’s going on, there’'s not much you can get excited about. A bit of information might help you get more satisfaction out of spending some time at the piping area.

Most piping contests in North America are organized into a professional (open) class and a series of amateur classes. The newer pipers just starting out often begin with Grade V (five) on the practice chanter...it's like the part of the bagpipe that plays the tune (although smaller and softer than a real pipe chanter). Pipers who are in their first couple of years on the bagpipe are in Grade IV (four). They will be among the first competitors of the day. This year (like last year), all six Grade IV events are on Saturday. They are: 2/4 (“two-four”) march, slow air, and Piobaireachd (pronounced: pea-brook), and 6/8 march, jig, and strathspey.

The names of the tunes are quite interesting if you can catch what the piper is playing: The High Road to Gairloch,” “The 79th’s Farewell to Gibraltar,” and “The Battle of Killiecrankie” remind us to where Scots have lived and fought. Each tune will take around two or three minutes, with the judge writing comments (constantly) on the competitor’s score sheet.

The level beyond Grade IV is Grade III. These pipers have been playing for over two years and are pretty comfortable performing. All Grade III events are on Sunday, starting with: Piobaireachd (a longer piece of flowing music), followed next by 2/4 march, strathspey & reel, 6/8 march, jig, and separately, hornpipe.

A well played 6/8 march really swings along. Notice whether the sound of the drones is "steady" (unsteady drones “have that "surge effect" going, which is distracting”), and whether you can actually make out the tune. Making a pipe tune actually sound "musical" is called "expression."

The strathspey and reel are good foot-stomping tunes. Originally, these were strictly dance tunes, and were pretty short and simple. In the 1830s, however, a more intricate and technically demanding version of each type was developed for competition.

Listen for crisp little “chips” and “ripples” of sound; these are embellishments that give body to pipe music. A good piper will produce grace notes and doublings that sparkle. This criteria (how crisp and clean the fingering is) is called execution. The hornpipes and jigs are some of the most spirited types of music anywhere: if your foot isn’t tapping to the music, then either you are asleep or the piper is. You may hear jigs not only of Scottish or Irish origin, like “Paddy O’Rafferty” and or the “Braes of Melinish,” but also of American origin like “Banjo Breakdown.”

What is Piobaireachd?

Piobaireachd (pronounced “pea-book”) is basically a theme-and-variation type of music which flows but does not have a steady beat. The different “tunes” range from five minutes to some real marathon types of twenty-five minutes long. Most tunes will be around eight to twelve minutes long. It is almost always played just by a solo piper, although on some occasions, two or three pipers have played together. Because the music is so expressive, this doesn't happen much.

Trying to listen to piobaireachd, at first, is a little like going to the opera for the first time-- knowing what to listen for can make a big difference. Knowing the name of piobaireachd being played can make a decided difference, for instance. You can let the music paint a picture prompted by the name. A "Lament,” for example, actually mourns or commorates some clan chief or some important person, while a "Gathering” served to rally a clan or group of clans. There are Piobaireachd that commorated battles and events; these were meant to remind the listener of their past good deeds and someone else's evil misdeeds.

The “Massacre of Glencoe,” for instance, reminded Highland Scots of the trust that could be put in the government in London (which was, of course, none). Around three hundred piobaireachd have survived from a period spanning over three centuries until 1838. These reflect a time of great change in the highlands and in Scotland, from turbulent independence to the tragic union with England. Most of the tunes have quite colorful stories and traditions surrounding them.

A first time listener might listen for two things:

First, the embellishments growing from single grace notes to entire series of very fast embellishments that have a rippling effect (leamluath, taorluath, crunluath, and sometimes the spectacular crunluath a mach);

Second, the essence of the melody line, usually carried through each variation in exactly the same way, repeats the piobaireachd’s theme.

Hopefully the piper is good enough to not make a mess of the crunluaths (rippling movements of eight grace notes); otherwise, you might start paying more attention to the embellishments than to the themal notes.

A great deal of attention is directed toward the piobaireachd, for any serious piper considers it the highest expression of the art of piping. Winning in the “light music” events (march, strathspey/reel, jig) is quite good, but winning in the piobaireachd, especially at major contests, definitely establishes a piper’s reputation. In the professional (open) class, it also means more prize money. We don’t yet offer any professional class piping events at Elizabeth (no contest in Colorado does). The day may be around the corner as some of the best Colorado pipers decide to compete at this higher level.

Pipe Band Competitions

The Pipe Band competitions offer a change from the intensity of the solo contests. All the pipers in the group must play together so as to sound like one piper.

Notice whether everyone in the group starts at the same time, especially getting both hands on the chanter (the melody-making part of the bagpipe) before playing the first “E.” The breaks between tunes and the finish should be clean or together.

Good tone is always important. The drones, that steady sound behind the melody, should be indeed steady and in tune. Out-of-tune drones and chanters sound brash and loud. A well-tuned band has a refined quality, making it a joy to listen to.

Pipe Bands aren’t just a collection of pipers and drummers. The drum corps will win a contest for a pipe band, because they will add life and lift to the pipes. However, both the pipe section and the drum section have to play together (this isn’t always easy). When a drum corps is “on,” and the pipe section is actually with them, you’re in for a treat.

There are three types of drums permitted in a band contest: Snare Drums, Tenor Drums and one big Bass Drum.

The snare drums are so named because of the wires stretched under the head (top or bottom) which originally looked like a snare for catching small animals). Pipe Band snare drums are “double snares,” which means there are snares under both the top (batter) head and the bottom (snare) head.

In Drum & Bugle Corps, they use only single ‘field’ snare drums, with the snare under the bottom head. The difference is as much in the way the sticks rebound off the head as in the sound: everything is more crisp; this is well-suited to the rhythmic nature of pipe music.

The Bass Drum is the “heartbeat” of the pipe band, and if everyone actually listens to their bass drummer, the band can hang together. A good bass drummer is a joy to watch: there’s a lot of “attitude” here...and he or she can get away with a lot (in some bands, this is the best musician).

The use of the Tenor Drum in pipe bands is undergoing a big change. The amount of "flourishing" (the spinning of the mallets) is being down-played, and it’s changing: the moves are being specially choreographed to highlight the music. But, most importantly, the tenor drum is being played... and it sounds GREAT. While the Tenor Drum is like the snare in size, it actually has a wonderful ringing sound. Most bands now try to have several tenor drums, tuned at different pitches (some higher) and the effect is stunning.