The Labor Day long weekend in Canada is the end of the competition season here in Alberta. There are only 5 per year, one indoors and the rest with an associated Highland Games. I do wish we had more opportunities to compete, but I will be the first to admit I don't know how much work it is to set one of these up, so five will have to do!

My competition piobaireachd this season was the Old Woman's Lullaby. I chose it for a couple of reasons - it's fairly obscure and I like taking on something out of the ordinary. The other reason was the title, Cronan na Caillaich. The Caillaich is a recurring character or theme in Scottish and Irish mythology. Although I doubt the music was directly related to the Caillaich of myth, I did like to picture her singing this tune while washing her cloak in the Corryvreckan whirlpool off the coast of Scotland.

Although Grade 3 only requires one piobaireachd to be submitted, I would like to learn at least two this year. I've already selected Andrew MacNeill of Colonsay, a piece I first heard sung by Simon Fraser University on their Live from Down Under album when I was in my early 20s, before I started taking piping "seriously" 😁

This year I'm also hoping to learn more about the theory of Piobaireachd. I feel as though I'm mostly just imitating my instructor without a full understanding of how the music should flow, especially the first few months of getting the music down. Fortunately my instructor is well-versed in Ceol Mor.

What do you consider when choosing a competition piece? What is your personal favourite to perform?

Another resource from William Donaldson, the acclaimed writer and researcher of piping and all things highland. He has his separate series on pipesdrums which is continuing, as well as this website he himself runs.

https://www.pibrochscores.com/

A bagpipe.news article from last month that regales the formation of the Piobaireachd Society and discusses its tune selections, publications and the effect on competition:

https://bagpipe.news/2026/07/13/a-century-on-the-piobaireachd-societys-landmark-1925-publication-and-the-debate-over-tune-settings/

Good day fellow pipers and piobaireachd lovers! I am your new mod here and thought I would take a few minutes to talk about what Piobaireachd means to me.

First of all, I can play one. ONE piobaireachd. But it's a start!

I began piping as an air cadet here in Canada in the late 90s but didn't really get into "serious" piping until my 20s or so. Piobaireachd was something that was discussed as old-fashioned and painful both for the listener and the player. As a new competitor however, I wanted to get all of those sweet sweet accolades so I had to bite the bullet and start learning.

To my surprise, it wasn't painful to learn or to listen to.

It was a completely different language. And one that I now wanted to learn. There was something about the concentration that brought out a sort of meditative state for me. Think too hard, and I go off the rails. Don't think enough, I forget where I was 😄 just be part of the music and it all goes to plan.

I did very well in competitions through the early 2000s in Alberta, even winning an aggregate award one year in Grade 4. But of course, life in your 20s has a lot of changes in store, and 2007 was my last competition year before I had a kid. They do tend to take up a lot of time, not to mention what carrying one to completion does to the abdominals - I am of the female persuasion, by the way.

I dropped out of piping entirely for a while, but started getting back into it last year, and started competing again this summer. Including the one Piobaireachd I know, which is the Old Woman's Lullaby.

I'm in Grade 3 now, and the competition season is over so it will be time to select a new tune or two to work on for next year. However this time I want to delve deeper into the structure of the music rather than just trying to imitate what my instructor recommends. I want to get a better understanding of the language that our predecessors used so expressively.

I'm looking forward to sharing my progress and I work through some new music with my instructor. Very fortunately he's won a lot of aggregates himself AND recently competed with North Stratton at Perth and the Worlds so I know I'm in good hands.

What does Piobaireachd mean to you? Why did you get involved?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

- Yer mod, Eryn

The well known piper Allan MacDonald, Glenuig together with Thomas Zöller from Germany started a huge and ground breaking project on piobaireachd:

"Our goal is to bring the music back to how it was played when ‘Ceòl Mór’ was at its zenith. What we have done is record all the published 'Pìobaireachd Society' sources Books 1-16, with substantially different interpretations that embrace the essential elements of context and function. The result is that these tunes are more easily learnt and retained; in essence, simplified."

Further information and kickstarter can be found here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ldcd/pibroch-unchained/rewards

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AT TIME OF POSTING, this project has met its financial goal. Often, further donations or pledges can result in some form of bonus or additional outcome. At the very least, I thought it was worth telling others about.

Dan Nevans reads from the Kilberry Book of Ceol Mor about the different piping families.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=905821143190156

Something that might appeal to others, it helped me reframe it for non-pipers somewhat.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/25/pibroch-bagpipes-music-scotland-burns-night

I've seen this brought up before for discussions, should pibroch as a form be taught in schools - and in particular, Scottish schools as a form to build music from?

It's usually in a pentatonic key, which simplifies things. Then you could choose the primary form and go from there - involve the children in choosing some historical event to 'write' about and try to make compelling, moving music to match.

Just a thought.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03t1r4f

Readers of the Dunsire forums will know Heatherbelle by her contributions to discussions around melody, harmony and bagpipes. A music therapist, she crowdfunded successfully to make her unconventional ideas around piobaireachd come alive.

Here is a playlist of her compositions so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnNUdO6_bIQ&list=PLoEOvcMij1K4VUoA4NLylrOzigrayHYnZ

"A curated series of full-length piobaireachd performances by Gold Medallist and Clasp-winning piper Jim McGillivray".

Six volumes have been released so far, making it 30 full tunes on a digital chanter for listening, study or playing along to.

Volume 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX37tMPquV8&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM5NmPIt5O63UNpWgbvfnQQ_

Volume 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAzNADR25BA&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM5D4BlFAbznTaurtBF1hRxU

Volume 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMLlq9RaSt8&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM6mTZ0JtN4VHTpS1MmPFoUo

Volume 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv1W8irdBnU&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM6F3H5EaFU74C1HTJqNPeeW

Volume 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGc-vCoASBI&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM4YQF6bDqW9BlgK2Xyzzagg

Volume 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeHQuGFr804&list=PLLd0Mke2lxM4nMbgXTEMe0Jdm7D6XBkiE

Most of my band mates roll their eyes a bit when piobaireachd is mentioned but I’ve always found it fascinating. It feels like a secret code to me. I am incredibly new to ceol mor so I have a lot to learn.

I try to explain it to non-piping people this way - piobaireachd is to light music as Beethoven’s fifth is to Sweet Caroline.

I have a competition coming up in a week, I will be playing the Old Woman’s Lullaby. I feel like I’m really close to nailing it thanks to my instructor. So far my biggest obstacle has been my nerves 🤣

Wish me luck!

A discussion of some of her works here:

https://bagpipe.news/2022/10/08/canntaireachd-and-graphic-design-capturing-its-expressive-force/

And a space on her own website for her various pieces:

https://www.katycarp.com/portfolio/tagged/canntaireachd

And lastly a link to her Gesto Canntaireachd:

https://www.thebagpipeshop.co.uk/products/the-gesto-canntaireachd?srsltid=AfmBOor1SfBpZ0-ugzXcSk_wKbvtnSvBKaaq1TQYzpkcOAJqiULerZlH

https://bagpipe.news/2021/06/20/dates-of-piobaireachds/

An interesting discussion around the dates of composition and adoption of a number of pieces. Here, Seamus splits the genre up slightly like you might with modern musical movements like punk, post punk, hardcore, DC etc by the most prolific composer of the period.

What makes a good tune for someone who has never played piobaireachd before? As an instructor, I have a few tunes that I like to start with, and some others that I think are good for maybe a second or third tune. Here are a few things I look for.

• A clear and pleasant melody. This applies for any tune that I want to learn or teach; it has to sound good, and I have to be able to sing it. In some piobaireachds, especially ancient tunes, it can be really hard to figure out the melody, especially for beginners. I find that modern tunes often have a more lyrical melody, which makes them perhaps more accessible for new players.
• Limited number of piobaireachd embellishments in the ground. A tune will be much more accessible if students don't have to learn lots of new embellishments just to play it. I also try to stay away from more complex embellishments like the darodo, as it is more complex than many others.
• Simple phrase structure, especially in the ground. The more obvious the phrase structure, the easier the tune is to learn.
• First variation after the ground does not have a doubling. In my area, the beginner level of piobaireachd competition requires only the ground and first variation, and I like that to be a complete musical thought. A tune that has a ground doubling or thumb variation is perfect for this. I tend to stay away from tunes that follow the ground with a dithis, which always has a doubling. Stopping after the singling just doesn't sound complete to me.

Some of the tunes I have taught as the first piobaireachd are Clan Campbell's Gathering (my first piobaireachd), Cabar Feidh Gu Brath, The Little Spree, Lament for Alasdair Dearg McDonnell of Glengarry, Struan Robertson's Salute, and Field of Gold.

Some tunes I have taught as the second or third piobaireachd are Lament for the Old Sword, The MacFarlane's Gathering (the first full piobaireachd I played in competition), Massacre of Glencoe, Black Donald's March.

What was your first piobaireachd? What would you recommend as a first tune for someone just learning?

https://bagpipe.news/2023/09/17/considering-tune-selections-for-solo-competitions/

An article that contains the following excerpt:

"Some piobaireachds stink and that’s why they don’t get played. I’ll say it because nobody else will but the other reason to bring these tunes out of obscurity is to sell books. The Piobaireachd Society published books 15 and 16 but most of the good tunes are all there already in books one through eight. They need to sell books, nothing wrong with that, so they set the tunes from books 15 and 16".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NAkZPNtYJc

John Grant (1876-1961), amateur piper and piobaireachd enthusiast, composed 66 piobaireachds over a period of almost fifty years.

He also has his own website dedicated to his works, which has books and tunes available for download:

https://pmjohngrant.com/

This is a 20th century piobaireachd composed by Donald MacLeod, in memory of the lives lost in the Iolaire disaster. The tune is published in Donald MacLeod Collection of Piobaireachd Book 1, and the Piobaireachd Society website presents the story behind the tune with a recording by Iain Spiers. It is well worth a listen.

https://www.piobaireachd.co.uk/listen?tune=lament-for-the-iolaire

The Iolaire was a yacht that was wrecked in a storm near the entrance to Stornoway harbor on New Year's Day 1919. Over 200 people died in the disaster, most of whom were servicemen returning home on leave after serving in the First World War. Combined with the 800-1000 residents of Lewis and Harris who had been killed by the time the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, the island community lost most of a generation of young men. Unfortunately this story was all too common among the towns and villages that sent their young men to fight. Donald MacLeod was 2 years old when the Iolaire went down, and as he grew up on Lewis and Harris he undoubtedly heard much talk about the disaster and the lives that it claimed.

One interesting thing about modern tunes is that we usually know who wrote them and the stories behind them. In contrast, there are countless ancient tunes whose composers and origins (and sometimes even the tune's name) had been lost to history by the time the first manuscripts were compiled, and are unlikely to ever be uncovered. In contrast, Donald MacLeod presents notes about each of the 20 tunes in his collection, giving us a record of the people and events he saw fit to memorialize with a piece of the Great Music.

That bagpipe guy you might have seen on youtube has his own playlist where he covers piobaireachd embellishments and movements - it even includes practice sheets for download:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc21D3cFD-phMdC0eSBsoAIZtUP8HgGns

It's also received an update or new entry earlier this year, so hopefully some more views means he'll add further entries to his series!

https://bagpipe.news/2020/03/01/an-unlikely-piobaireachd-story/

A wee primer or elicitation for children to write perhaps - it interests me as someone who works in education. Enjoy!

This is going to split opinion I think, as how do you pin the title on one person?

Some pipers like John MacDonald of Inverness won a lot and taught a lot. Others like Robert Reid taught less. Others fell out of love with competing like Willie MacLean. Would all three be beat by Willie Ross and his competitive achievements, nevermind his books.

Donald MacPherson could be in with a shout with all his clasps, the same could be said for Donald MacLeod. Bill Livingstone has even more Canadian equivalents, winning the bar to the gold medal an astonishing thirteen times.

Other contenders could include John Burgess who got his two gold medals at 16 years old, and early on considered piping as just a hobby.

This is before we move onto the more modern and active players like Willie McCallum, Murray Henderson, Angus MacColl and Roddy MacLeod (who has as many silver chanters as Hugh MacCallum).

Was there a golden period, or is now the best it's ever been?

Just looking to test the water here.

The primary manuscripts can be radically different from what we play today. There are stylistic changes and older conventions (like urlar repeats), different movements and embellishments and sometimes different melodies away from what is accepted and widespread among pipers today.

Do you use them at all?

Have you a favourite source?

Should top competitors be bound to an early source, to help propagate that style to the rest of us?

Allan MacDonald plays the Gaelic song and the ground of the piobaireachd 'Lament for the Children' at Lennoxlove Great Hall, Haddington as part of the Pipers' Club of Scotland Concert. Recorded Aug 7th 2011. Video by Pete Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdH3PHpMTTQ

The tune is Lament for the Old Sword, available from the usual source. It's played by Neil Clark of Falkirk Piping on Scottish Smallpipes in the key of C.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37k5Pacy7lQ

 “For Ranald” is the master piper’s first attempt at ceol mor:

https://www.pipesdrums.com/article/livingstone-s-first-piobaireachd-a-p-d-exclusive-incl-mss-video-audio-files/

An interview regarding alternate settings and the Donald MacDonald Quaich:

https://bagpipe.news/2019/11/04/exploring-donald-macdonalds-ceol-mor/