What’s in a Tune is a series of YouTube videos presented by tutors and guest pipers from The National Piping Centre. The presenters share background stories on what the tunes mean to them, and technique on how the tune should be played. In the most recent video, Margaret Houlihan gives […]
Harmony Writing Part Eight. By TIM CUMMINGS. Piping Today #92, 2018. We have arrived at the eighth and last article on writing harmonies for pipe bands and other pipe ensembles — for the time being, at least. In the previous seven articles, we explored a progression of approaches to crafting […]
Harmony Writing Part Seven. By TIM CUMMINGS. Piping Today #91, 2018. If you’ve ever heard a world-class uilleann piper, you’ll have experienced both the thrill of a magnificent instrument as well as the accompanying harmonies played on the regulators. Uilleann pipes are similar to Scottish-style bagpipes in that they have […]
Harmony Writing Part Six. By TIM CUMMINGS. Piping Today #90, 2018. Those of you following along with this mini-series on Harmony Writing may remember the project from the previous article, which involved developing a more involved harmony for the first part of John Walsh’s The Korgi (a reel in the […]
Harmony Writing Part Five. By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #89, 2017. In the last three features of this Harmony Writing campaign, we spelunked evermore deeply into the underground realm of chords. First, we learned the basic idea of chord triads, then we began to match various chords to particular parts […]
Harmony Writing Part Four. By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #88, 2017. In part three of this mini-series on Harmony Writing, we looked at the most common basic chords used to accompany Celtic music, in particular Scottish pipe tunes. A chart of the nine most common chords, most of them consisting […]
Day 20 of the February Piping Challenge saw Dr Andrew Bova dispense advice on how to build stamina in your playing at this time of the year. At 6pm tonight, February 21, Dan Nevans will give a presentation on perfecting your pipe band attack. This will be available to watch on […]
Margaret Houlihan, Willie McCallum, Finlay MacDonald and Dan Nevans have presented videos on a variety of subjects over the previous week in the February Piping Challenge. Willie and Dan gave talks on aspects of performance and preparing for competition, with Margaret, Finlay and Dan the chatting about the technique of […]
Over the past four days Willie McCallum, Danny Hutcheson, Ailis Sutherland and Wilson Brown have been presenting videos on The National Piping Centre’s February Piping Challenge. Willie spoke about 2/4 marches and plays The Crags of Stirling, Danny teaches strikes, Ailis talks about jig playing using the tune The Judge’s […]
Days eight and nine of the February Piping Challenge were presented by Dr Andrew Bova and John Mulhearn on the topics of reel playing and the importance of being physically comfortable when playing your pipes. At 6pm tonight, February 10, Willie McCallum will give a presentation on playing 2/4 marches. […]
