The seven-style birl is harder to learn than a tap-and-drag or double-tap, but it's the only version where consistency is built into your anatomy instead of your control. Touch the chanter above the hole, slide down, lift and pull back, then release — once you have that motion, every birl comes out identical.
Set your pinky into the birl-ready position at the exact moment you move onto the low A, not before and not after. That single combined move — dropping the leading finger and the pinky together — is what makes birls off tricky notes like B, C, or E feel as automatic as a birl straight off low A.
Judge a reed only after it's been properly humidified, never dry. My full toolkit for a good chanter sound is a reed case for stable moisture, rubber bands for a reed that's good but too hard, fine sandpaper for one that won't kick in, and a poker for one that's too easy or squealing.
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Birls, Picking out a Good Reed, and more
1h 10m · Full class available to Inner Circle members
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Tracking performance time reed over🔒
About this class
🔒 The write-up and the quotes from this class are part of the members’ page.
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