Highlight your tunes by rhythm, not just by phrase. Give every rhythmic pattern its own color — dot-cut, cut-dot, two even eighths, long-short-short-long — no matter what the notes are. The Duke of Roxburgh comes down to six patterns and the High Road to Gairloch to four. You see at once which rhythms dominate, which are rare, and where a tune is hiding something unusual.
A crossing noise is a finger dropping before another one is raised. The rule is raise, then drop. Never fix a hard transition with a false fingering. You may not hear it on the practice chanter, but the pitch is wrong on the pipes. Keep the hands relaxed and close to the chanter, because tension is what makes crossing noises worse.
16th notes do not exist in pipe music — every short note is the same short. A 16th written next to a 32nd is played exactly as short as the 32nd. Write the cuts double-dotted if that helps you, and let the music, not the page, tell you the timing. The sheet music is a memory aid for the notes and the gracenotes.
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Practice Chanter Session — September 21, 2026
53m · Full class available to Inner Circle members
⏱️ In this class
01:37to A by color highlight: pattern rhythmic second way🔒
04:46tune The of layers a learning🔒
07:10move faster? fingering) Can I down leave (false fingers to🔒
10:25hand every the note bottom top-hand Scale on 101:🔒
12:35What crossing is noise a🔒
13:47The drop raise, rule: then🔒
16:19Blackmount Duke Farewell to Forest The the of Roxburgh's🔒
19:46piper's for part a hard The toolkit🔒
20:26Duke patterns Coloring Roxburgh: the six rhythmic of🔒
33:23High Gairloch to The Road tune: simpler A🔒
40:35notes Why 16th exist don't🔒
45:11Scotland experiment by Learning the ear Beloved first:🔒
49:04to it five Study one see idiom is what in tunes🔒
51:01class free next and Zoom classes the week's Wrap-up:🔒
About this class
🔒 The write-up and the quotes from this class are part of the members’ page.
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