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Today's focus is an important and common element of piping technique: The Birl. The simplest way to describe the birl: The birl is two low G strikes on Low A. What makes the birl interesting in a little more complicated are the various different ways that pipers have devised to play those two low strikes quickly and cleanly. The birl from low A as written in tunes (left) and expanded (right). More about the birl: The birl is a low A based movement. The note after the birl is always low A. The note before the birl can be any note, however if the note before the Birl is not low A, a low A is added as part of the birl. The birl is sometimes played with a high G grace note. There are several different ways to play the birl: the “seven”, the tap-drag, the double tap, the up-down, the down-up. The first ...