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Bagpipe music is highly structured. Most of our pipe tunes fit a predictable pattern of bars, lines, parts, and repeats. Some of the instant appeal of traditional pipe tunes comes from the balance between repeating sections and new stuff. Too much repetition and the tune can sound boring or repetitive or cheesy, but not enough repetition and the tune might not sound like a cohesive piece of music. In today's post, we'll look at several different pipe tunes and decode the sheet music to understand: What is a repeat symbol? What are the typical patterns of repeats in pipe tunes? Which tunes have parts that are repeated and which tunes don't? What are "first" and "second" endings, and how do we read them? . . . and more . . . Here is a resource that you might enjoy: Repeats and Endings Let's keep the conversation going! Please share your questions, thoughts, and observations in ...