Practice chanter, scale with taorluath and crunluath (audio clip)

Iain MacInnes plays a scale embellished with complex ornaments on practice chanter. The practice chanter is a scaled-down, mouth-blown version of the Highland bagpipe chanter, used for teaching and learning tunes. It has a double reed, and plays in a pitch approximately one octave below the Highland bagpipe chanter. Here the practice chanter plays the gracenotes combined into the conventional forms of doublings known by their Gaelic names of taorluath and crunluath.

Bagpipe tunes are embellished using gracenotes, which serve to differentiate notes of the same pitch, and provide rhythmic articulation. Pipes play at constant pressure (through air provided by way of the bag), and therefore the volume cannot be modified while playing.

The fingering system used on Highland bagpipes, known as half-open or partially covered fingering, lends itself to elaborate gracenoting, which is a recognised feature of Scottish piping.

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