Publisher
Andreas Hambsch
“certified by the College of Piping Glasgow”
ISBN 978-3-98-199765-1
2th Edition 2020
English
Copyright © Andreas Hambsch
Web
Cover/Photos – Nils Bosshammer/Heidi Mayer/Andreas Hambsch
Contents/Text – Andreas Hambsch
Description of the book
Bagpipe Tutorial App
Lesson 01 – Fingering on the Practice Chanter
Lesson 02 – Scales and Exercises
Lesson 03 – Music Theory
Lesson 04 – Single Grace Notes
Lesson 05 – Changing Notes with a Grace Note
Lesson 06 – The “Throw on D” and your First Tune
Lesson 07 – Half Strikes and Double High G
Scots Wha Ha’e “Parts 1 and 2”
Lesson 08 – Strikes, Double High A and Grip
Amazing Grace
Lesson 09 – Double B, Double C and the Birl
High Road to Gairloch
Lesson 10 – Learning by Heart
Lesson 11 – Double E and Double F
Mairi’s Wedding
Lesson 12 – More Grace Notes and Doublings
Brown Haired Maiden
Lesson 13 – Crossing Noise Exercises
Lesson 14 – The G Grace Note Birl
Pipes Up
Lesson 15 – Rodin
The Green Hills of Tyrol
Lesson 16 – Right and Wrong Habits
Lesson 17 – Revision
Lesson 18 – The Taorluath and Revision of the Grip
Scotland the Brave
Lesson 19 – Rhythm / Monotone Exercises
Lesson 20 – G-D-E Single Grace Note Jumps
Paddy’s Leather Breeches
Lesson 21 – The Set of Bagpipes
Lesson 22 – Strathspey Triplets
Aspen Bank
Lesson 23 – Tachum, Double Tachum and Darado
Devil in the Kitchen
Devil in the Kitchen
Morag of Dunvegan
Lesson 24 – Fast Finger Exercise
Lesson 25 – Music Theory
Lesson 26 – More Exercises and Embellishments
Lesson 27 – More Tunes
Kevin’s Tune
Jock Wilson’s Ball
The Mermaid Song
Orange and Blue
The High Road To Linton
The Skye Boat Song
Heather Island
P.M. Joe Wilson’s Welc. to the C.o.P.
Acknowledgements & Happy Birthday
Lesson 28 – Grace Notes, Embellishments and Exercises
"How i memorise a song" by Dr. Andy Fluck
Piobaireachd Embellishments
1) An A4-sized music book with empty staffs (note lines). You’ll write your exercises in your music book and especially the tunes you’ll learn, because physically writing them down is really an enormous help for the learning process.
2) During your first year of learning, you’ll also need a practice chanter. You can find one in any specialised shop for bagpipes and accessories. The staff there will be able to give you the special advice you need. If you have a tutor, ask him or her to recommend a practice chanter and accessories.
You’ll learn the first fingerings and tunes on your practice chanter and after around 8-16 months (depending on the time you spend on the exercises), you’ll have reached lesson 21. Then it will be time for you to transfer what you’ve learned on your chanter to the “big” bagpipes – but the practice chanter will always accompany you when you’re learning fingering exercises and new tunes.
Bagpipe music has melody notes (they’re the big notes, which represent the melody of the tune) and grace notes (the small notes), which “grace” or embellish the melody. With this method and twenty-eight lessons, this book is structured in such a way that you can absorb and memorise the melody and grace notes systematically and successfully.
The Bagpipe Tutorial App contains the acoustic and visual versions of all the exercises in this book, plus all tunes played at different speeds. You can download the app in your app store.
Each lesson in the book will bring you one step closer to your goal of becoming a good piper. Work through the lessons conscientiously – only start the next one if you’re sure you’ve mastered the previous lesson’s exercises and can play them correctly.
By the time you’ve finished with this book, you’ll have learned twenty-two bagpipe tunes (yes, twenty-two!) with all their grace notes. But keep working on your fingering technique every day – and expand your repertoire using sheet music that you can buy in your bagpipe shop.
This textbook is suitable for studying without a teacher, but it’s also the ideal companion book if you are taking private lessons.
In Lesson 28 you’ll find a summary of all the exercises in the chapters, plus the embellishments of classical music (Piobaireachd).
This tutorial app is the most comprehensive multimedia reference in the world on playing the Scottish bagpipes. It contains more than 250 videos demonstrating control of the instrument and finger techniques, including audio-visual information on all the grace notes and embellishments. Numerous exercises convey the essentials of Scottish piping.
Info: For each download of the full version, a part of the revenue flows into a social project, which will be announced by Andreas Hambsch on Facebook at the end of the year.
Info: To receive vouchers and interesting information about bagpipes, activate push notifications in the settings of your mobile phone. (Only with the full version)
Once the app is installed, you have access to all of its functions and all the videos, even in offline mode. The tutorial is ideal for absolute beginners up to advanced pipers and can be used for independent study or as a source of examples for lessons. Its aim is to give the student basic information about the instrument, a solid foundation in technique and expert guidance on the route to becoming an accomplished piper.
This tutorial app by Andreas Hambsch is a milestone in the teaching of the Scottish bagpipes. Easily understandable and thorough, it is a worthwhile investment for anyone interested in piping. The Bagpipe Tutorial book, also by Andreas Hambsch, is an ideal supplement.