By Jori Chisholm • BagpipeLessons.com

Piobaireachd (“pee-brock”) is the classical music of the great highland bagpipe. Many pipers consider it the highest form of bagpipe music, and also the most satisfying and the most challenging to play.

What Piobaireachd Is

Piobaireachd is the classical music of the great highland bagpipe. It is less commonly referred to as Ceol Mor, meaning Great Music. It is entirely different from the category of music known as Ceol Beag (or Little Music) that includes marches, slow airs, and the various idioms of dance music — jigs, reels, strathspeys, and hornpipes.

Piobaireachd tunes are often several hundred years old, dating as far back as the 1400s. It is distinct from the other forms of Celtic music in that it is only traditionally played by a solo piper on the great highland bagpipe.

How a Piobaireachd Is Built

The tunes tend to be much longer than light music tunes, and feature a theme called the Ground, or Urlar, and several variations. The variations take the basic melody established in the ground and present it in a variety of different rhythmic contexts with a variety of different technical embellishments. Common variations include the use of the Taorluath, Crunluath, and Crunluath-a-mach movements.

The Titles and the Stories

Piobaireachd tunes are often associated with particular individuals or clans or historic events. Colorful titles include Too Long in this Condition, The Piper’s Warning to his Master, The Lament for the Children, Beloved Scotland, and The Little Spree.

Why Pipers Take It Seriously

Many pipers consider piobaireachd to be the highest form of bagpipe music and also the most satisfying and challenging to play. The world’s most prestigious piping competitions, such as the Gold Medals at Inverness and Oban, are won by pipers who compete by playing piobaireachd tunes.

Piobaireachd Tune Lesson Downloads

I’m very pleased to offer Tune Lesson Downloads for Piobaireachd. The first batch of these tunes includes:

1. The Glen is Mine
2. The Little Spree
3. The Munros’ Salute
4. Too Long in This Condition

With each Tune Lesson Download you receive:

• A high-quality, studio-produced audio recording of your tune played by one of the world’s top pipers.
• Professionally-typeset printed sheet music for your tune — perfectly matched to the audio recording.
• A detailed audio instructional lesson on the tune, including learning tips, practice strategies, suggestions for improvement, and demonstrations played on the practice chanter.
• An additional sheet of BONUS written instructional materials related to your tune.

For more information on these tunes, please visit the BagpipeLessons.com Tune Downloads page.

Related Guides

• Learn Tunes Fast by Avoiding These Common Mistakes — the timing errors that slow down learning any tune.
• Learn Tunes Faster by Highlighting Your Sheet Music — how to see a tune’s structure before you play it.
• How to Achieve a World Class Bagpipe Sound — piobaireachd exposes your tone like nothing else.
• Your Practice Checklist — 87 questions to prepare for competition.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you pronounce piobaireachd?

“Pee-brock.” It is a Gaelic word, and the spelling gives very little away to English speakers.

What is the difference between Ceol Mor and Ceol Beag?

Ceol Mor — Great Music — is piobaireachd. Ceol Beag — Little Music — is everything else: marches, slow airs, jigs, reels, strathspeys and hornpipes. The distinction is about form and status, not difficulty.

What is the Urlar?

The Urlar, or Ground, is the theme that opens a piobaireachd. Every variation that follows is a re-presentation of that same melody in a different rhythmic context with different embellishments.

How old are piobaireachd tunes?

Often several hundred years old. The tradition dates as far back as the 1400s, and many surviving tunes commemorate specific people, clans or historic events.

Is piobaireachd played by pipe bands?

Traditionally no. Piobaireachd is solo music for the great highland bagpipe, and that is how it is played in competition.

Why does piobaireachd matter in competition?

The world’s most prestigious solo prizes — the Gold Medals at Inverness and Oban among them — are decided on piobaireachd. A serious solo competitor has to play it well.

About Jori Chisholm

Jori Chisholm is a world-renowned American professional bagpipe player and teacher. He played with the six-time Grade One World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band for 19 years and was a featured solo performer for the band on multiple occasions. He is a successful solo competitor, winning the United States Gold Medal four times and winning top prizes at many top competitions including the Northern Meeting at Inverness, the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban, the Royal Braemar Gathering, and the Cowal Highland Gathering.

Jori started BagpipeLessons.com in 1999, in hopes of bringing pipers of all levels and experience valuable, trusted information, tools, support, and inspiration. In 2003, Jori was the first piper to teach bagpipes online. He has been featured in a New York Times front page story about the growth of online music lessons. Jori also founded the world’s first online-only piping and drumming competition, the World Piping and Drumming Championships, which has become a highly popular and celebrated event.

Jori has invented several popular, award-winning, and patented products for pipers including the Tone Protector™ chanter cap with two-way humidity control, the Tone Protector™ Reed Case, InTune Mic™, the Bagpipe Gauge, the Piper’s Ultimate Reed Poker, the Piper’s Advantage™ Bagpipe Phone Mount, and the Piper’s Metronome™. Jori lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife and two sons and enjoys traveling, exploring the great outdoors, and of course, music of all kinds.

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