Bagpipe embellishment pallet

It does so because bagpipe is a transposing instrument, by those 2 semitones

to fix this in your score, I suggest that you do the following:
- hit i to choose a new instrument
- find the bagpipe instrument under woodwinds, and add it to your score.
- select your original music and copy it into the new bagpipe staff
- keep the copied music selected and hit the down arrow twice to move it down 2 semi-tones.
- drag the key signature for the key of C major (no flats or sharps) onto your staff, it will add 2 sharps to your bagpipe instrument staff
- hit i again and remove the non-bagpipe instrument
- now the embellishments will work the way you expect

Bagpipe notations and Piobaireachd notations...

Hi all!

I'm very new to musecore, not writing in it yet, learning if I can,- I am a Piping Instructor, and thrilled to find you all here discussing this.

I need two variants. A proper 'pipers staff' with no sharps or flats marked (yes we are aware they exist :-) !) and an 'orchestrated staff' for when piping with the rest of the worlds musicians. The latter is easy, the former I can't find mentioned. Pipers are a hidebound lot and will shun it if it doesn't 'look right', so I assume someone has already done something to the software in a piping mode, to ensure that :

a) It conforms to the primary formal rule of bagpipe scoring, whereby ONLY notes with the stem down (no matter position on staff!!) are included into the time signature.

b) All ornamentation is written stem up, and not included in the time signature. No matter how much of it there is, and we can cram in a hell of a lot!!

Can I write a score, then "blot out" the visual of the sharps/flats signage, yet still have the playback sound right? The only time we ever use them in classical bagpiping notation, is directly infront of a note, when trying to wring an extra few notes out of a 9 note instrument, using improper fingering.

The only truly odd thing we have is halfway between a musical directive, and playing a high G oddly/wrongly, making it more a natural to flatter sound, as it gets referred to at times.

It is properly called a 'Piobaireachd G' whereby the fingering for that high G is different (your middle finger goes down) ONLY when playing heavy music aka Ceol Mor aka most commonly and properly known as "Piobaireachd" [pronounce it PEA - broch, like 'loch'] which is the Classical Music of the Great Highland Bagpipe.

Occasionally a serious modern composer will throw one into a non piob. composition to give it a bit more depth, also.

So there needs to be a notation you can add at the top at the start somewhere for 'ALL high G notes to be played as Piobaireachd G fingering'.
The older performers don't need it, the newer ones though, especially Americans, do, where the oldest form of traditional piping music is having a big revival and too many folks are learning from books not tutors.

There are a few too many things in piping manuscript which go into that category of "but you should just KNOW" !!

And there needs to be a way to marker a single note, for the modern tunes composer to use. Put a letter set PG on the stave over it or just above the note head.

Piobaireachd already has that marker system for all the rest of the big ornamentation that takes up too much staff space to write out in full.
I refer you to The Kilberry Book of Ceol Mor (giant red book) or The Piobaireachd Society Collection (the two most well known creditable sources of Piobaireachd) all of whom republish the "these two English letters written above a note mean these many (usually demi semi quavers) all joined up creating thus ornamentation" in a table at the bottom of the page of the manuscript, for whichever ones that tune references. I heard talk of a pipers pallette, so I assume that includes the normal grace notes, doublings, triplings, D-throw, Strikes, Lemluath (grip), Taorluath, Darado, then goes onto Crunluath, Crunluath a mach, Edre, Throw on F, and all the piob ones?

Leading me to such tables... can they be added? They are needed, again, only the experienced older players remember what the 6th grace note in a series of 8 was when played at eye searing speeds etc, you get the idea, without quick eye glance recourse to the bottom of the page while learning, otherwise at those gracing speeds (though the tune notes are slow) we are talking fractions of a second and fingers turning into tangled noodles and tune into minced meat.

If you didn't know, we are not permitted manuscript by tradition when performing. So we use it with our Practice Chanter instrument while learning, then sometimes on the first few run throughs on the big bagpipe, standing still by a table a minute or so, but then it must be turned over for good. We get it out again in the evenings when pipes are packed away, when we do our Practice Chanter practice, and not go deafening the neighbours. Also that way there should be less agonized cat squalling noises on the bagpipe if you don't take a tune to pipe until it has been properlly and fully memorised. A Learner piper has enough on their plate managing their instrument, even if it is fitted to them like a glove (and most are poorly fitted up) that tune wrangling is the last thing on their mind, it needs to be automatic finger memory to start with, then they can get a handle on their instrument and accuracy first, only then can they focus on tweaking the tune pathos next. That is the idea!

One of a few reasons Piobaireachd has a bad reputation, too many bad players out there mangling it. If you are curious go listen to some good stuff, some Masters of Piobaireachd. Bruce Gandy, Angus McColl, Stewart Liddell etc Look up The Glenfiddich, the worlds premiere competition for it (I never competed in it when over there - I could never afford to attend the prerequisite events sadly, where you show you are good enough for an invitation, but I hope to one day, my tutors all competed there, lucky sods! ).

For your ear it's a step back in time and strange to hear, and most instantly hate it or live it, even though its mathematical perfection in the strangest way. It's longer than modern pipe music, and builds up from slow air to frentic frenzy then finishes with the original first line.
I recommend "Desperate Battle of the Birds".
This was the music of the highland people calling, not just fighting, but rowing, mourning, hell even treading grapes. Ok there are a few celebrating mass slaughters of bloody vengeance but they were not cuddly bunnies. All the tunes have their stories.

Sorry this has been so long a post, things just kept occurring to me!! I guess I am very worried about getting in and learning a new computer system, only to find out it can't cope- I am not very tech capable and I know it will be a big effort getting this going. It took me forever to wrestle early Sibelius into fessing up pipe music, years ago, and I've been using Piob Master since, then that machine crashed, but it was a pipers only program, and while the palettes were pretty wonderfully easy point, click and drag, and had most things, it was no use at all for working with other musicians! Hope you understand.

Many Thanks,
Slaintè

Alicia Manolas