Piobaireachd
Piobaireachd (pronounced "pi-broch" with a rolled R, [ ˈpiːˌbrɔx ], Gaelic [ ˈpʰiːbərɒχk ]; English also written Pibroch ) comes from Gaelic and means "pipen", in German "to play the bagpipes " (literally: "to whistle") . The person who does this was called Piobaire (pronounced “Pie-bör” = Piper, Pfeifer ). Today the word describes the classical music for the Great Highland Bagpipe (great Scottish highland bagpipe ). This is synonymous with Ceol Mor , “great music”.
The music was probably invented in the 16th century by the Boreraig- based MacCrimmons, pipers of the MacLeod clan , on the Scottish island of Skye . Most of the melodies are still preserved today. Due to the “ Highland Clearances ” at the end of the 18th century, many pieces were lost or only partially preserved, but were then reconstructed, so that today we have more than 200 tunes, some of which are more than 500 years old: The Notes for most of the pieces can be found in the "Piobaireachd Society Collection" published by the Piobaireachd Society . This collection comprises 15 volumes and a foreword.
The music itself consists of a theme (Gaelic “Urlar” = English “ground”), which is varied in different sections. Such a piece can take between 8 and 25 minutes. The music is usually structured pentatonic . The composers express different emotional states in their tunes. Marches and “battletunes” were composed as well as lamentations and “salutes”. Since the bagpipes do not allow dynamics in the performance, these emotions are expressed through phrasing.
The variations include, for example, Taorluath, Crunluath, as well as doublings and triples of the theme and the variations.
There are now competitions all over the world in which the interpretation and the technique are evaluated.
Traditionally, this form of music is conveyed through a singing language, the Canntaireachd (pronounced "kan-troch"). Different syllables stand for different notes and decorations. Notations for piobaireachd were not developed until the 18th century. Due to the complexity of the melody and the changing rhythms, however, no form of notation allows such a precise representation of the structure as the sung Canntaireachd.
Piobaireachd shares several fundamental parallels with other ancient folk music in the world, but is unique in its own way, even when compared to other Gaelic musical traditions.
In addition to the “Ceol Mor”, pieces of music for the Great Highland Bag Pipes are classified into the “ Ceol beag ” (small or light music) and the “ Ceol meadhonach ” (medium music).
literature
- Roderik D. Cannon, The Highland Bagpipe and its Music. New Edition. John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-85976-549-0
- Manfred Bartmann: Timing principles for the Pibroch, the music for the Scottish bagpipes. (PDF; 701 kB) In: Wolfgang Auhagen, Bram Gätjen, Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller (eds.): Systemic musicology. Festschrift Jobst Peter Fricke for his 65th birthday. Musicological Institute University of Cologne, Cologne 2003, pp. 189–200
- Reinhold Ege: Keys and moods of the Great Highland Bagpipe , self-published (www.macege.de), Herrenberg 2001