Is this the Scottish version of the tinwhistle? or what?
Piobaireachd is a type of Highland Bagpipe music. Known to some as the “classical” music of piping. AFAIK it consists of a theme that is repeated with different ornamentations each time through. Personally I find them a bit long and boring to listen to much. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
David
P.S. My favorite piobaireachd title is “Too Long in this Conditon”. Pretty much sums up my attitude as decribed above 
[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2002-03-15 17:43 ]
Quite interesting.
Although I heard reference to it as an instrument on a CD…
hmmm. Possibly another GREAT MYSTERY OF THE WHISTLE WORLD…?
The great(est) rock band, Jethro Tull have evolved this tune type into a rocky version, played as an instrumental, at a point in a live gig, when flautist Ian Anderson needs to run off stage to, errrr…‘freshen up’! They call the tune Pibroch (or Pee-Break)!
Steve
“Piobaireachd is a type of Highland Bagpipe music. Known to some as the “classical” music of piping. AFAIK it consists of a theme that is repeated with different ornamentations each time through. Personally I find them a bit long and boring to listen to much.”
Talk about your understatements! Watching grass grow is positively entrancing next to a classical pibroch. And do not interpret this to mean I’m a pipe-hater. I’ll drive 50 miles out of my way to hear even a mediocre pipe band
So, it isn’t an actual intrument?
oh. Quite interesting.
Bagpipes can be used for a lot of different kinds of music. Rufus Harley actually plays jazz bagpipe. But as a rule, there are 2 kinds of music played on the pipes. Pibroch (there are at least 4 spellings) and more recent bagpipe music. Just the stuff written for the pipes.
Calling Pibroch the classical music of the pipes is pretty close. Good players can make it very interesting. Jack Lee plays a fine Pibroch on The World’s Best Pipers 16. Great to listen to. First one I heard that I actually like. And my parents are both bagpipers. (I have been learning for a year now.)
The music consists of a ground (the actual tune) and the variations. These take out particular notes from the ground and are played over and over with different ornaments. There are Pibroch ornaments that are never used in any other pipe music. Wierd. Pipers either love it or not, but listeners often need to be into the whole bagpipe culture to enjoy hearing it.
-Patrick