Yet another Scottish piping question

Bagpipes (Non-Uilleann)
1

I have a question about alternate fingerings on Scottish pipes (pinky placement and high A fingering).

As people have mentioned on other threads, SSPs are very flexible with respect to the fingerings you can use for many notes. For example, E can be fingered like X XXO OOO O, X XXO OOO X, X XXO XXX O, etc. without affecting tuning that much.

I’ve decided I want to learn the genuine “Scottish fingerings” for these notes, even though they’re less intuitive to me as a whistle player. For one thing, I find that I can play E, F#, and high G slightly better in tune if I have three fingers down on the right hand. I also like the tone better when they’re played this way. This doesn’t make a HUGE difference, but it makes enough of a difference that it’s barely noticeable, at least to me.

But also, I’m thinking long-term here. I may want to play border pipes someday. Perhaps I never will, but just in case, I’d love to learn fingerings that work on all Scottish pipes, not just on smallpipes.

Which brings me to my questions:

First, how important is the pinky placement for Scottish pipes other than SSPs? I’ve searched the web for answers to this question, but I can’t find any information on it. Finger charts for Scottish pipes always say to have pinky down (i.e. covering the hole) for G, C#, and D, but not for E, F#, or high G. How important is this for staying in tune on, say, border pipes? On SSPs, whether you have your pinky down or not seems to make zero difference for any of these notes (except low G and perhaps C#). So I’d rather just not worry about whether my pinky is down or not. But maybe I should worry about it if it does make a difference on other types of Scottish pipes.

Second, what is the optimal fingering for playing an in-tune high A (i.e., in tune with low A) on border pipes? I know that multiple fingerings for high A are possible on all kinds of Scottish pipes, but my understanding is that how you finger high A will make a significant difference to the note’s tuning on border pipes (it seems to make very little difference on SSPs). I am not a fan of “flat” high As (which I know some Scottish pipers use on purpose), so I’d like to avoid learning a fingering on SSPs for high A that would be flat on border pipes.

2

The “pinky down” for C# and D is not only a matter of tuning but also of enabling playing technique - many important techniques (notably throws, grips and taorluaths) involve low G, so it is very handy if you already have the pinky on the lowest finger hole. Same goes for the ring finger when playing high A, you don’t want to have to move four fingers of the same hand simultaneously for a quick but nevertheless precise movement.

3

I don’t have a border pipe chanter anymore, so I can’t check that.

On my Highland chanters having the lower-hand little finger down doesn’t make much difference, the most effect is on E.

But as has been said Highland fingering, techniques, and even tunes are based around the concept that for all the upper-hand notes the low hand is (in effect) playing Low A.

So this bottom-hand fingering

|xxxo

is used not only for Low A but also for all the upper-hand notes E, F#, High G, and High A.

Thus it’s super convenient to touch on Low A in between upper-hand notes which is a feature of many tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EibA6IztuU

And this one, jump to 11:08 for a tune full of high-hand-to-Low A jumping. (Or go a bit earlier if you want to hear thumb triplets.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHXRfy-eHIQ

And yes having that lower-hand little finger DOWN for C# and D is built into ornaments.

I will say that “open C” (really C#)

x|xxx|xooo

though very rarely seen nowadays used to be fairly common. Today (and perhaps always) it’s the sign of somebody who never had any instruction, cut off from other players.

What’s interesting is the situation of this fingering in Spanish Galician Gaita playing. Older books show these fingerings

x|xxx|xooo (Major 3rd)
x|xxx|ooxo (4th)
x|xxo|ooxo (5th)
x|xoo|ooxo (Major 6th)
etc.

In other word using the lower-hand ring finger as the “anchor” finger, which is very common in Irish flute and whistle playing and in Bulgarian piping etc.

I’ve seen the same Spanish Gaita Galega tutor showing those fingerings in old editions, but showing using the lower-hand little finger as anchor in newer editions.

x|xxx|xoox (Major 3rd)
x|xxx|ooox (4th)
x|xxo|ooox (5th)
x|xoo|ooox (Major 6th)

I think it’s the influence of Highland Scottish piping and/or orchestral instruments.

4

Thanks, both of you!

Pancelticpiper, you focus on why keeping pinky off the hole is a good idea for the higher notes. That makes sense. But to me, the most annoying part is remembering to put the pinky down for C# and D. I’d prefer to keep my pinky off the hole for those notes. Pinky on/off seems to make the least difference to the tuning of those notes, so I was mainly wondering if it makes a difference on highland/border pipes.

But I guess MichaelLoos’s explanation makes sense as a reason I should keep my pinky down for those notes regardless. sigh

Guess I’ll relearn how to play a scale. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Thing is, on the Highland pipes we have tape on every hole so we can fine-tune each note.

If you have the little finger off for C# the note will be a hair flat. As long as you’re consistent, and always play the “open C”, just adjust the tape so it’s in tune and there’s no problem whatsoever.

I don’t think D matters. However if you play “open D” then you don’t have an anchor finger.