Christmas music on the pipes

[BonnieT100]

I know it's a bit late to be learning some tunes for this year, but does anyone have sheet music for Christmas songs? I've got a few that I've found all over the net, but "Angels We Have Heard On High" eludes me.

[beloitpiper]

I have a whole lot in my pipe bands book, but those are printed. I don't know where to find them electronically. But they're not too hard to figure out. Just sit down with your chanter and I'm sure you can figure a few of them out.

[BonnieT100]

The ones I have seen are simple enough. My ears aren't the best for determining how things should sound - too much exposure to explosions.

[Thunderbolt]

I've got a pile of Christmas music, but I'm not sure how I'd get it to you in time...

[Mr. Woolery]

For the future (too late for this year, as noted above) get a copy of the Christmas edition of the Church Piper set of books. I think his settings are a little overly ornamented, but the important notes are all there and it is easy to change doublings to grace notes and so on.

It is also not that hard to take a book of Christmas Carols and just rewrite the notes in A, rather than F or C (the two keys I hate playing on the banjo, but half the music seems to be written in them because it is easy for piano beginners). It takes time to rewrite it if you can't transpose mentally (I'm not good at it), but can be worth it if you want the music written out for you.

And as mentioned previously, a lot of it isn't too hard to just figure out by ear. Pipers sometimes spend too little time learning by ear anyway. Think of it as developing a vital skill of musicianship. And saves you the cost of a book.

-Patrick

[BonnieT100]

How do you transpose music? I've heard the term before, but it never works out how I think it should.

[Mr. Woolery]

Okay, you understand that bagpipe music is written in A, right? Actually, it is A with a flat seventh, so only two sharps (C# and F#). Your lowest note is normally going to be Low A. Now, find some sheet music for a Christmas carol. Odds are good that you will find something in F (one flat note - looks like a little b in the key signature) or C (no sharps or flats). Heck of a lot seems to be written for piano, so they go with keys that use mostly white notes on the piano.

All right. You have your carol, you have a seet of blank musical staff, you have a pencil, and you have your practice chanter. Good.

Look at the first note of the carol. Okay, if your first note is a C (low C, the note below the staff with a line through it), write a low A on your blank staff. If it is a D (just below the staff, no line) write a B. For an E, write down C; for an F, write D and so on. I imagine that with a light table I'd be able to just place the sheet music on it, offset the blank staff the right amount and trace, but for now I actually scribble it out by hand.

Don't worry about grace notes and ornaments until the end. Just get the main notes down.

The practice chanter is your double-check. After each line, play what you wrote and make sure it sounds right. I often find myself writing the same note that is on the original, not transposing it. A quick run-through will reveal any obvious mistakes of this type.

When you have the whole tune written out in A, play through again. Sound right? Good. Now, you can either decide what grace notes to play and write them in or you can fudge it as you go. At any rate, you have now completed the first transposition and it took you less time than you normally spend browsing on XMarks. But it was dull, so it felt like forever. With practice it does get faster and it helps a lot with understanding music for pianos and other, lesser instruments.

The whole concept is to shift the notes up the musical staff to turn them into notes that can be played on the bagpipes. Some folks can do this in their heads as they look at the music, but that comes from a lot of years of practice. Confuses the heck out of me.

Sometimes you will come up with a note that is outside of the range of an octave and a note (the range of a bagpipe). Auld Lang Syne is the classic example for the bagpipe. We can't play it as written, so we actually drop the highest notes an octave below how they are written. It sounds a little odd when you are trying to sing it, but it works out well enough on the pipes. An A is an A, no matter what octave it is in. Just sounds sort of odd to go down when you expect it to go up. But that's okay because it is part of the charm of an instrument with a limited range.

Does all of that make sense? If not, please try it once and then tell me if it makes sense. Just reading how to do it can be a little odd, but doing it just as I have suggested ought to be fairly straightforward. If you have any problems, please PM me and I will try to clear them up.

-Patrick