Leumluath and Toarluath
The Leumluath (pronounced “Lumlua” and commonly called a “Grip”) is played
by simply closing the chanter to sound Low G, making a D gracenote while still on Low G, and then opening
the chanter to sound the melody note following.
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Here's how the Lemluath exercise above is played. Close the chanter, make a D gracenote, and then open
the chanter to the melody note. Practice this slowly to perfect the technique. Increase your speed
as your hands become used to the movement.
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The Toarluath (pronounced “Torlua”) is our next and most complicated embellishment to date. Broken
down it involves four gracenotes played in rapid succession.
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The Toarluath is shown here with a G gracenote played on a Low A followed by the actual Toarluath played
on another Low A. The Toarluath is played by closing the chanter to sound Low G, making a D gracenote
on Low G, and then making an E gracenote on the following melody note.
Hmmm. GDE – where have
we seen this before? Now the rhythm of this movement, as seen in this example, 1…2, 3, 4. Play it over
and over until this rhythm becomes natural and you’re able to duplicate it over and over without issue.
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As with all embellishments the individual gracenotes will eventually be brought very close together.
Regardless of how “tightly” they are played, the individual gracenotes are still distinct, sequential,
and recognizable. At no point should they overlap or become displaced or re-organized. Practice them
slowly and openly, gradually increasing your speed without sacrificing correct technique. Speed should
always go hand-in-hand with playing the embellishment absolutely perfect….100% of the time!
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"Think" the music first. The correct way to play the taorluath is to think 1, 234. When you practice
this movement, develop a rythm where the "1" is on the down beat, the "2 & 3" are on the upbeat and the
"4" is on the next downbeat. Orally, this sounds like this. (click on the Treble Clef).
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Now play the notes the same say you were thinking or singing them. 1, 234 - 1, 234. It should sound
something like this
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This measure of music above is, of course, the first bar of Scotland the Brave. It's also an excellent
bar to practice as it brings together the power of the taorluath with the rythms of C doublings going
down to low A and going up to E. It should sound something like this. And no, in case you're wondering,
Scotland the Brave is not an easy tune. Played correctly it contains more than a few challenges.
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The taorluth can be played from any note and to any note on the chanter. They are all played with the
sequence and cadence explained above. Create your own taorluth exercises from and to various notes in
order to perfect the movement and develop consistency in your playing.
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On the Beat!
This is a great time to re-introduce the topic of playing on the beat. Get
ready for a wild ride!
Strictly speaking, if we were to remove all embellishments from the music,
the beat would occur on the melody note. As discussed earlier, bagpipe music is enhanced through the
use of embellishments. The simplest embellishment is a single gracenote. Because it is so brief, it
is easy to explain and understand that the beat falls on the gracenote and not on the melody note.
Embellishments using more than one gracenote pose interesting questions and answers. The rules
are not always consistent. Neither is the application of the rules. This can be a source of confusion,
frustration, and can result in very unmusical playing.
When played properly, the individual notes
of embellishments are played cleanly, distinctly, in proper sequence, evenly across the embellishment,
and quite closely together. They should consume only marginal amounts of pure note value. None-the-less,
complex or compound embellishments do consume note value that must be accounted for.
With doublings,
the beat always falls on the first gracenote of the doubling. This rule is consistent 100% of the time!
Extreme care should be taken to place the leading gracenote precisely in the middle of the beat. There
is no sense in belabouring this rule. It is iron-clad and nothing else will suffice. Examples of these
doublings with the “beat gracenote” indicated in red are shown below.
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This being the case, the doubling takes all the note value it consumes from the following melody note.
How “open” or “closed” you play the embellishment determines how much note value it consumes and how
much it must borrow from the melody note.
This is also the case with the following embellishments.
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Here we see a Birl, a G gracenote Birl, D Strike, and a B Strike all with the beat falling on the first
gracenote of the embellishment.
The example to the right above is a compound embellishment called
a Doubling-Strike. Breaking is down you can see that there is a top-hand doubling on B directly linked
with a B Strike. This consumes roughly 40% more time than the regular B strike and, as the beat falls
to the leading G gracenote, the embellishment takes all its value from the following B quarter note.
This is a great time to stop and take a breather. Given what is written above it is not hard to
assume that all embellishments are defined as such, with the leading gacenote being played on the beat.
This is not necessarily the case.
In fact, the following embellishments are treated quite differently.
With each, the beat falls on the melody note immediately following the embellishment or on a gracenote
within the embellishment, rather than the gracenote leading the embellishment. In the case of the Leumluath
(first embellishment below) the embellishment takes all its value from the preceding melody note. The
beat falls on the following melody note, indicated in red below.
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![Image of beatembellishments6b[1].jpg](beatembellishments6b[1].jpg) |
Our next embellishment is the Toarluath. The E gracenote is played on the beat, also indicated in red.
With the D Throw, whether you play the “heavy” or “Light” version the D gracenote (following the leading
Low G gracenote) is on the beat.
The last embellishment to the right above is commonly called
a “bubbly note” and is played by closing the chanter to Low G, making D and C gracenotes on the Low G
and then opening the chanter to the melody note, which happens to be a B in this instance. According
to Jim McGillivray in his excellent instruction book Rhythmic Fingerwork the beat falls to the D
gracenote as indicated above. However he further states that the beat can be moved to the first Low
G in order to give the movement “great rhythmic lift” and that both approaches are correct!
I
wonder if this applies to the other embellishments as well? Let’s drill down here a bit and try to understand
what Jim is saying and how the rules might apply or change according to specific factors.
The
explanations above are widely held to be true and accurate. Notwithstanding there is other logic and
opinion that should be understood and considered.
Solo pipers are able to impart considerable
personal style and interpretation into their playing. Placement of notes and embellishments falls more
generally into the “textbook” definition however there is also ample room for personal style and interpretation.
A huge factor in all this is that a solo piper does not have to be concerned with unison issues associated
with playing in a group or band.
In band playing, unison is of utmost importance and sometimes
the “textbook” definition of playing an embellishment (relative to the beat) is compromised in order
to achieve both unison and expression in the music.
For example, in a Toarluath, the beat falls
on the E gracenote at the end of the embellishment. A solo piper might approach this with a very relaxed
and “open” style, borrowing considerably from the value of the note preceding the Toarluath. In band
playing, in order to improve expression, we tend to hold the melody note preceding the Toarluath until
seemingly the last possible second and then “hammer” in the Toarluath with the Low G gracenote being
closer to the beat.
A great example of this is Scotland the Brave. Let’s look at the first
two bars.
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The numbers indicate the correct and precise “textbook” placement of each beat. Without full regard
for the powerful expressive melody of the tune newer and/or less-musical pipers might sacrifice expression
as they “splay” the embellishment, borrowing excessively from the preceding melody note. The result
is a boring, “flat”, lifeless tune.
With greater regard for expression and giving each melody
note its full value, we might hear something that sounds more like the following:
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From an “expression” perspective, the first beat in the first measure is extremely important. If we
don’t give this quarter note its full value, we ruin the expression within the first measure. Try waiting
until the last possible moment to play your Toarluath.
The same holds true for the two High A
quarter notes in the second measure. Hold the two High A quarter notes full value being one beat each.
Wait until the last possible moment before playing your Leumluath.
You will find that music
is much more expressive than otherwise achieved by simply targeting the textbook beat notes.
So
what do we make of all this? Am I suggesting that the textbook explanation is wrong? Not at all. What
I am stating is that many successful Pipe Majors instruct their pipers to begin all embellishments on
the beat. This improves both expression and unison around the circle or down the street.
The
bottom line here is to understand where the beat falls and to have utmost respect for both playing on
the beat and expressing the tune musically.
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