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Lesson 12 - The mighty birl
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On paper, the birl doesn't look that complicated however many find it to be the most difficult of all
embellishments. In its most basic form, it is two taps of the pinkie finger on the chanter. That doesn't
sound too complicated, does it. However in order to achieve the desired affect the following optional
birls are perfected by pipers:
1) Striking the pinkie once and then curling it back up and across
the Low G note hole.
2) Brushing the pinkie down across the Low G note hole and then quickly
bringing it back up across the hole.
3) Doing the same as in 2 above, only in reverse
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Listen to this sound file as I attempt to demonstrate 1, 2, and 3 above. Pipers usually stick with one
style of birl. The trick is to relax your fingers and practice the birl slowly with smooth movements.
Speed will come later. Right now train your pinkie to make the same fluid motion time after time.
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Here's Robin Adair with the birl inserted into the second part (see the red arrow). We left it
out earlier as we were focusing on other embellishments and on playing on the beat. We'll talk a little
more about the practice of altering tunes later. Right now, let's try Robin Adair with the birl!
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Now, while we're learning how to play a birl in a relatively simple 4/4 march, let's continue on and
learn a couple more tunes that go very nicely with Robin Adair! The first tune is Bonnie Galloway.
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You may want to double-time the second part to ensure you get all those eigth notes exactly where they
belong. Do not "tumble" through this tune! Keep working with your metronome. The next tune is The
Blue Bells of Scotland.
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These are three great tunes for playing together. They allow you to listen to your bagpipe, to blow
impeccable tone, and to play precisely on the beat! We're going to show you how to spice them up in
the next lesson!
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