Canntaireachd

Canntaireachd (pronounced [ˈkʰãũn̪ˠt̪ɛɾʲəxk]; Error: {{language with name/for}}: missing language tag or language name (help)) is the ancient method of teaching, learning and memorizing Piobaireachd (also spelt Pibroch), a type of music primarily played on the Great Highland bagpipe. In the canntairached method of instruction, the teacher sings or hums the tune to the pupil, sometimes using specific syllables which signify the sounds to be produced by the bagpipe.

History

According to Seumas MacNeill, piping instructor and founder of The College of Piping, written staff notation was unknown in piping prior to 1803. In those days, instructors passed on tunes to pupils by singing them as well as playing them on the bagpipes.

According to The Piobaireachd Society, bagpipe music composers and instructors did not begin using written staff notation until the latter half of the eighteenth century. Prior to that time, the only notation written, or more commonly sung, was canntaireachd.

The Nether Lorn canntaireachd

Efforts were made to translate the vocal tradition into written form, the "most developed" of which was produced by Colin Mòr Campbell of Nether Lorn in Argyll at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. While Campbell's system had its origins in chanted notation, the Campbell Canntaireachd is now viewed as written documentation, to be read rather than sung. Author William Donaldson noted: "Although Campbell's work was almost immediately superseded by a form of staff notation adapted specifically for the pipe, and remained unpublished and unrecognised until well into the 20th Century, it remains an important achievement and gives valuable insight into the musical organisation" of piobaireachd music.

Other systems

Neil McLeod of Gesto also published a system of canntaireachd. It was reputedly based on the singing of John MacCrimmon, one of the last practicing members of that well-known piping family.

The MacArthur family of pipers are reported to have had their own oral form of canntaireachd, but it was not documented. A further variety of Canntaireachd and distinct collection of pibroch tunes was sourced from Simon Fraser, whose family emigrated to Melbourne in the 19th century. It is assumed that different lineages of pipers developed distinct forms of Canntaireachd that were variations on a broadly similar system of sung vocable notation.

Canntaireachd in contemporary piping

For many instructors, singing, humming or somehow vocalizing remains the best means for conveying the subtleties of piobaireachd when teaching or rehearsing a tune. This school of thought maintains that written scores published by Angus MacKay in his Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd (1838), and those authorized by the Piobaireachd Society, are oversimplified.

As MacNeill noted: "There is a growing tendency, particularly among younger players... to place too much reliance on the printed score....The method of singing the tune is still of tremendous value, but it is not used often enough. Singing can bring out the nuances of expression in a tune, whereas staff (as every soloist knows) is limited, and must at times be very freely interpreted." Major Archie Cairns, a noted piper, piping judge and instructor, maintains that pipers should sing or hum everything they play.

Example of canntaireachd

In canntaireachd, words were invented to represent the sounds to be played. Vowels represent the melody notes, and consonants represent the grace notes and other embellishments. The melody note E may be referred to, or pronounced, as "de" or "ay"; or if preceded by a G gracenote, "che" or "shay." Certain complex embellishments played around melody notes have their own names, such as "hiharin" and "hihodin."

There are drawbacks to this system. For example: "Hihodin represents 3 different notes and includes 3 different grace notes, but unless someone (who knows how it is meant to be timed) sings or plays this for you, there is no way of knowing just how long each of the 3 notes should be held in relation to the other two." With respect to "hiharin", Cairns states: "I don't feel the canntaireachd word, Hiharin, accurately/fully represents the number of syllables heard with the movement is played...I call this movement "hiharin" but I teach and sing - "He a Tadadah." The latter example highlights the belief, held by some instructors that it does not matter whether you know what syllables or words to use; any form of vocalization is sufficient, even if it is simply humming.

For example, the melody note E is referred to as "de" (pronounced "day")in canntaireachd. But if the E melody note is preceded by low A and four grace notes E, low A, F and low A, that sequence is called "edre" (pronounced "ed-dray").

The following explanation uses the convention of indicating standard notes by capital letters between quotation marks, and canntaireachd notes by lower case letters in italics, i.e. "A" is not the same as a. In a couple of cases, solfege is also used. This description is based on the advice of Charles Bannatyne of Salsburgh, Holyhead. Some of the notes resemble each other very closely, but the changes used are indicated, and the pronunciations are given approximately in brackets.

Melody notes:

• The key note "Low A" is always represented in this notation by in, probably a contraction of An Dàra Aon, the second one, to distinguish the key note from the first note on the chanter—"low G".
• "High A" is always i, but in a canntaireachd, it is often denoted by a preceding l, thus liu, and so confusion is avoided. "Low A" is either in, en, em, or simply n after some notes. The alternatives seem to have been used for the sake of euphony.
• "D" note is a and "B" note is a, but the qualifying effect of the grace notes — "high G" represented by h, and "D" represented by d or h (the latter a contraction of "a’ chorrag", the Gaelic name for the finger playing "D") prevents any confusion.
• The note "E" is represented by i. At the beginning of most of the MacCrimmon tunes and variations is l, which gives the keynote. It stands for "E" (soh), the dominant of the "low A" (doh). Where it does not occur, the tune will be found to start with a word like "hien", which denotes "E" with "High G" grace note, and then "low A".
• The vowel for "F" note is ie, and it is always made certain by the grace note d or h.
• "High G" is u, often distinguished by a preceding h.
• "High A" is often vi to distinguish it from the "E" note. When "F" succeeds "high A" in a tune, the word is often vie.

Grace notes:

• h the aspirate qualifies all notes down to "low A", but often where ha obviously means "B" note, it must be concluded that it should be written cha (xa). Similarly, ho ho should be ho cho (ho xo).
• The letter d is used, as is t to denote both "High G" and "D" grace notes, but an examination of the notation word makes a mistake unlikely. Thus dieliu means "F" with "high G" grace note, and then "high A" and "G".
• Tihi means two "E"s played with two "G" grace notes.
• T and d resemble each other very closely in Gaelic, but the context in canntaireachd makes it always easy to see whether "high G" grace note or "D" is meant.

Compound grace note systems:

• Dr is doubling of "low G" by a touch of "D" grace note, and open "low A", and so on, over the whole scale. The letters dr are obviously a contraction of dà uair, two times, or twice.
• Trì means doubling of "low G" by "D" grace note, and as "A" is opened, double "E" by "F" and "E" and open "E". This is a "Crunluath" form.
• Tro is the same, at first, but the doubling of "E" is done with the grips from o or the "C" note. This is "Crunluath-a-mach" (outer "crunnluath").
• In many tunes where the tr type appears, it obviously when translated should only have been a dr type, this confusion being only to the similarity of d and t in Gaelic.

The shake embellishment:

• Vivi is the shake on "high A."
• The other shakes are represented by rr, according to where the beats and shakes are taken. This seems to be a contraction of "gearradh" meaning a "shake".

A simple touch of a note before opening is always represented by a single r. For instance, such a word as radin signifies that "B" is to be touched with "Low G" (lùdag) before opening; -din is "low A" with "D" grace note. Ho radin is the "C" note o with "high G" grace note keeping the ra- below "D" note, also an "A" note. All grace notes and grace note types are forestrokes, that is they occur before the notes they embellish. They are "appoggiaturas" or "semiquaver" notes, or "Caciaturas" or demi-semi-quaver notes, which predominate.

All compound forms are made by combining single forms. All leading or scale notes are represented by vowels. All note forms with m or n in them contain "low A". Grace notes h and d are qualifying or modulating grace notes.

Doublings:

• Doublings are represented by dr, triplings by tr, compound types by combinations of these.
• Open doublings above "D" are represented by dir, such as dirie, where the note is doubled by itself, and the note above it. Dr represents closed doublings, and dir open doublings.

Grace note forms consist of single, double, and compound:

• The single group includes all simple forms, together with the "dà-lugh" variation form.
• The double group includes the single and double types of "trì-lugh" and "ceithir-lugh".
• The single type of "trì-lugh" is composed of three "low A"s graced by "G", "D" and "E" gracenotes, and it precedes the note embellished. An example of this is "hininindo", the syllable do being "C" graced by "D". This type is called "fosgailte" (open), and is opposed by the double or closed form, represented by such a form as hindirinto. The latter is called "a-steach" (inside), which is taken to a type like hodorito, which is said to be "a-mach" (outside), as the grips are taken from the note played. The types last named are also "breabach" (kicking) forms, having a "kick” note at the finish. The "crùn-lugh" or "ceithir-lugh" forms are also "fosgailte", "a-mach" and "a-steach". The word hadatri is "a-steach" when opposed to "hadatri" which is "a-mach".

Hiodratatiriri is a pure "cliabh-lugh"—the chest or creel of fingers, because every finger on the chanter is engaged in some way, either acting or acted on. In bagpipe music, the variations are all named from the acting fingers, and the old pipers counted their time from the number of fingers engaged in the several parts of the tune. Chin-drine may be taken as an example of the "leum-lugh", the jump of the fingers. This is "low A", played by "D" grace note, then "G" doubled by "D", "low A" then opened, and "F" rapidly opened from it. Hiriri is an example of a beat form. The playing of two "low A"s by touching "low G" twice with the little finger is ririn, or rurin. The prosodic quality of the syllables, together with the spacing and punctuation, give the time and rhythm of the tunes.

See also

• Bagpipes
• Celtic music
• Scat singing
• Solfege
• Vocable

Other sources

This article incorporates text from Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911). (with minor corrections and additions) and Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland.

External links

• The Murray Pipes and Drums of Gothenburg - Canntaireachd
• Canntaireachd : articulate music, by J.F. Campbell