Today, we’re going to talk about the power of 8/16.
So, what does that mean? Well, if you’re familiar with fractions, you know that 8/16 simplifies to 1/2. Half of 8 is 4, and half of that is 2 — which leads us to 2/4 time, the standard time signature for many bagpipe marches.
What I’m going to show you today is how to take a 2/4 march and play it in 8/16 time to focus on precision and technique.
The tune I’ll use is a well-known march called “Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban.” It’s a great piece, full of challenging movements and ornamentation — perfect for technique development.
Here’s the key:
If you want to play well, you have to play slowly enough to hit every note cleanly. Bagpiping is all about precision, especially when you’re in a band with 20 other pipers trying to play exactly in sync.
To demonstrate, I’ll play this tune in 8/16 at 90 beats per minute using my metronome.
[Play the first part of “Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban” in 8/16]
So why play it this way?
Because by breaking it down into 16th notes and slowing it down, you’re training your fingers and developing muscle memory. This lets you open up your doublings, control your embellishments, and really lock in your rhythm.
Once you can play it cleanly in 8/16, the next step is to bring it into 4/8, still at 90 BPM.
[Play again in 4/8]
Eventually, when you’re ready for competition, you’ll play the 2/4 march much slower — probably somewhere in the 60 BPM range. It would sound more like this:
[Play again around 60 BPM]
If you have any questions — and I’m sure you will — feel free to reach out. I’m always accepting new students, and I’d love to help you take your piping to the next level.
0 Comments