Why Most Bagpipe Harmonies Sound Bad Andrew Douglas comment j January 10, 2022 — Let's face it. Usually, harmonies in a tune are something an audience usually looks forward to listening to ~ but there are a lot of bagpipe harmonies that sound terrible. Even in a lot of "top" pipe bands. ‘While i's interesting that certain notes are played on top of other notes by pipe bands and ensembles. “interesting” isn't always good. Its often discordant. Or, it takes away from what we feel deep down is the ‘true nature of the tune. Them harmonies just don't sound too good! ‘This problem is largely caused by a lack of understanding of basic music theory. ‘There is a system (and it's not that complicated either) to determining exactly which notes will harmonize with the notes of any bagpipe tune. ‘The system also tells us which notes to avoid. ‘Whaat is this crazy system? It's called chord progressions. What the Heck Are Chord Progressions? (0k, so I'll admit this sounds a bit scary, but it's really not.Music, not just bagpipes, Let's start with chords. Chords are quite sir 1d for any time two or more different notes are played over top of each other. On other instruments, like a piano or guitar, you can play multiple notes at the same time, and so can therefore play chords on the one instrument. However, on bagpipes this isa litle trickier, because of course, we can only play one note at a time. But when you get two or more players jamming out together, that's where the chord magic happens — because you can play multiples notes, thus producing a chord by playing different notes on each bagpipe. So, if you play a'D' and | play an ‘A’, we're producing a chord! If we add in Uncle Billy playing an Fé, that’s an even bigger chord. That's really all a chord is. Honest! Now, certain chords produce harmonious results and some don't. We talk extensively about what makes chords sound harmonious in our Bagpipe Composing Foundations course, but we won't go much more into that here, | will say this though: All of our bagpipe melodies are rooted in various chords. In other words, at any given time during a tune, there is an underlying implied chord. Sequences of Chords In music, we don't just play one chord for 20 minutes Instead, ‘we put chords in a sequence, and write melody and harmony © ‘that explores the relationships between different chords. These aren't bagpipe notes, but regardless -it's a sequence of different chords played in a particular, swear, it's as simple as that! order. ‘This sequencing is what we call "Chord Progressions"! And yes, | Know the Chords; Know How to Write Harmonies So, back to the reason most hatmonies sound bad - many times, pipers who are composing harmonies for bagpipe music are trying to make musical decisions ‘by ear or trying to replicate a sound or effect they've heard somewhere else, but often with variable success, as you'll know if you've ever listened to a band kick into seconds (or even thirds) and winced a bit at the result. The issue here is that these harmonies are not conceived with any knowledge of chords and chord progressions! Quite literally, all you need to do to write successful harmonies is to make sure the harmony note is a member of the current underlying chord.This one principle will I's really not too hare asic understanding of this tiny aspect of music theory. not just bagpipes, Interested in learning more about music theory, or composing bagpipe harmonies? Dojo students can check out our Bagpipe Composing Foundations course, which is designed to be a six-month, self-paced course stepping your through everything you need to know about music theory, bagpipe composing software and essential knowledge, and interactive feedback and advice on composing your own, original pieces of Not a Dojo member? You can either purchase access to the Bagpipe Composing Foundations course outright, or consider joining Dojo University as a member, which gives you access to this course as well as $0+ other self- paced courses, 20+ weekly lve classes, and a host of other benefits, Categories: News & Blog, Pipe Band Andrew Douglas "Andrew sa prolife practitioner ofthe bagpipe, having been active at the highest level of pipe bands, solo competition teaching, and creative endeavors fr the past 20 years. He's also the founder and creator of Dojo U and of PipersQojo.com. Related Articles p Jideip ab fi) 10 Clues Your Pipe Major Producing the Perfect Sucks Before we start - | just want to thank my diligent co-author Dr. John Holcombe for helping me assemble this article! This icle was formed... Constant Drone reeds are either the cause or the solution to the problem of creating a great sound out of three instruments (two tenors and a