Syllabus

Level 2 Certificate Piping (Practice Chanter)

Can be taken by the average beginner within a year to 18 months of starting to learn.

1. Maintenance

Candidates must demonstrate an understanding of the following:

a. Dismantling the practice chanter
b. Cleaning and drying the practice chanter
c. Correct hemping of the practice chanter
d. Weakening and strengthening a practice chanter reed
e. Sharpen and flatten the practice chanter pitch

2. Practical

On the practice chanter, candidates must demonstrate competence in the following:

a. Exercises

1. All doublings (Low G to High A), from any note of the scale
2. Throw on D from each note of the scale
3. Grips (including grips with a B gracenote)
4. Birl and birl with a G gracenote from each note of the scale
5. Taorluaths to Low A from each note of the scale (including taorluaths from D with a B gracenote)
6. Tachums
7. Basic monotone exercises in Simple and Compound Time

b. Tunes

On the practice chanter, five tunes to be played from memory.  At least one tune should be in Compound Time. The music is to be presented to the examiner and played in accordance with the written score. The music does not have to be written out by the candidate.

The tunes submitted must incorporate some of the embellishments from the exercises listed in section a.

3. Theory

Candidates must be able to:

a. Understand simple time rhythms
b. Explain what a time signature is
c. Place bar lines according to a time signature
d. Explain what a treble clef is
e. Identify the time signature from a piece of music presented by the Examiner
f. Write out all doublings and embellishments in section 2.a.
g. Write out 8 bars of a Simple Time tune from memory. The tune is to be selected from those submitted by the candidate for the practical section
h. Be able to draw a note value table and understand relative note durations