How To Play Embellishments Intentionally

Ever met someone who can tell a fantastic story?

While anyone could recount the same facts and events so you knew what happened, the flair a great storyteller can add - backstory, drama, conflict, humor, rising tension and a satisfying conclusion or punchline - is the embellishment that captivates a crowd and makes the story memorable.

Bagpipe embellishments are a storytelling tool as well, designed to help transform the basic melody of a tune into a unique experience for your audience. Although the composer may have designed the music with a certain musical idea in mind, you get to choose which embellishments to play or leave out. 

Now, in solo competitions, we agree to embellish tunes in a conventional way in order to be compared by judges to other pipers. And in bands we do the same thing to achieve a unified sound.

But competing and playing in a band should only be branches of your bagpiping life. The main ‘trunk’ should be in producing the best possible music based on your own preferences, to enrich your soul on a daily basis with your own unique music!

To do this, you should treat embellishments as simply a tool in your musical arsenal, one that can take a basic melody and make it more interesting and unique, according to your own voice. And to do that, we need to play them with intention.

Check out this Dojo Conversations podcast as we discuss how to play embellishments as though you really mean them - in a way that enhances, rather than detracts, from your performance.