Glossary of Bagpipe Terms - C

C

Canntaireachd

A system of non-lexical vocables, whose purpose is to encapsulate piobaireachd in a form which can be written or spoken while maintaining the precision normally offered only by written music. One of the most important sources in piobaireachd, the Nether Lorn manuscript, is exclusively written in canntaireachd.

Ceòl Beag

Literally meaning little music, a Highland bagpiping term referring to, essentially, anything that is not piobaireachd. The term is of relatively recent origin.

Chanter

Cimpoi

aka Çimpoi: a Romanian chanter with cylindrical bore and single beating reed. Also has a lower joint usually carved from horn that extends at approximately 45 degrees from the bottom of the chanter.

Closed Bore

A chanter with a closed end at the bottom of the chanter. When all the finger holes are closed, the chanter cannot sound, allowing the player to play staccato. The Uilleann pipe achieves the same end by having the player rest the chanter on the leg, with the advantage that the lowest note remains available.

Closed Fingering

A fingering system that generally involves only one or two fingers being lifted for any particular note.

College of Piping

Founded in 1957 by Seumas MacNeill and Thomas Pearston. Located in Glasgow, Scotland, it publishes the monthly Piping Times, hosts a small museum, and runs an active teaching program.

Combing and Beading

Decorative turnings consisting of more or less tightly spaced narrow circular grooves found on drones, mostly on Great Highland pipes.

Cords

Decorative cords with tassels are used to link or tie the three drones of the Highland bagpipe together.

Cran

An Uilleann piping ornament, consisting of a series of gracenotes of varying pitch over a low note, most commonly bottom D.

Crow

A distinctive sound made when a chanter reed is blown in the mouth. The crow can often give clues as to the potential performance of the reed.

Crunluath

The crunluath variation in piobaireachd consists of a series of crunluath movements played on the theme notes of the melody. The movement itself is a dramatic set of seven gracenotes which bring the tune to a climax.

Crunluath a Mach

An occasional extension of the crunluath variation, with rhythmical and melodic changes, and a slight increase in tempo, creating a spectacular finish to a piobaireachd.

Cut

(i) An old term for a single gracenote; (ii) to reduce the length of a note in a way not easily described by conventional music notation - for example, the cut note in a strathspey, normally rendered as a semiquaver, is described as cut and the resulting note is much shorter.