Hew Morrison Collection > Piobaireachd

!04
Piobaireachd : its Origin and Construction
The first and seventh notes are not used in bagpipe music, but as will be seen
from the following diagram, all the notes, except the semidemisemiquaver, are
required for the purpose of arriving at time signatures and the dividing up of
musical compositions into bars, or measures.
A Semibreve
Is equal to
2 Minims,
4 Ciotchets
32 D-S-Quavers.
The duration of notes can be lengthened by the use of one or two dots as
follows : —
p •= p + • Total value, three crotchets. One dot after a note increases
its value by one half.
p) •• = (O + ^ + • Total value, seven quavers. Two dots after a
note increases its value by three quarters.
Care must be taken to observe that the second dot only adds one half of the
value of the first dot, and is equal in value to one quarter of the note that it is
intended to lengthen. The first dot is equal in value to one half of the note pre-
ceding it, and both dots increase the value of the minim by three quarters.