Bagpipe Player Help File

Overview

Bagpipe Player is a music printing and playing software program for the Great Highland Bagpipe. It will run under Microsoft Windows XP, 7, 8, and even 10 (except for built-in Help app). It will read and play BMW DOS, BMW Gold, and BWW file formats. It has playing, printing, and display capabilities that compare to the best commercially available bagpipe software programs.

Features

Page Layout and Printing

• Can include any of the following text items with the music: tune title, tune type, composer/arranger, footer (for page numbers), in-line text, text at a fixed location, and comments.
• Prints in portrait or landscape on any paper size supported by a Windows printer driver.
• Allows top, bottom, left and right margin settings.
• Allows each text item to be formatted with font, font style, font size, color, underline, strikeout, and alignment (left, right, centered or absolute location).
• Scales music horizontally and/or vertically on the page.
• Allows music to be printed on multiple pages or fit to one page.
• Bars can be vertically or not vertically aligned.
• Aspect ratio and size of music symbols and symbol spacings can be adjusted.

Screen Layout

• Split screen with music codes in bottom window and displayed music in the top window. Bar separating the windows can be adjusted vertically.
• Zoom level on music window can be adjusted (10-200%).
• Supports Multiple Document Interface (i.e. can open several tunes at the same time)
• Icons for new tune, open existing tune, save tune in current window, print music, preview music, refresh music

Play Options

• Can play light music (including flats, naturals, and sharps) and Piobaireachd (including abbreviations) on sound card or PC's internal speaker.
• Sound card output includes sounds and independent volume controls for chanter, tenor drone, and bass drone. Duration of drone introduction (in milliseconds) can be set.
• VCR style controls (Play, Stop/Pause, Rewind, Continuous Play) for music play. Can select a portion of the music to play either once or multiple times.
• Can enable or disable a Moving Music Pointer that shows the current note or embellishment being played.
• Can set absolute tempo (in beats per minute) and grace note duration (in milliseconds) for the tune.
• Fine control over duration's for 12 different grace note types.
• "Smooth Playing Factor" adjustment for reducing the abruptness of melody notes following complex embellishments.
• Tempo and time signature changes can be inserted anywhere in the tune.
• Can select the MIDI device and MIDI instrument for playing the music.
• Real bagpipe chanter and drones sounds available (requires a Creative Labs AWE32, AWE64, Sound Blaster LIVE! sound card).
• MIDI notes can be set for each note from Low G to High A (including flats, naturals, and sharps) and for tenor and bass drones. MIDI note test mode available.
• PC speaker frequencies can be set for each note from Low G to High A (including flats, naturals and sharps). Frequency test mode available.
• Repeat symbols and multiple endings (i.e. 1st Time, 2nd Time, etc.) correctly interpreted.
• Standard music symbols (segno, dal segno, fine, da capo al fine, and coda) are available for returning to the first line of a tune or a coda, or for Piobaireachd.
• Music can be saved to a MIDI format file.
• Three MIDI note & Frequency configurations for sound output (Low A at B flat, Low A at A natural, or User Defined).

Other Features

• Bagpipe Player is OLE compliant. Music can be placed into other Windows applications by linking or embedding a BWW extension file. Music can be saved to image files in BMP or PCX file formats.
• Resolution is adjustable.
• Users can create new symbols (requires a font editor).
• Long file names for tune code files (only with 32 bit version).
• Tune code files are ASCII based.

How To ...

Installation

Windows 7, 8, and 10

Bagpipe Player 1.0 was written to work with Windows 98 and XP. For Windows 7, 8, and 10, you need to install it as follows.

Old programs like this need to be in your Documents folder to prevent Windows from asking if it's safe to run each time ("Unverified Publisher"). If you have User Account Control (UAC) enabled, which is the default, you may still see this message at every startup.

Create a folder in your Documents folder named "Program Files" (you can also use this folder for other old programs). Copy the folder "Bagpipe Player" and its contents from the flash drive (or wherever you have them) into this new Program Files folder, including the subfolders "Fonts" and "BPhelp. The required files are:

• BGPlayer.exe
• BGReader.cnt
• Bmw32.ini
• BMW95.ico
• BMW95Doc.ico
• DeIsL1.isu
• _ISREG32.DLL
• \Fonts (which has 8 font files in it)
• \BPhelp (with over 100 files)

Now you need to install the fonts for the music notation. Navigate to the Bagpipe Player\Fonts folder, select all of them, right-click on the highlighted files, and click Install. (This is the remedy if you tried opening a BWW file and see a large black rectangle where the notation should be.)

Compatibility Fix

Don't try to run the program just yet or it will corrupt the installation. First create a desktop icon by right-clicking on the file BGPlayer.exe, then choose Send to, Desktop (create shortcut). Next, right click on the desktop icon and a menu opens up with a number of choices. At the bottom click Properties. Now click on the Compatibility tab. Under "Compatibility Mode", check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" unless it is already checked. Click OK at the bottom and you should now be able to start the program normally.

Once the app is working, you can create a folder for the BWW format tunes. This folder should not be in the Program Files folder, but elsewhere in your Documents folder. The folder name used on the distribution flash drive is Bagpipe Player Tunes, which you can just drag over to your Documents folder. When you create or download additional tune files from the web, this is the folder to store them. Bagpipe Player will remember the last location you saved a tune file.

Note that you may not be able to double-click on a BWW file and have it open in Bagpipe Player - the file association feature of Windows isn't automatically enabled. You should either drag the file onto the open program window, or open the file from the file menu in Bagpipe Player.

If Bagpipe Player doesn't work, erase all the Bagpipe Player folders in your new Program Files folder and copy them again from your flash drive. Don't try to run Bagpipe Player until you change the compatibility as above! This is the main cause of a corrupt installation.

If it STILL doesn't work, find someone giving away an old XP machine and install it on that. Microsoft dropped all support for XP in 2014, but it works fine for Bagpipe Player. It has vulnerabilities from malware, so don't connect it to the internet! You will need to copy new BWW files of tunes from a flash drive.

Help file

Beginning with Windows 10, the Help feature in Bagpipe Player won't work, as it was designed for the old operating systems. There are fixes for Windows Vista, 7, and 8. For Windows 10, I duplicated the help file so that it uses your browser (Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Chrome). The folder BPhelp may be on the flash drive with the installation software, or you can download the required files from various web locations. If you are reading this on-line using Internet Explorer or Firefox, just click the File menu item, then Save Page as, Web Page Complete, and save it in your Bagpipe Player folder. You can't do this using Microsoft Edge, so you must first click the menu " . . . " at the upper right of the screen, then Open with Internet Explorer. Once you have copied this folder to your Bagpipe Player folder, navigate to it, then right click on BPhelp.html (or .htm), Send to, Desktop (create shortcut). You can use this Help app for all previous versions as well, as it offers easier hypertext navigation, and some clarification and simplification from the original Help function.

General Ideas for Use of Bagpipe Player

Once you have learned the basics of entering notes and modifying existing tunes, you will use this help file mostly as a reference for how to code embellishments, ties, repeats, and other rarely used musical notation.

Search the internet for the tune you want to use before you enter it note by note. Google has been great in this regard. Good sites for huge numbers of pipe tunes in BWW format include:

Bagpipe Tunes - Intertechnics
Michael Yearsley's site
Scottish Piper Club
M C Peter's collection
... and many sites for pipe bands who are glad to share their tunes with you.

These sites are good as of 2016. They come and go, so make your own searches for additional sources.

Note that importing many of these tunes will be in an older format called BMW. When you first load one of these files in Bagpipe Player, you will get the message "[filename] will be converted to the new file format". When you are done with this file, you will be prompted to save your changes. Use the new format suffix ".bww" when saving it.

You will, with practice, be able to enter a typical four part tune in about an hour. So if you can find even a version with mistakes to begin with, you are way ahead of the game.

Installing Real Bagpipe Sounds

If your computer's sound card is a Creative Labs® AWE32, AWE64, or Soundblaster LIVE! or any other sound card that supports EMU SoundFonts, you can install a sound font to produce Real Bagpipe Sounds (professional piper quality chanter and drones sound) when playing tunes. To install the Real Bagpipe Sounds sound font, you must have previously installed the accessories programs that come with your sound card. The installation example described below is based on a Creative Labs AWE64 Gold sound card running under Window 95.

Click on Start, Programs, AWE 64 Gold, AWE Control. Click on Synth. Under Instrument, select General MIDI. Click Browse. In List Files of Type, select Sfont Bank (*.sbk, *.sf2). Double click on C:\ and navigate to the folder where you installed Bagpipe Player. Click on bagpipe.sbk then click OK. Click Apply, then click on OK. You will see the memory allocated to the bagpipe sound font. Click Quit.

Uninstall

Bagpipe Player makes no entries into the registry and is uninstalled simply by deleting the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Bagpipe Player. The fonts can be left installed but, if necessary, can be manually deleted one at a time by navigating to C:Windows\Fonts, right-clicking on each font listed in the installation package, and clicking Uninstall.

Opening a Sample Tune

Click on File, Open, then double click on Tunes folder: Then double click on "Scotland The Brave.bww" to open the tune:

Navigating Around the Music Window

On the screen you only see a portion of the music for "Scotland The Brave". Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the Music Window to pan right and left. Use the vertical scroll bar at the right of the Music Window to pan down and up.

To "fly around the music", position the cursor anywhere in the Music Window. Click the right mouse button and observe that the cursor changes shape. Move the cursor down and up, right and left and observe how the Music Window Click the right mouse button and observe that the cursor changes shape. Move the cursor down and up, right and left and observe how the Music Window moves to show music in the direction that you move the cursor. Click the right mouse button again in the Music Window to exit "fly mode".

If you want to see more of the music on the screen, click on the down arrow next to the Zoom combo box and then click on a lower Zoom (lower magnification) value such as 60%. Next change the Zoom level back to 100%.

Printing

First check on the page layout parameters. Click on File, Page Setup to reveal the following screen:

Playing

First set the play options. Click on Configure, Set Play Options to show the following screen: Adjust the tempo, grace note duration, drone introduction time, and other parameters. Bagpipe Player uses MIDI instrument 71 for Bagpipe Chanter and Bagpipe Drone; it produces a smallpipe sound. Generally MIDI Instrument 109 (Bagpipe) on most sound cards produces an inferior bagpipe sound. Then click OK. Next, locate the VCR style controls (Rewind, Stop/Pause, Play, and Continuous Play) near the top of the screen. Select the appropriate MIDI Device from the drop down list to the left of these controls.

To the right of these controls are the volume controls. Try adjusting the tenor and bass drone volumes.

Then click the Play button. Click the Stop/Pause button to pause the tune. Click Play again to resume playing. Click Rewind to start from the beginning of the tune. You will notice a small ball that is positioned over notes and embellishments that are currently playing. This is called the "Moving Music Pointer" and, if desired, it can be turned off in the Configure, Set Play Options dialog box.

More Playing Options

You can select portions of a tune to play. For example, to select the first two bars of the second line of "Scotland The Brave", position the cursor in the Music Window at the top left corner of the first bar in line 2. Press the left mouse button down and drag the cursor to the bottom right hand corner of the second bar on line 2. During dragging, a box will be drawn around the selection as shown below. Releasing the left mouse button will cause the music in the box to become red.

Click the Play button. Only the selected bars of music are played. Click the Continuous Play button. The selected bars of music are played over and over. Press the Stop button.

You can also select music from a particular line down to the end of the music. Position the cursor in the Music Window in the margin to the left of the line you want the selection to begin at. Click the left mouse button and observe how that line and each line of music below it becomes red. Click the Play button. Only the selected music plays. Press Stop button. To unselect music, click left mouse button anywhere in Music Window.

Playing Using Real Bagpipe Sounds

If you have previously installed the SoundFont for Real Bagpipe Sounds, this section describes how you can set the MIDI device, MIDI Instruments, and MIDI Notes to play music using the Real Bagpipe Sounds. The following example is based on a Creative Labs AWE64 Gold sound card.

At the main screen, select the MIDI device "AWE64G MIDI Synth". Next, click on Configure, Set Play Options. In Note Mapping Defaults section, click on the Set button next to "Low A at B flat". In the Instrument Settings section, enter 109 for the Chanter Instrument and 109 for the Drone Instrument. The following figure shows these settings. Click OK. Click Play and enjoy the performance.

Writing Your First Tune

Creating a New Code File

This chapter will show you how to transcribe your first tune. The example we will use is the first part of "Scotland The Brave". We start by running Bagpipe Player. When it is loaded, click on File, New to bring up the following screen:

Important Screen Areas

Code Window

The window at the bottom is the "Code Window" where codes for the various melody notes, grace notes, embellishments, and other symbols of a tune are entered.

Music Window

Directly above the Code Window is the "Music Window". The Music Window displays bagpipe music based on the codes entered in the Code Window.
The Music Window is updated whenever the Refresh button (G clef on staff icon next to the Zoom combo box) is pressed (or when View, Refresh Music is clicked).

Separator Line

The horizontal line that separates the Code and Music Windows is called the "Separator Line". The Separator Line can be adjusted to make the Code Window larger (and correspondingly the Music Window smaller) or vice-versa. To do this drag the Separator Line up or down (i.e. hover over the line, click and hold down the left mouse button, move the line to the desired location then release the left mouse button). In the following screen shots, we have adjusted the Separator Line so the Code Window is larger.

Initial Entries in the Code Window

On opening a new tune using File, New, the Code Window contains the following:

These lines form the header for a tune file and contain significant formatting and playing setup information. They can be ignored for the time being. Later it will be shown how to modify these parameters.

Entering Codes for Notes and Embellishments

It is now time to enter music. You can either use the keyboard to enter the characters (faster, but with a learning curve), or use the mouse to choose the notes and marks you want (slower, but easier until you learn the codes). Using the mouse move the cursor into the Code Window and place it at the end of the initial entries. Left-click to place the cursor. Then type in the following characters (the general convention is to use a SPACE for a small separation, a TAB between notes, and a RETURN at the end of a bar (measure):

4_4 I! E_8

The codes on the last line represent the music symbols to the end of the introductory bar: G clef (&), F# (sharpf), C# (sharpc), 4/4 time signature (4_4), starting double bar lines (I! which is uppercase I, exclamation mark), E 8th note (E_8 which is uppercase E, underscore, 8). The significance of the spaces, tabs and enters will be explained later.

Now enter the first complete bar of the tune on the next line using the Right Mouse Button Menus. In the Code Window move the cursor to the start of the next blank line after the above entries. Click to place the cursor. Click the right mouse button, hover over Staff Formatting, then hover over Barline. The screen should appear as shown in the next picture. Click Barline to select it.


Now, using the mouse steps described above, select each listed code and insert it.

Tab/Next Beat
Single grace note, grace notes, High G
Melody Notes, Quarter, LowA
Tab/Next Beat
Embellishments, Taorluaths, with D grace note
Melody Notes, 8th, Right Tail, Low A
Dots, Low A
Melody Notes, 16th, Left Tail, B
Tab/Next Beat
Embellishments, Doublings, Regular, C
Melody Notes, 8th, Right Tail, C
Single grace notes, grace notes, High E
Melody Notes, 8th, Left Tail, Low A
Tab/Next Beat
Embellishments, Doublings, Regular, C
Melody Notes, 8th, Right Tail, C
Melody Notes, 8th, Left Tail, E

The resulting codes should be:

!    gg LA_4     tar LAr_8 'la Bl_16     dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8     dbc Cr_8 El_8 

Note that a Tab character is always placed before the start of a beat and the Return character is always placed at the end of a bar. Spaces are used in all other cases to separate codes. On the next line, type in the second bar of the tune using either the drop-down menu or manually typing in the characters.

!    dbha HA_4    strhg HA_4    grp HAr_8 El_8     dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8     !t 

Note the terminating bar line (!t). This code is placed at the end of a line of music that is not the end of a part. However, we place it here because a terminating barline, or an ending double barlines (!I) or an ending double barlines with repeats (''!I) must appear at the end of a line of music to show the music on the screen. A terminating bar line is always placed flush with the end of the staff.

Viewing Your Work (turning codes into music)

Click on the Refresh Music icon. Now in front of the terminating barline (!t), enter bars 3 and 4 as follows (without the line breaks):

!  thrd D_4  gg Fr_8 'f Dl_16   dbc Cr_8 El_8    dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8  
!  grp B_4   dbe E_4  strla Er_8 'e Fl_16   gg Er_16 'e Dl_32   gg Cr_16 'c Bl_32  !t  

Note the terminating bar line (!t) must now appear at the end of bar 4. Press the Refresh Drag the horizontal scroll bar in the Music Window to the right to see bars 3 and 4. You can also click on the Play icon to hear the first line of music.

Using Copy and Paste to Quickly Enter Codes

In bagpipe music, it is very common to see bars of music repeated in other parts and within the same part (e.g. typically in a part, bar 5 is the same as bar 1, bar 6 the same as bar 2. Also, the ending phrase (bars 7 and 8) in each part is the same). Examining the music of the first part of Bonnie Dundee we find that bars 5, 6, and 7 are the same as bars 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

The Code Window has cut/copy/paste features of a simple text editor. Thus, to copy bars 1, 2 and 3 to bars 5, 6 and 7 do the following:

• In the Code Window, insert a new staff line on the next blank line using the right mouse button menu item New Staff
• Highlight the codes for bars 1, 2 and 3 (click at the start of bar 1 and drag to the end of bar 3)
• Click on the Copy icon, or hit Control C, or click on Edit, Copy.
• Click on the next blank line after the codes for bar 4, then click on the Paste icon, or hit Control V, or click on Edit, Paste. You should have enter and pasted in the following text:

&  sharpf sharpc   
 
     gg LA_4      tar LAr_8 'la Bl_16    dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8    dbc Cr_8 El_8  
!    dbha HA_4    strhg HA_4             grp HAr_8 El_8       dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8  
!    thrd D_4     gg Fr_8 'f Dl_16       dbc Cr_8 El_8        dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8 

Because bar 5 is the beginning of a new line of music, it is necessary to place a G clef and F# and C# symbols at the start of the line. However, because it is in the middle of a part of music, it does not need an opening barline. Thus, delete the first exclamation mark at the start of bar 5. Then after bar 7, type in the codes for bar 8 as follows:

 
!    grp B_4     gg LAr_8 'la Bl_16     strlg LA_4     dbc Cr_8 El_8    !I   

The codes for bars 5, 6, 7, and 8 should now appear as:

&  sharpf  sharpc    

     gg LA_4     tar LAr_8 'la Bl_16    dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8     dbc Cr_8 El_8 
!    dbha HA_4   strhg HA_4             grp HAr_8 El_8        dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8  
!    thrd D_4    gg Fr_8 'f Dl_16       dbc Cr_8 El_8         dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8 
!    grp B_4     gg LAr_8 'la Bl_16     strlg LA_4            dbc Cr_8 El_8        !I   

Note the ending double bar lines (!I which is exclamation mark, uppercase I). These are placed at the end of parts that are not repeated.

Now click on the Refresh Music icon. Click on the down arrow to the right of the Zoom list box and click on 75%. Drag down the Separator Line to see the two lines of music in the Music Window and the corresponding codes in the Code Window. Click on the Play icon to hear the first part played twice through.

Changing the Title, Type, Composer, and Footer

To change a tune detail element (such as Title, Type, Composer or Footer), do the following:

• In the Music Window click on the text of the element.
• Click on Configure, Set Font.
• The Font dialog box will appear. In the Text Setup section, enter the correct text in the Text box.
• Adjust the font, style, point size, and alignment of the text, if desired.
• Click on OK to set the new parameters.

Shown below is the Font dialog box with "Bonnie Dundee" entered as the Tune Title, (before OK is clicked): Using the above steps, set the following information:

Scotland The Brave as the Tune Title
March as the Tune Type
Trad. as the Composer
Tutorial June 2016 as the Footer

Also, change the alignment of this element to Right Aligned.

Saving the Codes in a File

It is important to frequently save your entered codes. To do this, click on the Save icon, or click on File, Save. The first time the codes are saved, the Save As dialog box appears with the default folder being the Tunes folder where Bagpipe Player is installed. For the codes entered so far, continue as follows:

• Ensure that you are in the Tunes folder.
• For new files, the default file name is taken from the tune title.
• Click Save to save Scotland The Brave.bww

The following screen shows the Save As dialog box before Save is clicked:



It is also important to include the BWW extension on the code file names. This will allow you to open BWW files by double clicking on them in Windows Explorer or File Manager. Also, you can include bagpipe music in other Windows applications, by inserting a BWW file as an OLE object in the Windows application (see the chapter on Advanced Topics).

When you have created a large score that took you a few hours, you also want to back it up to another drive, either USB flash drive, or an external hard drive (which you should be using to back up all of your other important files also).

Finishing the Tune

To finish Scotland The Brave, enter the second part as shown below. Use some of the shortcuts described above to simplify the task.

& sharpf sharpc

I!   dbha HA_4      strhg HA_4              grp HAr_8 El_8     dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8  
!    dbha HA_4      strhg HA_4              grp HAr_8 El_8     dbc Cr_8 El_8   
!    dbha HA_4      strhg HAr_8 'ha HGl_16  tg F_4             dbha HAr_8 'ha HGl_16  
!    tg Fr_8 HAl_8  strf HGr_8 Fl_8 dbe     Er_8 Dl_8          dbc Cr_8 Bl_8 !t   

& sharpf sharpc 

     gg LA_4        tar LAr_8 'la Bl_16     dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8  dbc Cr_8 El_8 
!    dbha HA_4      strhg HA_4              grp HAr_8 El_8     dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8 
!    thrd D_4       gg Fr_8 'f Dl_16        dbc Cr_8 El_8      dbc Cr_8 eg LAl_8 
!    grp B_4        gg LAr_8 'la Bl_16      strlg LA_4 'la     !I 

Once the codes are entered, click on the down arrow to the right of the Zoom combo box, click on the value 60%, then click on the Refresh Music icon. Adjust the Separator Bar so that the whole tune appears on screen as shown below. Finally, check your work by playing the tune, printing it, and saving it.

Understanding the Codes

The Naming Conventions

The previous chapters have introduced several codes in constructing a simple, well known tune. In this chapter you will learn the codes for all the bagpipe music symbols in Bagpipe Player used for light music. First, here are the general naming conventions for the codes. Melody notes are in upper case letters (LG, LA, B, etc.). Grace notes and embellishments are in lower case letters (gg, dbc, etc.) All other codes, except for a few special symbols, are in lower case letters. Codes are classified into "playing" (i.e. that will produce a sound; melody notes, grace notes, embellishments) and "non-playing" (i.e. will not produce a sound; used for music formatting (G clef, bar line, time signatures, etc.) or music modifying (dots, runs of three, ties, etc.)).

Staff Formatting Symbols

The G clef is coded by the "and" symbol (&) and MUST appear at the start of each staff line. It is used to mark the symbols that appear on a line of staff.

There are two Start of Parts symbols. The code I!'' (uppercase I, exclamation mark, and two apostrophes) is used to begin a part that is repeated. The code I! (uppercase I, exclamation mark) is used to begin a part that is not repeated.

There are two End of Parts symbols. The code ''!I (two apostrophes, exclamation mark, and uppercase I) is used to end a part that is repeated. The code !I (exclamation mark, uppercase I) is used to end a part that is not repeated. These symbols are mirror images of the Start of Part symbols. They are required to ensure that the symbols occur flush with the end of the staff.

Bar lines are coded by the single exclamation mark (!).

A special bar line called a "terminating bar line" !t (exclamation mark followed by lowercase t) is used to code the end of a bar of music that is the last bar on the staff but not the last bar of the part. An example of this would be the bar line at the end of bar 4. The use of the terminating bar line is required to ensure that the line occurs flush with the end of the staff.

Time Signatures

Time signatures are coded by one or two digits for the "numerator", followed by the underscore character (_), followed by a digit for the denominator (e.g. 2_4 indicates a "two-four" tune, 12_8 indicates a "twelve-eight" tune). Two special symbols C and C_ denote common time ("four-four") and cut common time ("two-two"), respectively. Typically, the common time signature is used in strathspeys and the cut common time signature in reels.

Accidentals

Accidentals are symbols used to indicate a change in pitch of a note. They include flats (♭), naturals (♮), and sharps (#). The codes for these accidentals consist of the type of accidental followed by the note (e.g. flatb, naturalc, sharpf).

Accidentals can be placed at the start of a staff directly after the clef to denote the key signature. On the Great Highland Bagpipe, the F and C are actually F sharp and C sharp (F# and C#). Thus, the F# and C# symbols (in that order to properly denote the D Major key signature) should be placed directly after the clef. Historically, bagpipe music has not included the F# and C# accidentals. However, there are several reasons why they should be used:

• An increasing number of new bagpipe compositions are including F natural and C natural notes (created by cross-fingering the notes) and they need to be properly represented on the staff.
• Bagpipe music is increasingly being used by non-pipers (folk groups, fiddlers, etc.) and should be written according to standard music theory so that these musicians can correctly read and interpret the music.
• With computer programs, like Bagpipe Player, using MIDI devices to create bagpipe sounds, the correct MIDI notes must be played to achieve the F and C sharps and naturals.

For these reasons, Bagpipe Player defaults to using the F# and C# accidentals at the beginning of a staff.

Accidentals can also be placed before notes on a staff to affect their pitch. If an accidental is placed before a note, it affects the pitch of that note and all the other same notes until the end of the bar. Beginning in the next bar, the note reverts back to the pitch set at the start of the staff line. e.g. If a staff line begins with the G clef, F#, and C# symbols, then F's and C's throughout the line will be played as F# and C# respectively. If however a C natural accidental is placed before a C in a bar, then that C and all other C's after it in the bar will be played as C natural. In the following bar, the C's revert to C#'s.

Flats, Naturals and Sharps

Melody Notes

Melody note codes begin with the melody note in upper case (e.g. LG, B, HA for Low G, B, and High A, respectively), followed by the flag direction (r for right facing, l for left facing, and no character for single melody notes or notes greater than an 8th), the underscore character (_) and then the value of the note (1 for whole note, 2 for half note, 4 for quarter note, etc.). At least one melody note must always be on a staff. Some examples of melody notes are:

LG_4 HA_8 Fr_16 Dl_32

denoting a Low G quarter note, High A 8th note, F 16th note with right facing flags, and D 32nd note with left facing flags, respectively.

Whole and Half Notes

Quarter and 8th Notes

16th and 32nd Notes

8th Notes with Right and Left Facing Flags

Rests

Rests are silent periods in music. They are coded like melody notes. e.g. REST_4 is a quarter note rest.

Dots

Dots are coded by the apostrophe (') followed by lowercase letters for the note. e.g. 'la is a dot on Low A. Dots increase the duration of the preceding melody note by half its duration. Effectively, they increase the duration of the melody note by 50%. The codes for dots must be placed after the codes for the preceding melody note.

Double dots are coded with two apostrophes. e.g. ''la is a double dot on Low A. Double dots act like a "dot on a dot" i.e. they effectively increase the duration of the preceding melody note by 75%. The codes for dots must be placed after the codes for the preceding melody note.

Single and Double Dots

Fermatas

A fermata is an indefinite pause or extension of a melody note. It is coded by the word fermat followed by the note (e.g. fermatla is a fermata over Low A). The code for the fermata must be placed directly after the melody note. During playing, Bagpipe Player interprets fermatas like double dots, increasing the duration of the preceding melody note by 75%.

Grace Notes and Embellishments

• The codes for grace notes and embellishments must always be in lowercase letters and must appear before the code for a melody note.
• The codes for single grace notes begin with the note of the grace note followed by the letter g for grace note (i.e. gg dg eg tg for High G, D, E, and Thumb (High grace notes, respectively).
• The codes for embellishments (multiple grace notes) begin with the type of movement (db for doubling, hdb for half doubling, etc.) and generally end with the letter denoting the major note of the embellishment (e.g. tdbd for thumb doubling on D, gstb for G grace note strike on B, etc.)
• Generally, g and t are the first letters of the codes for embellishments that begin with a High G or High A grace note, respectively. h is the first letter for embellishments that are "half" versions of the embellishment.
• Strikes are special exceptions for the coding of single grace notes. Strikes are coded with the characters str followed by the note that is being struck (e.g. strlg denotes a single grace note striking Low G).
• Some embellishments are played the same no matter what the starting and ending melody notes are (e.g. grp for grip, tar for taorluath, etc.)

Single Grace Notes

Regular, Thumb and Half Doublings

Single Strikes

Regular Grips

Taorluaths and Bubbly Notes

Birls

Light, Heavy, and Half D Throws

Ties, Groups, and Time Lines

Ties Across Notes

• Ties are used to extend the playing of a note across a beat.
• Ties are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the lowercase letter t, followed by the lowercase letter s (for start) or e (for end) (e.g. ^ts is the start of a tie between two melody notes and ^te is the end of the tie).
• The starting tie code must be placed BEFORE the first of the two melody notes to be tied. The ending tie code must be placed AFTER the second of the two melody notes to be tied. e.g. ^ts LA_4 LA_4 ^te ties two Low A quarter notes together.

Ties – Old Format

• These following codes apply to the previous version for coding ties and are not recommended for current use. Their use is supported only for compatibility with previous versions of bagpipe software.
• These ties are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the lowercase letter t, followed by lowercase letters indicating the note to be tied (e.g. ^tc is a tie between two C melody notes.
• The tie code must be placed BETWEEN the two melody notes to be tied. e.g. LA_4 ^tla LA_4 ties two Low A quarter notes together.

Irregular Groups / Triplets

• Irregular groups are used to denote the playing of a certain number of notes in the time of a different number of notes. The most common irregular group is a "Triplet" or "Run of 3" which is 3 notes played in the time of 2 notes.
• Bagpipe Player supports the following irregular groups:

• Duplets are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the number 2, followed by the lowercase letter s (for start) or e (for end) (e.g. ^2s is the start of a duplet and ^2e is the end of the duplet).
• Triplets are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the number 3, followed by the lowercase letter s (for start) or e (for end) (e.g. ^3s is the start of a triplet and ^3e is the end of the triplet).
• The other irregular groups are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the number of notes played, followed by the number of notes in the time of, followed by the lowercase letter s (for start) or e (for end) (e.g. ^53s is the start of a quintuplet played in the time of 3 notes and ^53e is the end of the quintuplet).
• The starting code for an irregular group must be placed BEFORE the first of the notes in the group. The ending code must be placed AFTER the last of the notes in the group. e.g. ^3s Cr_8 Fl_8 gg LAl_8 ^3e is a triplet over C, F, and Low A melody notes).

Triplets - Old Format

• The following codes apply to the previous version for coding runs of 3 (triplets) and are not recommended for current use. Their use is supported only for compatibility with previous versions of bagpipe software.
• Runs of 3 are coded by the caret character (^) followed by the digit 3, followed by the lowercase letters for the highest melody note that the run should clear (e.g. ^3f is a run of 3 that will provide adequate clearance over a F melody note).
• The run of 3 code must be placed AFTER the three melody notes in a run (e.g. Cr_8 El_8 gg LAl_8 ^3e ).

Time Lines & Repeats

Time lines are the lines that appear over bars of music to denote music variations when a part is repeated. Typically there is a "1st Time" and a "2nd Time" to a repeated part. Time lines are coded by a "Start of Time Line" code and an "End of Time Line" code.

Start of Time Line

• Time lines are coded by the apostrophe (') followed by the number 1 or 2 (denoting whether it applies to the first time or second time), followed by additional digits indicating other parts that these bars apply to (if no additional digits appear it applies only to the current part).
• Some examples of Start of Time Lines are '1 which indicates that the following bars apply only to the first time through the current part, and '224 which indicates that the following bars apply to the second time through the current part AND the second time through the fourth part.
• A Start of Time Line symbol must be placed directly BEFORE the first code coming under the time line.

End of Time Line

• The end of a time line is coded with an End of Time Line code, an underscore character (_) followed by the apostrophe ('). Its presence causes a horizontal line to be drawn over the music from the Start of Time Line code to the current position.
• The End of Time Line code can be placed on the current line of music or it can be placed on the next line of music, if it needs to extend that far. However, it must be placed directly AFTER the last code coming under the time line.
• Also, an End of Time Line code must be placed somewhere BEFORE a part ending code (such as !I or ''!I) and never after a part ending code.
• For every Start of Time Line code there must be a corresponding End of Time Line code.

First and Second Times in the same line

"The Balmoral Highlanders" - first part. Although it appears like the time lines are run together, they are in fact separate. '1 _' '2 _'

First and Second Times in the same part

"The Gold Ring" - sixth part. Note that the music for the second time must appear directly after the music for the first time. The music for the second time must end with an ending double bar line code but without the repeat mark.

First and Second Times across parts

"The Rakes of Kildare" - first and second parts. In these cases, the music for the second time appears before the music for the first time. This example also illustrates how time lines can continue across lines within the same part

Da Capo, Dal Segno, Codas

Rarely used in light music, but there are times you may want to use this in your own arrangements, such as a return to the top of a piece and ending after one or two lines. Examples are Highland Cathedral, where the tune is finished by returning to the top and playing the first two lines. Another is Lord Lovatt's Lament, where the bands stops and a solo piper returns to the top and plays one complete verse.

Codes for the standard music symbols (fine, D.C al fine, segno, and D.S.) must be used to properly indicate the start and end of the part for playing.

To return to a segno and play to a fine, use dalsegno at the branch point, segno at the point to resume playing, and fine at the point to stop. There is no dalsegnoalfine code.

The coda symbol is also available, and there is a D.C. al Coda code to return to the top and play until the coda is reached, then branching to the coda part, which is marked with the code codasection.

Screen Elements / Menus

In previous chapters, you were introduced to several elements of the main screen and its menus. This chapter identifies all the screen elements and the main menu choices. The Dialog Boxes resulting from some of these menu choices are described in more detail in the next chapter.

The Main Screen

Menu Bar

Displays the Top Level Menus.

Toolbar

The toolbars provide quick access to the most common operations.

Music Window

The top window is the "Music Window" which displays bagpipe music based on the codes entered in the Code Window.

Code Window

The bottom window is the "Code Window" where codes for the various melody notes, grace notes, embellishments, and other symbols of a tune are entered.

Separator Line

The horizontal line that separates the Code and Music Windows is called the "Separator Line". The Separator Line can be adjusted to make the Code Window larger (and correspondingly the Music Window smaller) or vice-versa. To do this drag the Separator Line up or down

File Menu

New

Opens a new tune window.

Open

Opens an existing tune file into a new window.

Close

Closes the current tune windows and closes the associated file.

Save

Saves the codes in the current Code Window to the associated file. BWW is the default extension and it is recommended that people use this extension for two reasons:

• The BWW extension is associated with the Bagpipe Player program. This means that you can double click on a BWW file in Windows Explorer or File Manager and Bagpipe Player will run and open the file (not presently in Windows 10).
• The BWW extension is the primary, visible method used to identify files created by the Windows version of Bagpipe Player compared to files created by an older DOS version of a bagpipe software product.

The first time a tune is saved, Bagpipe Player uses the words in the Tune Title as the file name. Before pressing OK to save the file, ensure that there are no illegal characters in the file name (e.g. \ / : * ? " < > | ) as an error will be produced.

Save As

Permits a different filename to be specified and defaults to the BWW extension. Codes in the current Code Window are saved to that file.

Save As MIDI

Used to save the music as a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) format file. MIDI files are very compact (a four part 2/4 competition march is typically 8- 10Kbytes) and can be played on any computer with a sound card using the Windows MediaPlayer program. Permits a new filename to be specified and then saves the music in MIDI format.

To ensure that the tune name, composer and any copyright information gets included with the music in the MIDI file, Bagpipe Player writes the following text strings into the MIDI file:

• The text in the Tune Title.
• "Composed By: " followed by the text in the Composer/Arranger field, followed by the text in the Footer field.

Save As Image

Used to save the music as a monochrome BMP or PCX format file. All Windows versions can read and write BMP files. Earlier Windows versions can read and write PCX files but later Windows versions can only read PCX files. However, a PCX file of bagpipe music is 3-5 times smaller than the BMP file of the same music.

Permits a filename and graphics file format (BMP or PCX) to be specified and then saves the music in the file in the chosen graphics file format. The resolution of the resulting file depends on the value in the Zoom combo box.. Zoom values of 100% and 200% produce images with approximately 150 dpi and 300 dpi respectively.

Print Setup

Allows selection of the printer to send print output to. Defaults to the Windows default printer. Paper size, source and orientation should be set in Page Setup.

Page Setup

Opens a dialog box for configuring the page. See chapter on Page Setup for details.

Print Preview

Displays the music on screen as it would appear on a printed page. In this mode, the cursor is a magnifying glass and clicking the left mouse button zooms in (can zoom in twice then goes back to regular magnification).

Print

Send print output to the currently selected printer. Allows the number of copies to be specified. If a tune is long enough to span several pages and if the multiple pages option is set in Page Setup, a range of page numbers can be specified for print.

Most Recently Used Files

The filenames of the four most recently used files are in this section. Clicking on one of these filenames opens the file.

Exit

Exits Bagpipe Player. Prompts are displayed to close any open files that have not been recently saved.

Edit Menu

Note: The Edit Menu commands only work in the Code Window. Make sure that you have clicked on a point inside the Code Window for these commands to work.

Undo

Reverses the last action performed.

Cut, Delete

Cut removes the current highlighted text and transfers it to the Clipboard. Delete removes the current highlighted text without transferring it to the Clipboard.

Copy

If the "Code Window" is selected, it transfers a copy of the current highlighted text to the Clipboard. If the "Music Window" is selected, it transfers a copy of the music to the Clipboard for insertion into a file as an OLE object. For example, if you had an MS Word document open after a copy, a paste operation would insert a copy of the "Music Window" display into the document.

Paste

Inserts the contents of the Clipboard at the point where the flashing cursor is. Because of the repetition of bars and phrases in bagpipe music, Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete can be used to duplicate the codes for these bars and phrases from one part to the next OR from one open tune window to another open tune window.

Find

Allows a text phrase to be located in the Code Window from the flashing cursor point downward. The function is useful in locating misspelled symbol names that Bagpipe Player reports when a tune's Music Window is refreshed.

Find Next

Allows the next occurence of the text phrase to be located in the Code Window from the flashing cursor point downward. The function is useful in locating multiple occurrences of misspelled symbol names that Bagpipe Player reports when a tune's Music Window is refreshed.

Replace

Allows one text string to be replaced with another. The replacement operation can be done in two modes: user prompt before initiating the replacement or automatic replacement of all located text strings. The Replace function allows multiple occurrences of a misspelled symbol to be replaced with the correct spelling of the symbol.

Select All

Highlights all text in the Code Window.

Word Wrap

Causes all the text to appear in the visible part of the Code Window.

Configure Menu

Set Font

Note: This command only works on text items that have been selected (i.e. clicked on) in the Music Window. Allows the font, font style, point size and other effects to be modified for the selected text. In addition, the text type (e.g. Tune Title, Tune Type, Composer/Arranger, etc.) and text alignment (e.g. Left, Center, Right, Absolute) of the selected text to be modified. See the chapter on Text Formatting for details.

Set Play Options

Allows modification of grace note durations, tempo, MIDI notes and frequencies for bagpipe chanter notes & drones, MIDI instrument to play out on, MIDI note mappings (e.g. Low A at B flat, Low A at A natural, or User Defined), Smooth Playing Factors, Drone Introduction duration, and Moving Music Pointer. Also, includes Sound Tests for PC Speaker and MIDI Note. See chapter on Setting the Play Options for details.

Volume

Allows MIDI volume of chanter, tenor drone, and bass drone to be set from 0 to 100% in 10% increments.

View Menu

Toolbar

Displays a toolbar for the common commands on the File and Edit menus just below the Top Level Menu Bar. This toolbar is dockable, i.e. can be moved to a different location on the screen.

Status Bar

Displays a status line at the bottom of the screen.

Set Tab Stops

Sets the location that tabs will jump to (i.e. if set to 8, tabs will jump to the 8th, 16th, 24th, etc. character locations in the Code Window).

Refresh Music

Converts the codes in the Code Window into bagpipe music in the Music Window. There is a Refresh Music icon to the left of the Zoom combo box that does the same operation.

Player Menu

Note: Player menu commands work as follows:

• If music has been selected in the current Music Window, the Player commands work on the selected music. Music can be selected by dragging a box around the particular music passage or by clicking in the left margin next to a line of music (the music is then selected from that point forward). Selected music disappears in a different colour (default is red).
• If music has not been selected in the current Music Window, the Player commands work on all music in the Music Window. Each of these player menu commands has a corresponding VCR controls style icon.

Play   >

Plays the music on the sound device shown in the MIDI Device list box.

Continuous   Ȯ

Repeatedly plays the music on the sound device shown in the MIDI Device list box.

Stop   ■

Pauses the playing at the point in the music this menu choice was selected. Selecting Play resumes playing of the music from the paused point.

Rewind   <<

Resets the playing start point to the beginning of the selected music or the beginning of the music in the Music Window.

Window Menu

Note: Bagpipe Player conforms to the Windows Multiple Document Interface. This means that multiple tunes can be opened up, each in their own window, and worked on at the same time. Also, codes from one tune's Code Window can be copied to the Clipboard and then inserted into the Code Window of another opened tune.

Cascade

Arranges the open windows in an overlaid fashion, with just the title bar of each tune's window visible.

Tile

Arranges the open windows so that each window is visible.

Arrange Icons

If each open window is minimized, arranges the minimized windows along the bottom of the screen.

Open Windows

This section of the Window Menu lists the title bar of each open window. By clicking on the appropriate name, that tune's window is brought to the front.

Help Menu

Help Topics is the function that does not work in Windows 7, 8, or 10. It has been replaced by this HTML document, or a separate PDF file that can be printed.

About Bagpipe Player displays identifying information and acknowledgements for Bagpipe Player.

Formatting the Page

The strength of the original version of Bagpipe Player was the high quality of its printed music. It was used to produce twelve professional pipe music collections. Bagpipe Player continues this tradition and adds more options for laying out one or more tunes on a printed page(s).

These options are included not just for composers who want to produce a collection of pipe music, but also for pipers who want their personal music or band music to look as good as that found in collections. This chapter explains the various parameters that can be adjusted to give your music the desired look.

The Page Setup Screen

Under File, Page Setup, you will see a graphic of the page layout, showing how the page layout will look. As you change the orientation options, the page layout example changes.

Paper - Size, Source

Specifies where the paper you want to use is located in the printer. Different printer models support different paper sources, such as the upper tray, envelope feed, and manual feed.

Orientation

Portrait, Landscape - Shows how the tune is positioned on the page. To see an example on the sample page, click Portrait or Landscape.

Margins

Sets the printing area of the page. The margins you set here are never printed on.

• Left - This specifies the left edge margin on the page. Note that this margin value is assigned the top edge value when changing from portrait to landscape.
• Right - This specifies the right edge margin on the page. Note that this margin value is assigned the bottom edge value when changing from portrait to landscape.
• Top - This specifies the top edge margin on the page. Note that this margin value gets assigned the right edge value when changing from portrait to landscape.
• Bottom - This specifies the bottom edge margin on the page. Note that this margin value gets assigned the left edge value when changing from portrait to landscape.

Spread Tune to Fit

• Horizontally - Adjusts the staff width to fit between the left and right margins for a given page size.
• Vertically - Adjusts the vertical spacing between staffs to fit the music evenly between the top and bottom margins for a given page size. This setting only works if "To Fit Print Area" in Scale Options is selected.
• Align Bars - Enables bars of music to be vertically aligned across staffs i.e. Bar 1 of Line 1 is vertically aligned with Bar 1 of Line 2, 3, 4 etc. Alignment begins with bars on the right side of the staff and proceeds leftward. The width of each bar is based on the bar widths in Line 1.
• Space - Allows the horizontal spacing between melody notes to be adjusted from its automatically calculated value (which is 100%). Decreasing the percentage will push the melody notes closer together. Increasing the percentage will push the melody notes further apart. Generally, this value should be decreased from 100% for dense tunes (i.e. many symbols on a staff).

Scale Options

• To Fit Print Area - Scales the music horizontally and vertically to fit on the selected page between the set margins for the selected paper size.
• Multiple Pages - Allows the music to span across multiple pages. This option should be selected when printing Piobaireachd or many tunes of a medley on small paper sizes (to avoid very small music rendering).
• X Scale Symbols - Allows the horizontal width of the music symbols to be adjusted from their automatically calculated values (which is 100%). Decreasing the percentage "squishes" the symbols horizontally. Increasing the percentage expands the symbols horizontally. Generally, this value should be decreased from 100% for dense tunes (i.e. many symbols on a staff).
• Y Scale Symbols - Allows the vertical height of the music symbols and the staff to be adjusted from their automatically calculated values (which is 100%). Decreasing the percentage "squishes" the symbols and staff vertically. Increasing the percentage expands the symbols and staff vertically. Generally, this value should be increased from 100% to make the music appear larger.
• Staff Height - Allows the staff height to be set to a particular value in inches. The default value is 0.25". This setting is used when preparing tunes for pipe music collections to ensure that the music is presented on staffs of the same height.

If the staff height is set to zero (0), Bagpipe Player automatically calculates the staff height based on the other page setup parameters. This will cause music with not many symbols and staffs to be printed quite large. This is appropriate when printing music for children and for people with reduced vision, where the need to show large embellishments and melody notes is desired.

However, a zero setting for staff height will also cause music with many symbols and staffs to be printed quite small. Making the music print larger in this situation involves adjustments to each of the Spacing, X Scale Symbols, and Y Scale Symbols percentages and requires experimentation to find the right set of values for a tune.

It is generally recommended to use a fixed staff height and then to adjust the Spacing and X Scale Symbol percentages to fit the music between the left and right margins.

Justify

• Left - These options are seldom used and only work when "Spread Tune to Fit Horizontally" is not enabled. It is used to left-align a segment of music on the page between the margins.
• Right - These options are seldom used and only work when "Spread Tune to Fit Horizontally" is not enabled. It is used to right-align a segment of music on the page between the margins.
• Center - These options are seldom used and only work when "Spread Tune to Fit Horizontally" is not enabled. It is used to center a segment of music on the page between the margins.

Placing & Formatting Text

Text Tags

Bagpipe Player uses "Text Tags" to contain text strings and placement and formatting information. They are inserted into the Code Window and made visible in the Music Window using the following steps:

• Click the left mouse button in the Code Window at the location to insert the Text Tag.
• Click the right mouse button. Select Text then the appropriate Text Type.
• Click on the Refresh button to make the formatted and placed text appear in the Music Window.

Once inserted and made visible in the Music Window, the formatting and placement of the Text Tag can be modified as follows:

• In the Music Window, locate the appropriate text item and click on it with the left mouse button. A box will be drawn around the item.
• Click on Configure, Set Font to bring up the placement and formatting dialog box.

Text Tags are identifiable in the Code Window as a text string starting and ending with a double quote character (") followed by formatting codes starting with the opening round bracket "(" and ending with the closing round bracket ")" e.g.: Generally, Text Tags are placed before the beginning of the codes for the music, except for In-Line Text Tags. Note: Any Text Tags can be deleted from the Code Window without consequence i.e. the tune still can be printed and played with no Text Tags used.

• Tune Title - The name of the tune.
• Tune Type - The type of music e.g. March, Reel, Jig, etc. This field is used to determine the default tune tempo, if no tempo indicator is specified.
• Composer - The name of the composer. The name of the arranger can be placed in this field however it should be preceded by "Arranged By: ".
• Footer - Text that appears at the bottom of each page.
• In-Line - Text that appears between two staff lines and is placed above and left aligned with the left edge of the music symbol that follows this Text Tag. In-Line text is frequently used in Piobaireachd e.g. Ground, Variation 1, Taorluath Doubling, etc.
• Fixed - Text that appears at an exact location horizontal and vertical location (X,Y), in inches, on each page. The coordinate (0,0) is the top left of the page. This gives you much better control over location than the In-Line tag.
• Comment - Text that appears in the Code Window but does not appear in the Music Window or on the printed sheet. The Comment text tag does not appear in the Set Font Dialog Box (because the text does not appear in the Music Window) but does appear on the Right Mouse Button Menus. Comments are used to provide descriptions about the music passages e.g. "First Part", "Third Part", etc.

The Set Font Screen

Click Configure, Set Font.

Font

Lists the fonts available on your system.

Font Style

Lists the available styles for the specified fonts.

Size

List the available point sizes for the specified fonts. There are 72 points to 1 inch. The combo box lists several choices, however a number can be typed into the field to render the font and its style at that specific size.

Effects

Strikeout or Underline.

Sample

Shows a sample of how text will appear with the specified font settings.

Color

Lists the available colors for the specified font. A listing of various colors that the font and its style will be rendered in. Colors will only be shown on color printers; images created using Save As Image appear in black and white only.

Text Setup

• Text - The actual text. It can be modified by changing the contents in this field.
• Text Type - The categories of typical bagpipe music text types. The following is an explanation of each type:

march – 84 BPM
strathspey – 130 BPM
reel – 98 BPM
jig – 132 BPM
retreat march – 94 BPM
hornpipe – 94 BPM
air – 46 BPM
slow air – 46 BPM
gaelic air – 46 BPM
slow march – 46 BPM

• Coordinates - X,Y location in inches. Applies only to Absolute alignment, and are referenced from the left edge (X) and top edge (Y) of the page.
• Alignment - The horizontal alignment of the text: Left, Center, Right, or Absolute aligned.

Alignment Examples:

Left aligned means with aligned with the Left Margin<
Right aligned means aligned with the Right Margin
Center aligned means centered in the printable area between the left and right margins
Absolute aligned means located at a given point on the page

The following table shows the horizontal alignments that can be applied to each Text Type:

* Fixed text is left aligned with the "From Left" position on the page.
** In-Line text is left aligned with the left edge of the symbol following the Text Tag.

Vertical alignment of the various Text Types is as follows:

• Tune Title, Tune Type and Composer are all vertically aligned on a baseline such that the top of the tallest character in the three strings touches the top margin.
• Footer is vertically aligned such that the baseline for its text touches the bottom margin.
• Fixed text is vertically aligned so that the top of the tallest character in the string touches the "From Top" line given in the coordinates.
• In-Line text is vertically aligned between two staffs.

Placement of In-Line Text

The following example illustrates how In-Line text can be placed over any symbol on the staff. Note how the title "The Clumsy Lover" is left aligned over the G clef and how "pelle" is aligned over that embellishment on the staff.

"The Clumsy Lover",(I,L,0,0,Times New Roman,12,4700,0,0,0,0,0,0) 
& sharpf sharpc  2_4  	gg D_8
!      gg Cr_16 Er_16 strla Er_16 Fl_16   gg Er_16 Cr_16 gg Br_16 eg LAl_16
       "pelle",(I,L,0,0,Times New Roman,12,400,255,0,0,0,0,0)   
!      lpeld Dr_8 Br_16 Cl_16 gg   Dr_16 Er_16 gg Cr_16 dg Bl_16      !t

For in-line comments like a real score, use Times New Roman italic (e.g., 400,255). For more precision, use the Fixed option and locate in your score using X,Y coordinates.

Manually Editing Text

For quick changes to the heading, footer, and in-line code, here is a legend to use:

Adjusting Playing Options

While producing publication printed output, Bagpipe Player also produces high quality playing of both light music and Piobaireachd. As discussed earlier, with the right type of sound card, tunes can be played using a professional piper quality bagpipe sound. This chapter explains how to adjust various playing parameters to make the performance as good as the sound.

The Play Options Screen

Note that the values shown on these screens are saved with the tune. This allows each tune to have its own custom playing options. Access this screen from the menu Configure, Set Play Options.

General Settings Section

Grace Note Duration

The duration in milliseconds of a single grace note or grace notes in embellishments in light music.

Tempo

The beats per minute for a tune. This value adjusts the tempo in the first TuneTempo tag encountered in the tune.

Smooth Playing Factor A

The percentage of an embellishments duration that is subtracted from the melody note that follows an embellishment. This parameter is used to smooth out stilted playing in light music and some Piobaireachd embellishments. A value of 100 causes the total duration of an embellishment to be subtracted from the melody note that follows it. Tunes are played exactly in time but may sound a bit stilted at faster tempos. A value of 0 causes none of the total duration of an embellishment to be subtracted from the melody note that follows it. Each embellishment and melody note is played to its full duration but the tempo of the tune speeds up in passages with not many embellishments and slows down in passages with several embellishments. A value of between 60 and 70 generally achieves a good flow to the tune without noticeably changing the tempo.

Smooth Playing Factor B

The percentage of an embellishments duration that is subtracted from the melody note that precedes an embellishment. This parameter is used specifically to smooth out stilted playing only for Piobaireachd abbreviations for leumluaths, taorluaths, and crunluaths. A value of 100 causes the total duration of the embellishment to be subtracted from the melody note that precedes it. Tunes are played exactly in time but may sound a bit clipped. A value of 0 causes none of the total duration of an embellishment to be subtracted from the melody note that precedes it. Each embellishment and melody note is played to its full duration but the tempo of the tune wanders if non-leumluath, taorluath or crunluath embellishments are in the music passage. A value of between 60 and 70 generally achieves a good flow to the tune without noticeably changing the tempo.

Drone Introduction

The duration (milliseconds) the drone notes are played before the chanter notes begin.

Moving Music Pointer

Enables a small colored ball to hover over the note or embellishment that is currently being played. Enabling the Moving Music Pointer and reducing the tempo is helpful for beginners to match the displayed music with the sound being emitted.

Midi Note Mapping Section

A matrix of Midi notes for each note of the chanter with its flat, natural, and sharp sounds. These values will change depending on the Note Mapping Default chosen.

Note Mapping Defaults Section

Low A at B flat

Clicking this SET button causes the values in the Midi Note Mapping Section to change to values based upon Low A Natural at a B flat pitch of 466 Hz.

Low A at A natural

Clicking this SET button causes the values in the Midi Note Mapping Section to change to values based upon Low A Natural at an A natural pitch of 440 Hz.

User Defined

Clicking this SET button causes the values in the Midi Note Mapping Section to change to values programmed in by the user. See the section below on "Programming User Defined Values" for details on how to program your own values for Midi notes and frequency values.

Drone Settings

Chanter Instrument

The Midi Instrument number for the Chanter's Midi notes to be played on. The numbers begin at 0 and end at 127. The number for the Bagpipe is 109 however on most sound cards this results in a very poor imitation of a bagpipe sound. Bagpipe Player defaults to instrument 71 (Clarinet) which produces a sound similar to a small pipe. Other value to try are 70 and 111.

Drone Instrument

The Midi Instrument number for the Drone's Midi notes to be played on. The numbers begin at 0 and end at 127. The number for the Bagpipe is 109 however on most sound cards this results in a very poor imitation of a bagpipe sound. Bagpipe Player defaults to instrument 71 (Clarinet) which produces a sound similar to a small pipe. Other value to try are 70 and 111. The Drone Instrument can be different from the Chanter Instrument number.

Bass Drone Note

The Midi note for the Bass Drone sound. This should be set two octaves (24 Midi notes) below the Low A natural Midi note.

Tenor Drone Note

The Midi note for the Tenor Drone sound. This should be set one octave (12 Midi notes) below the Low A natural Midi note.

Sound Test Section

PC Speaker

Clicking the Test button emits a sound from the PC Speaker at the given frequency value. The value can be adjusted to determine which frequencies match the notes on your practise chanter. Once determined, these values can be programmed into the User Defined Settings.

MIDI Note

Clicking the Test button emits a sound from the Sound Card at the given Midi note.

Frequency Mappings Button

Clicking this button brings up the dialog box on the following page. The frequency settings (in Hz) can be modified for each note on the chanter and its flat, natural, and sharp sounds. Clicking OK preserves these settings.

Grace Note Durations Button

Clicking this button brings up the dialog box on the following page. It is used to adjust the durations of the various grace notes used in light music and Piobaireachd. Clicking OK preserves these settings. A table of the categories, their description and default values is given below.

Programming User Defined Values

Clicking the User Defined button (next to the Cancel button) stores the Midi Note Mappings (including Bass and Tenor Drone Notes) and Frequency Mappings in a User Defined Profile section. This profile can be recalled by pressing the Set User Defined button in the Note Mapping Defaults section. Note: If you do not want to use the F# and C# symbols in printed music but want the F and C to produce their proper bagpipe note sound when playing, copy the values from the C# and F# fields in the C natural and F natural fields, respectively, then program this setting by pressing the User Defined button. Saving the tune will also save these settings in the tune file. However, changing the MIDI notes in this manner is NOT recommended because it produces a nonstandard tune file.

Special Features

Bagpipe Player has several special features for printing and playing multiple tunes. The features are ideal for producing band sheet music, a professional bagpipe music collection, or listening to tune combinations for a new medley. Also, Bagpipe Player's ability to handle multiple tempo and time signature changes in a tune (or tunes) makes it very appropriate for many contemporary compositions and Piobaireachds. This chapter explains how to utilize these features to achieve profound printed and audible music effects.

Working on More Than One Tune at a Time

Bagpipe Player supports the Multiple Document Interface which allows multiple documents (tunes) to be open at any one time. To accomplish this, just click File, Open and select the tune to open. Repeat these steps for as many tunes as you desire.

To move between open windows, click Window on the Main Menu bar and then select the desired window. With multiple tunes open, codes for tunes can be easily copied from one tune to another.

Printing More Than One Tune on a Page(s)

• As described above, open each tune that you want to place on a page(s) into a tune window.
• Change the File, Page Setup parameters in each tune to the same page layout settings. Use To Fit Print Area to compress the tunes onto a single page, otherwise select Multiple Pages.
• Click File, New to open a new tune window. In the Code Window, highlight the codes and press Delete to remove all codes from the window.
• For the first tune to appear on the page, highlight all the codes in its Code Window and press Ctrl-C to copy the codes.
• Change to the new tune's Code Windows and press Ctrl-V to paste the tune into the window.
• Change to the window for the second tune to appear and highlight and copy the contents of its Code Window.
• Change to the new tune's Code Window, & paste the second tune's codes following the first tune's codes.
• Repeat the above step for as many tunes as you want to fit on a page(s).
• Save and print the multiple tune file.

Time Signature Changes in a Tune

Time Signature changes can be placed anywhere in the music of a Bagpipe Player file and will be correctly interpreted during playing.

Tempo Changes in a Tune

Tempo changes can be placed anywhere in the music of a Bagpipe Player file using the TuneTempo,xx tag (where xx is the desired tempo in beats per minute).

Singling and Doubling Tempo Changes

The VariationTempo,(ss,dd) tag can be used to indicate a particular tempo (ss beats per minute) during the Singling variation and a different tempo (dd beats per minute) during the Doubling variation. The Variation must begin with a segno code and end with a dalsegno code.

Appendix

How To Install Help On Your PC

To install this Help app on your PC, follow these steps for the web browser you are using, while you are viewing this Help page:

Using Internet Explorer:

• Click on Tools (the gear at the upper right)
• Click File, Save as
• Navigate to your Documents folder or Bagpipe Player tunes folder
• Type in an appropriate name for the file, and click Save

Using Firefox:

• Click the menu icon at the upper right
• Click Save Page
• Navigate to your Documents folder or Bagpipe Player tunes folder
• Type in an appropriate name for the file, and click Save

Using Edge (Windows 10):

The Save Page function is missing in the Edge browser. You can either set Internet Explorer as your default browser (recommended by most users) and follow the above instructions, or you can do this:

• Click the 3 dots (...) at the upper right of the screen
• Click Open with Internet Explorer
• Now follow the above instructions for Internet Explorer

To Create a Desktop Shortcut for Your Help File:

• Using File Explorer or My Computer, navigate to the location you saved the file.
• Right-click on the file BPhelp.htm, Send to, Desktop (create shortcut).

You now have a shortcut to your Help file on your desktop.