Brian Yates’s Seven Rules of 6/8s
Straight from the teacher’s mouth—after eight years of bagpipe lessons from Brian. Amazingly, I’d not heard him say these before. At least, not as a full set. I forget whether this was my lesson or Don’s. I do remember this lesson was a little over a month before Brian moved out of the house he’d been renting for over a decade. To say the least, the place was a shambles: packed, unpacked, and partially packed boxes; appliances, furniture, instruments, TV and VCR tapes, and lots of other stuff all over the place. Also, Susie Petrov, folk musician and a former housemate of Brian’s, was visiting. She provided non-verbal comic relief during this recording. Don’s and my lessons were unusually scattered that day. Come to think of it, that’s not so unusual.
Click here to hear Brian present his “Seven Rules of 6/8s.” By the way, that’s Don verbally “rolling his eyes” at the beginning of this recording. (Date: August 25, 2005. Recording engineer: Don Wade. Transcriber: Larry Gould. Size: 0.9 MB. File type: MP3.)
The dotted eighth note is always longer than you think.
So is the eighth note. Ergo, Rule #3, which is....
The sixteenth note is shorter than what you think, but Rule #4...
Not... too... short.
All eighth notes must be played consistently for therein lies the lift portion of the beat.
Never, never, never, never, never play the sixteenth note when it heads the rhythm pattern—when it begins the beat—ahead of the beat. See Rules 1 through 5.
You always have more time than you think.
Thank you, Brian.
