Gerald Muirhead is a native Scotsman who was born and raised in Edinburgh and completed his study of piping under the late Pipe-Major Angus MacDonald M. B. E..

He was a Piper with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and learned much of his piping there. A world-wide million seller Amazing Grace was performed by this pipeband and this recording is still available as a CD.

After leaving the pipeband he has been in great demand as a solo piper. He has played on top of the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle during the International Festival and filmed by the BBC. He has played at many music festivals in Europe. And he has had the honour of performing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

He is very interested in Japanese history, and came to Japan in 1992. He has been active as a piper and teacher and has won several top prizes in International Bagpipe Contests in Asia since 1993. He was also a committee member of the Celtic Festival contributing friendship between Scotland and Japan. Gerald has played at the British Embassy for various occasions. On October 3, 2009 he performed the bagpipe for Sendai Classic Festival. Then on February 6 , 2010 he performed the bagpipe for NHK in Tokyo for their World Music Scene program and gave an explanation about Scottish and British culture.

A brief explanation of the different types of tunes and their time signatures

There are two main groups (categories of tunes): Ceol Beag and Ceol Mor (or Piobaireachd).

Ceol Beag

- light music which consists of light and middle music - ie Marches, Dancing tunes, Slow Airs and Folk tunes. These tunes rely on their melodic value. They can be played up tempo (fast) with a minimum of embellishments (grace notes etc.) and they are still pleasant to listen too. Other more complex tunes require a certain amount of execution and pointing which makes them attractive. Their tempos are restricted to that which will give the best presentation of the music.

• a 2/4 - Slow March, Quick March, Hornpipe, Lament.
• b 3/4 - Retreat March, Walz.
• c 4/4 - Slow + Quick March, Lament.
• d 6/8 - Slow + Quick March, Jig, Lament.
• e 9/8 - Retreat March, Slow March, Jig.
• f C 4/4 Strathspey - This is a dance tune with a strong - weak - medium - weak although in quadruple rhythm.
• g C 4/4 Reel - This is also a dance tune which a strong - weak - strong - weak rhythm. This is also the oldest form of dance music organized in Scotland.

Gerald with The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the original Gold & Platinum discs of Amazing Grace.

However there are also Competition Strathspey and Reels which are not for dancers but are written for their musical excellence. This is also the case for some Hornpipes and Jigs.

Jigs are played rounder with a 1-2-3, 4-5-6 rhythm with the accent on 1st & 4th beat. Hornpipes are played in a 1-2, 1-2 rhythm quickly.

Ceol Mor or Piobaireachd

is the classical music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. It starts with a slow theme and then becomes more complex with variations of the theme, and finally returns to the ground-work called the Urlar. Various types of Ceol Mor are Salutes, Laments and Gatherings.

Muirhead Clan Society: http://www.clanmuirhead.com/