Canntaireachd (Scottish Gaelic for 'chanting'; pronounced [ˈkʰãũn̪ˠt̪ɛɾʲəxk]) is the ancient method of teaching, learning and memorizing Piobaireachd (also spelt Pibroch), a type of music primarily played on the Great Highland bagpipe.
In the canntairached method of instruction, the teacher sings or hums the tune to the pupil, sometimes using specific syllables which signify the sounds to be produced by the bagpipe.
Seumas MacNeill, founder of The College of Piping, puts the date at 1803; The Piobaireachd Society holds that this occurred earlier, in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
[citation needed] It is assumed that different lineages of pipers developed distinct forms of Canntaireachd that were variations on a broadly similar system of sung vocable notation.
This school of thought maintains that written scores, even those published by Angus MacKay in his Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd (1838),[6] are oversimplified and cannot convey the nuances of proper musical expression.
As MacNeill noted: "There is a growing tendency, particularly among younger players... to place too much reliance on the printed score....The method of singing the tune is still of tremendous value, but it is not used often enough.
[10] For example, depending on the context, the melody note E may be sung as "de" (pronounced "day") or "ay"; or if preceded by a G gracenote, as "che" or "shay."