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Skirl is not a Technical Term Skirl is not a technical term. It probably started out as an onomatopoeic word, like screech, and was intended to imitate the sound if the instrument. Regardless of the origin, the word has acquired a derogatory connotation - and may be used by a knowledgeable piping instructor to describe an undesirable sound that a beginner/student might make on the instrument. It may be used by those less knowledge to describe the sound of the bagpipe - along with the equally trite "mournful wail". Not so Seriously: The origin of "skirl" is seldom fully explained,
but here it is... The "Skirl" of the Pipes is really just a mispronunciation of.... the "Squirrel" of the Pipes!!!
This rare photo shows P/M Skippy MacBaggins playing "Lament for the Old Oak Tree" at the edge of the campus on the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio USA (Fall 2006). |