Pibroch (Gaelic, Piobaireachd, 'a pipe tune'), a form of bagpipe music, generally of a warlike character, including marches, dirges, &c. According to Sir Walter Scott, connoisseurs in pipe-music affect to discover in a well-composed pibroch the imitative sounds of march, conflict, flight, pursuit, and all the current of a heady fight. The rhythm is very irregular and difficult for a stranger to follow, but when played by a good piper it has a very powerful effect. The earliest mention of the military music of the bagpipe is in 1594 at the battle of Glenlivet, but the various pibrochs belonging to the different clans are mostly of modern composition.
See Macdonald, Ancient Martial Music of Caledonia (about 1805); Mackay, Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd, or Highland Pipe Music (1838); and Glen's Collection of Piobaireachd.