cutting

"The journey {into piobaireachd} starts with a series of simple gracenotes called 'cuttings', made by raising and lowering a finger smartly while another note is being sounded. Cuttings are the commonest piping gracenotes and they do two jobs: (a) they add varying force of emphasis to a note—important because the piper does not have other ways of doing this, such as playing more loudly or softly ... and (b) they separate two or more notes at the same pitch—a characteristic blend of elegance and usefulness, so often found in piping."
—William Donaldson, Pipers: A Guide to the Players and Music of the Highland Bagpipe (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2005),10