Shambles has hit the nail on the head. Type all we might, music is an aural and quite etheric "out there somewhere" concept & not a concrete kind of thing. One has to hear &/or feel music. It may be written on a page, but you must either listen to, or as Mr. Red says, move to the music to understand it. Why don't you get/borrow/look up on the www/etc some recordings of some pipe bands, especially the ones which are from pipe contests where there will be found amazingly different kinds of rhythms, and you then must get up & move to the music, or at least tap, clap, sway or whatever it takes to get the "feel" of the different types of hornpipes. We keep forgetting that most these music forms were all about dance when they were originally used.