ISBN 1352-3848

June 2012 VOLUME 29 NO.1

THE JOURNAL OF THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS’ SOCIETY

Scottish smallpipe by Julian Goodacre

IN THIS ISSUE From the Archive (4); Annual Competition (5); Teribus - The Original Set (15); Piping By Numbers (19); Wandering Pipers (27); Playing Reels to Oyster- women (28); Robin Shure in Herst (32); Whores and Rogues and Roundheaded Cuckolds (35); Enlarging the Smallpipe (43); Review (49); Event News (51);

1 President Iain MacInnes Secretary Judy Barker Chairman: Hamish Moore Minute Sec. Jeannie Campbell Treasurer Iain Wells Membership Pete Stewart

THE JOURNAL OF THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS’ SOCIETY

EDITORIAL [email protected]

t is interesting how some myths At the same time, we are pleased to I survive against all the odds and evi- include the results of Keith Sanger’s dence available. Your editor has had investigation into the state of piping in experience of this in his one-piper the Highlands at the beginning of the struggle to re-instate the correct tune 18th century. Something of the nature for ‘The Day it Daws’, a matter that was of myth attaches to this question, the first correctly stated over two hundred popular notion that pipers were to be years ago and which has been ignored found in almost every household in the ever since. In this issue we print a dis- region. I had long suspected that this cussion of the tune known as ‘Teribus’ could not be the case and it is good to - ‘the Town Tune of Hawick’. Despite have Keith’s deep knowledge of the the fact that this tune has been sung documented sources confirm this sus- and played every year in Hawick for the picion. past 240 years or more, most pipers will Keith’s argument that when the British not recognise it, having been playing a Army began to require two pipers for different tune with the same, enigmatic every regiment those posts could only title. Your editor, in his publications, be filled by recruiting Lowland pipers has been as guilty of this as just about seems to have repercussions beyond every other commentator on Lowland mere numbers. It appears to be a credi- and Border music. We are relieved to ble explanation of the fact that so much be able to put this matter right at last. of the music in early 19th century High- land piping publications is of Lowland

The views expressed in Common Stock are those of the contributors and not necessarily those either of the Editor or of the Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society. The contents of Common Stock are protected by copyright. None of them may be reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner. The copyright in the individual contributions belongs to their authors and the copyright in each edition of the magazine as a whole belongs to the Society. ]

2 origin. There is also the possibility that ready in their early stages. However, it in these early sources can be found happens to coincide with a planned clues to the kind of techniques that Bagpipe Colloquium and Exhibition to Lowland pipers were employing at that be held in Edinburgh University in Au- time. We had hoped to include in this gust, and arrangements are being made issue an article exploring just this topic. for the Society to make a number of Both space and time have proved to be contributions to the fortnight of events. insufficient, however. Hopefully this It is also hoped to hold a very special will appear in the next issue. Meanwhile Collogue in the Autumn. Please send you may be interested to learn that the any other suggestions to the editor ‘ceol sean’ collection of bagpipe music, Another myth which has survived de- formerly available on CD, is now freely spite the fact that many instruments viewable at http://www.ceolsean.net/. exist which defy it, is the notion that a Here you will find just about all the ‘cylindrical’-bored chanter, such as that early 19th century collections (except of the Scottish smallpipe, does not McLachlan’s Piper’s Assistant). ‘over-blow’. This is a myth which we are delighted to explode. Those present he number of participants in at this year’s competition will have this year’s competition was heard it defied in no uncertain manner significantly down on recent with the performance by Callum Arm- T strong in the solo smallpipe class. In years with only two classes having more than 4 entrants, two classes having two this issue Julian and Callum explain entrants and two classes having only how it’s done. one. This is a pattern which has been The Society website continues to ex- repeated in border piping competitions pand. Recent additions include the pa- elsewhere this year, particularly at Mor- per ‘The Common Bagpipe’ which your peth. It does give pause for thought as editor presented at the International to whether the appetite for competi- Bagpipe Conference held in London in tions is waning, and that perhaps the March, and sound files of all the award- time for some other format for show- winning performances from this year’s casing achievement might be due. On competition. You can also hear Callum the other hand, it may be that there Armstrong playing the full version, as were too many other things to do in printed in this issue, of his winning Edinburgh this year. We would wel- entry in this year’s New Composition’ come members’ opinions on this topic. class, in which he produces two octaves We would also welcome suggestions plus a sixth from his chanter. It’s small- for how the Society might celebrate its piping, Jim, but not as we know it … thirtieth anniversary in 2013. Some Pete Stewart plans for celebrating this event are al- Winton, May 2012 3 In the December 2010 issue we printed the text of the original 1981 announcement calling anyone interested in Lowland piping to a meeting in Edinburgh. The Society archive contains a sheet of contact prints of photos taken at the first competition held in 1984, from which this photo has been reclaimed. ike Rowan was the original the world and so many hugely talent- instigator of the Lowland ed young musicians roaring away on M and Border Piper’s Society. the smallpipes is wonderful." Recently, writing about the founding he recalled; “I contacted Hugh Cheap and Gor- don Mooney and together we set up the first meeting in the MacEwan Hall in Edinburgh in 1981 and went on to found the Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society. At that time there were 2 working sets of Lowland pipes (one turned out of aluminium by Gordon Mooney!) and no makers and no information on the history of the instrument, though there were a few dead sets in museums. Effectively the lowland pipes were dead. As the first chairman I also set up the first com- petition award - the Mains Castle medal - where I lived at the time.” Since then the Society has spread across the world: Mike Rowan adds: "Forming the society was one of the Gentleman-piper Mike Rowan at the things in my life that I am most proud School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh of. To see so many members round during the first LBPS annual competition in 1984.

The Society now holds a large and well-catalogued [thanks to Julian Goodacre] archive of photos of Society events. If you have photos of any LBPS competition or any other event featuring lowland or border pipes, we would be delighted to receive copies. Contact the editor, [email protected] This is a plea specially aimed at the person who took photos at this year’s competition!

4 The 29th Annual Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society Compe- tition was held in Edinburgh on 7th April

he competition was once again seemed to be a tendency for audience held at the Pleasance Theatre as judges, who are asked to judge chiefly T part of Edinburgh’s Ceilidh on ‘entertainment’ value, to award high- Culture programme. This is in many er marks to competitors playing familiar ways an excellent venue, the ‘cabaret- music, which inevitably favours those style’ audience seating arrangements playing highland music, whereas judges nicely complementing the informal are asked to also consider ‘appropriate- character of the proceedings [though ness of repertoire’, that is, to consider see Rona’s comments below]. The the Society’s remit to promote the per- availability of car parking so close to the formance of the music of the Lowland city centre is another major advantage, and Border regions. This year therefore as is the adjacent bar and food. It is 75% of marks were awarded by the unfortunate therefore that the only tun- judges, with 25% by the audience. ing facilities it can provide necessitate a Some basic calculations on the results short walk outside and upstairs to a did suggest that the impact of this large and echoing room. change was indeed to bring the audi- This year the numbers competing were ence marks closer in line with those of somewhat down, with several classes the judges. We have however, had ob- failing to produce three competitors. jections to this change, and we are hap- Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable py to hear the thoughts of others. occasion which owed much to the hard The Novice and Intermediate classes work of of Society secretary Judy Bark- continue to be but sporadically sup- er, who once again, ably assisted by a ported. This year, though the Interme- number of volunteers, managed to pro- diate class attracted four entries, the duce an almost seamless proceedings. Novice class had only one. Whilst a The judges this year were Hamish winner under such circumstances can Moore, Julian Goodacre and Iain Mac- congratulate themselves for their Innes. In previous years marking has achievement it must detract from the been divided equally between the judge satisfaction they feel in announcing and members of the audience. Howev- their success to others. In fact, the er, it has been noticed that wide varia- Novice class had one more entry than it tions in audience marking, and of has had for the past two years. It may significant variations between audience well be time for this class to be con- and judges, sometimes produced anom- joined with the Intermediate. The same alous results. There has on occasion applied this year to the ‘Seasoned Pip- 5 ers’ class. As your reporter’s time ap- to me to well deserve a place in the proaches and ‘seasoned’ status looms, I prize list. wonder exactly what the purpose of this The duet for two pipes class attracted class is? I am told that the intention was a number of entries, several of which to create an opportunity for those suffered from a lack of attention to the whose flesh was growing weaker faster length of the performance; this particu- than their spirit, the sort of argument lar class often includes duet combina- that would put me off, for one. Al- tions which have been put together on though having said that, it is refreshing the day itself [there being a real chal- in a way to see such a class rather than lenge for pipers in remote areas to de- a ‘young pipers’ class’, even if the pool velop duets with others, even in the age of likely contestants for the former is of instant technology]. The result is growing faster than that for any such as often a miss-timed collection of tunes. the latter. The object of this class is for pipers to Last year the new composition class explore the harmonic potential of two attracted 10 entries – this year only four instruments, but too often we hear uni- which, by a quirk of the marking, man- son playing throughout; it seems to me aged to share the three prizes between also that two pipers playing together them. Only the Smallpipe open and the should at least occasionally look at each pipe and song classes attracted more other, but again we regularly see two than four entries. Equally worrying was separate players with heads down and the dearth of entries for the most re- no communication. For me a duet is the cently added class, that of duet for pipes interaction of two players, not just two and singer; the sole entry was beautiful- instruments. ly performed, with lovely harmonies One of the most innovative classes of between the pipes and singer and would the annual competitions has for several have stood well in any competition, but years been the pipe and other instru- again, it would have been more satisfy- ment. Each year we hear new combina- ing to see others making a contribution. tions from very accomplished So abbreviated were the morning musicians. This year we had only two classes that an early lunch became an entries, both of them superb. The lyri- extended lunch and much goodly con- cal combination of smallpipe and harp versation ensued in the Pleasance bar. has long been one of my favourites, and The first class of the afternoon, that of John and Caroline would have deserved pipe and song, included a contribution the trophy in any other year, but this from a visitor from the Czech Republic; year it went to two music students from Chip Doehring had been a prize winner Trinity College in London with small- in former years and it was a delight to pipe and cello, a virtuoso performance. hear him sing his own song – it seemed

6 The final class of the day, the Open ostensibly set up to showcase it. The Solo for Border/Lowland pipes was trophy, which includes a miniature unusually poorly supported in numbers. model of the Society’s ‘patron’, Geordie Before the last minute arrival of one of Syme, was made by Iain Wells with the entries it looked as if there would be woodwork by Julian Goodacre. The only one, and that was one that had accompanying certificate says ‘The been prepared just the day before. How Martin Lowe Memorial Trophy - close we came to having no entries in Awarded for the greatest contribution the Open Lowland/Border Pipe Class! to the performance of Lowland and This year saw the first presentation of Border music on the day of the compe- a new trophy, introduced to mark the tition”. It is to be hoped that more memory of Martin Lowe, former chair- competitors will set their sites at having man of the society, whose ubiquitous their name added to the winners list. presence at past competitions was this The editor is always delighted to receive year sadly missed. This trophy was de- comments on the topic of the competition. The signed to encourage the performing of following comments from two participants re- the music of the Lowland and Border flect the variety of responses of members of the regions, something which continues to audience. be surprisingly lacking in a competition

Prize-winners at this year’s competition; left to right back; Pete Stewart, John Bushby, Bob Low, Peter MacKenzie, Alan Howie, John Mitchell, Richard Fernandez, David Hannay: front: Caroline Bushby, Rona Dawson, George Greig, Callum Armstrong, George Pasca 7 Rona Dawson sent the following ob- Border orientated selection from servations: George Greig but it was the final player “We have reported on this event in the Callum Armstrong who really wowed past elsewhere, noting the convivial the audience using stopping techniques atmosphere and the same was true to produce a staccato effect then re- again this year. The jury is out on tuned his Goodacre pipes half way whether the Easter weekend is a good through to the minor key with over- date for this event – on the one hand it blowing and keywork which produced allows far flung members time to travel nearly another octave worth’s of notes! up and spend the holiday weekend in A playing sensation, but unfortunately Scotland, on the other hand locals are too long a set to take away the prize often away and miss the event. Several “Again entries were sparse for the pipe well kent faces were absent this year. and song class - although the quality of “The seasoned pipers class was well the two entries here was outstanding. won by Dr David Hannay, a long time The Bushbys entered on pipe and clar- member of the Society with a set in- sach which were well balanced for vol- cluding the attractive tune, Sorbie Tow- ume and tone and the husband and er, which he had composed himself. wife team looked comfortable playing together, producing a most musical set. ” The intermediate class was notable Calum Armstrong and George Pasca for the number of first time competi- on cello played variations of their own tors and one who hadn’t competed in composition on a ground bass which public since 1989, so unsurprisingly employed a number of techniques on nerves were a bit in evidence. There both instruments and was a joy to listen were a few issues with steadiness of to - and finished with 4 seconds to spare! blowing, but happily not with finger technique as most of the pipers seemed “The open Border pipes class was won to have had at least a brush with High- by Pete Stewart (playing the Day it land training. Congratulations to win- Daws and Welcome Home My Dearie ner Robert Low. among other tunes) who had a very successful day. “I don’t think even the winner would disagree that the result of the Solo “A new trophy had been presented to smallpipe class was a classic case of the the Society in memory of the late Chair- best performance not being awarded man Martin Lowe, for the piper who, in the prize. The time limit set for this the opinion of the judges, made the class is four minutes, with an allowable greatest contribution to Border music over-run of 15 seconds before penalties on the day. The judges were unani- are incurred. There were some very mous in awarding this to Pete Stewart good entries – a tricky set with intricate and Martin’s wife Janet arrived just in variations from Pete Stewart, another time to present this to Pete [and to hear 8 him play new tune he had composed for “The Judy Barker Trophy for pipe and Martin, which had won joint third song duet was awarded to John and prize]. Caroline Busby singing Leezie Lindsay “All in all a pleasant day – we are still with lovely harmonies between the not convinced about the venue (both pipes and singer. acoustically and logistically with its lack “After lunch the Jimmy Wilson Me- of tuning facilities) but on the plus side morial cup for pipe and song went to it has the benefit of centrality and a bar John Busby singing his own attractive on hand! Well done to Judy Barker for tune. Second was Judy Barker with organising everything so ably and for some nice harmonies in High Germany, the usual band of willing volunteers and third was Pete Stewart with The who helped out on the day.”. Mill, The Mill O. The duet for pipes David Hannay also offered the follow- was won by George Greig and Rona ing comments: Dawson, with Lawrence Thompson and Donald Cowan second and John “Alan Howie won the novice award Mitchell and Callum Armstrong third. with a creditable performance for There was at times a lack of harmony someone who had only been playing for playing in this competition. two years. The seasoned piper was won by David Hannay playing two tunes “The duet for pipes and other instru- named after Sorbie Tower in Galloway. ment was won by Callum Armstrong Robert Low won the intermediate com- on the smallpipes and George Pasca on petition with a well fingered selection of the cello. This was a stunning perfor- Highland, Welsh and Canadian tunes. mance from two music students with the pipes improvising over a base “The open solo for Scottish small theme on the cello. pipes was won by John Mitchell with a slow air and selection of jigs on a good “It was an excellent venue with car pipe and sparkling highland fingering. parking, and the only drawback was the Second was Pete Stewart with a 17th lack of tuning facilities. This year the century mazurka, followed by the Oys- numbers were somewhat down, per- ter Wife’s Rant and the Stool of Repen- haps due to the Easter weekend, and tance from William Dixon with there is a case for having it on the variations which flew along. Third was previous Saturday. Nonetheless, it was Rona Dawson on a good pipe with a very enjoyable occasion and our tunes from a teaching weekend fol- thanks are due once again to Judy Bark- lowed by two strathspeys and a reel. er and her team.”

9 COMPETITION 2012 RESULTS

Novice - Heriot & Allan Quaich 1. Alan Howie - Pipe Major JK Cairns / Colin’s Cattle Intermediate - Julian Goodacre Trophy 1. Robert Low - The Flower of Yarrow / Y Ferch o Blwy’ Penderyn (The Lass from Penderyn Parish)/ Morfa Rhuddlan / (The Marsh of Rhuddlan) / Finbarr Saunders 2. Craig McDougal - Clara’s Journey / The Panda / The Soup Dragon / The Cook in the Kitchen 3. Pete Mackenzie - Shoals of Herring / The Irish Jig Seasoned Pipers - Nigel Richards Trophy 1. David Hannay - Sorbie Tower / The Hannays Return to Sorbie 2. Henry Aitchison - Mrs Hamilton of Pencaitland New Composition - London Trophy 1. (Joint 1st) John Bushby - Moniaive Ceilidh Callum Armstrong - Thanks to Julian 3. (Joint 3rd) George Greig - Robert Walker - A Tune for Anita Pete Stewart - Dr Martin Lowe Open Solo for Scottish Smallpipes - Colin Ross Trophy 1. John Mitchell - Farewell my Love / Gallway Whistler / Arlies Big Day / Miss Monaghans / John Keith Laing. 2 Pete Stewart - Rothes Rant / The Oyster Wife’s Rant / The Stool of Repentance 3. Rona Dawson - The Atom of Delight / Paulo's Waltz / Shepherd’s Crook / Alex Currie’s Favourite / An Cota Mòr Eleasaid / Red Fox Duet for Pipes - Mains Castle Medal 1. (joint 1st) George Greig & Rona Dawson- She moved thro’ the Fair / The Mill, The Mill O’ / Go to Berwick Johnnie 2. Lawrence Thomson & Donald Cowan - Bloody Fields o’ Flanders / Rockin’ the baby / Doug Boyd’s favourite / The Kesh Jig / The Eavesdropper3. 3. John Mitchell and Callum Armstrong - Fair Maid o’ Barra / Itchy Fingers / Drops o’ Brandy Pipe and Song Duet 1. John Bushby and Caroline Bushby - Leezie Lindsay

10 Pipe and Song - Jimmy Wilson Memorial Cup 1. John Bushby - Toddlin’ Hame 2. Judy Barker - High Germany 3. Pete Stewart - The Mill, The Mill-O Duet for Pipes and Other Instrument - Dunfermline Tassie 1. Callum Armsttrong & George Pasca (cello) - Improvisation and Variations over a ground bass 2 John Bushby and Caroline Bushby- Where will our Gudeman Lye (from the Balcarres Manuscript) Open Solo for Lowland/Border Pipes - Hamish Moore Cup 1. Pete Stewart - The Day it Daws / Hunts Up / Welcome Home My Dearie / Salmon Tails 2. Richard Fernandez - The Geese in the bog / Donald Cameron’s Powder Horn / Famous Baravan / Sandy Broon The Martin Lowe Memorial Trophy - Awarded for the greatest contribution to the performance of Lowland and Border music on the day of the competition Pete Stewart

Callum Armstrong and George Pasca during their winning performance in the pipes and other instrument class at this year’s competition 1131 New Composition Class- Winning Tunes

[Copyright of the tunes printed here remains with the respective composers]

The first prize in the New Composition Class was awarded jointly to John Bushby and Callum Armstrong

The Moniaive Ceilidh John Bushby

John added the following comment to his tune title: “Written for the wonderful Hogmanay we spent with friends in Moniaive, Scotland, 2012

Callum Armstrong introduced the other joint-first-prize winner, [printed over- leaf] as titled simply ‘jig’; only later did it gain the title it has here,. It is bound to raise eyebrows. The details of exactly how a smallpipe chanter can play a G#, a high E or a high E two octaves above the chanter’s normal E, is explained in the extended interview with Callum and the maker of his pipes, Julian Goodacre, included in this issue. It should be said that although Callum presented to the judges the tune as printed here, he played only the first two parts in the New Composition Class. He did however, play the entire piece in his entry in the Smallpipes Open Solo class. You can hear a performance of the full tune on the website

12 Thanks to Julian Callum Armstrong

13 The third prize was awarded jointly to George Greig and Pete Stewart

Robert Walker- A tune for Anita George Greig

Dr Martin Lowe Pete Stewart

14 Teribus - The Original Set The pipe march ‘Teribus’ will be well known to many. It is often said to be the ‘Town Tune’ of the town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. This is not so. Here we introduce, with the help of Hawick resident Matt Seattle and others, the original tune eribus is the iconic song and band are said to have played. This was tune of the town of Hawick in the opening af a new bridge, over the T the Scottish Borders. It is Slitrig, the river that runs through the quite different from a tune of this name town. Whether the fifes and drums played by highland [and lowland] pip- were there is perhaps debatable; what ers. Until 1797 the Toun Piper and does seem likely however, is that it was drummer played music for the Com- on this occasion that someone noted mon Riding but then were substituted down the tune as played by the piper, by fife and drum. However, a different Walter Ballantine. Here is a photo of event took place in Hawick in 1777 at the original unsigned manuscript, pre- which both piper and fife and drum served in the Hawick Museum.

[Ed: efforts to acquire a better image have so far proved unsuccessful]

Matt Seattle, who supplied this image in the manuscript: in strain 1 bars 1 and says of it “The manuscript in Hawick 3 the note values do not quite make a Museum is titled "The Original Set of full bar, so in the following transcrip- Teribus as played by Walter Ballantine tion we have changed the first note, a Town Piper, in 1777" and following the dotted quaver, to a crotchet; also the tune a note reads "This is the tow [sic] key signature is changed from 1 to 2 parts that Answer the Song" followed sharps, corresponding both to the pipe by an exact copy of strains 4 and 2 in scale and to the way the tune is still that order. There is a metrical anomaly sung and played.”

15 The Original Set of Teribus as played by Walter Ballantine Town Piper, in 1777 [Note: the manuscript key signature is 1 sharp] It has to be said, however, that there is suggests that by the time the manu- nothing to confirm that the manuscript script was made a different ‘set’ was in itself dates back to 1777; in fact, one vogue. Nevertheless the song as sung could argue that the text implies that it today remains much as ‘the two parts does not. The phrase ‘the original set’ of the song’ given in the manuscript.

Teribus as played by the Hawick Fife and Drum Band [This transcription and that of the Original Set by Matt Seattle] The Fife Band version is closely relat- Arthur Balbirnie in the 1790’s, when ed to the song version, but with many Balbirnie, originally from Dunfer- divergent details.2 mline, moved to Hawick . The excerpts There are two songs currently sung at here are from Robert Wilson’s 1825 the Riding in Hawick. The oldest, publication A Sketch of the History of known as ‘The Old Song’, written by Hawick p. 343 16 Tiribus and Tiriodin with the chorus Tune: Drumlanrig’s March; or Tiriodin Teribus ye Teri Odin, Sons of Heroes Slain at Flodden, We’ll a’ hie to the muir a-riding; Imitating Border Bowmen, Drumlanrig1 gave it for providing Aye Defend your Rights and Common. Our ancestors of martial order, ‘When Hogg was asked about [the To drive the English off our border tune], he replied, " it's air's eternal" Chorus: That's why it is often referred to as Up wi’ Hawick, its rights and common "The Eternal Air". Actually Hogg Up wi’ a’ the Border bowmen! named the song "The Colour" but it is Tiribus and Tiriodin better known now as "Teribus".4 We are up to guard the common The argument about the origin of Now Tiriodin blaws the chanter Hogg’s line ‘Teribus ye Teri Odin’ re- As rank and file the town we enter mains unresolved. The Dictionary of the Scots Language entry for Teribus has the As to the possibility that this is an following comment, after the quotes, updating of an earlier song, as Neil [the earliest of which is that from Rob- Wallace says “Drumlanrig gave it for ert Wilson given above]: providing/ ancestors of martial order/ “The source of the phr. has not been to drive the English off our border” is traced back to much before the be- pretty convoluted grammatically – and ginning of the 19th c. and its orig. is the “dear memorial of our valour” line obscure. The explanation given by doesn’t sound at all Hawick.”3 Jam. and accepted by Murray [in Dia- The tune title given here is Drumlan- lect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, rig’s March with the alternative [title or 1873], that the words represent O.E. tune?] Tiriodin. [The Tiriodin spelling Týr hæbbe us, ze Týr ye Oðinn, “May more closely reflects the pronunciation [the god] Tyr keep us, both Tyr and than the more common Teriodin]. Odin”, fails on the grounds that the However, as the verse above makes gods’ names are given in their O.N. clear, ‘Tiriodin’ was recognised at least forms, not the O.E. Tīw and Wōdan, by 1790’s as the tune’s title; the final that the normal phonological devel- line of another verse of Balbirnie’s song opment would not result in the mod- is ‘We’ll face the foe to Tiriodin’. ern pronunciation and that in any In 1819 James Hogg ‘The Ettrick event the survival of a supposed O.E. Shepherd’, wrote a new extended set of sentence in its near orig. form for verses which opens with the lines more than 700 years is barely con- ceivable. The explanation seems to Scotia felt thin ire O' Odin, be a piece of dubious 18th c. anti- On the Bloody Field of Flodden. quarianism. The phr. may well be a

17 succession of meaningless syllables youtube.com/watch?v=tNO-U1mxO0M meant to represent the sound of a Hogg’s song] march played on drums and bagpipes youtube.com/watch?v=OxNZXJkU6Ns [Balbirnie’s song] as some of the quotes suggest and as may be paralleled in the sim. Hey tutti For completeness’ sake, here is the tatie as the title of an old military tune titled ‘Drumlanrig’s March’ from march.” the Snowhill Manuscript, date uncer- Quite obviously the song, in both ver- tain, but possibly early-to-mid 19th sions, is of deep significance to the century. There seems to be no musical people of Hawick: you can see the two connection between this tune and versions being sung in two slightly dif- Teribus. ferent contexts:

Matt Seattle adds “As for the tune Notes more commonly known as ‘Teribus’, 1. The band can be seen playing this tune at we have been unable to trace anything youtube.com/ of its history before it appears in the watch?V=awlwy5gyf3A&feature=related. 1954 Scots Guards book. It does seem 2. http://books.google.co.uk/books?Id= to be related to the tune family of ‘Bob- aJ0HAAAAQAAJ&q=teribus#v=onepage& by Shaftoe’ which dates at least from q=347&f=false the late 17th century. How that tune, if 2. William Douglas, 6th of Drumlanrig died at it is connected, got its new title remains Flodden; this would be his son, James, 7th of as much a mystery as what that title Drumlanrig. might mean.” 3. http://hawickcornets.wordpress.com/ 2012/02/21/1777-what-teribus-did-james- Many thanks to John Dally, Matt Seat- richardson-sing-from-drumlanrig-bridge/ tle and Bill Telfer for inspiring the de- 4. http://www.hawickcallantsclub. bate which resulted in this article, and co.uk/commonriding/songs.htm to Matt for seeking out and transcribing 5. Matt Seattle and Bill Telfer can be heard the original manuscript.5 playing the pipe tune at youtube.com/watch?V=f9yZ71Fq0Zw.

18 PIPING BY NUMBERS Keith Sanger has been compiling a collection of document- ed and named Lowland pipers; the total is currently around 250, which begs an obvious question…

o generate copy the editor of Scotland was also a changing variable; Common Stock has evolved a in other words it is a bit like shooting at T new technique of asking ques- one moving target from another. So to tions to which there are no easy an- get our bearings let’s start by consider- swers but do raise a challenge in trying ing what is known about Scotland's to deal with them. In this case the ques- population. tion was 'what were the comparative Population figures, at least before the numbers of highland and lowland pip- nineteenth century censuses are mostly ers around 1700'. To have some chance academic guesses but in our case there of injecting a degree of accuracy, by is one reference point when in 1755 an mutual agreement that date was pushed enterprising Church of Scotland Minis- forward to 1717, for reasons which will ter called Webster decided to request be more obvious later. from his fellow ministers details of the In trying to produce an answer the first size of their parish populations. This hurdle that has to be jumped is what is produced a total population for Scot- defined by the terms highland or low- land of 1.265 million people, (England land piper? We therefore start by stand- at that time had a population about five ing at the top of a rather slippery slope, times as large). Of that total the popula- but for the purposes of the rest of this tion of the principle counties of Gael- article a 'highland piper' will be regard- dom was an estimated 229,741 which ed as a Gaelic speaking piper usually to had grown by 20% to reach 276,106 by be found in the geographical area de- the year 1800. However over the same scribed as the Highlands and Western period the total population of Scotland Islands of Scotland. had grown by 43% to reach 1.608 mil- This immediately produces another lion people.1 In other words, although problem in that the dividing line be- the 'highland' population had grown in tween Gaelic speaking Scotland and the absolute terms, in terms of its percent- rest of the country had been constantly age of the total population of Scotland moving over time and, to add another it was in decline. variable, so had the question of the size Turning to the population prior to of the pot, as the total population of 1755 we have to resort to a degree of

19 speculation although what is clear is This would imply that on a simple that population growth had not been population basis around the year 1717 one continuous upward climb. Starting in Scotland there would have been from after the Black Death in the mid- twice as many 'lowland pipers' as there fourteenth century when the popula- were 'highland' ones. This of course tion was certainly considerably dimin- assumes an even spread of the piping ished and remained so for over a fraternity throughout the country, so century or more, the total population of we now have to look at what evidence England, Wales and Scotland together there is to support or adjust that figure. was thought to have been around 3 Since by the nature of the problem we million with that of Ireland adding a are relying entirely on contemporary further half million people.2 Or, to written evidence then it is necessary to place that in context, the total popula- consider how thoroughly that covers tion of Scotland was no larger than the the areas concerned and how far writ- current population of greater Edin- ten records do reflect the actual num- burgh, although more evenly spread bers on the ground. Which brings us to around the country, and with the Gaelic the point of choosing the date of 1717. speaking proportion probably compris- Following the 1715 rising those on the ing around fifty percent or perhaps a Jacobite side had their estates forfieted little more. and the first move made by the govern- Between then and our date of 1717 the ment was to send in lawyers to under- upward growth continued to experi- take Judicial Rentals to find out what ence a number of setbacks. The planta- they had got. This required everyone tion of Ulster circa 1610 resulted in a holding land on an estate, whether by a number of lowlanders, especially from legal 'tack' or a verbal arrangement, to the Borders and Southwest of Scotland swear on oath what they held and the moving to Ireland; another large emi- rent they had formerly paid to the forfi- gration occurred when, partly the result eted 'laird'. If people were sitting rent of famines, between 1688 and 1715, it free then they still had to take the oath has been suggested, some 200,000 and state what the rent of their holding Scots again moved to Ireland, an ex- would have been if they paid one. traordinary figure when compared to These rentals cover some estates Scotland's likely population at the time.3 which were otherwise light on surviving So taken together a reasonable estimate estate papers and taken together with of the population of Scotland in 1717 is the more complete surviving manu- around 1.1 million people with the script records from the estates of those 'Highlands' being around a third of that on the government side form the most total. comprehensive early collection of es- tate records covering most of Scotland.

20 One of the first points of note was the pipers in the records are as witnesses to difference between the highland pipers deeds or in one case contracting to be and those in lowland Scotland where foster parent. This may well have been the pipers tended to have a variety of a result of the arrangement whereby 'patrons' often at the same time. they received land, or a 'tack' as it was For example, a burgh piper technically known, in lieu of salary and thereby was employed by the burgh, but could placing them on the same level as the still at the same time serve a local laird, other 'tacksmen' or clan gentry. They or, as individual paying customers, the also noticeably feature less in the Kirk piper’s local population at weddings Session records than the lowland pipers and so on. Burgh pipers were also, but too much should not be made of outside of their early morning and late this as there are other explanations and evening Burgh duties, free to have a they certainly were not Saints and over secondary occupation. The highland the 17th Century feature prominently in pipers on the other hand were pa- the legal accounts concerning the inter- tronised directly by their lairds (no necine strife which occurred then. burghs), and in what was almost a cash- The popular image of 'highland clan' less society they received a holding of history with every clan having a chief land effectively as their salary, which in and every chief his piper, along with turn should have appeared in those much else in that image simply does not Judicial Rentals. stand up to close examination. Some of the 'chiefs' or nominal heads of clans ‘Some of the 'chiefs' or nomi- themselves occupied rather small hold- nal heads of clans themselves ings and certainly did not run to provid- occupied rather small holdings ing for a piper. Even with the larger and certainly did not run to estates the presence of pipers was not providing for a piper’ always proportional to the size of the estate: the Campbells of Breadalbane Taken collectively the written records for example had one of the largest hold- present an interesting picture of two ings in the southern highlands yet rarely halves, highland and lowland, but with- had more than one piper, nor did he in each half there was also some varia- actually sit rent free in lieu of salary but tion. Taking the 'highland' pipers first, paid the full rent although at times there is some circumstantial evidence receiving a 'meal' allowance. At the which suggests that within the locus of other extreme the estate of MacDonald their communities they had a higher of Glencoe was small and very poor degree of status compared to their aver- land and in 1717 there was no sign of a age lowland counterpart. For example, piper at all. Indeed the estate was so the earliest appearances of highland small that there were few enough 'tacks'

21 for the chief’s own relations and al- or for that matter other highland pipers though by 1745 a piper called Donald generally does not suggest an abun- McHendrick appears he was a paying dance of available pipers. co-tenant of one tack.4 Further more as Following the '45, the estates of the the 'tacksmen' were the officer class, participants on the Jacobite side were McHendrick served through the 45 re- again forfeited and once more judicial bellion as one of the Glencoe military rentals were taken which show very few officers and not as a piper. pipers, consistent with the fact that As far as the rest of the pipers in the most of those Highland Lairds employ- 1745 Jacobite Army were concerned ing pipers were on the government side. there seemed to have been more Low- When the next demand for military land than Highland pipers involved, a pipers occurs in 1757, two of the factor which reflected the relative make known pipers came from one of the up of that army. In fact the number of 'pro government' estates which was re- known 'highland' pipers involved was ducing the number of pipers it had virtually matched by the number of supported. Some extravagant claims Fidlers of whom there were six. In the have been made in regard to the num- surviving daily order book from that bers of pipers and drummers recruited side, on the occasions when the pipers at that time, but the evidence does not are mentioned the descriptions of the tend to support them although regi- duties of the pipers (and drummers) mental records for that period are would easily have also covered the job incomplete.6 description of a Burgh piper or ‘having an establishment for drummer.5 two pipers and actually finding Of course most of the employers of the highland pipers to fill it the better known families of highland were two different things’ pipers, having had their fingers burnt, along with estates forfeited in the previ- However we are on firmer documen- ous rebellion of 1715, this time around tary ground with the next attempt to tended to be less than enthusiastic sup- find pipers for the 'highland' regiments porters of the Government side. There- being raised for the events in 1775 fore following the principle of he who -1783. By this point the Royal Warrants pays the piper, it follows that most of issued to raise a regiment had started to the principle highland pipers were also specify that there would be a grenadier nominally on the Government side as company which would have two extra well. However, apart from the unfortu- musicians on top of the normal com- nate MacCrimmon who managed to get plement of two drummers. Grenadier himself shot, evidence for active partic- companies had been around for a while ipation from the other piping families but had not differed from all the other 22 companies in terms of men and drum- ed regiment there was only one recruit mers, so this change to the Warrants whose previous occupation was listed was clearly to cover the extra two musi- as a piper and he too was a Lowlander cians. For most infantry regiments the one Arthur Strath from Tarvis in musicians were Fifers, but in the war- Aberdeenshire.9 rants for the Highland Regiments in- An extreme example of the problem stead of Fifers they were given two occurs with the 77th Atholl Highland- Pipers. ers. This regiment was one of the last to However, having an establishment for be raised for the American conflict and two pipers and actually finding the when in 1778 it had its first muster the highland pipers to fill it were two differ- roll showed the positions of the two ent things and the evidence again sug- pipers as 'wanting'. Things did not im- gests that highland pipers were few and prove and despite writing to a minister far between. In many cases even to in Skye in 1781 no pipers could be provide musicians for the recruiting obtained. The next move in 1781 was parties the regiments were mostly to have 'four promising boys' trained as obliged to hire local Lowland Pipers to pipers by old John MacGregor, but as do the job. Ignominious as this may the regiment was disbanded in 1782 have been it does provide some further following the end of the American war, records of Lowland pipers, for example when or if they made it onto the regi- recruiting parties for the 71st (Fraser) mental establishment, it is clear that for Highlanders in 1775-6 used a William just about the whole of that regiments Hamilton for 79 days while at Cullen existence its complement of 'Highland and Banff, and a John Philip while at Pipers' had been unfilled. Buchan.7 One of the main intentions of the To replace the regiments sent to organisers of the 'Exhibition' in Edin- America a number of Fencible regi- burgh following the Falkirk Piping ments were formed and when in 1778 Competition of 1783, according to the the Duke of Gordon raised the 'North- account distributed by its organisers ern Fencibles', nominally, according to was, 'with the assistance of the public to its warrant, a highland regiment with establish a college for the instruction of such two pipers, the Duke’s own two Low- young men as may be sent him, ( John land pipers, Jameson (at Murlach Mar- MacArthur), to be bred to that ancient ket) and Fordyce, were sent to help music, the utility of which in recruiting his with recruiting. Indeed at St Sairs Fair Majesty’s army, and the military ardour with 'Fordyce your Graces piper had his which it inspires the highland regiments, are too pipes broke' at the head of the recruit- well known to say anything further. It is ing party by 'some violous people',8 therefore hoped that those at the head of the while in the muster roll of the complet- army will in particular encourage so laudable

23 an undertaking, that the highland corps may pipers. Once a piper had won the 'Prize be better and more easily furnished with pipers Pipe' he was eliminated from further than they have hitherto been’.10 competition, thereby continuing to of- The original Highland Society Compe- fer the carrot of a prize pipe to be won tition that year had incurred some con- as well as continually adding to the troversy due to a number of young boys overall stock of bagpipes in circulation. For the first few competitions the win- taking part,11 (presumably they were the ners tended to be some of the oldest boys who had been intended for the pipers there and as only one per year disbanded Atholl Highlanders). The was removed from further competition, presence of relatively young competi- then if there really was a health reser- tors was a feature of most of the early voir of pipers the loss of one competi- competitions. For example, in 1786 tor a year should have had little effect. John MacGregor, a boy of thirteen years of age, took part and in 1792 the However, the continuing presence of third prize was won by another John 'boys', (the 'reticulocyte effect'), sug- gests that there was a severe and con- MacGregor 'a boy of ten years of age'.12 This continuing presence of 'boys' tinuing shortage of adult highland among the competitors has some hu- pipers. Even as late as 1825 the fifth man physiological parallels with what prize was won by a John MacDonald, might be called the 'reticulocyte' effect. one of four competitors including An- gus MacKay, who were described as Reticulocytes are young red blood cells 'none of them beyond 13 years of age'.13 which still retain traces of their former Clearly, the initial evidence from the nucleus when they first enter the blood second half of the eighteenth century stream. Normally red blood cells live supports the suggestion that historically for an average of 110 days before the genuine highland pipers were a minori- old ones are then removed from the ty of the piping population. However, circulation. So in a normal healthy cell to still be struggling for numbers at that population as they are removed and late date implies something else was new ones replace them the overall sys- also happening to affect the rate of tem should balance with the new 'retic- maturing pipers. ulocytes' being less than 1% of the total circulating cells. An increase above that Therefore to start at the root of the number indicates that there is a short- problem requires returning to the 18th age of the usual number of healthy century and to a point when both high- adult cells. land and lowland pipers were in a stable situation with supply roughly matching The Highland Society of London Pip- demand. The new formation of specifi- ing competition was set up to encour- cally 'highland regiments' for the 1757- age an increase in the numbers of 63 wars represented an increased de-

24 mand for which there was no great efforts of Sir Walter Scott following reservoir of highland pipers to fill. Evi- 182216 and the 'invention' of pipe bands dence shows that at least two pipers in by the military circa 184017 ensured an that conflict, both downsized from the ever-increasing supply. same highland estate, failed to return, Therefore the actual numbers of play- thereby indicating that the new demand ers of the Great Highland or Military for military pipers had its own built in loss factor. Bagpipe18 continued to rise at an accel- erating rate throughout the nineteenth Little improvement seems to have oc- century. However, the surnames of the curred by the next increase in demand pipers show an increasing diversifica- for military pipers for the regiments tion away from the traditional heartland raised between 1775 to 1780. In fact the of 'highland piping'. In fact, if the defi- potential pool of highland pipers may nition for a 'highland piper' used at the have been even lower if some contem- beginning of this article of a Gaelic porary evidence reflects a wider solu- speaking inhabitant of the highlands tion. The example of one lowland piper and islands of Scotland was applied being recruited for the Northern Fenci- today, the 'highland pipers' would once bles was given earlier but at least one more be a minority, not just of the total line regiment, the 2nd battalion of the numbers of pipers in Scotland, but with 71st Highlanders also had a lowlander, the increasing popularity of bellows one Archibald Baxter as one of its two pipes, probably also outnumbered by pipers when it sailed for America in players using a common stock. April 1776.14 Notes Although the efforts of the Highland 1 MacInnes, I. Allan, Clanship, Commerce Societies to increase the numbers of and the House of Stuart, 1603-1788. pipers had got underway in 1781 any (1996), 221. positive results over the initial years 2 Miles, David, The Tribes of Britain, (2006), were probably negated by the com- 273. mencement of the Napoleonic wars 3 Pittock, Murray, The Myth of the Jacobite Clans, (second edition 2009). 51. which although once more increasing 4 National Archives of Scotland, (NAS), the demand for pipers also had a coun- E754/1 terbalancing effect of losses through 5 National Library of Scotland, MS 3787, pp military action. When at the end of 14,17,18,19,42,43 and 48. hostilities in 1815 numbers of military 6 The 77th Montgomery Highlanders are fre- quently cited as an example of the rapid pipers would have returned to their recruitment of a large number of homes some of them were then lost pipers and drummers. However clothing through subsequent emigration.15 accounts suggest otherwise as far as the However, supply does eventually catch pipers are concerned. see Sanger, Keith, up with demand and the promotional One Piper or Two: Neil MacLean of the

25 84th Highlanders in The Highland Bag- to the clearances is always an emotive sub- pipe, Joshua Dickson, ed. (2009), 129; ject with a subsequent loss of perspective. Nor does the case for drummers look any The evidence of earlier famines due to better as a letter from Colonel Montgomery weather or cattle diseases suggest that it written in Charlestown South Carolina to was not necessarily a life of plenty before his senior officer Brigadier Forbes requests the coming of the sheep farms. Indeed the a drum major as ' we have not one drum in resettlement of those returning soldiers post the Regiment and without a proper person 1815 who had been promised land as an to teach them'. (National Archives of Scot- incentive to enlist resulted in the break up land GD45/2/87/1). of existing holdings into smaller and even 7 NAS GD44/47/1/17 and GD44/47/1/38. less viable crofts. The potato blight, al- 8 NAS GD44/47/6/19 and GD44/47/8 though handled better in Scotland than was 9 NAS GD44/47/5/1/4 the case in Ireland was also responsible for 10 Circumstantial Account of the Exhibition large numbers of people leaving the land. on the Highland Great Pipes, in Dunn's However, despite these problems the popu- Assembly Rooms, on Wednesday October lation of Scotland still more than doubled 22. 1783. over the course of the 19th century. 11 Donaldson, William. The Highland Pipe 16 A trend towards having an 'estate' piper was and Scottish Society 1750-1950, (2000). already underway as a result of the estab- 12 Competition report in 'The Star' (31 July lishment of the Highland Societies of Lon- 1792). This differs from the edited compe- don and Scotland with their members’ tition reports given in the front section of nostalgic attachments to estates on which Angus MacKay's A Collection of Ancient they were rarely now resident. Sir Walter Piobaireachd or Highland Music, (1838), Scott's romanticisation of the 'highlands' where the boy's age has increased to gave that process a boost which was com- twelve. All the contemporary newspapers pleted by Queen Victoria's purchase of Bal- agree with and specifically note the age of moral and its imitation by a large part of the ten years, but as the first prize that year was monied establishment also desiring to fol- won by Angus Mackay's father John, mas- low suite. saging the age suggests a greater degree of 17 Since only two pipers were actually on the competition. regimental establishment the extra pipers 13 Edinburgh Evening Courant, 11 July 1825. required for a band were initially funded MacKay's edited competition accounts on- through a levy on the officers. It was not ly mention the winner of the fifth prize. The until 1854 that the official establishment following year the now fourteen year old was raised to six pipers although as pipe Angus Mackay won the fourth prize with bands usually had twelve or more pipers another boy winning fifth. the practice of the officers contributing 14 NAS RH2/8/80, Order Book of the 2nd funds continued. battalion, 71st Highlanders. The two pipers 18 Most bagpipe-makers catalogues through- with the grenadier company were James out the late nineteenth and most of the Munro and Archibald Baxter. twentieth centuries continued to link both 15 For an overview of the subject see; Bumst- descriptions together to describe their prod- ed J. M, Scottish Emigration to the Mariti- ucts. mes 1770 to 1815, A New Look at an Old Theme, Acadiensis, Vol 10. No 2 (Spring Keith Sanger 1981); Emigration especially when linked 31 March 2012

26 recent article in the ‘History The piper, however, is an unlikely Scotland’ magazine (May/ visitor, a player of the zampogna, a A June 2012) revealed a surpris- bagpipe from what was then the King- ing piper image. It appears as an orna- dom of Naples, central and southern ment to a map of the town and harbour Italy. Exactly what he is doing in this of Burntisland, Fife, prepared in 1745 to situation remains unclear. The image accompany a request for funds to re- itself however can be identified as a build the harbour, made to the govern- ‘borrowing’ from a famous print, first ment in London. At that time the made by Jacques Dumont, dated by the harbour was said to be the finest be- British Museum as 1739. The position tween London and Orkney. of the right leg is the result of the omission from this image of the ‘marionette a planchette’ pup- pets attached to the knee of the original piper. The fact that this map was pro- duced only a few years after the original work from which the piper was taken shows a remark- able contact with the interna- tional print market, if not with any piping tradition then current in Fife.

______CS y way of a ‘return visit’, here is bagpipe, but different from his. They an excerpt from a work entitled introduce the air into the bag by B A journey from London to Genoa, blowing continuously into a tube through England, Portugal, Spain, and whilst they are playing; but he swells France. (Giuseppe Baretti, 1770). In the it by means of a bellows which he summer of 1760, an Italian gentleman presses with his left elbow, while he is returning to his homeland from Lon- is managing the flute with his fingers. don; on board ship he meets a Scottish A very good contrivance to spare surgeon; in a letter he writes of his new one’s lungs!” friend: I think when he speaks of 'our moun- “he plays, besides, on the bagpipe; an taineers' he means the Italian moun- odd instrument I never saw in Italy. tains, that is, players of, among other Our mountaineers indeed have the pipes, the zampogna. 27 Playing Reels to Oyster-women A Highland Laird’s thoughts on a famous Lowland piper

t is a summer’s evening in the countryside east of Edinburgh in I 1741. In a tavern known as ‘Lucky Vint’s’, at the west end of Pres- tonpans, close to the spot where four years later Johnny Cope would meet his nemesis, a group of gentlemen have gathered. One of them, the Rev. Alex- ander Carlyle, has bequeathed us a re- cord of the evening. As well as himself, the company includes Mr Erskine of Grange1, Simon Fraser, [Lord Lovat]2, Lovat’s son and several of his fellow- travellers. Carlyle, having explained that Lovat had arranged for him to be invited to dine with this company in the hopes that he would befriend Lovat’s ‘untutored savage’ son,3 describes the evenings entertainment: Hogarth’ portrait of Lovat on his way “We had a very good plain dinner. As to his trial and execution, 1747 the claret was excellent, and circulated fast, the two old gentlemen [Lovat and reels to Grange’s oyster-women. He Grange] grew very merry, and their grew frisky at last, however, and upon conversation became youthful and gay. Kate Vint, the landlady’s daughter com- What I observed was, that Grange, ing into the room he insisted on her without appearing to flatter, was very staying to dance with him. She .. was a observant of Lovat, and did everything mistress of Lord Drummore, who lived to please him. He had provided Geordy Sym, who was Lord Drummore’s in the neighbourhood5 –Lovat was at this time seventy-five, and Grange not piper4, to entertain Lovat after dinner; much younger; yet the wine and the but though he was reckoned the best young woman emboldened them to piper in the country, Lovat despised dance a reel, till Kate, observing Lovat’s him, and said he was only fit to play legs as thick as post, fell a-laughing and

28 ran off. She missed her second course earliest attempts, implying it was done of kisses, as was then the fashion of the either shortly before or around that country, though she had endured the date, that is, more than forty years after first. This was a scene not easily the tale told by Carlyle. At this point forgotten.”6 Charteris was living in No 33 St An- Here, then, is the society’s favourite drew’s Square in Edinburgh. ‘He was piper, Geordie Syme, ‘a famous piper in well known’ says Grant, ‘during his his time’, according to the artist John residence in Edinburgh as the particular Kay, whose depiction of him is the patron of ‘Old Geordie Syme’ the fa- Society’s logo, being dismissed by a mous town-piper of Dalkeith, and a highlander in no uncertain terms. This retainer of the house of Buccleuch”. remark seems to me to be indicative of Drummore died in 1755. The title of two things; firstly that there was a dis- Duke of Buccleuch changed hands tinct difference between Geordie’s from father to grandson [aged 4] in playing and that which a highland laird 1751; it seems likely that it was this 3rd from an ancient family might expect. In Duke, [Henry] who was Geordie’s pa- 1741 the music of the highland piper tron at Dalkeith. Unfortunately we do would have been almost entirely not currently have any earlier informa- ‘marches’, that is, pibrochs; the lowland tion regarding the piper of Dalkeith piper, on the other hand had a long Henry was married in 1767 and died in tradition of playing music for dancing, 1812 and it is his widow whom Paton something that Lovat clearly felt was describes as being the patron of Jamie beneath a highland piper’s dignity. The Reid, Syme’s successor, who was ‘still second point that this passage raises is remembered by a few old people in the patronage of Syme himself; here he Dalkeith’ in 1834. A few moments with is described as ‘Lord Drummore’s pip- the sums will suggest that these figures er’. In his notes to his etching, Kay says: do not really add up. The earliest date “Geordie was much taken notice of by for Paton’s story is 1812; the earliest the nobility of his time … and his pres- date for Jamie Reid’s taking over from ence was considered indispensible at all Syme is 1785; anyone born during their entertainments. Among his partic- Reid’s tenure could not be more than ular patrons were Lord Drummore and 49 in 1834, and probably less- hardly the Earl of Wemys, then Mr Charteris the remnant ‘few old people’ that Paton of Amisfield.7 describes. Kay opened his Edinburgh print shop Notes in 1785; in his notes to the published 1 Lord Grange, who, with Lovat’s connivance, edition of Kay’s work, published in had his wife kidnapped and exiled to St Kilda. 2 Lovat was the last man to be executed publicly 1834, Paton says that the engraving of on London’s Tower Hill, in 1747. Syme must have been one of Kay’s 3 Carlyle was then aged 21 29 4 Lord Drummore: Carlyle, who was indebted 5 ‘His estates lay in the two parishes of In- to him for his preferment, has only good things veresk and Preston pans’ says Carlyle, whose to say about Drummore, apart from disparaging father had been a great friend of Drummore. Drummore’s taking of a mistress after his wife 6 Carlyle, Alexander, Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. died. However, he has in the above passage Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk; containing already credited Drummore with two sons by memorials of the men and events of his time. another mistress in 1741. Others are not so Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1861, p. 50 constrained, and it has been suggested that he 7 In his ‘Old and New Edinburgh’ Grant says was ‘very fond of fine claret and oyster-women Wemys was fifth earl; in fact he assumed the title who were smuggled into his home, Preston of 7th earl in 1787, although the earldom had House, for his delectation’. [hence Lovat’s refer- been forfeited after the ’45. Charteris was born ence to ‘your oyster-women’. It is Drummore in 1749 and died in 1808. The reliability of these who figures in Kay’s anecdote about the dis- ‘Old Edinburgh’ books, including Chambers’ guised wandering piper. should be regarded as dubious. ______CS A Bellows Bagpipe in Limousin Pete Stewart reports on a chance encounter with what might be a very early bellows-blown, common-stock bagpipe in France. While at the International Bagpipe Conference held in London in March this year, I was fortu- nate to meet with Belgian musette-de-court play- er Jean-Pierre van Hees who introduced me to the history of the chabreta or cornemuse à miroir du Limousin, an instrument which I knew little of. These pipes were still being played in the region at the beginning of the 20th century and most of those instruments, and others that have survived in museums, are mouth-blown. However, Jean- Pierre showed me an image of a bellows-blown, instrument which is now in the Gemeentemuse- um in the Hague and which he said was dated 1603. We are now trying to learn more of this bagpipe, particularly whether the bellows are original, the general opinion being that for these pipes the bellows were a 19th century ‘improve- ment’. The image here is from a copy of an original painting dated 1835. 30 Robin Shure in Hearst Very many of the titles of early lowland tunes are clearly those of songs. Sadly, very few of these songs are sung today, but words to them can often be found in 18th century collections. In the first of an occasional series, we look at one of them.

The title of this familiar tune has a Ainslie who was brought up near number of spellings; this one, and the Duns in Berwickshire, a preferable words below, are taken from the song reading to the ‘Duase’ of line 2 in the included in the chapbook ‘Sweet Hellen version given here. The original’s of the Dee’, printed in Falkirk by T. first verse was somewhat coarser, Johnston around 1800 [now in the “As I gaed up to Dunse Glasgow University Library). In the To warp a pickle yarn notes to this song in ‘Folk in Print’ Robin, silly body Cowan and Paterson write: [note - He gat me wi’ bairn ‘shearing’ here has nothing to do with “Thus was the Kirk-elder’s daughter sheep; it is the corn harvest that is being disgraced. The ‘twa trumps and a sheared] whistle mentioned in the last two ‘Burns polished a version of the tra- verses refer to sexual deceit” ditional song for the Scots Musical [We leave readers to draw their own Museum. He received it from Robert conclusions as to the full meaning of this phrase] chorus Robin shure in hearse, I shure wi’ him; sheared in harvest Fient a neuk had I, yet I stack by him not a lot had I, yet I was loyal

I gaed up to Duase, to warp a wab o’ plaiden, Dunse? At my father’s yeat wha’ met me but Robin? gate Was ne Robin bauld, be’t I was a Cotter considering that I was To play sic a trick, & me the El’er’s douchter Church Elder’s Daughter [chorus] Robin promis’d me a’ my winter’s victual Fient a haet had he, but twa trumps and a whistle not a whit had he Now I’m Robin’s bride, free frae kirk-fo’k’s bussle Robin’s a my ain, wi’s twa trumps and a whistle [chorus]

31 The version that Burns provided for Pocket Companion, book 5. It is remark- the Scots Musical Museum is rather able (as Matt Seattle pointed out in his different in places. For instance in place notes to the tune in his edition of the of the ‘twa stumps and a whistle’, Burns William Vickers manuscript) in that it has ‘three goose feathers and a whittle’. establishes a direct link between this He also has the more probable [in the title and ‘Mock the Soldier’s Lady’ in- context of shearing] ‘Fient a heuk had cluded in the Wm. Dixon manuscript I, yet I stack by him’, which changes the [Oswald’s original is in G]. Dixon's meaning of ‘stack’ too. setting is a useful source of solutions to Several versions of the tune exist; this the challenge of piping those strains of one is from James Oswald’s Caledonian Oswald’s that go above the octave.

Rob Shear’d in Her’st from Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book V

32 The song version here is my adaptation of Oswald’s tune to accommodate the words of the chorus and the first verse. I have set four lines to each verse, to match the music as given by Oswald and Dixon. You will probably need to make your own adjustments to suit the second verse

For completeness, here is the tune that Johnson used in the Scots Musical Museum. Since it’s not a pipe tune [though there are plenty of pipe settings of the basic material] I’ve left it as it is in the original. It is easier to sing Burns’ words to this tune, and each verse has only four bars, two lines as printed here.

33 The Beggar’s Benison By way of a complement to the foregoing article, here is a contemporary report of an amusing incident from the harvest fields of East Lothian

“An Anecdote In the Autumn of 1755, soon after the repeatedly the Beggar’s Benison. To her marriage of the Marquis[of Tweeddale] Ladyship this was a phrase quite new. and [Lady Francis Carterey], being then Observing that her Lord was much at Yester House his lordship's chief pleased with the gratitude of the honest seat, they walked out of a fine evening, Piper, and particularly with his wish, into one of the adjacent fields, where they had no sooner turned to go home- his Lordship had a large band of reapers ward than the Lady asked the Marquis at work with the sickle. Being their last what the Beggar’s Benison meant? He fell reaping day, they were attended, as is a-laughing and was in no haste to an- usual in that part of the country, by a swer her. His hesitation, as well as the Scotch bagpipe. The Marquis and mar- language of his looks only served the chioness found them all very merry and more to whet her curiosity. In short, happy she teized him into an explanation, ‘Stooping and swelling the lusty sheaves, which was no sooner given her than she Each by the lass he lov’d; put her hand into her pocket, pulled out To bear the rougher pact and mitigate her purse and walking quickly back to By nameless gentle offices, her toil’ the Piper, presented him with a guinea, excusing herself for having almost for- The Noble Couple having surveyed got him. He received her ladyship’s the scene for some time with much bounty with due acknowledgements complacency, the Marchioness was de- and in return gave her the Benison also. sirous of seeing some of the Lads and The whole field was instantly in a titter; Lasses dance to the Bagpipe. In this she and the Marquis himself seemed to was immediately gratified, to her no enjoy the comicality of the scene with small contentment. The dance over, the peculiar relish.” Marquis, after ordering his Land Stew- The Star, October, 1794 ard, who superintended them, to enter- [Many thanks to Keith Sanger for sup- tain the reapers at the neighbouring plying this story. For details of the Beg- village, gave half a guinea to the Piper, gar’s Benison see David Stevenson’s who, with his bonnet in hand touching ‘The Beggar’s Benison; Sex Clubs of Enlight- the ground, made his Lordship many enment Scotland’.] scrapes and reverences, wishing him 34 Whores and Rogues and Round-headed Cuckolds

Pete Stewart tracks down a mysterious tune with an unlikely history

n Edinburgh in the summer of es through sources of Scottish popular 1736, when the Edinburgh mob music pre 18th century this was the first I was about to wreak vengeance on time I had come across this title. A little the notorious Captain Porteous, an ex- research, however, led me to conclude traordinary event was reported in the that it was not unknown to Sir Walter local press: Scott who quotes it in Woodstock: nine unfortunate young women, ‘very naked "Rat-tat-tattoo!" said Wildrake; and meagre beings’ made an amends hon- "there is a fine alarm to you cuckolds ourable through the streets of Edinburgh, and roundheads!" He then half-mim- the hangman attending them, while drums icked half-sang the march so called — beat to the tune of ‘Cuckolds come dig’.1 cuckolds come dig, cuckolds come dig, roundabout cuckolds come So at least says Cyril Pearl in his Bawdy dance to my jig' Burns, (Muller, London, 1958) citing "By Heaven! this passes midsummer ‘The Edinburgh Courant and Mercury’. frenzy," said Everard, turning angrily Presumably this means both the ‘Cou- on him. "Not a bit, not a bit," replied rant’ and the ‘Caledonian Mercury’; I Wildrake; "it is but a slight expectora- have been unable to find this report in tion, just like what one makes before the Mercury, and no copy of the Cou- beginning a long speech. I will be rant seems to be currently available in grave for an hour together, now I the Edinburgh Libraries. This is partic- have got that point of war out of my ularly frustrating since later sources, head."2 apparently quoting Pearl, add a piper to Scott, however, seems to have been the parade. unaware of the origin of the song, since Whether or not we take the quote at he misquoted the significant word. face value, and there seems little reason Three years earlier he had been slightly why Pearl should invent such a story, better informed and similar events have been reported “He could hear the hum of "The elsewhere, the identifying of the tune King shall enjoy his own again," or remains a challenge. In all my research- the habitual whistle of "Cuckolds and

35 Roundheads," die unto reverential village of Tedworth in 1662/3 at the silence “3 house of a Mr Mompesson: The king in question here was not, as “Mompesson intervened in the case one might assume from Scott, the bon- of a drummer, William Drury, who ny prince, but the third Stuart king of had requested money from the local Britain, Charles II, but both songs date constable at the neighbouring village from the reign of Charles I. In fact, it of Ludgershall on the basis of a pass turns out that our title was well-known which turned out to be counterfeit. in England from the mid-17th century Mompesson had the man arrested onwards. The story begins with the (although he was later freed) and his threat posed to the City of London by drum confiscated; subsequently, in the encroaching Royalist army. April, it was sent to his house at “Charles, in 1642, marched with fif- Tidworth. Thereafter, he and his teen thousand men from Northamp- family were assaulted by thumpings, ton towards the capital. The tattoos of the drum and other noises. parliament ordered the trained bands There were also scratchings, panting to be in readiness, and all the passag- like a dog, sulphurous and other es and avenues leading to the city to smells, and strange lights; in addition, be fortified with posts, chains, and objects were thrown around the courts of guard. The citizens were room, beds were elevated, horses thrown into such terrors that persons lamed and the like. These disturbanc- of all ranks, ages, and sexes, willingly es continued over several months offered themselves to work; and by into 1663, despite the fact that for digging and carrying earth and other part of this time Drury was incarcer- materials, they soon completed their ated at Gloucester on a charge of barricadoes and fortifications. The theft. Meanwhile, the case became royalists, called Cavaliers, looking up- well known, and many people visited on them with an air of contempt, Mompesson's house to witness the made a ballad upon them and their strange occurrences for themselves.”5 seasonable industry, in the opprobri- Mempesson himself wrote in a letter in ous stile, " Round headed cuckolds 1662 that the drummer would come dig.”4 “for an houre together play the tune called By the time of the Restoration, the Roundheads and Cuckolds goe digge, goe song and its tune were firmly associated digge, and never misse one stroke, [but beat] with the military in two related con- as sweetly as skillfully as any Drummer in texts. The first is implied in the various the World can beat, and then [it would tellings of the notorious story of the beat] the Tattoo and severall other points of events that took place in the Wiltshire Warre.6,7

36 The implication here that our tune was This usage of our tune was widely to be included among the ‘Points of known outside military circles. For in- War’ played by military drummers as a stance, it appears in the footnote added ‘call’ is born out by various sources to many edition of the Diaries of Sam- which link it to a tune known as ‘The uel Pepys, to his entry for Monday 10 Pioneer’s March’, In 1788, under the June 1667 topic ‘The Pioneer’s March’ France “Here I eat a bit, and then in the Grose wrote afternoon took boat and down to ‘The Pioneers call known by the ap- Greenwich, where I find the stairs pellation of ‘Round heads and cuck- full of people, there being a great olds' was for pioneers to come and riding there to-day for a man, the dig.’8 constable of the town, whose wife ‘Pioneers’ were the section of the army beat him.”11 whose task was the digging of fortifica- The footnote includes a quote from tions, preparing of camps etc.9 I have so the 1811 edition of James Pellam Mal- far been unable to establish at what date colm’s Anecdotes of the manners and customs the ‘march’ was associated with the of London Pioneers, or indeed when the Pioneers ‘A porter's lady, we are informed by the themselves first appeared as part of Protestant Mercury, who resided near army contingents. However, it seems to Strandlane, beat her husband with so much have got its use as a 'drumming out' violence and perseverance, that the poor man tune by the fact that soldiers who did was compelled to leap out of a window, to not behave themselves might get 'de- escape her fury. Exasperated at this virago, moted' to pioneer status, an event the neighbours made what Dawks, the which would likely be accompanied by editor, called a "Riding;" or, I suppose, a the pioneers’ tune. Grose quotes sever- pedestrian procession, headed by a drum, al examples: and accompanied by a displayed chemise “A Regiment or company of horse or for a banner: the manual musician sounded foot, that chargeth the enemy, and the tune of—" You round-headed cuckolds, retreats before they come to handy come dig, come dig;" and nearly seventy strokes shall answer it before a coun- coal-heavers, carmen, and porters, adorned cil of warr: and if the fault be found with large horns fastened to their heads, in the officers, they shall be banished followed. The public seemed highly pleased the camp ; if in the souldiers, then with the nature of the punishment, and gave every tenth man shall be punished at liberally to the vindicators of injured discretion, and the rest serve for pi- manhood.’12 oners and scavengers, till a worthy According to Wikipedia, The Protes- exploit take off the blot.”10 tant Mercury was published during 1689, so this usage of our tune was well

37 established by this time. It is clear that playing the Pioneers' call, named the song was widely known; it is also Round-heads and Cuckolds, but on clear that a drummer was sufficient to this occasion styled the Cuckold's give a recognisable performance. March. In passing the colours he was The practice of employing this tune to take off his hat. This in some for ‘ridings’ or ‘skimingtons’ survived regiments was practised by the Offi- into the 18th century; George I was cers on their brethren.”14 regularly burnt in effigy with horns on This is all very well; it establishes a his head, or derided in a mock skim- long history for the song that Scott mington ride to the tune of the 'Round- attempted, from the 1640’s until the 1830’s, although the song seems to headed Cuckolds',13 and something similar is implied in this description of have disappeared by the 1870’s.15 But a bizarre military practice: what of the tune itself? We now have two titles for our tune, in addition to “Hoisting. A ludicrous ceremony for- the song title ‘Ye Roundheaded cuck- merly performed on every soldier the olds’ – ‘The Pioneers’ March’ and ‘The first time he appeared in the field Cuckold’s March’ – is there any evi- after being married. It was thus man- dence for the music they indicate? The aged. As soon as the regiment, or most likely source would seem to be the company, had grounded their arms to rest awhile, three or four men of music books of the 18th century Mili- the same company to which the tary, where the title of ‘Pioneers March’ Bridegroom belonged seized upon first appears in Rutherford’s Compleat him, and, putting a couple of bayo- Tutor fro the Fife of 1750, along with that nets out of the two corners of his hat, other well-known ‘drumming-out’ tune to represent Horns, it was placed on ‘The Rogue’s March’. his head, the back part foremost. He Here is the version from Longman was then hoisted on the shoulders of and Broderip’s 1780 publication Entire two strong fellows, and carried round and New and Compleat Instructions For the the arms, a drum and fife beating and Fife:

The Pioneer’s March (Entire and New and Compleat Instructions For the Fife, Longman and Broderip’s 1780} 38 It is not difficult to see how Scott’s which Chappell prints as ‘Women All words, or something very similar could Tell Me’.16 The valuable thing about be sung to this music. Molyneaux’s tune however, is that he However, there is one source for The gives it the alternative title of ‘The Pioneers March which gives a different Whore’s March’. tune. It occurs in the Copy Book of This is the title the earlier Pioneers Thos Molyneaux, Ensign - 6th Regnt., March music has when it appears in the Made in 1780, in Shelbourne, Nova manuscript of William Vickers in Scotia. His version is a tune known 1770.17 elsewhere as ‘The Jolly Toper’ and

The Whores March (Wm Vickers’ ms, (Newcastle, 1770, original key G)

We are thus brought full circle; this much in common’, according to the third title is perhaps explained by the same source– or perhaps when the mar- manner in which the tune was appar- ried women of the battalion mutinied at ently used in Edinburgh in 1736 and in the behaviour of the sluts and bawds the British Army in 1782, when the who hung about the lines after dark, following was included in Advice for soliciting custom, the long-suffering Officers of the British Army. It warns that commanding officer might turn out the drummers, in particular, were drums and fifes to play the pioneer “sure of bringing off a girl in every march to drum out the idle women quarter. After infecting her with a from the camp.”18 certain disease, and selling her clothes, you may introduce her to the Apart from the episode reported by officers, your employments making Pearl and the quotations from Scott all dependant on mercury as well as [both of which are from his ‘English’ Apollo’, a reference to the contem- novels] there does not appear to be any porary treatment of venereal disease. evidence of this tune in Scotland. “When matters did get out of hand - The tune does not appear in the ’the women of the camp are pretty known records of the ‘Scotch Duty’,

39 the military music used by the Scots tween the melodic material in that regiments. Nevertheless, Pearl’s report source and that of the Pioneers March. of its use in Edinburgh does suggest It occurs to me that perhaps this march, that both the tune and its popular con- apparently known throughout Europe text were known in Scotland. by the late 16th century, was the original melody to which the ‘Roundheaded The Scotch March Cuckolds’ words were written; the rela- tionship between the puritan ‘round- However, in researching this article it heads’ and their Presbyterian Scots was inevitable that I would encounter brethren being the motive. The call to material discussing the much-sought ‘come dig, come dig’ would then be a ‘Scots March’. One contender, pro- natural reason to transfer the tune to posed by no less an authority than Hen- the Pioneers. From this derisory use of ry Farmer, for this widely mentioned the tune and its link with the 17th centu- but as yet unconfirmed tune is that in ry’s fixation with the figure of the cuck- Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book of old, its use as an accompaniment to 1656, titled ‘The Scots Marche’.19 I can’t ‘rough music’ would be a simple transi- help noticing the close relationship be- tion.

‘The Scots Marche’ from Elizabeth Rogers’ Virginal Book 1656.

40 Notes war; then, to soften them again, he play'd, Jenny- come tye-me ; then to 1 In some Scottish towns the hangman arms, to arms ; and so on…’ [Lillie, and the town drummer were the same Charles, Original and genuine letters person; not, it seems, in Edinburgh. sent to the Tatler and Spectator during 2 Sir Walter Scott, Woodstock or the cav- the time those works were publishing, alier: a tale of the year sixteen hundred Volume 2 Printed by R. Harbin for C. and fifty-one, Baudry's foreign libr., Lillie, 1725, p66 1832, p. 70 8 Grose, Francis, A Classical Dictionary 3 Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak, p. of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785 33 9 British Army website: “As a Pioneer 4 Hughson, David, London: being an ac- you'll join a proud family regiment of curate history and description of the men and women who do just about any British metropolis and its neighbour- job, from preparing and guarding de- hood : to thirty miles extent, from an fensive positions and handling sensi- actual perambulation, Volume 1, Print- tive stores such as fuel and ed by W. Stratford ..., for J. Stratford, ammunition, to bricklaying and car- 1805, p183. See Appendix 1. pentry.” 5 Hunter, Michael , ‘New light on the http://www.army.mod.uk/rlc/career/38 ‘Drummer of Tedworth’: conflicting 1.aspx [ret. 20/07/;2011] narratives of witchcraft in Restoration 10 Grose, Francis, A Classical Dictionary England’ in Historical Research, Vol- of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785. ume 78, Issue 201, pages 311–353, 11 Pepys, Diary and correspondence of August 2005. Samuel Pepys, F.R.S.: secretary to the http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10. Admiralty in the reign of Charles II 1111/j.1468-2281.2005.00226.x/full and James II.J. B. Lippincott & co., [ret. 21/07/2011] 1855 6 Hunter’s note here [91] is:’ The precise 12 The reference to ‘Malcolm (Manners tune mentioned by Mompesson has not of London)’ is to Peller Malcolm, been identified, but for tunes invoking James, Anecdotes of the manners and cuckolds see, e.g., Rump: or an Exact customs of London from the Roman Collection of the Choycest Poems and invasion to the year 1700 ...:To which Songs Relating to the Late Times (2 are added, illustrations of the changes vols., 1662, repr. 1874), i. 14.’ in our language, literary customs, and 7 A similar collection of tunes was cited gradual improvement in style and ver- in a letter written to the Tattler describ- sification, and various particulars con- ing the contribution of a drummer boy cerning public and private libraries ..., to a musical contest in 1711: ‘The first Volume 1, Printed for Longman, tune that he entertain'd the listening Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1811, crowd withal, was ye round-head- p. 400 cuckolds; at which, some: of the com- 13 Rogers, Nicholas, , Crowds, culture, pany seemed to be displeased. Then and politics in Georgian Britain, Ox- with all his might he beat a point of ford University Press, 1998 p55 41 14 Brand, John & Ellis, Sir Henry, Obser- the most popular drinking songs of the vations on popular antiquities: chiefly time’, says Chappell illustrating the origin of our vulgar 17 Seattle, Matt, The Great Northern customs, ceremonies, and supersti- Tune Book. According to Seattle, Vick- tions, Volume 2, Charles Knight and ers’ title is ‘The Whars March’. Seattle Co., 1841 added editorial accidentals in the first 15 Notes and Queries for Jan-June 1869 edition, but ommitted them in the cur- [4th series vol 3rd] contained the fol- rent edition The final short length bar lowing: is as in Vickers. "Round-headed Cuckolds."— I would 18 Murray, David, Music Of The Scottish be much obliged if any of your corre- Regiments, The Pentland Press, Bishop spondents could inform me whether a Auckland, Durham, 1994, p.20 copy is known to exist of the Cavalier 19 A number of other tunes have claim to song "Round-headed Cuckolds, come the distinction. Jack Campion suggest- dig," made by the Royalist party during ed another possibility, the tune printed the civil war. Jacob Larwood.’ Mr Lar- in Amsterdam in Estienne Roger's wood does not appear to have received Oude en Nieuwe Hollantse Boeren Li- a reply to his query. etjes en Contredansen of 1700-1716, 16 Chappell Popular Muisc of the Olden [http://www.campin.me.uk/Embro/We Time vol II p.679/80; 1740-50; ‘one of brelease/Embro/16army/16army.htm].

______CS

A 16th century illustration from the Cantabrian Maritime Museum in Santander, reproduced in ‘Der Dudlpfeifer’ Nr 63, May/June 1990

42 At this year’s Annual Competition, Callum Armstrong won the new composition class with a tune that made demands on the Scottish smallpipe chanter that pushed the instrument into a new dimen- sion. Here Julian Goodacre describes the history of his Scottish smallpipe design and the chanter Callum was playing.

can’t explain what Callum is do- count Highland Supplies’, a business in ing when he plays my A chanter. Edinburgh run by one Fred Freeman, I We can all hear the results, but which was offering ‘Lowland small- how he achieves those high notes is a pipes in D’ made by Jimmy Anderson. mystery to me, and I will leave it to him Jimmy had pioneered making small- to describe. It appears to me that he is pipes for Rab Wallace to play in the contravening the Laws of Acoustics, band ‘The Whistlebinkies’, as well as which is something I strongly approve playing them himself in the groups of! ‘Cloutha’ and ‘Kentigern’. (I need to It was never my actual intention that spin some of my old LPs to see who any of my smallpipe chanters would played smallpipes in which band and in play into the upper octave. When my what key.) pipes leave my workshop they take on I visited Fred’s shop and bought a a life of their own which can sometimes blackwood chanter in D for £43. Jim- surprise and delight me. my’s chanter used modified bassoon What I can do is trace the design histo- reeds; he was working before it became ry of my A chanter. This goes back to general practice to use a Northumbrian- my very early days of bagpipe experi- style reed in Scottish smallpipes. I get ence. It must have been in 1982 that my the impression that in those early days brother John asked me to make him an of the revival most Scottish smallpipes, ‘English’ smallpipe in D with a single such as there were, were pitched in D, drone. This is what we eventually called although I think someone plays a B flat my ‘Leicestershire smallpipe’. Oddly set on one of those early LP’s. In those enough the Leicestershire chanter de- heady days pipemakers seemed to be sign was born out of a modern Scottish giving very little attention to copying smallpipe. At the time I was obsessed the original dimensions of surviving with All Things Bagpipe and searched 18th century smallpipes. everywhere to find information. One I began measuring Jimmy’s chanter place was the Exchange and Mart [for and found it had a minimum bore of our younger readers, this was a pre-cy- 5/32”, but from about half way down it berspace newspaper version of eBay], was very slightly conical. Jon Swayne and it was there that I discovered ‘Dis- had written an article in FoHMRI on

43 how to make long drills using silver I met Jimmy Anderson who told me steel and I went searching for some. that he had made his reamer out of a Someone told me to visit Dunn’s of planer blade. Blair Street off the High Street in Edin- I made my first two sets of Leicester- burgh. Entering this shop was like shire smallpipes in 1983; a mouthblown walking into the past as it appeared to set for me and a bellows blown one for be unchanged from when it opened in brother John. All my smallpipe chanters 1849. Wooden shelves from floor to used modified bassoon reeds until ceiling and very aged staff. Some of its about 1985 when I developed my de- stock must have been over 100 years sign of plastic reeds using yoghurt pots. old. It closed a few years later and in its (I bought 1600 empty pots from How- closing sale I bought an ancient box of gate Dairies when they ceased making hand-forged coffin nails which I still yoghurt). Bassoon reeds worked well, keep as a memento. but they were tricky to modify and I I showed Jimmy Anderson’s chanter wanted to create a more stable and to the elderly woman in the shop who reliable reed. I think it was my Leices- inspected it and to my surprise said tershire chanter 56 that was the first “This looks like a Breton Biniou chant- one that I supplied to a customer with er”. Nothing about that shop would a plastic reed. Subsequently I have ‘ret- have surprised me! It turned out that ro-fitted’ them to older chanters for she was a Highland piper and had even customers who chose to change from played during a Pankhurst suffragette bassoon reeds to plastic ones. At some march. Anyway, I bought some silver stage, possibly in the late 1980’s, I steel and returned to my caravan in found, either by chance or design, that Kirkcudbrightshire and set about mak- chanters in D and C worked better ing an English smallpipe based on this when I widened the minimum bore to chanter, by reducing the overall length 3/16”. The wider bore made them and repositioning some of the finger more stable and gave a broader sound. holes so that the leading notes played On a completely cylindrical chanter the C#. bottom hand notes can sound rather At this time I knew nothing about the weak in comparison to the upper hand. measurements of surviving 18th centu- My chanter has a slightly conical bore ry Scottish smallpipes. My sole aim was over the bottom half giving a stronger to make an English smallpipe. My first sound to the bottom and improving the chanters were made of yew, bored with balance. a drill made from 5/32” silver steel. I Thus was born my Leicestershire made a triangular reamer out of a piece smallpipe. In 1984 I moved back to of ¼” steel to replicate the conicity of Edinburgh and set up as a professional the bottom half of the bore. Years later pipemaker on the Enterprise Allowance

44 in a workshop in Salamander Place, Leith. Shortly after this I went to my first LBPS meeting on a Saturday afternoon at the School Of Scottish Studies in George Square. A number of pipers were there playing a range of smallpipes and border pipes. I brought my set of My first set of Scottish smallpipes bellows-blown Leicestershire small- pipes in D which I played and people base the general outward appearance of seemed interested in them. Within the my first few sets of Scottish smallpipes next two months I made my first Scot- on this set. The original had a chanter tish smallpipe chanter, by the reverse of about 8 ¾” long with a 1/8” bore process of lengthening the bore of my which played higher than D. On my Leicestershire chanter and once again copies I increased the length of the repositioning the leading notes! Thus I drones to make them play D a d, and I had gone from a Scottish smallpipe to increased the chanter stock dimensions an ‘English’ one and finally back to a to allow it to accommodate a bassoon Scottish one. At the next meeting I was reed. By December I completed Broth- able to play along with the other pipers er John’s set, my 47th set of pipes. He on my Leicestershire smallpipes fitted still plays them. with my new Scottish chanter (number I carried on making Scottish small- 32), still using a bassoon reed. pipes with this general outward appear- The first full set of Scottish smallpipes ance, but using plastic reeds, until early that I made was my 37th set of pipes in 1991. It was then that I measured the and was completed by Easter 1986. I Montgomery smallpipes. Since then I still have it. It is easy for me now to see have made exact copies of these pipes that its outside appearance leaves a lot for pipers interested in exploring the to be desired! My brother borrowed it early smallpipe repertoire. The outward from me to take part in Hamish appearance of my modern Scottish Moore’s first piping course at The Ed- smallpipes has been influenced by the inburgh Folk Festival and John was Montgomery pipes. impressed enough by its potential to It is important to bear in mind that order a set. Scottish smallpipes in D, C, B flat & A In June that year Hugh Cheape ar- that are being played today are all mod- ranged for me to measure up a mouth- ern instruments which have been devel- blown set of smallpipes (LT38) which oped by pipemakers in the last 30 years was then in The Scottish Museum of or so. The surviving 18th century pipes Antiquities, Queen Street. I tried to have much smaller bores and play in a

45 higher pitch. My Montgomery small- pipes in low G and F#. Ultimately they pipes play in E with a sharpened top led me to designing the Cornish Dou- leading note and a flatter bottom one. ble-pipe chanters; these cylindrically The chanter has an 1/8” bore with only bored chanters play in D an octave the slightest taper at the very bottom. lower than the Scottish smallpipes Having successfully produced a D set while still having comfortable finger of Scottish smallpipes, I developed sets spacing. I have achieved this by using a in C and B flat. This was straight for- ¼” bore and a huge reed. ward as I had already developed Leices- This is the rather circuitous journey of tershire chanters in this pitch, again how I arrived at the design of my stan- using a 3/16th bore with a slightly lon- dard A chanter; the chanter that Callum ger conical bore for the bottom half of was playing at this year’s competition. I these chanters. These all worked well have, however, added a number of fea- with the same design of plastic reed. tures on his pipes at his request, which However I came close to despair in I’ll leave him to describe. 1990 when designing my first A chanter I have very little theoretical knowledge for Stevie Lawrence. I had assumed that of acoustics; my knowledge has been I could lengthen my B flat chanter and gained through practice. My suspicion use the same design of reed, but the is that Callum can achieve this wizardry chanter had other ideas. I could not get because the cylindrical bore of my it stable; it would squeal and jump all chanter only extends half way down over the place. There were some lonely after which it is very, very slightly coni- months until I eventually hit on the idea cal. There is a potential line of research of scaling up my chanter reed by using here, which I am very happy to leave to a wider staple and bigger blades. I also others! increased the chanter bore by 1/64th to [Ed: I was delighted to learn that the A chanter I have 13/64th and these discoveries resolved played for the last 18 years is the first one Julian made. the problems. They also opened up the It was made on September 10th 1990. It still has its way to making playable Scottish small- original plastic chanter reed. ]

Fig. 1 Front view of the top end of the chanter, showing High B and High G# keys

46 Fig. 2 Back view of the bottom end of the chanter, showing right-hand thumbhole and G# hole with plug removed

Callum Armstrong describes his exploration of the potential for expanding the range of the Scottish smallpipe chanter

am currently a student at Trinity the drone tuned down and F# and E by College in London, playing re- removing one or other of the plugs. I corder and baroque oboe, but With the plugs removed the drones can when I was around 15 years old I was be tuned down giving notes of the same taught highland pipes by an ex-Scots pitch as the standard drones, but with Guards Pipe-Major and won a few different tonal qualities, something competitions in London. My interest in which has its own potential. smallpipes blossomed when I met Ju- For the A chanter I wanted to be able lian at the 2009 Early Music Festival in to play a C natural, G#’s and a high B. Greenwich. When I saw that there were This involved a number of solutions. bagpipe makers there I went straight to The C natural is achieved using a right- the stalls and picked up a set of Julian’s hand thumbhole [see fig. 2]; the high B A/d combination pipes; by the end of and high G# are attained using keys; the weekend I had ordered set. [see fig. 1]; the low G# is achieved by I knew I was going to want to play in removing a plug near the bottom of the several keys and wanted drones to suit, chanter [see fig. 2], effectively shorten- so I worked with Julian to modify the ing its length. four drones of his A/D pipes [Adad]. It was cold December when this This we did by adding plugs along the chanter arrived; I was playing it in my length of the drones - the A drones ‘practice’ shed when I found, by have one plug, giving B in addition to chance, that I could get the chanter to the G of the drone tuned down, and the jump from the low G to a note in the D drones have two plugs, giving C with upper octave by quickly tapping the B

47 key. The note this produced was a high D, and once there I had access to higher notes, right up to an E two octaves above the usual E. I also found that by playing an A and tapping the B key I could jump to the E in the upper oc- tave. The chanter was basically behav- ing rather like a clarinet, ‘over-blowing’ a 12th above the root note. I thus had a range of two octaves and a sixth, with the only note missing being the c# above the usual high A. I have just discovered that the C natural, for which I had been using an unorthodox fingering, is available in a surprising way - the fingering is the same as for the low Callum using the G# key during his A, but with the B key held down. In this competition performance position it is also possible to play a high D by putting down the right-hand pin- I now have a set of smallpipes that will kie, still keeping the B key down. play in almost all the sharp keys [with the current exception of F#] as well as I had at first thought that the upper F and Bflat when using a C chanter. I octaves would only play if I moved am now experimenting with tuning the from note to note one step at a time, drones in intervals other than the stan- but I have since found that leaps of dard octaves and fifths. minor or major thirds and fourths are possible It’s interesting that there is at present amongst instrumentalists, particularly I have also found that it is possible to wind-players, a growing interest in ex- get the same effect on a standard A tending the range of techniques and chanter by ‘leaking’ the thumbhole sounds available. I’m excited to see that while playing a low G. I have tried this bagpipes need not be left out of this with several different reeds; the reed development. design does not seem to play any part in this. Ed: If you still don’t think it’s possible, you can hear a recording of Callum playing the full The pipes I have play at a fairly low version of his composition as printed in this pressure and to tune the upper notes issue on the LBPS website. You can also view well requires a full bag and very careful a video of Callum and George Pasca’s winning pressure control. performance at the LBPS competition this year.

48 Borders Young Pipers John Bushby reviews Volume 7 in the Borders Traditions series produced by Fred Freeman

CD recordings dedicated to the Scot- more to the fact that the pipers are tish Lowland Pipes and Scottish Small- young, from the Scottish Borders and pipes are few and far between and are play the ‘Border Pipes’ rather necessarily eagerly awaited, certainly by me. So it a recording of specific Border music. was with this new recording produced To my ears as a reviewer, it is a record- by Dr Fred Freeman, Volume 7 in the ing of two halves. I will admit that on Borders Traditions series of CDs. This first hearing I turned it off after the first offering features two talented young six or seven tracks as I felt I could not pipers, Chris Waite and James Thom- bear the sound of fighting harmonies son aided and abetted by multi-instru- with the whistles etc. overpowering the mentalist Marc Duff on bodhran, pipes. On some tracks the melody on bouzouki, recorder and whistle; Stewart the pipes was almost lost, most notably Hardy on fiddle and viola; Stevie Law- on track 6, Go to Berwick Johnnie. rence on bouzouki, guitar, bodhran and Also Stewart Hardy’s usually exquisite dulcimer and Angus Lyon on accordion fiddle playing was lost on some of the and keyboard. earlier tracks. The sound and pitch of This is not a recording of specific fiddle and Lowland pipes especially are Border music and we must ask in all so close it needs good separation in the fairness, what is Border music? It is mixing. However, on tracks 9–13 there often hard to pinpoint exactly what is a more balanced sound as there tunes come from where in the UK as doesn’t seem so much in the way of most areas will have their own versions fighting harmonies. of the same or similar tunes. However Whilst harmonies are a good to hear as an example of music played on the they need to be balanced more in the bellows-blown Lowland and Smallpipes mixing. I also feel that on many of the of Scotland you should enjoy it. I think tracks the main melody was not allowed the CD title ‘Borders Young Piper’ refers space to be heard and to ‘breath’ before

49 other instruments launched in. For ex- There are some very nice original com- ample the first tune on track 7, The positions by James Thomson and Chris Gardener’s March, is not allowed to de- Ormston that sit well with the tradition- velop before the players launch into the al tunes. second tune. That tune deserved more I feel too that with any CD there time to develop. should be rather more acknowledge- The CD opens with some lovely whis- ment of the tune sources than the sum- tle playing being joined by the pipes but maries Fred provides in his then a grinding style of accordion play- introductory notes; only the original ing to my ears ruins the track. I found compositions are fully credited the same thing happening on the previ- . ous Fred Freeman Border Piping CD. This is a CD that takes a few playings This is not to say that the playing is bad, to ‘get into’ it. Did I like it and would I far from it, but as an arrangement to my recommend it? At first playing maybe ears it does not work in the general not but on more than one playing I context of the music portrayed on the think it would be worthwhile addition CD. While innovation is good it should to a collection and at the very least add, not detract, from the music. This proves that the pipes are alive, well, and is a personal view and no doubt others living in the hands of the younger gen- may disagree. On this score I don’t eration irrespective of what music is think we should be too hide bound by being played. what we perceive as the tradition either, but if something doesn’t add to the Thanks must go to Dr Fred Freeman overall picture then leave it out. for his enthusiasm in bringing the bel- lows piping of Scotland and its music to This all may sound over critical but a wider audience. dubious arrangements and balance can ruin an otherwise delightful CD. I really like the delightful CD cover artwork by Lorenzo Galantini.! It is a shame too that it wasn’t seen fit to feature both pipers playing solo rath- er than always in a band situation. This John Bushby is a multi–instrumentalist playing a would have provided some variation range of pipes including Lowland and Scottish but it would also have enabled the lis- Smallpipes, Galician pipes, Irish pipes, whistles, tener to hear the pipes in their own guitar and bouzouki. He also runs a recording glory with the harmonic offerings of studio, Shearwater Digital in Newcastle upon Tyne. the drones contributing to the sound. He studied classical music at the Tasmanian Drones are an integral part of piping Conservatorium of Music, Australia and was and they tend to get lost in a band heavily involved with the folk and traditional music scene in Tasmania, Australia before moving with situation. his family to the UK in 2005.

50 Bridge of Allan LBPS Teaching Weekend March 13th-15th A familiar format at a new venue - event organiser George Greig reports on this annual weekend

he annual LBPS teaching tunes and John introduced some fine weekend, known for many tunes he had written himself. The tu- T years as ‘The Melrose Week- tors managed to produce a good range end’ this year moved north to a new of material which was much appreciat- venue in Stirlingshire. The hotel owner ed. and his staff were extremely helpful, the The participants were put into three feedback from the participants was very groups: I separated out those playing positive and the hotel is likely to be- Border pipes - I encouraged them to come a regular resort for future week- play on smallpipes for one of the ses- ends. The central location and easy sions but they elected to stick to Border access by rail was seen to be a bonus. pipes all the time which was okay by Tutors were Fin Moore, John Saun- me. The remaining folk played small- ders and Angus MacKenzie. Most pipes in A and I put them into two teaching was by ear; however, there roughly equal groups on my own as- were a few instances where the dots sessment of ability aided by what they were given out to make life easier for put on the booking forms. People were one or two of the participants. free to swap groups if they wished. The There was a good variety and, again, feedback suggests that people were the feedback was very positive. Fin happy with the groups in which they introduced a super tune written by Sar- found themselves. ah Hoy's dad called 'An Atom of De- The 'concert' at the end with partici- light' [you can hear Rona Dawson play pant groups playing things that they had this as the first tune in her set in the learned interspersed by tutors playing competition]. Fin also taught ‘O’er the 'party-pieces' went well and was Dyke’ from the William Dixon manu- thought to be a good way to finish up. script. Angus taught some Cape Breton

51 LBPS member Bjørn Willemoes-Wissing travelled from Trondheim to the Bridge of Allan event. Here he gives his impressions of the weekend

bout 20 persons participated Different software is available as down- in the weekend and I realized loads for the pc or apps for the mobile A that several had traveled quite phone to slow down the music without far. For example coming from Man- changing the pitch. chester by train or north west Scotland [Ed: see separate article for reviews of this by car to Bridge of Allen takes a com- software] parable amount of time as to come all The tunes we learned in our group the way from Trondheim in Norway. during the weekend were Katie’s Waltz The teaching was divided in to three (Donald McNeill), Some State! (John sessions, two on Saturday with one in Saunders), Cota Mor Ealasaid (trad.), the morning and one in the afternoon Turbo Shandy (Ross Martin), Walking the and one the Sunday morning. The par- Floor (Trad.) and John Barber’s 50th ticipants were divided into three groups (Duncan Moore). A bit of music theory having one session with each tutor. was put in between practicing on the The tuition, at least in our group, was tunes. Finding out if a tune is com- given so we had to learn by ear and by posed in major, minor or in pentatonic watching the tutors fingers. It's a bit mode, and in which key, helps a lot challenging when not being used to it during the work with learning the tune. but nevertheless a very good exercise On Saturday afternoon Fin held a and it went quite well, especially in the short improvised session with reed re- beginning. During the day the ability to pair and maintenance for a few that focus did everything else than improve, needed some adjustments to their so maybe some shorter breaks a bit pipes. I think it could be valuable to more often could keep the concentra- have a short workshop during future tion going a bit longer throughout the teaching weekends where topics like day? It definitely helps to know the reed maintenance, chanter tuning and tune before starting to learn it on the suchlike could be discussed. It’s much pipes (or any instrument I guess). I easier to observe and understand what remember in Melrose in 2010 where to do in a given situation when it’s Gary taught the tunes by getting us to shown live than picking it out of even a sing the tune first. I found that this was well-written text about the same topic. a very efficient way to learn a new tune. I also found it nice that Fin brought a To practice in that way on your own pressure gauge so it was possible to see playing along with recordings from the effect of one’s bellows work on CD’s or mp3 files is also possible. 52 bag-pressure during playing. The pres- the evening and night some fine sets of sure gauge had the scale divided from tunes were played. 0-30 inches of water and was connected Altogether the weekend was well with a hose to one of the drones where worth the effort of travel to participate. the top had been taken off. Just to mention a few things that will A good dinner was served in the res- let me recommend going to an LBPS- taurant of the Hotel and at the end of teaching weekend: good tutors, great the dinner Iain MacInnes was invited to tunes, lots of inspiration and, not the play to round off the day Afterwards least, meeting all the nice and friendly there was a session in bar and during people interested in bellows piping

______CS Tools for Learning by Ear Computer/phone software applications that may be invaluable to those who struggle to learn tunes by ear long with his report from the the chief advantage of buying software Bridge of Allan weekend, such as the one here is that these pro- A Bjorn mentioned a piece of grammes can change pitch and tempo software that he had tried called ‘Amaz- ‘on the fly’ and have an interface de- ing Slow Downer’. Intrigued, I looked signed to do the one job. up this program and downloaded the You can use a CD or any audio file on free trial version. However, a google your system. You can choose any speed search for ‘Slowdowner’ revealed a by moving the slider, and you can number of things. Firstly, there are a lot change pitch in a similar way. This is not [I mean a lot!] of options available for only valuable for learning a tune from software that does this sort of thing, recordings, but it is particularly useful though this one seems to be the most for pipers, not only for identifying widely–used. Some of these have user- gracings in a performance, but also, if interfaces that are rather more friendly you listen to your own performance than this one. I was particularly im- [you can record direct into the software], pressed by the interface for Transcribe!. you can identify passing-notes and other In the process of this search I discov- errors. Both items cost around $40. ered that freely available software such Amazing Slowdowner as Windows Media Player and Quick- http://www.ronimusic.com/ time also provides some of the features- Transcribe!: the free audio-editing software ‘Audac- http://www.seventhstring.com/ ity’ provides most of the features too; 53 The South West Coast Piper Drummer workshops, Victoria, Australia, April 27th - 29th, 2012. Geoff Jones reports on the small- pipe workshop he ran at this event

his weekend is hosted by the ornamentation as well as converting Warrnambool & District Pipes tunes to a different style or time signa- T & Drums Inc. (WADPADI). ture. One particularly enjoyable adapta- Since 2009 they have also included tion of a common pipe tune, Sandy’s workshops for the Scottish smallpipes. New Chanter was rewritten as a waltz by The smallpipe workshop was led by Sarah Wade. Geoff Jones. The small number of keen After dinner on Saturday evening we players attending this workshop en- were treated to a blackboard concert of joyed working on rhythmic expression, performances from various groups and particularly for strathspeys and reels, as individuals attending the workshops, well as learning various ornamentation from beginners to more advanced play- to give different effects to a tune. An- ers, both serious and having fun with other main topic of the smallpipe work- tunes. The smallpipe players performed shop was that of adapting tunes. This Mo Ghile Mear with harmonies written included altering Highland pipe tunes by Sarah, as well as The Bluebells of Scot- to become more appropriate for play- land in three-part harmony. Following ing on the smallpipes, utilising different this, Andrew Teusner sang The Mermaid, 54 accompanying himself on the small- Sunday morning began with more pipes. Andrew finished his tune set with workshops. However, since these had a hornpipe accompanied by a Highland more of a Highland pipe focus, the dancer. For his entertaining and inspir- smallpipe group socialised over brunch. ing performance, Andrew was present- The weekend finished with a BBQ ed with a copy of A New Way to Melrose lunch and the presentation of more and Judy Barker’s CD Chanters Weave. awards. For the harmony writing and tune ad- For those interested in next year’s SWCPD aptation, Sarah was presented with a workshops and information about other copy of The Day it Daws and member- smallpipe workshops and events in the region ship to the LBPS. These items were see my website www.geoffjones.info. kindly donated by the LBPS.

Sarah Wade’s waltz adaptation of Tom MacAllister’s tune ‘Sandy’s New Chanter’ [thanks to Ewen MacAllister for permission to print the tune]

55 Pipers’ Gathering, Vermont August 3rd - 6th he Pipers' Gathering features emphasize the linkages between the Northumbrian Smallpipes, varying bagpipe types. There are ongo- T Scottish Smallpipes, Irish uil- ing traditional Irish sessions and plenty leann pipes, Border pipes and many of spontaneous jamming. A highlight of different varieties of English and Euro- the event is the ability to meet and play pean bagpipes. Participants are exposed with musicians of many backgrounds, to the broad range of these fascinating in groups which constantly form and instruments and the people who play reform throughout the grounds. and make them. Saturday and Sunday evenings feature The Pipers' Gathering is frequented by concerts by of some of the best pipers some of the finest pipemakers in the in the world. Come treat yourself and world. It is the one place to go in North the whole family to a new world of America if you want to try out and traditional music. order one of these musical instruments. Fin Moore, Iain MacHarg and Dan The Gathering begins on Friday eve- Houghton will be teaching Scottish ning with an informal ceilidh. The small pipes; Fin will also be teaching mornings are dedicated to hands-on Border pipes piping classes. Saturday and Sunday For further details, including tutors for afternoons feature mini-concerts, lec- other instruments, scholarships, book- ture-demonstrations, special work- ing, see http://pipersgathering.org shops, and discussions designed to ______C Prince Edward Island Fiddle Camp 13th - 20th July

Tim Cummings and Dr. Ellen tunes and technique, jam with other MacPhee will be joined this year by Iain musicians, and incorporate the spirit of MacInnes for an expanded piping expe- dance in their playing. Beginner small- rience for smallpipers, Border pipers pipes and border pipes programmes will and Uilleann pipers. The vision for the also be available. piping programs is to allow the ad- Visit http://peifiddlecamp.com for vanced piper an opportunity to learn full details

56 BELLOWS BY THE BAY Bay Area Piper’s Weekend A new venture in San Leandro, CA, USA, NOV 16-18, 2012 he Bellows By the Bay Piper’s Weekend offers 2 full days of classes at a variety of levels, and the opportunity for a pipe maintenance session. A T Friday night jam session and Saturday concert round out the offerings. [Smallpipes classes are open to all mouth-blown and bellows-blown pipes if tuned in A Two Day Smallpipes Workshop will cover topics such as: ● Practical tunes selected to give the player usable repertoire for playing in public ● How get the most out of forming your own group ● Effective use of ornaments on the smallpipes, border pipes, and flute/whistle ● Style and Repertoire: ● Medieval and Renaissance music for the pipes ● Breton dance tune class ● A bag of new ornaments stolen from other musical traditions ● Style and phrasing unique to small pipes ● Instrument technique: techniques, drills and exercises for all leels ● Reed making or pipe making Tutor EJ Jones Appreciating that everyone who attends the work- shops needs to gain something substantial in their musical growth, EJ will confer with each participant in advance of the workshops so he can get a sense of what to bring to the workshop as well as to help participants prepare for the weekend.

Full detail and booking forms at http://theotherpipers.org/index/?p=2678 or email [email protected]

57 Iain Kinnear’s Edzell Weekend 28th-30th September,The Burn, Edzell, Angus The format of the course will follow are limited, so please book early to along similar lines as previous courses - avoid disappointment! To book a place a mix of piping tuition along with a by phone; 01356 648865, by email. choice of workshops including session [email protected] playing, playing with other instruments, or write to him at Firwood, Inveriscan- harmonies, pipe maintenance & reed- dye Rd, Edzell, Angus, DD9 7TN. making. Please have a look at the pages on the The cost of the course is £200, which website from the previous courses to covers 2 nights accommodation, all get an idea of what to expect- meals, tuition and workshops. Places www.scottishsmallpipes.com ______CS LBPS At Piping Live! Glasgow, Tuesday Aug 14th

Once again the Society will be hosting chairman Hamish Moore will ensure an its popular evening of bellows-pipe mu- exciting evening’s music with guests sic late into the night at Glasgow’s week from the festival and beyond. More of piping that leads up to the World details will be available on the website Pipe Band Championships. LBPS as they become available. ______CS LBPS Annual Collogue Saturday 3rd November, Glasgow [to be confirmed] Plans are afoot for the 2012 LBPS Taylor, who will talk about his life Collogue, to be held this year in Babbity time's experiences of teaching pipes Bowsters, Glasgow [to be confirmed] particularly addressing the all important Among the speakers will be Dr. Will issue of teaching bellows-blown pipes Lamb of The School of Scottish Studies from scratch. on accompanying pipe tunes (his instru- There will be a playing session in the ment is bouzouki but what he has to say afternoon and music into the night. Full will apply to any instrument) and David details on the website nearer the date. 58 Steenie Steenson, well-kent grumpy old piper, sends us his ramblings and rattlings

am a Border piper, as many-a- bringing music they’d picked up from one knows. I live upon the bor- who knows where? I der, could I be anything else? But So now, when I turn up at a border when I strike up the pipes, what do I wedding and the folk want their favou- play? The tunes that come into my head rites, the old folk the old ones, the one’s now, where did they come from? Fid- my grandsire learnt me, and the young dlers and pipers have been wandering folk the latest ones, is it border music past Primrose Knowe for generations, I’m playing? It could be a tune from old bringing their music with them. A ped- John Cowan from Dumfries, it could lar comes through- he’s got with him be one from that Maclaughlin fellow, the latest chapbooks, and broadsheets, up in Edinburgh town. Why, it could be he’s got stuff from Falkirk, from Edin- a mountain air from Gillan, driving his burgh, why some of it from Aberdeen black beasts before him. Could you tell I’ll warrant. And he can sing it all, what- which was which? Well, the mountain ever the tune, and he will, as soon as a stuff, perhaps you could – the strangest few folk gather round. airs that ever I heard, but powerful too, Some of his folderols are going to I’ll own. But of the Lowland music, stick, as long as they’re merry enough whether it had started up in Banff or [what you would call ‘bawdy’] and after down in Hawick, you’d be hard pressed he’s gone, who’s got to play them? to tell, if I played it to you. Your border piper of course. And then Then the young pipers all went for the there’d be the fair, and what kind of fancy Italian stuff, even young Willie. piper is going to miss that? You’d get in Dowf and dowie indeed. Not that I some booth or other and set to playing didn’t go for a wee bit extemporizing away with whoever was there; you’d (my, my!) myself, among friends. But it think you’d had a poor day if you didn’t wouldn’t have done for the wedding, come home at night, or early next unless the memory began to fail, as it morning, with at least a few tunes you’d does, as the night wears on. Though I not heard before. And most of these hear there were gentlemen in my young pipers, these fiddlers, they’d be down days who would play nothing but, pass- from Scotland like as not, or up from ing round amongst themselves written Jedburgh maybe, or from Gallawa’ out music – whoever heard of such a thing? of Ireland, and with them they’d be Och, but I’m rambling again… 59 Newcastleton Traditional Music Festival 29 June - 1 July, Newcastleton, Scottish Borders: www.newcastleton.com/. Border pipe competition; Novice and Open classes Prince Edward Island Fiddle Camp 13th - 20th July, http://peifiddlecamp.com/?page_id=226 Tim Cumming & Iain MacInnes Ceòlas Summer School 1st - 6th July, South Uist, Hebrides: www.ceolas.co.uk Angus MacKenzie & Allan MacDonald Pipers’ Gathering 3rd-6th August, Burlington, Vermont, USA http://pipersgathering.org Piping Live!, Glasgow International Piping Festival 6th - 12th August 2011 www.pipinglive.co.uk/ LBPS evening Tuesday 7th [to be confirmed] Iain Kinnear’s Edzell Weekend 28th-30th September, Edzell, Angus scottishsmallpipes.com/index.php/courses LBPS Annual Collogue 3rd November, Glasgow [to be confirmed] Bellows by the Bay Nov 16-18, 2012, San Leandro, CA USA Tutor- EJ Jones: theotherpipers.org/index/?p=2678

Common Stock is published by the Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society. All enquiries and contributions should be sent to the editor, Pete Stewart at Stables Cottage, Winton Gardens, Pencaitland, East Lothian, EH34 5AT, Scotland: [email protected]

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