Detail from painting of Campbeltown Fair Courtesy Campbettown Museum Library
IN THIS ISSUE Back to the Borders (4): Friars Carse summer school (17): The piper s role in rural society (22): Bagpipe timbers and their future (26): Memories of a founder-member (34): Skipinnish at the Collogue (37) Dancing at the Collogue Mike Paterson/Piping Today EDITORIAL THE cauld wind pipes revival has been intentions of this society, the Scottish thriving burgh of Campbeltown and its A lad o paints straddling the Highland-Lowland bellows pipes revival has never really annual fair, to examine the role pipers divide of late - though it can doubtless caught on in their one-time Lowland once had in rural society. We also take AT BANFF, by the far-off Moray Firth be argued that we have still to establish and Border heartland have been a look at our own history as a society, around 1783, around 1783, Isaac Cooper a satisfactory definition of when greeted by an impressive new album and report founder member Mike provided for a distinguished clientele in the traditional dual role of musician and Lowland/Border pipes become of piping, released this month, which Rowan s talk to the Collogue about the Highland reel pipes. Society s seminal years, as well as dancing master. In publishing his Last month s showcases four fine Border players. collection he observes that the public LBPS Collogue was held in Birnam, in recalling the inimitable PM Jimmy Wilson. had been "so much imposed upon by Highland Perthshire, when a very Borders Pipes is part of the on- people who have published reels, and lively ceilidh dance was blithely going "Border Traditions"series, called them new and at the same time propelled by the fine West Highland produced by Dr Fred Freeman (who After Mike s talk, David Hannay they were only reels with new names". outfit Skipinnish, using Border pipes as gave us a taster at the Collogue at presented him with an honorary well as Highland pipes, alongside Newton St Boswells two years ago). lifetime membership of the Society for He advertised himself as the teacher accordion, whistles, etc. In this issue we carry Fred s sleeve his role in its formation, and, looking at of an impressive list of instruments the a back number of Piping Times from notes for this important recording, harpsichord, violoncello, psaltery (viol), which Mike had quoted, pointed out A report of the ceilidh, and of other which is released this month and clarinet, pipe and taberer, German flute, proceedings at the Collogue, appears in comes highly recommended by Gary that its cover was in fact the Hannay Scots flute, fife "in the regimental style" this issue, while Professor tartan. He went on to recall how the and hautboy; and of "... the Irish Organ Murray West and Fred Morrison. A review of Pipe, how to make flats and sharps and Campbell s edifying and entertaining it will also appear in the next issue of piping commentator David Murray had once observed to him (David was how to make the proper chords with the talk on the physics of bagpipes will Common Stock. brass keys. And the Guitar, after a new appear in the next issue. In the kilted at the time) how funny it was to see someone dressed in back numbers method of fingering (never taught in this meantime, however, observations that, Also, courtesy of Keith Sanger, we country before) of the Piping Times ... which facilitates the despite the name and orginal travel into the West, and the once most intricate passages".
Jim Gilchrist -from George Emmerson s Rantin Pipe 0131 669 8235 and Tremblin String: A History of 0771 8700 696 (mobile). Scottish Dance Music, 1971.
3 called a Lowland pipe or a Northumbrian half-long pipe, it has been played well beyond the region of the country to which it is associated. (2) the A return to home ground Scottish small pipe - an instrument, made in various keys but most commonly these days in A or D, having three to five drones and sometimes Despite the undoubted one or two keys, with a cylindrically bored chanter. For a long time, the success of the `cauld- critical difference between the Scottish Small Pipe and the Northumbrian wind pipes revival , Pipe was only the chanter: the former being open ended and the latter, closed concerns are sometimes ended. expressed that much of the activity, especially In recent times the history of the pipes and the pipers has received admirable attention in the hands of Pete Stewart, Matt Seattle, Gordon regarding recording, Mooney, Hugh Cheape, Iain Maclnnes and so many others who have tends not to be contributed to this rather excellent journal. particularly focussed on the Border country and Revival of the Borders pipes its music, so the latest addition to the Border We do know on the testimony of John Stoddart, John Leyden and others that Borders pipes, of all varieties, fell out of favour during the early 1800s Traditions series of though there is ample evidence, with makers like recordings funded by Gunn, Mark, MacDougall, Glen and Henderson Scottish Borders Council continuing to make sets, that a moribund but and the Scottish Arts tenacious tradition did persist underground, Council is a welcome probably right across Scotland. Francie Markis, for development, featuring example, was a renowned Aberdeenshire Border pipers Calum Galleitch, pipe player who lived from 1823-1904; Jimmie Chris Ormston: cross-border piper Wilson of Hamilton, who attended early LBPS Gordon Mooney, Chris meetings in the 1980s, had performed on a set of Ormston and Chris Waite. At a time when the Society has Henderson Border pipes since the 1930s; and so been re-assessing its origins and progress so far, we many pipers in the forefront of the revival - Hamish reproduce here the album s introductory sleeve notes, Moore, PM Iain McDonald, Jimmy Anderson, to written by Dr Fred Freeman, producer and musical director name a few - have stories about 19 1 and 20th-century sets they either of the series revived or copied.
The Borders pipes Sometime, round about 1920, W A Cocks of Ryton and George Charlton commissioned Jimmie Robertson of Edinburgh to make several sets of THE TERM "Borders Pipes" refers to two types of bagpipes that were Northumbrian half-longs or, by its other name, the Scottish Border pipe, for played on both sides of the Scottish / English border and that have been various Scout troops in Northumberland. Some 60 sets were duly made, and given various names over the centuries. I have chosen to refer to them as: the troops, as well as Newcastle Grammar School and Armstrong College (1) the Border pipe - an instrument, usually in the key of A now, having amongst others, were involved in something of an early revival. Robbie three drones from a common stock and a conically bored chanter. Often Greensitt, of Herriot Allan Bagpipe Makers in Northumberland, fondly
4 remembers playing regularly on one of these sets, in the 1950s, with the 13 1 Whitley Bay, St Paul s Scout Pipe Band.
It was not, however, until later that a serious revival of the Border pipe and Scottish small pipe began to take shape within the Scottish folk movement. In the mid 1960s Jimmy Anderson of Larbert, who is generally, if unofficially, recognised as the founding father of the Scottish small pipe revival, began experimenting with Scottish chamber pipes and practice chanters. Jimmy, who was a joiner to trade, borrowed wood from Bob Hardie to make wee Gordon Mooney: LBPS co-founder Jimmy Anderson: pioneer small pipes maker drones and began plugging-up practice chanters and re-boring them with hand-made reamers in a desperate his long joints for the home grown Scottish Small Pipe he produced. Being attempt to create an instrument that would sit nicely, alongside two fiddles a Northumbrian pipe maker of considerable reputation, and a friend of Billy and voice, in his group The Clutha. The Highland pipes were altogether too Pigg and Jack Armstrong, he experimented in the 1950s and 60s, with some loud; the chamber pipes too soft; both were in B flat - not a great key for degree of success, with a hybrid Northumbrian-Scottish reed for the Small fiddlers. pipe. On Willie Hamilton s death, his widow would pass on to Iain 17 sets of her husband s pipes - uilleann, pastoral, gaita, bombarde and more - Once a chanter was in hand, the critical problem was to find a suitable which formed the original core of the large collection Iain now possesses. reed for it. In the late 60s and early 70s, Jimmy s friends and contemporaries Willie Hamilton is more than a footnote to the revival. in the folk scene - Rab Wallace, Iain MacDonald and others - would suggest his experimenting with cor anglais and bassoon reeds for the sound Meantime, in 1975, according to Eddie Maguire, Rab Wallace would and projection he was seeking. Indeed, in the mid 70s, P/M Iain MacDonald borrow a set of drawings of an old Border pipe from an Inverness museum (and Dougie Pincock after him) would use one of Jimmy s key of D and have it copied for playing in his group, The Whistlebinkies. He would prototypes, with the modified bassoon reed, in the noted folk band, also, by 1983, be performing with the `Binkies on a set of Jimmy Anderson Kentigern. small pipes in E flat, based upon a 19 th-century set of MacDougall of Aberfeldy small pipes Jimmy saw in the Scottish National Museum. In the early 70s, Iain was given further impetus to play bellows bagpipes by one Willie Hamilton of Maryhill, Glasgow, who used to make Colin Ross, a Northumbrian pipe maker, who had taken note of Jimmy Northumbrian and various Continental pipes on an old pedal Singer sewing Anderson s early endeavours and, according to Jimmy, made "helpful" machine. According to Iain, Willie would get Grainger Campbell to make suggestions, began himself to puzzle over the reed problem. Moreover, in
6 7 Normans, Sephardic Jews and others. By our very nature, ethnocentricity to the Scottish folk movement through the pipes they have skilfully adapted should have no place in our re-emergence as a unique cultural entity. for a new generation of Border pipers in Scotland. Add to this the part Generally speaking, we have no problem in acknowledging the Irish played in the resurrection of the cittern, by makers like Stefan Sobell, and connection that, from the Scotti, gave us the very name of our country and, the contribution of the Northumbrians to the Scottish folk movement bulks over the centuries, gave us Gaelic language and several shared musical very large indeed. traditions. Similarly, we happily accept the strong Norse connection with Shetland, Orkney, Caithness and elsewhere. If we fudge the Northumbrian connection, we belie another significant part of our cultural heritage, and, we ourselves, force the truth to go More problematical is the Northumbrian connection, hardly mentioned underground. We must have the discernment, the maturity, on the one hand, in our cultural histories but, clearly, as relevant to our Lowland traditions as th to differentiate between London political domination, the imposition of Ox- the Irish and Norse heritage are to the Highlands. In the 7 -century the Bridge and BBC cultural and linguistic values inflicted upon us over the Angles of Bernecia or northern Northumbria spread into southern Scotland, centuries and, on the other, the rich Anglian heritage that should be fully changing Dun Eydn to Edinburgh and, very significantly, giving us a appreciated alongside Norse, Irish and other elements in the Scottish melting language that was eventually called "Scots": one of our national languages. pot. In the course of time, the Anglian tongue of Northumberland, under the linguistic domination of London and Oxford, would be relegated to a mere Thoughts on a Border piping style patois as the Scots tongue grew and, then, flourished, especially from 1450- 1603, as a European language with a rich literary, courtly and civic tradition. In endeavouring to do justice to Scottish Borders piping, where virtually all Linguistically speaking, the bairn had become the traces of the indigenous tradition had disappeared, one, then, would naturally mother. "Geordie", for example, the colloquial look to pipers who had a foot in both Northumbrian and Scottish camps. In tongue of northern Northumbria, has long been selecting players for the CD, I auditioned quite a few in order to find just considered a dialect of Scots. the right people for the job - and I apologise to all those whom I rejected.
But there is more to the liaison than just that. 1 It was enlightening to work with two pipers who had come to Borders As the 18 -century French philosophers rightly pipes with different piping backgrounds yet arrived at the same conclusions averred, language is more than a matter of words. about the instrument and its music. One of them, Chris Ormston, had begun It embraces the whole national "genius" of a as a Northumbrian piper; took up the Highland pipes whilst at university people: their humour, values, interests. It is not (1979-82), `with one eye on becoming a Border piper ; then, under the surprising, then, that our Anglian brethren influence of Colin Ross, progressed to Border pipes and small pipes in the sustained a lively tradition on the small pipes which, in Northumberland, late `80s. The other, Gordon Mooney, ran the progression in something of eventually became the Northumbrian pipe, and on half longs, their version of the opposite order. Gordon began as a Highland piper; took up the the Scottish Border pipe, as well as a repertoire and style of playing which Northumbrian pipes in the mid 70s, regularly travelling through to was shared on both sides of the border. Gypsy pipers, like the Allans, Northumbrian pipe meetings with Graham Dixon, who had become a friend performed and obviously influenced performance in the Scottish Borders as and mentor; then, under the influence of Jimmy Anderson and Rab Wallace, well as in Northumberland. fellow members of Muirhead s Pipe Band, fully focused his attentions on Borders pipes (of every variety) from about 1981-82 onwards. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the firm of Robertsons of Edinburgh was directly involved in an attempt to revive the half long pipes in Their respective conclusions about style were obvious to me as we Northumberland; and several Northumbrian craftsmen - not the least of worked through the material. Both aver that Northumbrian piping is them, Colin Ross and Robbie Greensitt - have made a colossal contribution characterised by a simpler - or to use Chris s description, "less chirpy" -
10 11 gracing. In practical terms this greater "freedom" of performance and individual style are the order of the meant that, in approaching the day. Both greater freedom and individual expression, Hamish reminds us, Scottish Borders tunes, Chris has existed even in Highland piping before the Victorians and their successors consciously worked to achieve, standardised instrumental technique for the military pipe bands and society but in his own idiom, the competitions. simplicity of Northumbrian pipers like Tom Clough, who A note on the musical arrangements used "no open gracing". Gordon describes the "conscious effort" The musical arrangements are throughout, essentially, by myself, working in he made in "removing heavy dialogue with the players. Pete Stewart, in his excellent study of the gracing ... freeing up the tradition, The Day It Daws, argues that the Borders pipes were indeed used musicality", after falling under as an ensemble instrument. Hamish Moore maintains that the whole "social the spell of Joe Hutton, Anthony context of the instrument has changed, from outdoor performance to the Robb, Billy Pigg and other noted mixed session and folk band". I have chosen to set the Borders Pipes in an Northumbrian pipers. For ensemble context, where, to my mind, the moving contrapuntal lines are Gordon Mooney, the historical revealed in their best light. linchpin of the tradition were the gipsy Border pipers, like the Fred Freeman: producer of the album The Tunes Allans, whose music and style survived in the Northumbrian tradition. For 300 years the Borders pipers - in Jedburgh, Hawick, Peebles and To my mind, the Borders instruments, generally, like the music itself, elsewhere - awakened the townsfolk and called them to their beds; develop their intensity from a different source than Highland piping. Instead performed for civic functions and common ridings; for weddings and of the cut of birls, as in Crossing the Minch, or the compulsion, for example, dances, spontaneous rants in the fields and cemeteries. The tunes chosen for of doubling and tacum variations, as in the penultimate section of Blair the CD reflect this lively range of musical activity. Without being too Drummond, the Borders pipes carry the listener along on a series of upward precious about it, one can affirm that some of these are indeed Border tunes and downward runs and tickling leaps, as in Duns Dings A , Hey Ca Thro or that were played in the past; some of them might have been played; others Wee Totum Fogg. Moreover, the use of ornaments does not tend to follow a just lie quite nicely on the Borders instruments. The splendid Burns tunes fixed pattern the way it does in Highland piping: eg, the wee doubling and which I have chosen probably fall into all three categories. birl tags at the end of each phrase in a Highland march. Instead, the Borders piper will use his ornaments sparingly and inconsistently, the way a tasteful uillean piper uses his regulators for varied expression. Listen intently on the Special CD offer to LBPS members album to Chris Ormston s use of tremolos in Cock Up Your Beaver or Chris Waite s use of them in Seventeen Minutes to Midnight, and you will see exactly what I mean. There is no fixed pattern. Fred Freeman, producer of the newly released Borders Pipes album, is offering the CD for just Incidentally, both Chris Waite and Calum Galleitch approached the 8.00 (inclusive of postage) to LBPS members. instrument as Highland pipers - both members of Duns Pipe Band - who entered the Scottish folk scene via sessions or modern folk ensembles. Send cheques to Dr Fred Freeman, Chris s very free-form whistle playing has certainly helped in his adapting to 76 Braeside Park, Mid Calder, the Border pipes. All four pipers agree with Hamish Moore s argument that West Lothian, EH53 OTA.
12 13 The launching of the Borders Pipes CD has been one of the they differ from our own traditions here in Scotland. Helping schools to first duties carried out by Shona Mooney, rising young maintain weekly workshops in traditional and world music is an area to fiddle star, in her new role as Traditional and World Music which I d like to pay great attention. No matter how exciting or inspiring a Development Worker for one-off workshop can be, I believe it is also important to sustain motivation, widen understanding and continue exploration in a particular musical Scottish Borders Council. activity. Therefore, we propose to layout long-term workshops to run in (She also boasts some addition with taster experiences - enabling the children and community to impeccable credentials as mature and flourish. daughter of LBPS co- founder Gordon Mooney, In 2005, I completed a BMus in folk and traditional music at the who plays on the album) University of Newcastle. After gaining my degree, I became a freelance fiddle teacher and musician, working part-time at the Sage in Gateshead, and within bands such as the Unusual Suspects, Borders Fiddles, the Shee, and leading my "solo" project, the Shona Mooney Band. Winning the 2006 A fiddler BBC Radio Scotland Young Tradition Award really encouraged me and helped to raise my profile as a fiddler. Part of the award enabled me to calling release a debut album and perform internationally. Much of the material that I recorded on my CD Heartsease came from the tunes Borders manuscripts and archive Borders fiddle recordings. This music has a very special place in my life - it resonates within me. So as you can Shona Mooney: development worker imagine, I was incredibly excited to be informed of an employment opportunity to promote and develop the music that I love so dearly. I will AT THE beginning of October 2007, I was appointed the new Traditional continue to perform within my bands and hope to be able to bring my and World Music Development Worker for the Scottish Borders Council, experience as a musician into my job involving the community in based within the arts development team at Library Headquarters, St. Mary s performance situations. Mill in Selkirk. The post is funded by the Youth Music Initiative (YMI), with a mandate that we ensure every child will receive one year s free music The arts development team I work with offers an exciting programme that tuition by the time s/he reaches P6. provides opportunities for young people to learn, play and perform, offers facilities such as a new traditional music and song education pack, promotes In 2003, the Scottish Government (then the Scottish Executive) the Borders Traditions website, primarily for archive collections (check established the YMI, making a commitment of 37.5million over five www.borderstraditions.com), developing a concert programme for the years. Since then, the YMI has made a substantial difference to young Borders, supporting the CD label Borders, and encouraging the inclusion peoples experiences of music-making, both in and out of school. The and appreciation of diverse music cultures within the school and community. former post holders, Iain Fraser and Jon Bews, contributed enormously with developments and achievements ranging from: a taster session in "son" Currently I m teaching 19 fiddle pupils in four different schools: Caddonfoot music (Cuban traditional dance music); a sing-along workshop from Primary, Yetholm Primary, Morebattle Primary and Jedburgh Grammar, and Newfoundland duo Jim Payne and Fergus O Byrne; and an introduction to will be helping Chirnside Primary School, who have just had a "Determined Ghanaian music. These workshops have helped the children to develop an to Succeed" award, to offer after-school workshops in capoiera and samba. understanding of the various musical cultures around the world and how Plans for a taiko drumming day are underway and I hope to work in
14 15 partnership with my own trio and three instructors (Fantoosh!), who teach in the Borders. The project is entitled "Two Traditional Trios: playing together in a band". I hope to explore the process of traditional band arrangements with secondary school students culminating in a performance in a local venue. And in the New Year, we envisage taking a bus trip to see the Unusual Suspects perform in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, giving young musicians from the Borders the opportunity to hear world-class musicians at the Celtic Connections festival.
Another strand of my work has been to promote the newly released fifth volume in the Borders Tradition CD label, Borders Pipes (see previous article). Dr. Fred Freeman researched and produced the recording project by working in dialogue with the musicians on the recording - Gordon Mooney, Chris Ormston, Chris Waite and Calum Galleitch, accompanied by Marc Duff, Ian Anderson, Angus Lyon, Brian Maynard and myself. The LBPS contingent enjoying an at fresco session at Friars Carse The Scottish Borders have their own traditional music centre, based in Selkirk High School, that offers after-school tuition in voice Piping for peace and plenty (Hilary Bell), pipes (Andrew Bunyan), accordion (Ian Lowthian), clarsach (Elspeth Smellie) and Helen Ross reports on the 2007 summer school, part of the fiddle (Barbara Mythen). There are no charges Common Ground festival at Friars Carse, Dumfries for the lessons, instruments are provided, but sheet music/accessories must be provided by the student. This centre has THE LBPS summer school ran from 29 July to 3 August, and was again been running since 2000 and the pupils perform regularly at festivals in and ably organised by David Hannay. around Selkirk. There were 13 participants at the school, including three boys from My aspirations for the future include combining musical talents from all Lockerbie who were sponsored by the LBPS for their tuition fees. Three over the Borders region, mirroring the Folkestra project in the North-East of others came from furth of Scotland - from England, Canada and Germany. England. The possibility of a regional folk ensemble that could perform collaboratively with its English counterpart could produce a potentially As in recent years, the summer school was held as part of Common awesome noise! I also write for the local What s On magazine which is Ground Scotland, but the location was suddenly moved from Glaisnock printed seasonally, documenting the region s traditional music and keeping House in Cumnock (which had fallen foul of fire regulations) to Friars Carse everyone up to date with concert performances, folk club gigs and Country House Hotel, at Auldgirth, just north of Dumfries. It was situated on community workshops. the River Nith, close to Ellisland farm where Burns farmed unsuccessfully for three years and wrote some of his major poems, including Tam You can contact Shona Mooney on 01750 724901, or e-mail her on O Shanter. There was not room for everyone to stay there, and the LBPS [email protected] members were banished to Thornhill. I stayed in the Thornhill Inn, and some
16 17 six tunes to learn over four days - of the others in the Buccleuch Arms. For the first night I had a room above Horses Brawl, Mrs Macleod of Raasay, St the noisy bar, with rock Keverne Feast, Ryan s Polka, The Piper s Cave and two Playford Tunes music blaring till 1 am., but (Portsmouth and Going to Newcastle). Jon wanted the polka and Mrs MacLeod, managed to change rooms. but some of us (me) felt that Mrs MacLeod wasn t suited to a slowish arrangement, and persuaded him to accept the delicious Horses Brawl. Common Ground was split After dinner I joined the Gospel Choir, energetically led by Heather between music at Friars Carse Heywood, then at 8pm there was an evening concert given by some of the and arts and discussion at the tutors. Allanton Sanctuary, about a mile away. Pipers were down We were kept well informed about the evening concerts and other events in the basement at Friars by The Groundling, a daily news sheet produced by the Glasgow singer and Carse - a bit cramped, but songwriter Adam McNaughton and reminiscent of the Daily Prophet at Neil Patterson (right) teaching at Friars Carse Hogwarts School of Wizardry. otherwise OK. Meals were good, but always late. Coffee was sometimes non-existent, and beer very expensive (when the bar was staffed). On Monday Dunkeld met Dundalk, in the shape of the fiddlers Pete Clark and Gerry O Connor. Fear-an-taigh Willie Slevin asked them to describe We arrived on the Sunday afternoon, had a meal, and were entertained by the difference between the Scots and Irish styles: Pete some of the tutors. On the Monday morning Richard and Anita Evans gave a said they were like different speech accents, while workshop on bagpipe maintenance and reed making. For tuition, pipers were Gerry said the Scots was tighter and the Irish more divided into two groups, "beginners" and "competent", although it was lyrical. The Groundling concluded that the difference unclear which group was best. The beginners contained the three Lockerbie did not matter, and that the combination was greater boys who were excellent Highland pipers, and immediately played than the sum of the differences. brilliantly on the smallpipes. For some reason Jim Buchanan joined that group. There was also Harry, who was starting on the smallpipes but also On Tuesday we had Heather Heywood and played the guitar. Kirsteen Graham singing Scots and Gaelic songs. Heather was magnificent on Young Waters (my The rest of us crowded into the competent group, gaining a little more favourite sad Stirling song); Kirsteen sang some great puirt-a-beul; and the space when one of our group quit (he didn t like playing from sheet music two together sang MacCrimmon s Lament in both languages, against a written for fiddlers, because it didn t have all the grace notes written out). steady drone on Neil Patterson s pipes. Wednesday was Neil Patterson and Our tutors were Chris Gibb and Neil Patterson, who alternated between the Adam McNaughton. Neil played a hilarious pipe version of The Hen s groups in the morning. They taught mainly Highland rather than Border March to the Midden, clucks and all, while Adam McNaughton was in great tunes, but were excellent teachers. Many of us had been attending LBPS voice as usual. Thursday was the Gospel Choir, and the audience enjoyed it summer schools for several years, and it struck me that our playing really as much as I did. Then there were late night sessions for those with stamina. had improved. All our pipes were reasonably in tune, making communal LBPS members tended to slope off to Thornhill for a drink at the Buccleuch playing much more pleasurable than in the early years. Arms, with a piping session one night.
In the afternoon we were free to join other classes. Most of us continued On Thursday afternoon we all went over to Allanton Sanctuary.to join piping for an hour, and were joined by whistlers. I then moved on, with my in the World Peace Flag Ceremony and provide some music. Allanton is the concertina, to the "Slow Jam". It was led by Jon Bennett, and it turned out to European sanctuary of the World Peace Prayer Society, and sports many be a folk orchestra, playing arrangements by Jon himself. We had to choose four-sided Peace Poles, with four languages for "May Peace Prevail on 19 18 Earth" - English, Gaelic, German and Japanese. The organisation was founded in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi, and now has a headquarters in Melrose looks to the west New York state. I remain to be convinced that preaching to the converted assists world peace. My own suggestion is that all world leaders should be made to learn a musical instrument and play together in a ceilidh band. On George Greig previews next March s Melrose teaching second thoughts, pipes should be excluded - wars might be fought over the weekend, which will have a distinct Irish accent correct timing and gracenotes! THE 2007 teaching weekend at Melrose had as its theme "Rhythm and The Flag Ceremony infolved national flags being moved from a stand to a Dance" and enjoyed the best attendance of recent years. The next weekend s circular display around a Peace Pole. Bits of the UK were represented at the theme will be `The Irish Connection" , running from 7 - 9 March, 2008, end, amid some confusion: there was a Saltire for Scotland, a St Patrick s again in the George and Abbotsford Hotel. cross for Northern Ireland, a Welsh dragon, and also a Union Jack, but no St George s cross for Merry England. There were some mutterings about this, Why "The Irish Connection"? At a previous teaching weekend, Hamish but I could not hear how it was resolved, as I was trying to pay attention to Moore introduced The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow and I realised that I keeping in time with the other pipers on Da Merrie Boys o Greenland. This already knew it as O Sullivan s March. The last was a forlorn hope, as our end of the lineup was nobly led by Harry on the competition heard a fine rendition of The March of guitar while the other end was led by Neil stamping his foot in an effort to the King of Laois, and Allan MacDonald plays this keep us together. tune back to back with the piobaireachd Duncan MacRae of Kintail s Lament, suggesting shared Never mind. W e all went on to sing A Man s a Man for A That, and ancestry. And the list goes on: The Haughs of finally Neil played the Highland pipes from the tower of the Allanton Cromdale appears under the titles, O Neill s March building. and The Green Cockade, as well as a Gaelic name which translates as How the Kale was Spoiled. What Friday morning was the final concert, at which we again strutted our these few examples show is that people and tunes stuff, this time in the main lounge at Friars Carse. It was exhausting, but we moved around much more than was once supposed. The intention is to were revived by the final splendid lunch. I am looking forward to more of explore this common heritage. this next year - though the evening sessions would be better if the pipers could get accommodation on the main site. We have a fine line-up of tutors - Allan MacDonald, Malcolm Robertson and Lee Moore, specially chosen for their teaching ability and knowledge of the cultures. Allan is a consummate musician, as will be confirmed by anyone who was at the invitation concert or who saw him in The Highland Advertisement: Pipes for sale Sessions on TV. Malcolm and Lee, also fine pipers, bring the more obvious Irish connection - Malcolm spent a number of years in Terry Tully s St For sale: set of Anderson Scottish small pipes. African boxwood Laurence O Toole band while Lee hails from Dungannon. throughout, Gore-Tex bag, bellows. "A" and "D" chanters. Fully reeded up and playing. This promises to be a great weekend and, like the last, will cater for all levels of ability, so no one should be deterred. To ensure that class sizes are VGC E400 ono. Phone Lyle Crawford: 01620 892090, or e-mail: not too big, places are limited and allocated strictly on a first-come-first- [email protected]. served basis, so early booking is recommended - use either the forms with the Newsletter, the web-site or contact me directly at ggreignabtinternet.com
20 21 help at harvest time. In one instance the correspondence of the Breadalbane Fencibles shows that even the 13 musicians of the regimental band were offered as reapers. In this case the help was as labour, but harvesting was hard work and the use of a local piper to give encouragement goes back probably as far as the point that the instrument became loud enough to carry to a band of open air workers. It was certainly an established practice by 1574, when a payment "To ane pyper to play to the scheraris in harvest, 4" was recorded in the accounts of Douglas of Lochleven in Fife. 2
Exactly how widespread the practice was and when it was discontinued is a more difficult question to answer from the limited recorded payments so far identified. Certainly on the large North-East estate of the Duke of Gordon, a piper called William Robertson in Fochaber was paid ten merks of Scots money in 1715 for "attending to the people at come and hay" and in 1770 one Peter Munro Piper received payment of one pound sterling at 3 Campbeltown Fair, painted in 1880 Courtesy Campbeltown Museum Library Gordon Castle for "playing to the Hay makers the Shearers in harvest". In all of these instances it is, of course, an assumption that the pipers were being paid to play while the work was in progress rather than providing the From harvest to market music for dancing after the work was over. Keith Sanger looks at the former role of the piper in rural society, and warns against making too many assumptions Following a harvest, even on a "self- WHILE there is a tendency to compartmentalise piping into neat boxes with sufficient" smallholding, Highland/military in one and Lowland/town pipers in the other, there was a portion of the produce actually a large and common middle ground shared by nearly all pipers. would still need to be 1 Professional specialisation is a relatively modem concept and up to the 18 sold to meet any extra century, even in Scotland s largest towns, most people had one foot in the levies which were due. countryside, which would have been only walking distance away. For example, church dues, or a portion of the Food consumed a very large portion of relative income and the success or schoolmasters salary Campbeltown Fair detail, showing piper Donald otherwise of the harvest had an immediate effect at all levels. Even at the and, in one case of a Michael and left-hand bellows - artistic licence? very top of the piping tree, where the piper held land in exchange for his piper in Perthshire, what piping duties, it was primarily the raising and selling of his "beastes" or was described as I/3 of a Crew wedder rendered at 11 shillings and 8 pence cattle that actually produced the income. in money which turned out to be his portion of supplying a sheep as victuals to the crew of the local boat. 4 For those close to a town, access to a market When it came to harvest it tended to be a case of all available hands, and was easy and frequent, but for most of rural Scotland it was a case of the even as late as the Napoleonic wars there is evidence, usually from market had to come to the seller and there had grown up a regular system of contemporary newspaper reports that the various fencible regiments, who fairs and markets. 5 These were usually held under the authority of the local were mostly quartered on the local populations, voluntarily pitched in to laird and, as they involved large gatherings of people, required policing.
22 23 would also have been used by the Eaglesham folk at harvest. After all, from In the days before a police force was established, this function also fell to the piper s point of view, if he was not playing to the harvesters he would the laird, although he usually devolved it to his local Ground Officer or most likely have been required to actively help and harvesting was Chamberlain who recruited a reliable body of "Stout Lads" to act as a guard, backbreaking work compared to just playing his pipes. along with a piper. An account of the fair held at Kenmore at the east end of Loch Tay describes how the guard would mark out the boundary of the fair In terms of the pipers attending at fairs and markets the requirement for by marching around the perimeter with the Breadalbane piper. The guard providing a local guard would have fallen away with the establishment of then returned to the guard-house to be ready to deal with any disturbances, the more formal national police forces. However, unlike the case of the poor although what role the piper took thereafter is somewhat unclear. It is town piper of Kelso, where the inhabitants raised a subscription in 1786 to 9 probable that as the "officially sanctioned" piper in attendance he was able purchase a barrel organ to replace his pipes, markets still attracted pipers, to pick up additional payments from the people attending the fair for albeit on a less formal basis and this did continue quite late. providing music ,for dances and other such activities. It would certainly go some way towards the unhappiness expressed by John MacGregor, the The picture of the Campbeltown Fair in Main Street which opens this aforementioned Breadalbane piper, when he petitioned the Earl in 1790 article, painted in 1880, clearly shows a local piper called Donald Michael complaining that despite he, and before him his father, playing for two dancers. The closeness of spread of the three drones on his having been employed for the previous 60 years as shoulder might indicate a common stock, but the pipes are clearly not mouth pipers to the guard, the Ground Officer was replacing blown and a bellows seems to be shown secured to his left elbow, the same him with Donald Fisher, the estate s other piper. 6 arm as the bag, artistic licence perhaps ?
Since the payment was apparently only 2 shillings and sixpence for each fair or market, the fuss made at 1.Holding land for piping duties was not purely a West Highland custom, in its loss would certainly imply that the position of piper 1695 a piper called Patrick Syme in Coathill of Cluny received a tack of 2 in attendance was the key to further monetary gains. acres of land in Concragie (a few miles west of Blairgowrie) for his lifetime in return for his services. ( National Archives of Scotland, GD16/28/186) As payments for attending markets go, it was far from th the highest recorded: among the accounts for the 2.Sanderson, M H B, Scottish Rural Society in the 16 Century, p 21. Dalrymple family, the Earl of Stair, there is a payment Quoting National Archives of Scotland, (NAS), RH9/1/3. for July 1674 to Item to the drummer and pyper at the fair day in Cranston 3.NAS, GD44/544/9/19 and GD44/655/1/672 2- 18sh, which assuming an equal share to each musician would give the 4.NAS, GD50/138/13/10/1 piper in Cranston considerably more than the Breadalbane rate. 5.Fairs were normally annual while markets were usually weekly or monthly, but in contemporary usage the terms seem to have been How long the practice of having a piper attending to the harvesters interchangeable. continued probably differed considerably from area to area. When the Earl 6.Quoted in Black RIM, Scottish Fairs and Fair Names, in Scottish of Eglinton commenced his new model village at Eaglesham in 1769, the Studies, No 33, pll and 44; for John MacGregors petition see NAS agreement between him and his tenants concerning, among other matters, GD112/11/2/2/15. the village s agricultural land, also required the Earl to provide a piper for 7.NAS, GD135/261/13 the use of the inhabitants, who in the terms of the agreement, was to play 8.NAS, GD3/3/11/12 through the town morning and evening. But it is clear that the piper would 9.NAS, GD1/811/1, A list of subscribers in Kelso, promising to pay 6-6-0 be used for other functions from a claw back clause whereby the Earl would to Mr Robert Nicol for the purpose of purchasing a barrel organ to go receive one shilling from each wedding the piper attended to help defray the through the town of Kelso morning and evening in place of the present expense of keeping him. 8 It is therefore quite likely that the piper there Scotch bagpipe, 5 June 1786.
25 24 Density is of major importance since it affects the resonance of a timber, and Bagpipe timbers, past, the densities of cocus wood, partridge wood, ebony and African blackwood all fall within the range of 1.1 to 1.2 when the MOISTURE CONTENT of the timber is about 12 per cent. I will refer to moisture content later. In present and future comparison with these densities, those of the indigenous timbers used before cocus wood etc became available varied between 0.75 and 0.85. It is clear David Moore, retired tropical that the resonance of pipes made from the indigenous species must have forester (and father of been inferior in tone to those of today, since the density of blackwood, for pipemaker Hamish), served for example, is half as much again as that of the indigenous species. many years in the UK Colonial A second physical property affecting musical quality is the STRUCTURE Forest Service and as a of the timber. For clarity and richness of tones, a timber must have a FINE, consultant to the Food and as opposed to a COARSE texture. Agriculture Organisation of the UN. At last month s Collogue in A third physical factor affecting musical quality is SHRINKAGE. As we Birnam he gave a talk on know, all timber shrinks as it dries. Suppose we represent a log thus: timbers for bagpipes, their characteristics, their availability and their future. We reproduce here the paper on which his talk was based David Moore, with samples
THE CHARACTERISTICS of suitable timbers for the manufacture of As it dries out, the outer layers shrink on a core which remains wet and bagpipes can conveniently be divided firstly into those physical features therefore the same size. Something must give, so the out layer splits over the which arise from the nature and arrangement of the cell structure of the wetter core. It is of great advantage, therefore, to cut up the log as after timbers and secondly from the presence of other materials which, for the feeling as possible into the sizes required, and in the case of blackwood this moment, we shall refer to as MISCELLANEOUS DEPOSITS (see is now generally done. The ends are coated with wax to retard end-drying Appendix II). and related cracking.
There are four main PHYSICAL properties to consider, bearing in mind There is a great deal of mythology attached to timber seasoning, but in that none is absolute in itself and that one characteristic may modify one or point of fact, effective seasoning is no more than controlled drying to a point more of the others. where the remaining moisture is in equilibrium with the average relative humidity of the environment in which it is to be used. The first of the PHYSICAL properties is that of density. This can be loosely defined as the weight of a given volume of a substance in relation to Considering shrinkage in more detail, we suppose that the log shown the weight of the same volume of water. Thus, suppose that 1 cubic foot of a overleaf is being cut in the saw to provide as many chanter blanks as 1 particular timber weighs 68% lbs and a cubic foot of water weight 62 /2 lbs, possible, the remainder going into shorter components such as drone then by dividing 68% by 62% we obtain a density of 1.09 for the timber. sections.
26 27 freshly felled logs more than ten times as much as the dry wood matter itself. The square ABCD in In others, such as blackwood, it constitutes only about 25-30 per cent. For the section on the left many purposes, it is necessary to accurately know how much moisture is represents a chanter blank contained in wood - in the kiln drying of woods, for instance, or in the and with respect to the manufacture of plywoods. This measure is known as the MOISTURE growth rings, the face AB CONTENT and is expressed as a percentage of the weight of the dry wood is a tangential face while matter present. the face BC is a radial face. Shrinkage on the In practice, the moisture content is frequently determined electrically by tangential face can be up to twice that on the radial face, so that when the chanter blank is properly seasoned it is no longer a square in section but means of a resistance measurement, but for accurate determinations a sample oblong as shown above. of timber is weight then oven dried, with weighings repeated at intervals of When a chanter is turned from a about a half hour, until two successive identical weights are obtained, thus properly seasoned blank, it will indicating that all of the moisture has been driven out of the wood. remain relatively stable, but if the timber is wet when turned, not only Investigations over many years show that timber settles down to a will the outer surface of the chanter moisture content in equilibrium with the average environment at about 12 become in time slightly oval, but, per cent moisture content. It will be lower in wood stored in a centrally- more importantly, the bore of the chanter will also change from perfectly heated house and higher in wood kept in a damp cellar. In practice, pipe round to slightly oval as the timber dries out. The deformity is exaggerated makers keep a supply of timber blanks in their shops for a selected length of in the figure for the purpose of illustration above, but in reality we know that time, at the end of which it is assumed that the timber is suitable for a deformation of only a fraction of a millimetre will affect the acoustical working. properties of the instrument. The second of the MISCELLANEOUS DEPOSITS are those laid down in Now we shall consider a fourth factor physical factor, namely trees as the trunk and branches pass through the transition phase between the DIMENSIONAL STABILITY. Let us assume that we have a chanter made actively growing cambium, just below the bark, and the physiologically inert from fully seasoned timber. Over its useful lifetime the chanter will be but mechanically supportive tissue of the heartwood. These deposits in this exposed to widely different moisture conditions, depending on how wet a transition area, which later become heartwood, include silica, mineral oils, blower the player is and the humidity of the environments in which the resins and gums. Some of these agents provide waterproofing and improve instrument is played. Minute dimensional changes occur in response to such the dimensional stability, as in blackwood. In the case of ebony, the nature variable conditions. Any wood, therefore, in which tangential and radial of the deposits is different. During the transition phase of tree growth, ebony shrinkages or expansion are approximately similar will retain the circularity undergoes a process analogous to, but not identical with, fossilisation. of the bore to a greater extent than those in which radial and tangential shrinkage differ widely. The presence or absence of natural waterproofing Having discussed the characteristics of timber for pipe making, we now agents in the wood will greatly increase dimensional stability and of course turn our attention to the subject of AVAILABILITY, which I ll deal with in the example of such a woodpar excellence is the African blackwood tree. three chronological but overlapping periods: INDIGENOUS, TRANSITIONth and EXOTIC. During the INDIGENOUS PERIOD, spanning the 14 to the Earlier I said that timber characteristics can be divided into PHYSICAL late 17th centuries, bagpipes were made from local timbers only. We can and MISCELLANEOUS DEPOSITS. WATER is one of the miscellaneous only surmise at the species then used, but it seems probable that makers used components of all timbers, and in some species such as balsa, can weigh in boxwood, hornbeam, laburnum, holly, yew and various fruitwoods.
28 29 The TRANSITION period began in the 17 th century and lasted, scarce (and remember that there was great competition for supplies from surprisingly, until the early years of the 20 th century. During the 16th century, such manufacturers as Boosey Hawkes for other woodwind instruments), the Spanish, English and French were engaged in bloody rivalry in the West ample supplies of ebony met the demands. Concurrently, and particularly Indies, and by the first half of the 17 th century the English were colonising after the First World War ended and the UK took over German East Africa Barbados, St Kitts, Trinidad, Jamaica and other places. It seems reasonable (Tanzania), the region was opened up to increased commerce. Blackwood to suppose that for many years afterwards, cargoes shipped to England from came on to the market in steadily increasing quantities and, because of its these colonies consisted of valuable commodities such as tobacco and superior characteristics, has in time displaced ebony. I would imagine that spices. At a later time, perhaps during the late 17th century, additional from about 1945 all reputable pipe makers have used blackwood resources such as fine timbers and logwood for dyes began to be exported. exclusively. In the case of woods for pipe making, these colonial timbers would have become available by the end of the 17 th century and would have included It is worth discussing this species in more detail. The distribution runs cocus wood from Jamaica, lignum vitae from various places in the West from the old Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, through Uganda and Kenya to Indies and, later, rosewood from Belize, followed by partridge wood from Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and the two Rhodesias. It grows sparsely Venezuela. throughout the savanna type of forests called miombo forests which occur at elevations of less than 5,000ft in rainfall zones of 35in to 45in per year and Parallel to but later than developments in the West Indies, the fledgling with dry seasons of seven to eight months. Soils are generally poor and the East India Company was laying the foundations for what would eventually total of all tree crowns in the forest cover less than 50 per cent of the ground. become the "jewel in the crown" of the then British Empire - the colonial Botanically, the blackwood belongs to that wonderful genus Dalbergia, annexation of India. From the early 1800s onward, gradually increasing which with over 120 species includes such important "musical" timbers as , shipments of ebony and rosewood from India, kingwood, Brazilian tulipwood and rosewood, cocobolo, Honduras together with exotic timbers from the West rosewood and Indian rosewood. The tree is often a scruffy, multi-stemmed Indies, progressively displaced the indigenous runt of 15 to 25ft, but occasionally as high as 50ft. timbers previously used to make bagpipes. Details of wood purchases by the Glens of The species has been heavily exploited commercially but, to put this into Edinburgh in the mid-18th century can be found perspective, I understand that bagpipe manufacture accounts for about 2 per in Hugh Cheape s excellent paper The Making of cent of the volume exported. Much of the miombo forest is being destroyed Bagpipes in Scotland . The same paper also by shifting cultivation and by excessive burning to stimulate new wet season records the fact that as late as the early 1900s, a grasslands for grazing. Regeneration is therefore at a standstill and, since it pipe maker in Dundee was still making pipes can take up to 80 years for a sapling to reach commercial size, the outlook from laburnum and that Robert Reid, whose shop I remember in George for long-term supply is poor indeed. Actual quantities reaching the United Street in Glasgow, remarked of them, "They are all right for lighting the fire Kingdom have improved in past years but this is because Tanzania is no with!" Certainly I know of one laburnum set being played in the late 1920s longer restricted to one government agency. Private companies are now to early 1930s in the Boys Brigade band in which I was a piper. exporting, but this means that the existing crop will be cut out all the sooner.
I consider the time from the early years of this century to the present to be The question arises: from what will bagpipes be made when traditional the EXOTIC period since nearly all Highland pipes made in this time have materials become so scarce that timber is priced out of the market? Various been from imported timbers. Early this century, as cocus wood became more types of plastic have been available for many years, but their tonal qualities are generally unacceptable. In the case of maple (Acer Sp.) impregnated with epoxy resin, the density is in the region of 1.18 and the tone is excellent but, The Making of Bagpipes in Scotland by Hugh Cheape MA, BA,FSA (Scot), pages 5%-615, From the Stone Age to the Forty-Five, published by John Donald, Edinburgh, 1983 particularly in the case of Highland pipers, there are objections to the cream
30 31 colour of the wood. Hamish Moore has produced quite a number of sets of small pipes from an industrial material called Permali which is used mainly as a high-voltage insulating material. Permali consists of laminates of beech In the beginning ... (Fagus sp) impregnated with high-density resin which is then heat-treated At last month s Collogue in Birnam, Mike Rowan, a founder and produces a material of a pleasing reddish-brown colour which, when turned on the lathe, appears to have a natural and interesting grain. The of the Society, recalled the early days of "hair and stripy material is virtually impervious to moisture, and therefore to dimensional pullovers" and recalls another seminal presence and change. Its density is 1.28 and the tonal quality excellent. Lowland piper, the inimitable Jimmy Wilson
This is certainly the best of the substitute materials by far and, for those THE MAN better known to areas in which extremes of relative humidity occur, it is ideally suited, many as his stilt-walking especially for small pipes, in the manufacture of which no technical Highland alter ego of "Big difficulties are encountered, although machining problems may arise in the Rory" told the Collogue that manufacture of Highland pipes. helping found the LBPS was perhaps the thing he was most This paper, The Characteristics and Availability of Suitable Timber Species proud of in his life. in relation to the Past, Present and Future Manufacture of Several Forms of Scottish Bagpipes, is based on a talk given to the Piobaireachd Society Mike Rowan had trawled Conference at Bridge of Earn in 1991, and later at North Hero, Vermont. through much old paperwork and photographs of the early Appendix: suitable timbers, their properties and periods meetings during the 1980s - "they are distinctly of their time ... hair, stripy pullovers, etc" - and produced the letter he had sent out, at only a few days notice, in March 1981, calling for anyone interested in Lowland piping to attend a meeting in Edinburgh University s Teviot Row Union during that year s Edinburgh Folk Festival. "I sent out the invitation to the meeting on the 24 h ... it was to be held on Mike Rowan: proud of his role in helping the 29 h ! However, about 15 to establish the society people turned up." And he read from the letter: "Lowland pipes have become exclusively museum pieces, and are very seldom heard played. I find this very sad, but in my search for a set I ve come across several people who were similarly interested ... If we all got together I m sure we could help to raise the Lowland pipe from their almost complete obscurity."
32 33 Mike s interest in Lowland-Border piping stemmed, he said from a Jimmy Wilson, recalled Mike, "was an astounding man. He was only that lifelong interest in folk music - "I ve also always been a socialist, so the high and had a wee squeaky voice and you might have looked right past him. people s end of the music spectrum appealed to me, as did bagpipes because But once you found out about him - what a character! When I first met him they were raw, immediate." When helping clear out a Boys Brigade Hall in he was an ex-hairdresser, but held also been a regimental piper and had been Stockbridge, Edinburgh, that was due for demolition, he found an old half- in the SAS during the war. He was supposed to have been one of the original sized set of bagpipes that he made into a goose (he also found a considerable heroes of Telemark. length of tartan that would become Big Rory s first kilt). And he read from the Piping Times article of 1965: "It s true to say that "So I made up a goose and - unfortunately - taught myself to play, so there is no other piper in the world like Jimmy grace notes are not hugely noticeable in my style. Also, I had a childhood Wilson. His fame stems mainly from his collecting connection with Northumberland and enjoyed the Northumbrian pipes, with trades and professions and the technique of playing their beautiful peas-in-a-pod popping and lilting sound, and in 1979 I had musical instruments, like some high-class, energetic, joined the Northumbrian Pipers Society and met Colin Ross, and it was artistic jackdaw." For, in addition to Highland and around this time that I learned that there was a lost Scottish tradition of Lowland pipes, he also played the Northumbrian bellows-blown, common-stock "oxter pipes" similar to the Northumbrian and uillean models, as well as fiddle, accordion and half-longs, but no-one seemed to play them at all." clarsach." His pipe bag covers were also in great demand, and Mike reckoned that had he lived in the Visiting the former Museum of Antiquities - Now the Scottish National old days, Jimmy would have been hard put to decide Portrait Gallery - in Edinburgh he found a couple of sets on display - whether to be a piper or a bard, "because he was a natural storyteller". "though definitely not in playing order, and I was introduced to Hugh Cheape, who told me about Gordon Mooney, who had been researching And perhaps Jimmy s greatest story, which Mike recounted, was how he Border pipe music." Gordon, he recalled, could sometimes be seen playing a was evacuated, along with the other weary troops of the British set of Lowland pipes - made of aluminium. Gordon told him that he and Expeditionary Force, from Dunkirk. He d been wounded in the leg by an Hugh had been thinking about involving other people in reviving the exploding mortar bomb which blew his boot off, but as his ship approached Lowland pipes but were unsure how. "I suggested forming a group along the Tilbury Docks, and he saw the vast crowd waiting to great them, he was lines of the Northumbrian Pipers Society, and when we asked around we horrified when he considered the tired, ragged and demoralised state of the found there was considerable interest but no focus." troops around him.
So he sat down in March, 1981, and wrote that letter, while Hugh Cheape "Jimmy told me that looked at himself: he was bleeding a bit from his and Gordon Mooney between them wrote an article that appeared in the old bandage but still had his kilt on - ` So I looked quite good, really. So he International Piper magazine which also provoked interest. So from these asked the purser if he could play the troops off the vessel, the gang plank tentative beginnings, the Society got underway and within two years had 123 went out and Jimmy started at the top of it with Heiland Laddie and by the members. time he got to the bottom, the whole mood of the crowd had changed from one of more or less defeat to one of resistance. Mike also paid tribute to Jimmy Wilson, Pipe Major, lad o pairts and an early presence at Society meetings, and who was playing Lowland pipes "That was Jimmy Wilson, a wonderful, brave, joyful, creative man." back in the 1960s - when he played them for, among other things, a Drury Lane production of Johnny Armstrong s Last Goodnight. And Mike At the end of Mike s talk, David Hannay, who was treasurer in the early produced an old copy of Piping Times which sported a photograph of Jimmy days of the LBPS, presented him with honorary membership in recognition on the cover, replete in his somewhat elfin-like costume for the production. of his formative efforts.
34 35 OWING to an editorial oversight, this tune by Matt Seattle, which won the Composition class in 2006 LBPS Competition, was Skippin the Common Stock. Here tis ... omitted from a previous issue of night away Jim Buchanan, the Julie Ann s Wedding Waltz Society s chairman, reports on the well attended ceilidh after the Collogue Skipinnish at Birnam Mike Paterson/Piping Today
The CEILIDH Dance at the Birnam House Hotel featured the powerful Highland duo Skipinnish, with guest piper Angus Mackenzie of Daimh. Looking back on a day of ups and downs - mostly ups - I recall that Angus played before the dance, while the band (they were late!) were still setting up, which must have been off-putting for him.
Nevertheless, he played some storming sets on his Border pipes accompanied by (former LBPS chairman and pipemaker) Nigel Richard on cittern. At the interval Hamish Moore played a delightful set with a local singer, Laureen Merriman, and Angus came back on for more amazing piping. The ceilidh dance was practically a sell-out and the floor was always busy.
Why Skipinnish? Well, I have been a huge fan of theirs since their debut CD in 2001 (see below for a discography). Skipinnish are Andrew Stevenson (bagpipe, smallpipes, flute and whistles) from Achnacarry and Angus Macphail (accordion) from Tiree. The band were also joined on the night by Duncan Nicholson on pipes and whistles. I remember taking their debut recording to the 2001 LBPS Summer School at Kirkdale House, courtesy of David and Janet Hannay, and enthusing over their marches, jigs and reels.
Their sound takes me back to summers long ago when my holidays were mostly spent sailing around the Hebrides from the Clyde seeking out dances (and talent) at village halls. The sound is authentically West Highland, skipping along at lightning speed between soulful waltzes with complicated Gaelic names. As one reviewer has said - "these boys give the audience the real thing - with both barrels!" They don t attempt to adapt or modernise
36 37 Highland music to make it suit the ears of a non-Highland audience. As a Matt encourages pipers to examine all the possibilities themselves by consequence perhaps not everyone appreciates it, and I did get the odd giving a wealth of background material and freely expressing his own likes adverse comments from one or two people at breakfast the next day. and dislikes. The background notes are very valuable and entertaining. As with his previous books Matt delivers a great deal of historical and scholarly Andrew and Angus first met as students at the RSAMD where Angus material about the tunes, their structure and history. studied accordion under Ian Muir and Andrew piping with Allan Macdonald of Glenuig. The band has recently been nominated as Scottish Dance Band Matt s arrangements take syncopation in Border pipe music to the next of the Year for the Scottish Traditional Music Awards. They are in great level and show the influences of blues and rock music. Some of his settings demand for festivals, concerts, dances and weddings at home and abroad. I call for technique that might be more difficult than rewarding, as when he wish them all the best for the future and I m very glad that I asked them to jumps to high B and C sharp, but he deserves credit for putting it out there. play for us. It is also very much appreciated when Matt supplies backup chords. This reader does not follow his settings note for note, part for part, but enjoys For discography and further information, visit www.skipinnish.com them as potential ways to take the basic melody of a tune, and as suggestions for improving his own style of variation.
One of the more difficult things to get across in any written setting is the underlying rhythm of a tune, especially when we are working with traditions John Daily casts a player s eye over Matt Seattle s most that died out years ago. We come to these tunes largely as readers, so we recent tune book, Over the Hills and Far Away need all the help our eyes can get. To that end we depend upon the conventions of musical notation to guide our instincts and hard won ALL OF us who share Matt Seattle s passion for experience playing the music. Matt s use of time signatures would be more Border and Lowland pipe music welcome the helpful if it were more consistent with convention and if the tying together publication of his latest book, Over the Hills and of the tails of notes followed the time signature. Far Away (Dragonfly, 2006). While we may debate the relative importance of styles, techniques and Suggestions for tempi would also be welcome. Deciphering the ornamentation, and even argue over the definition of fundamental rhythm, through a process of justifying the time signature with what Border pipe music is, we cannot escape the the written bars of music, is at times frustrating. When Matt goes a step influence of Matt Seattle s zeal and intellectual further by tying the notes tails together under bar lines to help convey his ardor, and not only because he discovered William syncopation, the result, for this reader, is more confusing than helpful. Dixon s manuscript. All musical revivalists cannot escape the influence of their own history This new collection of traditional melodies and experience, which by definition cannot be that of the music they are includes revised settings of more than a few tunes published in The Border attempting to revive. We are always in danger of falling into the trap of Bagpipe Book. These revisions, as well as the new tunes, have benefited historical reenactment on the one hand and and musicology on the other. from Matt s total immersion in the Dixon manuscript. Matt continues his The challenge is always to move the music from the page to fingers. It is practice of creating settings that are theoretically accurate, and correcting refreshing to find a piping authority that encourages original thinking and some previously written settings. But some of the changes are not ones this discourages slavish devotion to style or text. Close study of this book will reader will follow, as when he switches out the C sharps for Bs in Holey spark many "new ways" with old tunes in the Border pipe sense of the Ha penny. phrase. 39 38 Meetings and Events LBPS Summer School, 27 July - 1 August 2008, with Common Ground, Scotland at Craigie College, Ayr. Tuition in smallpipes and Border pipes. Contact Tom Robertson, 01324 486268. LBPS Annual Competition, Saturday 5 April at a new venue - the College of Piping in Glasgow. Watch www.lbps.net for details Edinburgh - the Scots Music Group at Boroughmuir High School on Wednesday nights. Smallpipe tutor Lee Moore. Visit www.scotsmusic.org or phone 0131 555 7668. Penrith: Annual Pipers Day - hosted by North Cumbria Pipers on 3 November. Workshops for NSP, SSP and Border pipes, mini concert, informal sessions. Contact Richard Evans: [email protected] or phone 016974 73799 Glasgow: Celtic Connections - Glasgow, 16 Jan - 3 Feb. Includes many piping events, with this year s guests including Liam OFlynn, Allan McDonald, Xose Manuel Budino, Fred Morrison, Boghall Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band, Bagad Kemper from Britanny and India Alba. See www.celticconnections.com SESSIONS North-East England: 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at the Swan pub, Greenside. Contact Nigel Critchley 01661 843492. North-West England: Monthly sessions at Old Crown Pub, Hesket Newmarket. Check with Richard or Anita Evans, 016974 73799 London: 3rd Thursday of every month, except July August. 95 Horseferry Rd, SW1 P 2DX. Contact Jock Agnew 01621 855447
LBPS Publications for sale include... More Power to your Elbow. Manual/tutor with CD-ROM. 25 ( 20 mbrs) Suggested Session Tunes 8 ( 6 members) Suggested Duets and Harmonies 14 ( 9.50 members inc P P) NEW 50 Lowland and Border Tunes (the revised "Pink Book") 5.00 ( 4 mbrs) Contact Pete Stewart (see website below). Trade prices on request.
LBPS WEB SITE www.lbps.net