Evolution of the Highland Bagpipe Within the Musical Traditions of Scotland and Cape Breton

by Benjamin Miller THESIS 3.2 Ben Miller is a recent graduate of the music programme at Saint Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont, where he also received the award of Outstanding Fine Arts Major in Music for the class of 2011. During his studies he focused primarily on bagpipe performance, music theory, and musicology, with a heavy interest in folk traditions. He is currently studying for a masters degree in Highland Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Evolution of the Highland Bagpipe within the Musical Traditions of Scotland and Cape Breton THESIs — CHAPTER THREE SUMMARY — PART 2 — EVOLUTION IN CAPE BRETON 3.2 Evolution in Cape Breton ‘A pre-Victorian style of Gaelic Highland music VER 200 years after forces of change began their slow, and per- — the music of community pipers and fiddlers: Ohaps unrealised, transformation of Gaelic dance-music in Scotland, the distant strathspeys, reels, and jigs played for the scotch island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia still holds many vestiges of this forgotten style. Perhaps the transplanted roots of Gaelic fours, set dances, and solo step-dancing’ pipe music, brought from the Highlands and Western Isles, are to be found in the vibrant and free-flowing culture of this New World complete geographic isolation not possible in the island, it is very clear that there is no connec- Gaidhealtachd. Somehow, after facing many Gaelic Scotland during this period. Even during tion to 3G mobile broadband and many other of the same obstacles seen centuries earlier in periods of modernisation during the 20th cen- characteristics of the modern globalised setting. the ‘Old Country’, Cape Breton Gaels have tury, the Cape Breton Gaels remained a majority The distinguishing isolation of this locale managed to retain the essence of this ancient within developing urban centres, in contrast to was certainly much greater in years past. When music despite the loss of their historic lan- the Gaelic minorities seen in Lowland Scotland Scottish immigrants landed on Cape Breton guage and the modernisation of their culture during earlier centuries, creating a drastically Island in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to meet the needs of the 20th century. slower pace for any cultural changes. they were greeted, in many areas, with forests The connection and interdependence of that stretched from coast to coast. Emigrating Gaelic language and music in the development Isolation and Preservation from the far less wooded settings of the Outer and preservation of Gaelic society is immedi- EVEN in the 21st century, it is easy to see how a Hebrides, settlers were oftentimes ill-equipped ately apparent, but the puzzling differences in long-forgotten tradition might manage to linger to deal with clearing land and travelling through the dichotomy of these two elements in Cape on in the remote island of Cape Breton. Long their new environment. Early homes and farms Breton and Scotland seems inexplicable at since the relatively late introduction of major were notably crude and primitive. Adding to the times. In his book, Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping: infrastructure and modern communications isolation of these immigrants were the harsh 1746-1945, John Gibson suggests that Scotland to this region, life still seems to move slowly. winters characteristic of the north-eastern At- has preserved the Gaelic language in many While driving through any of the island’s main lantic coastline. While early immigrants quickly ways, while experiencing a dramatic reshaping two-lane highways, one is often surrounded by claimed the best available areas on the coastline, of their musical tradition; and Cape Breton has wilderness. Dense forests, rugged mountains the majority of the population would come conversely, lost the Gaelic language in most and wide lakes make up the backbone of this to be located in the “backland” areas further areas, but managed to preserve the fundamental environment. Even with the introduction inland, where insufficient infrastructure and a nature of their Gaelic music tradition. This of modern communications and transporta- lack of bridges would continue to limit travel can only be explained by the number of over- tion, this locale remains physically removed into the 20th century. Further increasing the whelmingly musical and culturally homogenous from urban centres such as Halifax, five hours isolation of these new world Gaels was their communities that made up the core of Cape southwest of Cape Breton’s most urbanised city, preference for endogamy, marrying between Breton’s early settlements. These communities Sydney, with a population of under 25,000. Gaelic families whenever possible, to protect were allowed to flourish for years, in nearly While travelling through the vast majority of their culture. PIPING TODAY • 29 THESIS 3.2 All of these factors nourished the cultural ‘Even today, it is considered high praise conservatism brought from outlying areas of the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides, such as the island of South Uist, where Gaelic is still among Cape Bretoners to say that a spoken today. This sentiment was allowed to grow further in the new communities of the player has the Gaelic in their music’ Cape Breton Gaidhealtachd and life was able to carry on in much the same fashion it had in Even today, it is considered high praise among sitated by industrialisation. Shears notes that: Gaelic Scotland, but without outside interfer- Cape Bretoners to say that a player “has the “as English gradually replaced Gaelic, ence. While cultural cohesion was shattered Gaelic in their music”. This is aptly echoed by […] the function of instrumental music in more diversified New World communities Cape Breton poet Malcolm MacNeil’s In Praise gradually changed.” such as Australia, New Zealand, the Eastern of Gaelic. He writes: He parallels the writing of folklore specialist United States and other areas of Canada, the Gaelic Language and the music of the John Shaw who wrote this about the changing Gaelic language and lifestyle were able to flour- pipes, The two are the same for me; That is nature of Gaelic song in Cape Breton: ish in the far-removed communities of Cape no reason to wonder, Since I am descended Combined with other recent agents Breton Island. from the seed of pipers. of cultural change, the language shift has A logical counter-argument to claims of While these sentiments still run deep in some effectively altered the social context for purity within Cape Breton Scottish music is areas of Cape Breton, gradual urbanisation and singing – interrupting the lines of trans- the suggestion that perhaps the musical traits industrialisation would eventually lead to the mission and changing the community’s characteristic of music and dance in this area decline and near disappearance of the Gaelic internal concepts of such fundamental represent some sort of cultural innovation on language, and along with it, traditional piping concepts as function, performance, occa- the part of these New World communities. and fiddling in Nova Scotia. sion and composition. However, this argument overlooks the fact The community musician or bard was once As Shears notes, this follows precisely what that, in most cases, the isolation faced in Cape a function in Gaelic society and a paying job happened to piping in Cape Breton, and Breton not only separated the island from the at the expense of the clan chiefs. Left without throughout New World Gaelic communities as rest of the country, but also separated individual wealthy patrons, the new social order within they made their transitions to urban life. The communities on the island. While musicians Cape Breton communities did not allow for fundamental difference that sets the tradition did occasionally intermingle, new ideas would survival on these skills alone, and many musi- apart in Cape Breton is that these changes only be heard by those within a close proximity cians were forced to adopt new occupations did not come into widespread effect until the of the musician. Therefore, the characteristics to supplement their income. Many workers middle of the 20th century, leaving the roots of that can be seen as shared by the island’s musi- eventually moved to rising urban areas, focusing traditional Gaelic music much more intact than cal community as a whole undoubtedly give around coal mining facilities or ports such as what can be seen in most other communities. a glimpse of what was brought over by early Sydney or Glace Bay. Others relocated to the WWI/WWII Pipe Bands Gaelic settlers of the island. A pre-Victorian northeastern United States in search of better THE 20th century would bring another catalyst style of Gaelic Highland music — the music work. As seen earlier in Scotland and in other for change to community pipers in Nova Scotia. of community pipers and fiddlers: strathspeys, immigrant communities, these social changes While the conflicts of WWI and WWII were reels, and jigs played for the scotch fours, would have a great impact on the nature of fought far from the shores of North Eastern set dances, and solo step-dancing, as well as Gaelic traditional life. Barry Shears notes, in Canada, many Nova Scotians volunteered for marches and laments played for funeral proces- his book, Dance to the Piper: service and came back with an altered perspec- sions “in the old Highland fashion”. The first three decades of the 20th tive on their cultural heritage after service. century witnessed a decline in the num- Many men died in battle serving the British Decline of Gaelic Language ber of Gaelic speakers in the region and Empire, and many of those who returned AMONG peripheral communities of Gaelic increased migration from rural areas viewed themselves as more “worldly”, often be- emigrants, it seems that the first step away to urban centres […]. This period also coming dismissive of their Gaelic cultural roots.

Load more