Donald Patrick Sargent – by Geoff Hore

PREAMBLE

Ceol Mor Compositions Prior to the mid-19th century composition of music for the Highland bagpipe is shrouded in mystery. There are many fine pieces of Ceol Mor that we understand were composed by certain people but, almost without exception, we cannot be absolutely sure of the composer of any piece prior to the early 1800s.

Many tunes that have been credited as having been composed and named by one of the famous MacCrimmon family are open to doubt. The publications of bagpipe music in the early 19th century give credit to members of that famous piping dynasty for having composed a number of tunes. However, nearly all those tunes so accredited have been included in other published and unpublished collections with conflicting titles or composer’s details.

To give one example, Angus MacKay’s collection of 1838 includes a tune called The Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon (the name that is used for it these days) and states that it was composed by John Dall MacKay after hearing a false report of Patrick Og’s death.

Donald MacDonald in his Ancient Martial Music of Caledonia published c1820 has the same tune, but he calls it Lament on the Death of Patrick More MacCrimmon. He adds that ‘A historical account of this Piobaireachd will be given in Vol 2’. Unfortunately, this second volume never appeared. MacDonald was supposed to have been taught by a person who was in turn reputed to have been MacCrimmon taught.

To confuse us even further an unpublished collection of tunes compiled in the late 18th century has this tune but calls it Couloddin’s Lament. The manuscript is called the Netherlorn (or Campbell) Canntaireachd and its authorship is attributed to Colin Campbell of Netherlorn. Nowhere in this collection does Campbell make any reference to a MacCrimmon even though he or his father were supposed to have been taught by one of that family.

There are some tunes that have a remarkable resemblance to others. Compare Beinn a Ghriain with I Got a Kiss of the King’s Hand; The MacFarlanes’ Gathering with Too Long in This Condition; The Lament for MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart No 1 and No 2, Battle of Auldearn No 1 and No 2 and Lament for the Old Sword with The Nameless Tune from the Campbell Canntaireachd Vol 2 Tune 65 (published in Book 12, Page 371 of the Piobaireachd Society’s Collection).

Some say that all these tunes are different enough to be considered tunes in their own right. Others will debate this and add that this indicates that road along which our music has come has been very rocky indeed.

Prior to 230 years ago none of these tunes were recorded anywhere except in the player’s, and listener’s head. It is easy to believe that someone hearing a tune played on any given occasion would retain it, at least partially in his head, and then may unwittingly compose a tune using the basic theme of that tune. It is also possible that the original composer may never have heard the latter piece played.

Ceol Beag Compositions There is no doubt, as far as Ceol Mor is concerned, the situation prior to the introduction of the written music is quite confusing. The same can be said for Ceol Beag tunes that existed prior to 1850. It is rare that a composer’s name is associated with any of these tunes. Some may have been composed by pipers, but it is more likely that many of them were ‘borrowed’ from musicians playing other instruments.

Many of the early publications of Ceol Beag have tunes with up to three or even four different names. They also give the tunes in a different style (time signature) to the way we play them these days. Some of the more popular marches we play have been freely adapted from older airs that were probably never intended to be played as such.

This is all part of the evolution of music and there is nothing wrong with it. There have been numerous examples these days of pipers taking compositions, both new and old, and adding extra variations or arranging them in a time signature that is completely new. In many cases these adaptations have enhanced the tunes.

By way of example, I can cite two tunes but there are many more. Caber Feidh is a very old tune of unknown authorship and has been published as a 4/4 march, , , and and I have a handwritten version of it as a 2/4 march. All of these have merit and are frequently played. The other is a more recently composed 4/4 march called Lieutenant Colonel D. J. S. Murray composed by Lieutenant John Allan. It is on page 18 of the Scots Guards Volume II in that form and on page 90 it has been arranged as a reel by the late Pipe Major Angus MacDonald. Both versions of the tune are eminently playable.

Since the first publication of bagpipe music 220 years ago there have been over 300 books published for the Highland bagpipe and the Irish War pipe and they contain thousands of tunes. Many of the more popular tunes are duplicated in a number of books but the overall percentage of tunes that are played regularly is remarkable small.

In A Bibliography of Bagpipe Music Roderick D Cannon when talking of late 19th century bagpipe music publications states ‘…large numbers of comparatively worthless pieces were produced which are now completely forgotten. The fact that they were printed for general circulation did not ensure that they would be played.’

These days nothing has changed. The last 40 years has seen a proliferation of bagpipe music books and although there are a few gems amongst them the vast majority of the tunes are rarely played.

In my collection I have a number of handwritten manuscript books and they have numerous compositions that are unknown outside of these manuscripts. Most of these tunes will never find their way into published collections.

Many of the favourite tunes played these days are traditional tunes; or perhaps put differently, we have no way of knowing who composed them. Such tunes are the standard fare of the bagpipe music collections of the first half of the 19th century. It is rare to see a composer’s name.

The second half of the 19th century saw a change and many tunes appeared with the composer’s name. One can see the evolution of most of the more popular tunes in these books as each compiler gave his arrangement or setting. Initially, the newly composed tunes were in the minority.

The further we get into the 20th century there is an increase in new compositions and less arrangements of older tunes. There are many books that have new compositions only.

The mid-19th century also saw the genesis of the competition march. Initially, these tunes were arrangements of existing tunes but clothed in the style of the 2/4 march. As the century moved into its last quarter, we start to see the emergence of some extremely fine tunes. Their quality is proven by the fact that they are still played these days.

In comparison with marches, reels, and , the composing of Strathspeys has not been nearly so prolific. There are very few Strathspeys composed in the last 150 years that are played regularly these days.

Scotland has produced many pipers who have distinguished themselves as composers. Some have brought us one or two tunes, and many have been prolific. Arguably the best of them is the late Donald MacLeod. During his tour of New Zealand in 1976 Donald made the remark that ‘Composing is the easiest thing in the world – if you can do it’. That about sums it up for me; I find it an impossible art and have a ton of admiration for those who can.

To determine which New Zealander composers, merit a place in this series will not be easy. As stated earlier, the most important aspect will be their standing in the eyes of their fellow pipers. Some have had tunes published in music books from Scotland and that will be sufficient to warrant a mention. There are also those New Zealanders who have published their own collections and they too will find a way into this series. There will undoubtedly be some who have composed some tunes that have been neither played nor published. A decision will have to be made as to whether they warrant inclusion.

When I started learning to play the and had a repertoire of about half a tune, I found that I could amuse myself by doodling on the practice chanter. Mercifully, none of these musings were committed to memory or paper. In the 38 years since then nothing has changed very much; I still doodle and very little has been worth preserving.

Frequently, I have put some of my inspirations on paper and have convinced myself that it has the makings of tune that will fit nicely into a World Championship Pipe Band Medley or perhaps even be the march, strathspey or reel that will be played by the top soloists. However, the next day when I have gone back and played it over again any delusions, I may have had the night before are soon dispelled and the manuscript is destroyed before I am embarrassed by a public airing of the tune.

There is no doubt that bagpipers are inveterate doodlers. All pipers try it with various degrees of success. However, there is only one criteria as to whether a tune is any good and that is whether it is played or not. I have composed one tune that I think may be playable and I do play it. That is not the real test; it will only be considered a good or great tune if the piping world at large accept it and play it. I am not holding my breath.

Donald Patrick Sargent

Donald Patrick Sargent was born in Dannevirke, a small provincial town in the lower part of the North Island of New Zealand on 11 July 1925. He was the youngest of five children by nine years and had three brothers and a sister. During his childhood he lived at Matamau, a country district a few miles north of Dannevirke where his parents had a small farm.

His father was New Zealand born with parents from Lincolnshire in England, whilst his mother’s family came from Tipperary in Ireland. Oddly enough it was his father who had a passionate fondness for the music of the Highland Bagpipe and saw to it that Donald was taught the pipes at 10 years of age. One can hear the Irish influence coming through in many of the compositions in this book.

His first teacher was George Rose who was a member of the Ruahine Highland Pipe Band. George used to call at the farm on his way to band practice at the Matamau country hall. Later Donald joined the main group for chanter practice.

He had a natural talent for music and could play the mouth organ, and melodeon before he started on the pipes. The neighbours used to say, ‘Young Sargent could get a tune out of a seven-wire fence.’

When Donald was 11, the family sold the farm and moved back to Dannevirke where he attended the local High School. In 1939 a pipe band was formed at the school of which he became the Pipe Major. The following year the Ruahine Band won the New Zealand Championship for the first time.

It was whilst at High School that Donald first met Willie Anderson who was one of the learner pipers. This was the beginning of a great friendship that has lasted for nearly sixty years. As Donald says, ‘Willie and I have played the pipes, roamed the hills, fished the streams, shot game and clay targets and occasionally taken ‘strong waters’ and never had a falling out’. But if you were in their company for an hour or so you would wonder if they were great friends or mortal enemies!

Willie has remained a confirmed bachelor and has treated Donald’s family as his own. Willie has also become an authority on Donald’s compositions. From the early years Donald never kept the tunes after he wrote them out; that task befell Willie and except for some of the tunes from the first 10 years or so, which were in an envelope that was lost, he has the originals of almost all of the remainder.

At the conclusion of his secondary schooling, Donald moved to Wellington and there he met Bruce McCann who became his tutor for three years and friend for life. He always maintained ‘McCann was a good piper but a great teacher’. He learned a piobaireachd or two from Bruce McCann but after he returned to Dannevirke there was no source of tuition available, so he concentrated on small music, both band and solo.

It was during this time that he started composing and has continued up to the present time. In 1946 Donald played with the Ruahine Band and later became Musical Director of the Dannevirke and District Pipe Band and in 1953 they won the New Zealand B Grade Championships. Later the Band competed strongly in A Grade until 1960 when loss of members forced it to retire from competition.

In 1961 Donald was elected to the New Zealand Pipe Band’s Panel of Judges on which he served for 27 years until his retirement in 1988. A measure of the esteem in which he was held by the competing bands was that he was consistently appointed to the New Zealand Championship bench. No one in New Zealand gets onto the Pipe Band Judging Panel unless he is nominated by the bands and then appointed by another panel of band representatives.

He was also in demand as a solo judge and retired from that panel in 1996. Listening to a highly rated piper for the first time, Donald would always reserve judgement until ‘he was finished with the fireworks display and settled down to play a solid 2/4 march’.

Throughout his personal life he was involved in accountancy and secretarial work; the last 21 years of his working life were as secretary to the Woodville-Pahiatua Racing Club based in Woodville. Donald spent a couple of years in Ireland in the 1950s and has been back twice on holiday to Scotland and Ireland in 1992 and 1998, both times in the company of his old crony Willie Anderson.

Donald was married in 1959 and had three children, Ewan, Terry and Margaret. Terry died accidentally in 1982 at the age of 18 and wife Mary passed away in January 1993. All his family are remembered in the tunes that bear their names.

Today he lives quietly in a flat in small town Woodville where his main interest, apart from piping and pipe music, is in holistic healing work. Due to an accident a couple of years ago he was left with a damaged thumb on the right hand. This effectively ended his playing days as Donald plays on the right shoulder. The incident is noted in the 6/8 march - Donald Patrick’s Farewell to the Pipes. The publication of this work is a fitting tribute to a lifetime dedicated to the music of the .

I am indebted to Donald for the permission to publish the above biography as it also appears in the soon to be published Muckle Dram Collection. This is a collection of most of the tunes he has composed over the last 60 years.

About 6 years ago I was at the Colin Craig Claidhmhor competitions in Palmerston North and ran into Don at the bar – again. We discussed The Sargent Collection that was published by Doug Thoresen in Australia in 1985 and Don told me that he had composed a number of new tunes and was going to try to get them, along with those in the first edition, published.

I had been experimenting with computer software for writing music and offered to set the tunes for this new publication. A few weeks later a package arrived with all the manuscripts of the new tunes and corrections of the older ones.

I have played every one of these tunes and there is no doubt that Donald is a very talented composer. Many of his earlier compositions have been played by bands and soloists and have become well known. Some of the more popular are Avoca House, The Accordion Jig, Drum Major Sturrock’s Welcome, John Glengarry’s Farewell, Willie Sutherland, Willie’s Overboard and perhaps the most famous, The Muckle Dram.

Donald’s later compositions are also as good, if not better than those listed above, and the imminent publication will bring this delightful collection of tunes to the piping public. One of my favourites is The Lament for Chas.Jennings.

I am indebted to the composer for his permission to reproduce it here and he adds the following: The Lament for Chas Jennings is a simple song expressing sadness at the loss of a close friend. While it is written to conform to ¾ time it should be treated like the ground of a Piobaireachd, letting your heart attune to the air and your intuitive feelings overshadow the printed note. Then, tune your pipe well and play it that way – the way that feels right to you.

I think you will agree this is a delightful tune and truly brings out the emotions at the loss of a close friend in such tragic circumstances.

In the 1950s travel between New Zealand and Scotland took weeks by ship and was not done very often. In those days only the wealthy were able to fly. Without the aid of fax machines and computers the exchange of information between the two countries was rather slow compared with today.

In 1956 Donald composed the 6/8 march John Glengarry’s Farewell when John left the band. A year of two later John was in Scotland and heard a band playing his tune. He was rather surprised to hear it and when the band stopped asked them about it. He was told that they thought it was a traditional tune and did not know its name. I can imagine the band would have been delighted to learn the name and origin of the tune.

During the many hours I have spent talking to Donald on the phone or in his and Willie Anderson’s company at the proof testing, er proof reading sessions I have been entertained by his wonderful sense of humour and large store of piping stories from the 1950s through to today.

By using the criteria cited earlier that a tune’s worth is measured by its playability, then Donald Sargent will rate as one of the best, if not the best composer of bagpipe music New Zealand has produced. The Muckle Dram was played to Donald MacLeod when he was out here from Scotland in 1967 and Donald said it was the best new reel he had heard since John Morrison of Assynt House – high praise indeed.

As I write this the book is at the printers and will be available for sale by the time this magazine is published. An advertisement is on page ____ for those who wish to purchase the book.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the composer and Willie Anderson for their assistance in producing this article.