INTHIS

ISSUE

GETTING THEACT

TOGETHER

PEEBLESCOLLOGUE

PASTORALPIPESC.1780

LBPSCOMPETITION

Price £2.50

EditorialThe more observant readers of COMMONSTOCK will have spotted that although theDecember issue forecast articles on Mary Scottand Medieval Travel, they are not to be foundin these pages. The reason? Space. Happily thepapers forwarded from the 1992 Collogue inPeebles have put all the available columns togood use. So perhaps in the December issue wewill return to Mary Scott and Travel, in themeantime, those who, like myself, were unableto attend last year's Collogue, can savour someof the atmosphere and learn some of the detailfrom the papers which are published here.

And Gordon Mooney writes 'I hope to get AlanJones' collections of bagpipes over to the U.K.to tour and also exhibit at Old Gala House(Galashiels ). If anyone wants a lecture recitaland display of all Alan's 70 odd sets of pipes,please get in touch to book him. Time frame isSeptember/October.'

The growing interest in Cauld-wind piping isreflected in the MEETINGS AND EVENTSlistings here on the back page - particularly theactivity in North America. Some of thecircumstances that led to this growth isdescribed in Hamish

's (or is it Maggie's?)article with the suggestion that pipers from thisside of the Atlantic might well take advantageof a piping holiday over there. Further focus onthe North American scene is supplied by AlJames who has sent detailed description and

measurements of an ancient set of Pastoralpipes which were lurking in his local museumin Canada

Clearly there remains a great deal to unearthand discover about all breeds of cauld-windpipes - and no-one makes this point moreforcefully than musicologist John Purser in hisarticle GETTING THE ACT TOGETHER ...

Jock Agnew II Ulting Lane, Langford, Essex

From Philip Gruar, Brook Cottage, Carnforth

Re. Bill Teller's article in the DecemberCOMMON STOCK, last year I did pipe in thehaggis, unkilted, playing Border pipes, at aBurns supper near Kendal.

From R.W.Odlin, Sedro-Woolley, U.S.A.

"Hugh MacDiarmid." = Ahern! = Are we tobe impressed with this prosy old drone fromthe Bolshie Hive? If I can find Roy Campbell'scrack I shall include it here . . . "I think be-cause of Basil's presence we were able toattract many good American poets to givereadings in the tower, and he was generallypleased to see them. But the poet whom heenjoyed meeting most was Hugh MacDiarmid.

On the way to the tower in a taxi, Basil toldMacDiarmid that he was the finest Scottishpoet since Burns, and MacDiarmid, chuckling,agreed. Both men had known and respectedeach other's work, but had never met.MacDiarmid read, amongst other things, thebeautiful 'Island Funeral, ' and after the read-ing we went back to our . flat. The old menwere bubbling with the Glenfiddick Fire Waterand the youngsters blissful on beer andmarijuana.

BB 'MacDiarmid, this working class lad herespells xxxx (expletive deleted.Ed ) with a K,but writes marvelous poetry....'

HMcD 'I hate the xxxxxxx working class...'

Mischeif sparkled in their eyes all night long,and Bunting sang from his seemingly endlessrepertoire of bawdy songs." (From BROKENRECORD: Reminiscences by Roy Campbell).

From John Creager, Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A.

I noticed in the Lowland and Border Pipers'Society Newsletter that articles were wantedfor COMMON STOCK. I'm sending you thelocal contest results, hoping that they mightbe of some interest.

Scottish Small pipe EventSanta Rosa Indoor Piping and Drumming

ContestPiner Elementary School, Santa Rosa,

CaliforniaMarch 6, 1993.

1st Place - Martha YatesPipes H.Moore, Key of ATunes: The Martha Yates Polka (by DonaldShaw Ramsay), Drops of Brandy, Ash Grove( Martha sang along with this tune).

2nd Place - John AllanPipes M.MacHarg Drones, H.Moore chanter,key of A.Tunes: The Old Man on the Most, "ElieMerry Boys of Greenland, high over Bun-achton.

3rd Place - Paul McAfeePipes J.Anderson, Key of A.tunes: Leaving Loch Boisdale. The Merry Boysof Greenland, Forest Lodge

From Colin Ross, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay

I notice there has been some discussionregarding the production of a CD of Lowlandpiping by the Society. Can I warn you of thisstraight away in the light of the experiencegained thru our own exercise in doing thesame in the Northumbrian Pipers Society. Westill have over 800 left our of our 1000produced some years ago now and are stillnearly 1000 out of pocket.

I warned the Society at the time that itshould have been done professionally so thatwe were not involved in production costs i.e.recording studio time, printing of sleeve, andpressing of disc, and also more important be-cause the professional company could have adistribution network that could get theproduction sold. In the end it was the lack ofdistribution facilities that left us with theremainder with the subsequent foss and noprofit on a project that in the worst sense wasa "vanity production" lacking any overallartistic direction.

If the L.B.P.S. is determined to produce arecording for sale to the public as well asmembers please bear this in mind as it coulddestroy the financial base of the Society whichdoes not have the capital to enter into aproject like this.

Leave it to the professionals like Hamish orDougie McLean who have the time andmotivation (perhaps) to do it. The cauld windpipes are well served by existing recordingsanyway.

LETTERS

AdvertisementThe pipes offered for sale are as follows:

1: The actual set of Scott pastoral pipes played by Hamish Moore on Roslyn Castle; a track on hisseminal'Cauld Wind Pipes' album, with a D chanter, which overblows to give 2 full octaves, and a regulator pies 5 drones.They have recently been refurbished and re-reeded by Chris Bailey, the maker, and there is a Idler from him

confirming the provenance. Own a piece of cauld-wind piping history: the first pastorals on record (probably!).With case and bellows, vgc, Oire650.

2: A Musette de Cour (French Small Pipes) in D;G'Am by Dave Shaw, with 2 (large and small) chromatic(chanters in the same stock and shuttle drones giving 6 possible drone notes. Well maintained and recentlyrefurbished by maker, in beautifully matured honey-coloured boxwood with simple case. Fits standard NSPbellows (not included) . Suitable for early music and Border repertoire: Oiroo 695.

3: A student cabrette-type set, with chanter and one tee-side tenor drone mounted parallel in the same stock, play-ing in D/G with some ove rblowing. Made by Soefirne in rosewood. Uses Uillean reeds, easily obtainable, vgc:Offers invited (Uillean type bellows can be included for 50).

Please call George Howard on 0942 812536 after 7pm or leave message on answerphone at other times. Deliverycan be arranged.

2 3

TUITION IN NORTH AMERICA (see also back Cover)

This summer, Hamish Moore will be spending six weeks in the States and Canada, furnishing anever-increasing demand for tuition on Scottish small pipes from the fast-growing band of enthusiastsscattered over the continent. He will be running his own piping schools in North Carolina,California and Vermont, as well as spending three weeks in the Gaelic College on Cape BretonIsland, Nova Scotia. But how did it all start?

Hamish began teaching in the US in 1986, when he joined the staff of the Augusta Heritage Center,West Ylrginia , an organisation promoting traditional music, dance and crafts through itsprogramme of summer schools. In 1988 he also started teaching at the Ashokan Fiddle and Dancecamp in New York State, where the Celtic Week was a fine amalgamation of Scottish, Irish and CapeBreton music and dance.

In 1990, after 3 years at both Augusta and Ashokan, Hamish branched out and set up his own pipingschool in Vermont, the idea being to provide a smaller venue, where an informal atmosphere wouldencourage folk to get the most out of their musk. In the following two years, he set up new branches,first in North Carolina and subsequently in California. These ventures succeeded with the help ofthree enthusiastic and hard working co-ordinators; Matt Buckley in Vermont, Jo Johnston in NorthCarolina and John Creager in California. (Contact addresses on back coven Ed).

The numbers on each course vary between ten and twenty, with a second tutor being brought in ifthere are more than ten students.

In North Carolina and California , Maggie Moore will be running dance workshops in associationwith the piping schools. The social and set dances of pre-twentieth century Scotland will be explored,including the oldest and only indigenous dance form; Reels. Various regional styles, especially thoseof the outlying islands, Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides, will be covered as well as the mostpopular dances which have survived through the centuries and are still danced at ceilidhs, weddingsetc.

In the past, pipers from the States and Canada have made the trip to Scotland to join the pipingschools which Hamish runs in Perthshire. Perhaps this year the flow will go the other way and someBritish pipers may decide to mix travel with piping. The Vermont school is purposely time-tabled tofit in with the Bagpipe Convention at North Hero. only forty-five minutes away by car, which is aMecca for hundreds of pipers of all hues.

Here is part of Steve Bliven's description of the 1991 Lowland Pipe Workshop held in Vermont.

The group came from mixed musical backgrounds. Halfof the ten members fell into the beginnersgroup (with two in the "never touched it before" category), most of the rest classifying themselves asadvanced. Only half the group (including some of the Lowland pipe beginners) had experience onHighland pipes. Virtually all had some prior musical background, all on "folk" instruments, and halfwere repeaters at a Hamish enclave (somehad attended multiple sessions).

I quickly proved that I deserved my beginners ranking and was assigned, with four others, to DavieTaylor while the more advanced students went offwith Hamish. Each of the beginners worked with a"Goose" - no need for tuning of drones - and all in lhe key of "A". This simplified the process andallowed the formation of smaller groups for practice. The advanced group used their own pipes in acommon key. Later in the week the instructors switched off for a couple of sessions providing thebeginners with several lessons directly from Hamish.

The day broke down into a routine of two hour sessions with the instructors in the morning and

5

afternoon working on repertoire, technique, and style; even in the beginners group there was a strongemphasis on the latter.

Each afternoon ended with a session on the history and the legends of Scotland or piping, instrument

set-up and maintenance, or a critique of recordings of pipe music. Several evening were ant in

Burlington at sessions with local musicians over fermented beverages.

People came to the camp with expectations of expanded repertoire, refined technique, greaterknowledge of pipe care and maintenance, and just to have fun. All indicated that their expectationshad been met and then some. Post-camp comments tended to superlatives. And each indicated thatthey had made new friends. Some of the beginners initially found sense frustrationintroduction of new elements and need for more practising lime, but when asked a month later afterthe course was over, virtually all recognised that the week had exposed them to far more than they

could handle as once - but they had material to work on for several months. (Both Davie andHamish noted that this was, of necessity, a crash course; given a different situation, the lessons wouldhave been spread out over several months.) The advanced players seemed to have no such troublesoaking up the tunes and techniques.

Of the eight participants who responded to a follow-up survey, all highly recommended the week. Thecombination of good musk, excellent instruction, a beautiful setting, and friendly folk made it ahighly worthwhile experience.

Advertisement

For Sale:Scottish Smallpipes in C and Bb by H Moore. These fully mounted pipes must be the best toned pipes

available. The set inC was previously owned and played by Hamish Moore.

Border pipes in Bb . Shaw drones with replica 19th century chanter, can be reeded to give a quiet toneor alma highland sound. + 20 volumes of music, Scottish, English, Irish and French.

May exchange for Nikon or Medium Format camera equipment. Phone 0532 539045.

GETTING THE ACT TOGETHERJohn Purser, author, musician and Broadcaster, gave a memorable Immortal Memory atthis year's LBPS Burns supper. In his writings and his broadcasts he usually leaves hisaudience with something to chew on, and this article is no exception.

Publishing a book called Scotland's Music has put me in the invidious position ofbeing expected to know everything about the subject. This, I assume is why Jock hasasked me to contribute to Common Stock. But the fact is that I know very littleabout the Lowland and Border Pipes, and because it is embarrassing to have to admit it,I intend to shift the blame!

It is not really my fault at all, you see, because as far as I can make out nobody knowswhat a Lowland or Border pipe really is. Is it conical, is it cylindrical, is the chanterclosed or open, is it permitted to have a key or two on the chanter, when is it aNorthumberland pipe, where do the Pastoral pipes fit in, or the uilleann pipes and thestock and horn if it comes to that? If that were not enough how do we identify whattunes were originally for what instrument - who is pinching what notes out of whatfinger holes, who is cross-fingered when and where; what (Common Stock Vol 7 No 2)has happened to the Phrygian mode which to my ear has a lurking presence in thehundreds of tunes usually described as "double tonic'? In the many references to"pipers", whether town pipers or otherwise, what instrument is referred to? Where is anhonest musicologist to go to get straight answers to these questions?

Nowhere, that's where.

Of course I recognise that one or two publications have made a start in that direction,but we all know the subject is too big for an introductory essay. It needs a book to itself.So I have a proposal to make. I've made it already as part of the Immortal Memory Igave for your last Burns Supper, and this is me making it again, forcefully. It is timesomebody gave the next few years of their life to writing the history of these instru-ments, and it is time the Society started raising the cash to start publishing the historyin full glory, with musical examples properly typeset, well illustrated - all the trimmingsthat this complex and fascinating subject so richly deserves. Keith Sanger and AlisonKinnaird have done it for the clarsach in their magnificent Tree Of Strings and Iknow of two or three people who are capable of doing the same for the cauld wind pipes.Of course it has to be a work of real scholarship as well as practical experience, but sucha book would be a thing to treasure for many years, as well as setting a standard fromwhich other generations could move on.

Of course in the performing world the emphasis tends to be on new sets of old tunes, ornew tunes altogether, and the past is treated with a liveliness which insists on its stillbeing alive and malleable. That is right and proper. But it is also right and proper thatan understanding of what that past really was be established - not so as to putperformers in orthodox straight jackets, but so that they are fully aware of what theyare doing. One does not have to behave like one's great-grand-parents in order tobenefit from a thorough knowledge of who they were and how they behaved, but it isinteresting to have that knowledge and sometimes it reveals the genetic background toone's own actions. I believe the same can apply to a study of our musical past. So go toit. Finally, I have made feeble search for the two tunes that Dunbar mentions when hewrites "Your commone menstralis hes no tone,/ Bot Now the day dawis and IntoJoun". Any answers that fit the cauld wind pipes? There are a number of candidatesfor Now the day dawis, but no clear winner. As for Into Joun, I am lost.

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for though tarnished dull is cleans easily as shown by the small-drone ferrule which wasgiven a lick of Brasso. The metal appears to have a high tin content but is fairly ductile, theplug-cap seeming lathe-spun to form the sidesof the cap. The average metal thickness is

15thou .

The workmanship of the pipe is excellent and its maker was a good crafts-man. His pipehas seen plenty of playing for the chanter holes are well worn. The chanter, incidentally,now has a fine but definite crack on one side for almost the whole of its length.

Photos 3 and 4 show the pipe dissembled as far as then was possible. Later the smalldrone and the bass-drone tuning sections were detached from the stock plug. Theremaining pieces appear to be cemented in by a combination of jute thread and fish-glue,and will not budge. Photo 4 shows the bottom thickness of the drones stock and the threereed holes in the disc in the bottom of the stock plug.

The drawings, sheets 1 to 4, show the pertinent dimensions as accurately as I could makethem, using steel rule, dial-calliper and twist-drill-bit diameter gauges. The decorativeembellishments have been left un-dimensioned as they will now be a matter of personalpreference. All of the spigots for holding ferrules, for stock-fitting and for the tuning slidesare parallel grooved, while the bass and mid-drone end-bell spigots are screw-threadgrooved.

The "U" tube of sheet 2 is purely speculative and the actual height/length could bededuced from experimentation with pieces of plastic tube during the final stages ofmanufacture.

Similarly, the chanter foot-joint of sheet 3 is speculative and may be improved by ex-perimentation. The mid-drone end-bell on the same drawing is shown detached anddimensioned so that the other drone and end-bells can be made to suitable proportion.

Drawing sheet 4 is somewhat complicated and is an attempt to depict a very tricky pieceof woodwork. The plug is of box-wood whereas the other pieces are of black-wood. It ismade to very fine tolerances so that the spigot and spigot-hole diameters are very close,and the wall thickness between the spigot-holes and the outside of the plug is very thin. Inthe thin areas there are now some longitudinal splits in the wood.

The fitting of the drone pieces in the plug appear to have been difficult as some droneflanges and spigot holes have been scraped in some areas.

To make the cross-connection in the plug between the spigot-holes of the bass-dronedown-corner and the bass-drone tuning section, the bottom of the plug was recessed to adepth of 7/32' by face-plate turning in a lathe. It was then sealed by a tightly fitted andglued, box-wood disc of depth thickness in which the three reed holes were drilled, afterthe 3/8" high and wide channel was cut.

These holes were drilled to different depths, the small-drone spigot hole being drilledthrough plug and disc, so that the reed would seat in the drone and have vibration spacein the plug. The bass-drone spigot-hole was drilled into the plug to a depthof 1+1/8", thenthrough plug and disc at 11/32' to form a long reed seat in the plug and the disc. Themid-drone spigot-hole was drilled through the plug to the inside face of the disc at 17/64"to form a reed-seat in the disc. Both bass and mid-drone seats appear to have beenlightly flared by hand.

To conclude, there are numerous ways in which the modem pipe-maker could improve on9

Pastoral Pipes c.1780Al James, from Vancouver B.C., Canada, says that althoughthe pipe is now returned to the museum from whence it came,he still has access and will be pleased to check on any pointsthat readers may raise. And he has since come upon acatalogue entry describing the pipes as "Set of Highland SmallPipes (bag pipes) donated by Lord Seaforth to a gentleman " .

I was interested in Hugh Cheape's article in the Dec. '91 issue of the Journal on Sir DavidWilkie's painting "The Bagpiper', particularly in illustration 2 which showed a late 18thcentury Pastoral or Hybrid Union bagpipe.

Last month I was assisting with work in a small museum which is maintained by membersof the Regimental Association of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and happened uponthe remains of an old bagpipe, stored in a carton. The bellows, the leather bag, thechanter foot-joint, a couple of drone end bells, the metal 'U'-tube of the bass-drone foldand all of the reeds were missing. The remaining pieces were tied into a bag made of oldkilt material and some of the pieces were damaged.

The pipe was taken home with me for investigation and measurement, and was found tobe almost exactly like the pipe of Illustration 2 and very similar to Plate X1/31 of AnthonyBaines' "Bagpipe" book.

Accordingly I photographed and measured the pieces, and recorded the actualdimensions. Dimensions of some of the missing pieces were estimated by comparison toIllustra.2 and Plate XI/31 and also recorded.

Without a doubt, the pipe is of 1780 vintage (See also below. Ed) and though in its presentstate it cannot be reeded and played, it could be restored by a competent pipe-maker.

For anyone who would like to make a replica of this fascinating bagpipe I have dratted mymeasurements and estimations except for those of the bag and bellows which can easilybe obtained elsewhere.

Photos 1 and 2 are same object, different perspective. Set up on a cabinet top withblanket back-drop, two flood lights and the family camera, the chanter is stuffed withtissue paper to high-light the finger holes. Photo 1 shows finger holes plus black shadow,photo 2 shows no black shadow and no finger holes and in both shots the two-foot rule isa disaster.

The Items L to R are the chanter stock which has been thrice longitudinally split apart andmissing one slice of about 1/8" thick, then the chanter minus the foot-joint. Item 3 is thetwo-foot rule and item 4 is the drones stock with all existing pieces assembled. In thestock the small drone (sans end-bell) is front centre, flanked on the right by the bottompiece of the bass drone which would hold the reed and on the left by the down-comingsection of the bass drone, which is connected to the tuning section (behind thedown-corner) by a horizontal channel in the stock plug. The mid-drone at right rear iscomplete. The fifth item is the blow-stick stock holding the blow-stick, fro

m which apieceof the mouth is broken away and missing.

For the ferrules and stock-plug cap the metal used is something like pewter but brighter ,

8 . 8

3

2

10

the manufacture of a similar pipe. Still, it is interesting to speculate on how the pipe wouldhave sounded in its prime, so using high-school physics I have attempted to estimate thefundamental frequencies of the instrument.

Based on the simple equation of Frequency = Speed of sound divided by four times thedrone length, and with a sound speed of 1125ft/sec., I calculated the bass-dronefrequency to equal 80Hz.

Assuming the chanter low A to be two octaves higher, the low A would be 320Hz. i.e. wellbelow the modem standard of 440Hz. The spacing of the chanter holes requires a longlow-hand span to cover the low A hole, which at 1/8" diameter is the smallest of thechanter holes; so that it probably was low pitched and soft-sounding too.

This sparks speculation concerning the function of the small drone, the fundamentalfrequency of which calculates to 320Hz. at its shortest length; thereby matching thefrequency of the chanter low A, which would not only provide harmony but would alsoaugment the volume of the low A. Very interesting! Does, for instance, a small diameter Ahole ease any chipping/skirling problems that may stem from a stiff-shouldered reedcombined with a large diameter A hole?

The middle drone doesn't back up my logic very well, for it calculates to 169Hz. at itsshortest length and therefore is a little higher than the theoretical 160Hz. for a tenor droneto its bass drone's 80Hz. It is too low for a theoretical E drone of 240Hz. so probably is atenor drone.

Comments from anyone interested in the fore-going will be very welcome and if someonecan supply information on, and dimensions of, the reeds and missing pieces, they will behugely smiled upon.

1

BAGPIPES OF THE BORDERThe 1992 Collogue (n.collusion; a conversation, a confidential chat -Chambers Scots Dictionary) was a success - as was its predecessor in 1991.Appropriately held in the Borders (Jedburgh 1991, Peebles last year;Galashiels 1993) it is to become an annual event.

Julian Goodacre, one of the prime movers, has supplied the following in-troduction which may serve to lead readers gently into the more detailedand technical contents of the papers themselves.

The Scottish/English Border has been a centre for the playing of several types of bellowsblown bagpipes from the 17th century to modern times. These pipes differ considerably fromthe familiar mouth blown Highland Pipes and have a quieter, sweeter tone.

In Northumberland, on the English side of the Border, there is an unbroken tradition ofplaying bellows-blown SmallpIpes. In Scotland, however, where they were played in manyareas, especially around Aberdeen and in the Borders, these pipes fell into disuse during the19th century. This was mainly due to the adoption of the Highland pipes for military bandsand the subsequent spread of their popularity world-wide.

A useful Scottish name for all the bellow-blown bagpipes Is CAULD WIND PIPES, so calledbecause the air blown into them is cold as opposed to the warm air blown into a mouth-blownPipe.

TYPES OF CAULD WIND PIPES.Basically there are two different categories of pipes, the main difference being in the shape ofthe bore down the centre of the chanter.

1. SMALLPIPES

The chanter on these pipes has a parallel bore, which results In a low quiet tone.

a. Northumbrian PipesDuring the last two centuries these have been developed from a simple Smallpipe of the 17thcentury into a modern sophisticated bagpipe that is currently enjoying worldwide popularity.

b. Scottish SmallpipesThe surviving museum examples of Scottish Smallpipes show us that they remained similar tothe simple 17th century pipe from which developed the modern Northumbrian pipe. The lastten years has seen a resurgence of interest in making, developing and playing these pipes andthey have found a place as a bagpipe in the Scottish musical scene. The Lowland and BorderPipers' Society (formed in 1981) has provided a focus for this revival.

2. LOUDER CAULD WIND PIPES

The chanter of these pipes has a conical bore which produces a higher pitched and loudersound than the Smallpipe.

There are a variety of different pipes with a confusing number of names: Border, Lowland,Union, Hybrid Union, Half-long, Irish, Uillean, Pastoral. The confusion Is increased by the

fact that one type of pipe can be called by several of these names!

a. Border PipeIn the simplest form the Border bagpipe consists of three drones fitted in a common stockwith a loud conical-bored chanter similar to that on a Highland pipe, though quieter.

b. Union PipeThe Union pipe is a more sophisticated bagpipe, possiblydeveloped from the Border pipe. Ithas a great deal in common with the modern Irish Uillean Pipe.

Although we may never establish fixed categories for these pipes, we have In this Exhibition(I.e. at the Collogue.Ed) some of the surviving instruments that are the inspiration for playersand makers in this current revival ......

THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS' SOCIETY SECOND ANNUAL COLLOGUE WASHELD AT THE COUNTY HOTEL, PEEBLES ON AUGUST 29TH 1992.

The day consisted of Talks of Tunes and techniques, Entertainment, discussions and displays.The day ended with a concert.

Some of the papers presented at that Collogue are reproduced here.

SINGING TO THE SMA' PIPESDavie Robertson is a familiar sight (and sound) at theLBPS annual competitions. This talk was illustrated byDavie playing and singing some of his repertoire.

We know from written records that singing to the pipes seems to have been afairly common practice. It is probably safe to assume that the instrument inquestion was the sma' pipe, since it would need the lungs and vocal chords of abull to compete with the Lowland pipes. It is also probable that these were18th century drawing-room performances where Italian, French, orpolished-up versions of Scots songs might have been accompanied by pastoralpipes, musette or small pipes. However I intend to concentrate on what I un-derstand to be the native tradition.

Since the Scots sma' pipes seem to have been extinct by the end of last centuryas a "living" musical instrument as opposed to a museum piece or a curiosity, itis stating the obvious to say that as far as we know, no living tradition ofplaying the sma' pipes, far less singing to them, has survived to the presentday. Thus although we know through the efforts of Gordon Mooney what kindof tunes were played, we can never know with absolute certainty even aboutsuch basics as fingering, far less nuances of style, use of ornamentation and soon.

I have a kind of gut feeling about this that makes me tend to agree withJulian Goodacre that in the south of Scotland at any rate, closed fingering

16 17

would be used Julian explained very lucidly at a Lowland and Border Pipers'meeting last year just what the technical evidence for this is in the construc-tion of old sets of sma' pipes, and if you want a resume of this I refer you tohim. I have a hunch that when the Northumbrian chanter wasstopped, it was not done to achieve a revolutionary new sound, but toimprove a sound that was there already - the "popping" staccato soundachievable with closed fingering. It should be remembered howeverthat closed fingering or indeed a stopped chanter does not necessarilypreclude the production of a more "Scottish" elemental wail, nor theplaying of grace notes nor Highland tunes. Excellent evidence of thiscan be heard in the playing of the late and unsurpassable Billy Pigg.

It is sometimes forgotten in Northumberland, I suspect, that JimmyAllen, the famous "Northumbrian" piper at the turn of the 18thCentury, was of Yetholm Gypsy stock, and pursued his colourfulcareer on both sides of the Border. This suggests to me that his style ofpiping was likely to be common to both sides of the Border and thatthe style from which modern Northumbrian playing derives was aslikely to be heard in the 18th Century Morebattle as in Morpeth, inLongformacus as in Longframlington. Perhaps if Billy Pigg had eversung to the pipes, we would have had a pretty accurate picture of theBorder singer-piper's basic sound.

I think I am right in saying that many of the Lowland pipe tunesresearched by Gordon Mooney are the tunes of songs, and it is surelymore than likely that these Scots songs heard in "folkie" circles can beplayed with ease on the sma' pipes, and I'm sure must often have beensung to sma ' -pipe accompaniments.

The most famous songs of the Borders were, of course, the so-called"Border Ballads". I should not of course have to remind you thatballads were meant to be sung, and that ballads were sung not only inthe Borders, but throughout the length and breadth of LowlandScotland. Many ballads lend themselves so readily to pipeaccompaniments, that I have no doubt whatever that they mustfrequently have been sung to the pipes. Luckily, traditional balladsinging has survived to the present day in Scotland, the late JeannieRobertson being the most famous and probably the most skilledexponent. I like to think that the 18th/early 19th Century singer-pipermust have sounded at best like a combination of Billy Pigg andJeannie Robertson, and at worst something like me.

With my singing and piping I am trying to achieve a sound that I have

in my head, which I have imprinted there by a lifetime of listening toauthentic traditional singers and musicians. It must also I supposehave been influenced to some extent by Highland piping, Gaelic song,box bands, pop and country-and-western music, and by thirty years ofgoing to folk clubs, although it 's perhaps worth mentioning that muchof the rumtie-tum stuff we hear in folk clubs sounds in my humbleopinion no more authentically Lowland, than MarjoryKennedy-Fraser's sounds authentically Gaelic.

Being musically illiterate, and never having been taught piping, I amtrying to imitate this sound in my head, blissfully free of the shacklesof accepted Highland piping technique, and the dictates of the blackdots on a printed page. Unfortunately, being a fairly mediocremusician I continually fall short of my own ideal. I have not yet feltable to do much with the more rollicking rumbustious type of songs,and stick mostly to slow numbers.

Sometimes it is quite effective simply to play a note for note whatyou're singing, ' and if this sounds all right then there's little need tobother with anything fancier. However, it is possible sometimes to domuch more than this. If you are familiar with the singing of suchauthentic greats as Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins, Belle Stewart,Jimmy McBeath, and Davie Stuart, you will know that they often usea very free style of singing, and this free style is ideally suited to asma '-pipe accompaniment. So please forget the horrific modernkailyaird convention that all Scots songs are sung to waltz time, andlet's concentrate on "free-style".

What I do, singing and playing free-style, is carry the basic melody linewith my voice, and play a decorated form of it on the pipes. There isreally nothing very clever about this. All I'm doing is playing themelody by ear and adding a few twiddly bits now and again, in thesame way as Gaelic psalm singers sing slowed-down ornamented formsof well-known metrical psalm tunes, or in much the same way asLizzie Higgins ornaments basic ballad tunes.

Apparently a primitive accompaniment technique, is to begin your lineof accompaniment before you start singing, then mark time a bit onyour instrument while your voice catches up with the tune. Converselyyou can delay lines or musical phrases on yourinstrument, then shovethem in while your voice carries on with the song. Thus, as I play averse, I might be anticipating or delaying phrases, and at the same

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time playing variations on the basic tune by chucking in three or fournotes where the basic melody only has one, or perhaps only playingone where the melody has two or three. Also, because of the limita-tions of the pipe chanter, I will sometimes have to play a low notewhere the tune has a high note, or vice versa, or perhaps play a notethat harmonises with the missing one instead of going up or down anoctave. Thus although I am really just playing the tune of the song, itsometimes sounds pretty complex, and even on rare occasions like acarefully worked out proper musical accompaniment!

It is of course all done by ear. Any given accompaniment is probablyimprovised to at least a certain extent, and maybe a little differenteach time I play it. When I sing to the pipes, it is the song which isimportant, and the accompaniment is something meant merely tounderline and enhance the message of the song. The musicalaccompaniment therefore should never be intrusive, or distract thelistener from the words. If the pipes can enhance the "atmosphere" ofthe song, well and good. If not, they should simply be a pleasant noisein the background. Fortunately I have a loud voice, and a loud voicecan drown out a multitude of fumbles on the chanter.

As far as the singing is concerned, I was unplaced in a recent TMSAcompetition because the judges were looking for "expression and acertain lightness of touch". Personally I think this is often vastlyoverdone. It is my belief that a good song or ballad should be able tocarry its own message without the aid of quasi operatic shrieks andwhispers from the singer. Perhaps more singers should remember thatthe singer is merely a mouthpiece for something much greater thanhimself. "Expression" in my humble opinion, can be as intrusive as awhizz-kid accompaniment sounding off with an eruption of musicalpyrotechnics. If anything I try to strive for what I believe to be"authenticity", and I leave "expression" to the purveyors of 'Kennedy-Fraserisms.

To sum up then, I am trying to sound as I imagine an intelligent 18thCentury countryman would have sounded, who was not endowed withmusical genius, but loved the heritage and tradition, and found itvibrant and meaningful. I suppose the ultimate aim is to sound as ifthe tradition had lasted into the twentieth Century and up to thepresent day, and that I was a part of it and had some small contribu-tion of my own to add to it in carrying it on. That is my idea ofauthenticity, and if I ever manage to touch on it, I will be more thansatisfied.

TUNES FROMANGUS MACKAY'S MANUSCRIPTS

Peter Cooke, musicologist at the School of Scottish Studies,Edinburgh University, has carried out considerable research intobagpipes and early Ceol Mor.

1. The collection and its history.Angus MacKay ' s collection of pipe tunes is by far the largest of a number of manuscript

pipe music collections compiled during the first half of the 19th century and provides a goodidea as to the range of tunes circulating around both Scotland and England at that time. Formembers of our Society it has proved worth examining to see if it had anything to contributeto the Lowland pipe repertory and to our knowledge of the playing style of the time.

The manuscript now consists of four volumes bound up at a later date for the Duke ofHamilton when he owned it. Brief details of its history are given in an introduction by theeditor Archibald Campbell to book 10 of the Piobaireachd Society' s official collection. The' small music ' tunes are to be found in volumes three and four and also bound into volumefour are some pages of a kind of diary written by Angus MacKay during the period he wasconfined in the Bethlehem asylum in London - they make very sad reading. The first entryof this diary dates from 29 Nov. 1854. Bound with this also is a brief biographical note onhis father and his family. Those interested in MacKay ' s personal history will also be inter-ested to note two compositions of his that appear early on in volume three (page 4) the firstentitled 'Triall Bhethlehem ' (Gaelic) and ' Agmen Bethlehemicum ab Ango Mac... ' and thesecond 'The Unjust Incarceration ' , a 9/8 variation of the pibroch ground of the same name.Does this suggest the manuscript was begun after he spent his time in the Bethlehem asylum- after 1854? Or had he been committed there on an earlier occasion? A couple of pages ofQuadrille tunes probably written by Joseph Lowe, a well known Scottish dancing masterfollows on a page later possibly suggesting that MacKay still had palace connections whilewriting those two tunes. It was very much a working manuscript and despite my remarksabout his asylum confinement it could have been compiled over a number of years includingthe time when he was still performing his piping duties for Queen Victoria. The manuscriptsare available for public consultation in the National Library of Scotland (mss).

2. Contents.MacKay must have begun by earmarking sections of both volumes for specific categories

of tunes. So one of the volumes of small music begins with 81 pages devoted mostly toMarches - approximately 173 in all followed by a section beginning at p.101 for only 37strathspeys. The second begins with a large number of reels, spanning pages numbered149-211, and then 73 jigs (pages 211-254). Mixed in amongst these categories, however,are other items, some of them not in MacKay ' s own hand, as well as six Waltzes someGalopedes and tunes for Quadrilles. It is amongst the March section that we find a mix of3/4, 6/8 and 2/4 tunes, many of which could well have belonged to Lowland tradition.

I had hoped that after a cursory glance we might have gleaned some idea of the repertory ofdances performed in the royal homes. A number of Quadrilles and Waltzes are included butmany of these items are in hands other than MacKay ' s. Angus MacKay was obviously

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friendly with Joseph Lowe who as the best Scottish dancing master of the time had, Ibelieve, conducted dance events at Balmoral and possibly Windsor also. What appears to heLowe ' s hand can be found in both volumes. His first contribution is a set of Quadrille pieces(in 6/8 and 2/4 time) placed early in the section containing the Marches, which seem tohave inspired MacKay also to note down a set of tunes entitled 'Irish Quadrilles' im-

mediately afterwards. Lowe's settings are unfinished and the first tune begins outside therange and probably the key of the bagpipe. MacKay 's own Quadrille selection seems' to havebeen hurriedly written out and the tunes ungraced. These tunes are a mix of well-knownHighland and Lowland 6/8 Jigs and 2/4 pieces. Normality returns on page 21 when MacKayreturns to his careful compilation of tunes entitled Marches. In volume two Lowe pens apage of tunes - the Prince of Wales Strathspey, Prince Albert ' s Reel and a Strathspey andReel set entitled The Queen's Piper. The first two are clearly fiddle tunes and go outside thebagpipe range, his tunes to MacKay, however, do at least pay him the compliment of lyingwithin the pipe scale and sounding very Highland even though they are not pipe settings. Atthe back of the second volume are two other sets of Quadrilles - the Royal Scottish and theRoyal Irish - but not set for the pipes and in some unknown hand - though MacKay hasadded in the titles.

3. Editorial Methods,When I say these are working manuscripts I mean that MacKay was obviously compiling

as many tunes as he could, noting them down to varying degrees of detail - some are fullygraced, others sketchily and others not at all. The selection of tunes for the Irish Quadrillesare marked 'change the key' so clearly MacKay was using this manuscript as a storehouse of

finished and unfinished tunes.

A large proportion of the tunes are, however, neatly copied from printed collections and heusually indicates his sources and their page numbers. Many tunes are marked 'M & G ' with

a page reference - these are tunes to be found in that important early printed collection ThePiper's Assistant - edited by Angus MacKay and published by Glen for the first time in1843 (see Roderick Cannon ' s bibliographic entry No.310). This book contains tunes whichpublishers and compilers have drawn on many times since. But MacKay also copied tunesfrom the Donald MacDonald and William Gunn pipe music books and from AlexanderMcGlashan's Collection of Reels (a fiddle music collection that appeared in 1781). Lastly Ishould also mention Wilson (whose Companion to the Ballroom (1816) provided MacKaywith other tunes) and O ' Farrell 's Irish collection. At least two other pipers are cited - aMcDougall and a Duncan McKerrcher - possibly a piper who had made a manuscriptcollection which was never published. There are many other tunes, some of them untitled,for which no source is given.

What is not clear to me is if the tunes labelled 'M&G' (usually followed by the appropriatepage reference) were published from this manuscript (and that fact noted later) or if this is asecond manuscript into which he has copied tunes from this earlier published collection.Perhaps a closer examination will answer this question.

As you would expect , MacKay being a Highlander - like his illustrious father he was a na-tive of the island of Raasay - many of the tunes are clearly of Gaelic Highland origin. Butthe problem of sorting out Highland from Lowland repertory is compounded by his providingeach tune with both Gaelic and English titles. Some could be his own Gaelic translations for

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tunes of non-Gaelie origin, many others the converse. No doubt many tunes were well knownin both traditions. I 've chosen a few today to illustrate some of the problems and to providesome attractive settings for you to try out on your pipes.

Maggie Lauder. The air of a well-known Lowland Scots song. MacKay possibly took thisfrom some fiddle collection - otherwise he would not have written in the key signature oftwo sharps. It is lightly graced to help preserve the flowing nature of the tune - or is thisone he took from a possible McKerrcher collection I mentioned earlier? I have not hadtime to check on the existence of a fiddle book which could have been the source - note the'KER...' During the binding process the manuscript pages were trimmed down and un-fortunately marginal notes on this and many other tunes were trimmed away too.

Logan Water. Where is Logan Water - is it one of the Ayrshire Logans? In the Buchan dis-trict the tune is associated with the ballad called 'The Cruel Mother'. Is this a tune MacKayarranged? It passed on down as a March in piping Books, notably later editions of the Glencollections. Notice there is no real second turning but a modification of the first - a cluethat it is probably an old single strain ballad tune that could have belonged to either Highland orLowland tradition. It was certainly well known in the Lowland ballad tradition as a tune for The CruelMother and a fine recording of the ballad sung to this tune can be heard on Alison McMorland's Belt wi'Colours Three (played over at the Collogue -tangent records TGS 125). At the Collogue Matt Seattlecommented that Logan Water can be found in one of the 18th century fiddle music collections. I havesince discovered a setting of it, probably made by the editor Robert McIntosh, in Charles McLean's ACollection of Favourite Scots Tunes (1772). See David Johnston ' s detailed discussion of this collectionin his Scottish Fiddle Music of the 18th Century, Edinburgh, 1984, p.9-13.

The Bride Has a Bonny Thing. A well known Lowland tune - possibly an old 6/8 weddingMarch, here arranged by MacKay possibly from one of the early fiddle collections. The tune is probablyalso in Gaelic tradition - notice the quite different Gaelic title 'The Roes of this Town ' .

The Minister ' s Mare. Another tune in The Piper 's Assistant It could be Lowland or Highland.Possibly another old ceremonial March.

Sweet Molly . Is this irish, Lowland or Highland? It is given three titles. One of them a complimentto the Earl of Hopetoun - his Strathspey.

My Wife has gone a Drinking and The Herd of the Glen seem to belong equally toboth Highland and Lowland traditions.

Paddy 0 Snap. An Irish tune, perhaps, but this 9/8 (slip Jig) metre seems to have historic associa-tions with wedding music. Many other tunes are in a more unfinished state - awaiting thought about howto grace them. In other places in the book one sometimes finds the barest notations for some tune orother - just note heads, or note heads and tails but no beams or barring. Other 9/8 tunes in themanuscript are a nice setting of Go to Berwick Johnny and Saw ye the Carle of late as well as thewell-known Woo'd and Married and A'.

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Galloway Tom - An Irish tune - taken from O'Farrell's collection. It also resembles the tuneGalloway Tom in O ' Neill's Dance Music of Ireland but MacKay has clearly already adapted it to theScottish pipes, even without grace notes. Add your own!

Spirits of Whisky. Another of the Irish tunes though the name is also known in Shetland.Compared with normal length double Jigs many would call this tune defective with its six bar turnings,but it suggests the results of drinking 'ower much' quite nicely!

Near the back of his Manuscript one finds a few Waltzes jotted down and a couple of Galopedes. TheGalopedes he graced fairly fully, the Waltzes very little. His Copenhagen Waltz has high B's - proof thatsome pipers were able to this note musically? Not necessarily I think. This tune is simply a copy of aninstrumental setting from somewhere, key signature and all. It was probably awaiting his attention , but Ihesitate to be definite about this, for when he copied material from McGlashan's fiddle music collectionshe took pains to modify there and then any tunes which moved outside the pipe scale.

I have attempted no more than an introductory examination of what is. for various reasons, one of themost interesting pipe music collections made in the 19th century. I did not pick it because I thought

there would be many exclusively lowland tunes in it. Rather I have been more interested in trying tolearn more about the mind of a man who has been more important than anyone else in piping 's, transitionfrom an aural/oral tradition to a notated one. Whatever may be the answers to some of the questions . I ' veraised, clearly MacKay ' s manuscripts show his readiness to expand the pipe repertory from manydifferent sources both Highland and Lowland. Despite his enormous concern for recording his father 'si mportant repertory of official Highland clan - his pibroch notations are his other great contribution toour knowledge of piping - he obviously had an open mind about what pipers could or should play. butthen he was a working piper with illustrious patrons to satisfy and 'he who pays the piper... '

That said, my thanks are due to our unpaid piper, Lindsay Davidson, who gave such enjoyable render-ings of some of the above tunes during the course of my talk at your Collogue.

SONATAS FOR SCOTTISH SMALL PIPESThose who attended the 1992 Lowland and Border Pipers ' Society competition in1992 will have heard Lindsay playing one of his own compositions. His "First SonataFor Small Pipes" was published in COMMON STOCK December 1992. Here hedescribes some of the technicalities of composing such music.

To date I have composed five sonatas for the Scottish Smallpipes, which is what thisarticle is about.

I have chosen to adopt a three movement structure (as opposed to four movements)for these sonatas, the form of each movement being as follows - sonata form, themeand variations and sonata rondo. The exception is the second sonata, which uses abinary form.

The principle elements of a composition are:

a) Themesb) Tonalityc) Rhythmd) Developmente) Repetitionf) Proportion

Constructing large form movements is about organising these elements. A quickword about each element:

a) Themes - these are built up from two bar phrases because any advancement mustcome from a tradition - which in this case requires a two bar question + a two baranswer. The next step along the reform road is to develop themes so that they donot require to be 2 + 2, to draw possibly upon highland pipe music for a quicklesson here to mould a 3,3,2 (or similar) structure. This would provide limitedscope for development in the exposition (first movement). Stravinsky said strengthcould be gained through limitation.

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b) Tonality - possibly the most important factor in smailpipe composition because itis the most limited factor and therefore requires most planning and thought. Thepractical limitations of the instrument force the composer to make alterations to thetraditional sonata principal - trial and error taught me that in the first sonata (seebelow for more on sonata form). Tonality governs thematic repetition, particularlyin the last movement.

c) Rhythm - the next step in exploration. I have written one very mediocre studyconcerning rhythm, the whole point of which was to explore rhythmic developmentas equal in importance to melodic development. Rhythm is very important inmarking out and balancing phrases. Harmonic rhythm is also important - I havegenerally chosen to keep it regular.

d) Development - the entire middle section in a sonata form movement is called thedevelopment. On the smallpipes we have a smaller harmonic (tonal) range to ex-plore than on instruments capable of total chromaticism, therefore development hasto be by variation (the third sonata develops by fragmentation, that is by breaking upthe themes and restating the parts on different degrees of the scale). In the sonatas,only one general system of development has been employed in each. However, insomething of a larger scale, with more instruments, such as a concerto (I'm workingon it) the possibilities are considerably greater. Development can contain a great dealof "expressive" power. It can also be used to show off the player.

In ceol mor, development is systematic and to a certain extent almost mathematical.In smallpipe music, the technical style must be different because the balancebetween top and bottom hands (and the overall sound) is different. Highland pipe

technique, as opposed to the fingering system, is badly suited to the smallpipestherefore a different style must emerge. A mordent, run or trill may be more suitablethan a crunluath.

e) Repetition - this is how a 'form' is built up and identified. There are also points atwhich a repeat must take place (according to tradition).

f) Proportion - not something which I lose sleep about. The sonatas are all on asmall scale so it is possible to sense proportion rather than need to calculate it. Inother instrumental works, not being discussed now, I do consider it more, especiallyin ceol mor and the new "middling type" of highland pipe music.

FIRST MOVEMENT - THE SONATA FORM PRINCIPAL

NOTES

1 Transition I found to be a bad idea (after trial and error)

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2 The repeat is frequently ignored on other instruments (sonata form developedfrom binary form A B).3 The second subject (second group) in the first sonatas is in the subdominant - it isnot really correct to think or talk about keys on the pipes - we should think aboutmodes, which is a slight contradiction because sonata form is not a modal form. Inthe later sonatas in the ionian mode (the scale starting on D on the pipes) the secondsubject (group) is in the mode a fourth lower which corresponds with the dominantkey - it would be acceptable to speak of keys in such cases.4 The second subject should be contrasted with the first subject. In the first sonata,the second subject was in 6/8 time but that did not work well so it had to change to2/4.5 Three basic devices to develop have been used in the sonatas (number 3 ex-cepted):

a) Arabesque - filling in with scales etcb) Jumping in intervals e.g. thirdsc) Using pedal notes such as low 'A' and high 'A'.

6 From 5a - in future, I intend to exploit the natural (pentatonic) harmony of theinstrument more. To that end I have worked out rather interesting technical studiesfor my own personal use. I have already applied this harmonic system to pianoaccompaniments to songs and in my various incomplete orchestral works.7 Again, no transition in the recapitulation8 No coda - that would unbalance the movement. Again, something larger couldtake a coda.

SECOND MOVEMENT

Traditionally theme and variations. There is nothing very exciting about this ideaand its links with smallpipes. I will say more in the analysis of Sonata Number 1.

THIRD MOVEMENT, SONATA RONDO

The simplified theory as used for other instruments is as follows:

A (b.p.) B A X A (b.p.) B A Coda b.p. = transition

NOTES

1 A is always in the tonic key (original mode)2 C is a contrast or development3 For smallpipes the transitions have been omitted.

To weld the two traditions together, I have made each section equal to one 'part' (inpiping terms) in the relevant modes (keys). I intend to review and redesign the formof the third movement and in future I will probably use a fourth movement.

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ROBERT MILLAR - LOWLAND PIPER?

Roderick D.Cannon, who gave this talk, has done considerable researchinto bagpipe music, particularly Piobaireachd. Author of several books onBagpipes and Piobiareachd including A Bibliography of Bagpipe Music

This short talk is about a bagpipe music manuscript which came to light quite recently. Asmembers of this Society will know, a magnificent set of Union Pipes was bought for the RoyalMuseums of Scotland in 1985 as a result of a subscription organised by Hugh Cheape andgenerously supported by a number of members. The pipes, made by Robert Reid of NorthShields, can now be seen on display in the Museum In Queen Street: and also in the Museum,part of the same purchase, is "a handwritten music book containing 381 tunes arranged forthe pipes by Millar " (1). A microfilm of the MS is also in the National Library(2).

When I started , very recently, to follow up this report I thought the manuscript must be thesame as one which Is quoted by the editors of the last book in the aeries published by thePiobaIreachd Society. One of the tunes In that book(3) Is based on a setting taken from amanuscript "written around 1820 by Robert Miller [ski . . . piper to the Aberdeen HighlandSociety'. The Editors went on to describe it as a "collection of early Ceol Beag (i.e. small tunes,not plobalreachd ] .. some of which probably derives from the repertoire of the Lowlandbagpipe" and "clearly the product of a piper " . Since then I have seen a copy of the latter MS,(4) and I can now confirm that the two are not the same. The MS used by the PlobalreachdSociety contains most exclusively tunes set for the Highland pipes. It has a title page dated1820 (5) and it seems to have been compiled over a period from then to about 1840, the latestdate written in the MS. (6) It is an extremely Interesting collection, and I hope to write about

it in the sear future. The MS In the Royal Museum consists mainly of tunes ad for the Unionpipe, beginning in 1830.

The Author

Not much Is known about Robert Millar, and so far I haven't tracked down the dates of hisbirth or his death. He learned to "whistle" his first tune In 1794 (7). He notes that it wasplayed by the 2nd Battalion of the Breadalbane Fencibles (who were stationed in Dundee inthat year [8]) but whether he was himself serving in the Regiment, or was just a young boywatching a parade, is not clear. In 1820 he was in the "Forfar Regiment",(5) and at that time,and also In 1830 be was piper to the Aberdeen Highland Society. He married in 1822 (6). In1830 he was living In Montrose; in 18361n Dundee. On 6th February 1833 he played for theDuke and Duchess of Gordon at Gordon Castle (9). Other dates and places noted in his MSSare Marr Lodge, September 5 1839, and Corriemulzie Cottage, September 6 1839. These wereGordon properties. There is no mention In his MSS of having played for Queen Victoria orany other Royal person. The Queen made her first visit to Scotland In 1842 and boughtBalmoral, another Gordon property, in 1848. Had Millar perhaps died, or moved away fromthe district by that time? He certainly seems to have been on good terms with the local landedfamilies. The pipes were presented to hint by one Lewis Innes, Esq. Ballogle, in 1830 (1); andhe dedicated tunes of his own composition to Miss Catherine Farquharson of Ballogie, to aMr. James Fenton, and to Lady Alicia Bisset , who also gave him another copy of a tune (10).He was a pipemaker as well as a piper. in 1836 he featured in a newspaper report as havingInvented a new kind of Highland bagpipe with an extended scale, which seems to have beenvery similar to the later Brien Bona bagpipe(ll).

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The Manuscript

The volume is an oblong hard-back musk MS book, handsome and expensive. It has printedstaves, and each page has a printed border of coloured stripes (a sort of tartan effect! ). Insidethe front is bound a folded sheet ofpaper making two leaves (four pages) containing lists of

tunes, not all of which are in the manuscript(12 ). The actual index is at the back. The body ofthe manuscript contains two distinct collections of music, the second larger and apparentlyearlier than the first. The earlier one has a title page, boldly inscribed 'Music for the U nionBag-pipe, &., 1830', and signed Robert Millar, Musician, Montrose, 1830. It contains 311tunes(13), all scored with key signatures of two sharps or one sharp, except for one which hasno sharps. The tunes with two sharps mostly go down to the note D below the treble stave, butnever any lower (with few exceptions, but in those cases alternative notes are written, anoctave higher). The highest note of a tune is usually G above the stave, less often A, less oftenagain B, and only once a high C sharp(14). (Again there are a few exceptions which go higherstill, but in these cases the high notes are doubled an octave below). Many of the tunes haveextra sharps and flats, and in fact eight chromatic semitones are called for, so the completechanter scale is as follows:

The first 15 tunes in the MS are given In full score, chanter with regulators. The regulatorchords used with the key signatures are:

All of this is consistent with a Union pipe (or Irish, or uillean pipe if you prefer) - in otherwords a bagpipe with chanter In D, no foot joint, and two regulators. It seems to fit very wellwith Robert Millar's own bagpipe. At the time of purchase Chris Bayley examined these pipes.He noted(1) that the chanter 1s 14 inches long and therefore in the key of D, and has eightsilver keys for semitones. There are indeed two regulators, a baritone with four silver keys anda tenor with five. There are six drones with a changeover switch so that they can be selected toplay either D or G.

Sources

It's immediately obvious that many of the tunes are copied from other written sources. Two

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Assuming that the one instance of a three-note chord is a mistake, these can all be done onjust two regulators, as follows:

sources referred to explicitly are(15) 'The Tyrolese Melodies' and(16) 'The Irish Melodies'. Ican't identify the first of these, but the second is Thomas Moore's famous collection of Irishsongs which appeared in parts over the years 1808 to 1834. There is a 'Waltz danced by MissAdams in the Theatre Royal Edinburgh' and a 'New Opera Dance'. I don't suppose Millaractually went to the respective operas and memorised the tunes; I assume he is quoting bothmusic and title from some book or published sheet music. There are dances and songs takenfrom contemporary operas, pantomimes, and other light musical entertainments, named inthe MS as 'The Slave', 'The Secret Mine', 'The English Fleet', 'Tekeli', 'Blue Beard'. . . ail ofwhich I'm sure could easily be identified and dated. 'Blue Beard' is one of many operas byJohn Brabant (1774-1856) a well known composer of light music who in his day claimed tohave published more than 2000 songs. Only one of the named operas is still famous today -Mozart's 'Magic Flute(17)'. Of the other composers mentioned , some are famous - Haydn and

Beethoven others well known in their day - Pleyel, Kelly, James Hook; others I've not tracedat all - who were Whlttaker, Miss Capon and Miss Ty--?

Millar seems to have copied his sources quite accurately. An example is the tuned 'Gillan naDrobhar', which he got front Simon Fraser's Airs and Melodies of the Highlands of Scotland(1816). He copies the Gaelic spelling of the title, and the English subtitle 'The Cow Boy'. It is atypically Highland tune, basically pentatonic, but Simon Fraser set it with trills and turns,violin bowing marks, and various ornamental phrases with sharps and flats. Robert Millartransposed it down two tones to suit his chanter but otherwise he copied it faithfully. If he didthis with every tune, then it could be maintained that this is not really a bagpipe collection atall. As we all know, It's one thing to find a tune which fits into the range of the chanter, but it'squite another thing to make It play convincingly as a pipe tune. On the other hand Millar in-cludes tunes composed by himself. It remains to be seen whether, and to what extent, any ofthe other tunes he wrote down had actually been adapted for the pipes.

Traditional or Modern?

Obviously there is a lot of very modern music in this collection. The latest date I've been ableto fix for any of the pieces (after only a quick look through some of the most obviousreferenceworks) is for the tune 'Home Sweet Home'. It came from an opera 'Clad, the Maid of Milan',first performed at Covent Garden in 1823. It sits well over a drone and makes a good pipetune - if we can only forget the title and sentimental words! The same might be said of anumber of other tunes in the manuscript which were popular at the time, are well chosen forthe pipe, but are so strongly associated with certain lyrics that pipers would probably rejectthem today. They include 'Malbrook', otherwise 'For he's a Jolly Good Fellow'; 'I have comefrom a Happy Land', otherwise the Sunday-school hymn 'There Is a Happy Land .: , and'Rousseau's Dream', otherwise 'Watts' Cradle Hymn'. There are other tunes of rather similarcharacter, not so well known today, which I find very playable, for example 'Taste Life's GladMoments', 'From Night to Morn', and 'How Imperfect Is Expression'. I must admit the title ofthe last one Is not very auspicious!

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This is not to say that Millar's collection lacks Scottishness. nearly half of the tunes havesome national or local reference, and at least a third of them can be counted as Scottish(18).Among the dance tunes the selection of types is perhaps interesting:

Scottish and Irish Reels 10Strathspeys 6Jigs 12Tunes in 9/8 time 5Marches 12

Classical and modern Waltzes 20Minuets 7Quadrilles 4Jig 1Hornpipe 1

Various 'foreign' 3Marches 10

The Scottish and Irish elements are very 'drawing room' in character. Song titles come from

Robert Burns, Thomas Moore, Lady Nairn and other writers - there are no rude ones! - andeven the 'traditional' types of dance tune are mostly new or fairly new compositions like 'LordMacDonald's Reel', or the best-known older tunes from Niel and Nathaniel Gow's collec-tions (19).

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More Music

A very nice tune in the Irish category is the jig 'Paddy Whack'. It's actually related to a lot ofother well known airs, ranging from the Victorian ballad 'Wilkins and his Dinah' to theEnglish march 'Sweet Polly Oliver', and even the ultra-Highland "Song to John MacLeod ofDunvegan"(20). Miller's version Is a jig - possibly a slow jig. Here it is, transposed up one noteto fit the Lowland pipes. It doesn't exceed the usual pipe compass, hut it does very definitelyneed the sharpened seventh. In bar 4 it approaches the note E by way of high G sharp, and asyou can hear from Jock's playing It sounds good on a Lowland pipe with a treble drone in highE. [Jock Agnew was asked to record several of these tunes using his Lowland Pipes • Ed!]

Another good Irish tune Is 'Had I a heart for Falsehood Framed', based on the air 'MollyAstore', which was also used by Thomas Moore for 'The Harp that once through Tara's Halls ..' in the latter guise it is often sung terribly slowly, but Millar marks It Andantino, and it hasalso been suggested to me that the basic rhythm is that ofa military march(21). It needs somesemitones and a pinching note at the top. It would be possible to avoid all these, but with theright chanter it sounds very well written.

Also Included Is an excellent piece of music, which is in the form of a short suite. 'The Duke ofAtholl's March and Pibrach'. [Limitations of space make it necessary to defer this part ofRoderick Cannon's paper until the next Issue of COMMON STOCK. Ed]

34

Conclusions

In summary, Robert Millar's manuscript is not a compendium of all that he considered mostancient or authentic - whatever that may mean. It is drawing room music, and none the worsefor that. If the bagpipes could play in battle, on the march or in a dance hall, why not also inthe drawing room? Given the date of the manuscript, and the great care with which the firstfew pages especially have been written, I imagine that Robert Millar compiled it in order todefine a repertory for his new bagpipe, almost In the spirit of celebrating a splendid acquisi-tion. He must have felt that he had a new territory to explore. He tried to find as many tunesas possible, and to stretch the resources of the new Instrument to its limit. We need notassume that he was equally satisfied with every tune he wrote down.

I have no conclusions to offer about Robert Millar himself except what are obvious from thebits and pieces I have tried to present. I think he was a good all-round musician, with a broadoutlook, willing to try experiments. I think he made a brave effort to keep up with currenttrends in music, and was not held back by ideological notions of what should and should notbe played on the pipes. I think his manuscript is at the very least a quarry from which allkinds of exciting new bagpipe music could be extracted.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Hugh Cheape for arranging access to the MS, and those fellow membersof the Bagpipe Society who, at very short notice, very kindly provided recordings of tunes andusefulpractical comments - Jock Agnew, Martin Nolan and Ronnie Watten.

Notes.1 "The Reid Pipes" . COMMON STOCK, Vol 2, No.1 (March 86)2 NLS Acc.8885 Catalogued as "Robert Millar's book of tunes for the Northumbrian pipes."3 "The Duke of Atholl's March", in Prcdaierac4tg aJ ?eem4lackof20lweseditedby.. ThePint aireachd &iciety j1990j4 The Piobaireachd Society owns only a photocopy of the 1820 MS, and the location of the originalis not known. There is also a microfilm in the National Library, catalogued as papers of ArchieKenneth relating to piobaireachd", which includes this MS.5 A collection ofP'/arocks, Laments Salmies, Marches, Rerlr and Strathsiorys, pvincioaly mirky/f o r t h e Great /14shlond6tagpipe. R.Millar, FonfarRegt. aadAverto theAbe& 11 kdSiridy 1120.6 Tune No 187 in the 1820 MS, called "Jenny Cameron's Spanm iWdkee " is stated to have been'composed on Novr 4th 1840. Being the Eighteenth Anniversary of His Marriage Day, by R.M.'7 Tune No 193 in the 1820 MS (an unnamed reel) has a footnote "This was the first Tune that everI recollect !canting to Whistle. It was played By the 2nd Battn of Breadalbane Fencibles in j??p]Castle Dundee 17948 See e.g. Angus MacLeod (ed) 77teSosrgsofsOrmamBmrMaeln(yr Edinburgh, 1952.9 He played the tune "The Blue Bells of Scotland", which, as he noted had been 'composed inhonour of the Marquis of Huntley now Duke of Gordon'. 1830 MS./01830 MS tunes 1,2,3.11 "Highland bagpipe. Mr.Rober Millar of Montrose, the celebrated performer on theNorthumbrian, Union and Great Highland bagpipe, now in Dundee, has made an improvement onournoble national instrument, the bagpipe, well worthy of public notice. He has added a horn to thelower end of the chanter, and by perforating various holes, which he works by means of keys, he hasadded three notes to the diatonic scale - one above and two below. He has also introduced semitones,which render the instrument so harmonious, it has been accompanied by a violin and violoncellowith excellent effect." Quoted from The /~inbargh 1s'rrning Courant, Fehneary.hl MA The quota-tion was discovered by lain Maclnnes.12 The first page is a list of tunes, but it is not an index to the MS. It is called "Memorandum of

35

Sword Dance at Dunster, Somerset , June 1933. Capt Warren Zambra playing mouth blown Half longs

Tunes for the Northumberland Bagpipes" and gives 40 tunes in alphabetical order. They are not allin the MS, but 13 more have been inserted into the list, and these 13 are in the MS. Then comes listsof tunes, 'Reels & strathspeys &c', 'Quadrilles' categorised according to key, G or D; then 'Waltzes'

and 'Airs'.13 After this title page the pages are numbered from I to 80, and the tunes from 1 to 310 (there is nonumber 233, and there is also a slip inserted between two leaves, with two extra tunes, so the total is311 tunes).14 This is tune No 190, "O'er the Muir among the Heather". Another name for it was "Aldavalloch" -not to be confused with "Roy's Wives of Aldavalloch" - and it is interesting to note a comment on anearlier attempt to extend the scale of the bagpipe chanter, by Malcolm MacGregor, pipemaker to theHighland Society of London. A committee of the Highland Society examined MacGregor's inventionand reported that it was capable ofplaying such airs as Aldavalloch", and so far the Committee

considered it an improvement. The tune was well known on the fiddle, then as now. Was it perhaps arecognised challenge to pipemakers, to find ways ofplaying it as written? We do know that the tradi-tionally minded Highland pipers of the day strongly objected to MacGregor's invention. At thepiobaireachd competition in 1810, some of them managed to get hold of it, and "clandestinely sub-jected the instrument to their malevolence" - J.G.Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland Edinburgh1849. It aIso may or may not be a coincidence that the Highland piper Donald MacDonald includeda setting in his collection of 'Quicksteps' etc (1828), titled explicitly 'The Bagpipe w ay of "O'er theMuir among the Heather" : His set is within the nine-note compass, and can still be found in printtoday (Queen's Own Highlanders' Standard Settings of Pipe Music).15 1830 MS Tune No 95.16 1830 MS Tunes 165,22417 Millar lakes the air of the duet Bei Mannern welche Liebe fuhlen for his tune 156. " The ManlyHeart (from Zauberfloete)"18 A rough breakdown is as follows:

Dance tunes Airs Songs Total& Marches

Swatch 33 43 33 109Irish 10 15 14 39Northumbrian/Border 3 3Modern popular/lightclassical 42 3 15 60Hymns/Psalms 8 8Foreign 5 5 7

Totals 90 66 70 226

I have left out some 80 tunes simply because I don't yet know anything about them. Probably theywould go into the modem/classical groups.19 Another test of 'ethnic' character or otherwise is to match up Robert Millar's collection with the

printed collections for Highland bagpipe which appeared just before and just after he wrote his MS.If we try to 'grade' the pipe music books in terms of their 'traditional' or 'Highland' character, or as amodem piper might be tempted to say, in terms of their authenticity, then there is no doubt aboutwhich books are high and which are low on such a list. At the top are the small but very Gaeliccollections ofPatrick MacDonald (1748) and Donald MacDonald (1820), and the much largercollection ofAngus MacKay (18434). In the middle came Donald MacDonald's larger book of 1828.William MacKay's collection (1841) and William Gunn's (1848) - books which I suspect show moremilitary influence. At the bottom are, Thomas Glen's collections (1840) and the anonymous 'BagpipePreceptor' (1818). Allowing for the different total numbers of tunes in these books, we find thatRobert Millar's collection overlaps most with the last two, less with the middle group, and hardly atall with the first group.20 W.Matheson, The Blind harper, Edinburgh 1970.21 I am grateful to Joan Rimmer for this point.

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36 37

and small pipes, both in A, that gives a verynice sound indeed. My criticism here is inthe very pointed use of sliding, which losesdramatic effect a more sparing used slidecan have: even more so in Jock's playing ofThe Banks of Lochiell, in which the ex-aggerated sliding, including a squall fromhigh A to G, mars a beautiful tune.

The track that really hangs in my mindafter listening to this cassette is Jock 'sversion of The Road North (AlistairAnderson 's tune, not Alastair Fraser 's),which sounds superb on the Lowland pipes,with nice vibrato and effective harmony linefrom Sam Allen 's concertina. An inspiredchoice.

Elsewhere there 's effective "octave playing"

on Lowland and small pipes, with twomelodies - Jenny's Fain and Stumpie -being set in counterpoint to each other. TheTop of the Glints is a snappy jig written byJock, featuring double-tracked Lowlandpipes, while another self-penned tune, thedrolly titled I've Lost my Sgian Dhu, usesplenty of unorthodox fingering but is a bitlaboured, although I liked the Breton feel tothe minor-moded air that ,followed, GrimDouglas. Similarly, on the second .side, his"minored" version of Dancing Feet is in-teresting - but doesnae dance! The genuineBreton set on this side has a chirpier feel toit.

Jock Agnew is steadily exploring thepossibilities of the Lowland pipes. inmaking this cassette he is shedding someuseful lightalong his path for the benefit offellow-travellers.

Available from Jock Agnew, I I UltingLane. Langford, Essex CM9 6QB. Price

5.50 pounds sterling including postage.

J.G. April 1993.

CASSETTE REVIEW

LOWLAND AMUSEMENTJock Agnew, indefatigable LBPS activistand champion of the Lowland/Border pipes,has brought out a very useful cassette,LOWLAND AMUSEMENT, showing thepossibilities of these pipes, which have notfared so well to date within the cauld-windrevival as the Scottish small pipes.Featuring Jock on a nicely toned Lowlandpipe (in A), sometimes double tracking,occasionally accompanied by anothermusician, LOWLAND AMUSEMENTprovides plenty of food for thought, and forthe fingers, in terms of repertoire and oftechnique such as "shivering the back Lill",note bending, vibrato and cross-fingering.

It has to be said, also, that some of thepiping here wouldn 't stand up to severecritical scrutiny. The playing want light-ness of fingering at times and the reels, inparticular, lack sparkle or fluidity.However I suspect that Jock wouldn 't makeany inflated claims for this tape other thanthose of " work in progress " .

The first .side of the cassette features tradi-tional "Lowland " tunes or new compositionsin that idiom, the second more eclecticmaterial, ranging from a Breton set tomorris tunes and even Chattanooga ChooChoo! Theopening track pretty wellencapsulates the pluses and minuses of thisrecording: It starts with the ancient

Cuttymun and Treladle, played slowlyusing C natural, giving it a certainhaunting air but losing its rants : then thereel Lowland Amusement itself, a nice tunethat could do with skeelier fingering: and anice pairing of Pawky Adam Glen andRobin Shure in Hairst .

Jock s plangent air Lie Peacefully There isthe first of two tracks that feature thestrikingly . affective combination of Lowland

1993 COMPETITIONREPORT by Jim Gilchrist

Eight entries for the Open Small Pipes class and five for the Lowland/Border Pipes class meant thatthe Society's annual competition in Edinburgh on Saturday April 10th, tun on for at least an hourafter time, which meant some hasty negotiations with the janitor at St Anne's Community Centre!Considering, however, that once we were lucky if we had any Lowland pipe entries at all, this was thekind of problem we might welcome. Generally high entries for most classes - and, at last, anencouraging input of women players, two of whom took first prizes - and a large and patient audiencemade this a very successful afternoon all round

The judges (once again assisted by audience participation in judging) also seemed well pleased,though one later commented that, overall, tuning could be better.

The one comparative disappointment was in the Novice class, with only two entries. It was won,however, by Eoin McIntyre of Inverkeithing, who also received a 50 "bursary" from the Societytowards a piping course.

There were six entries for the New Composition class, which was won by Jon Swayne ofBaltonsborough, Glastonbury, with aline.*on his Border pipes.

The Duet for Small Pipes class was also low on entries, Jean Campbell and Rona MacDonald beingthe only pair to enter and taking the prize. Duet class for pipes and Other Instrument was bettersupported with six entries, the "other instruments " as diverse as whistle, cittern , accordion andclarinet. ultimately it was Manuel Trucco on small pipes and John Levine on clarinet who took firstprize with a lively set.

The Pipe and Song class, with five entries, was won by Judy Barker of Dunfermline with a finerendition of The Recruit d Collier.

Popular as ever, the Open Scottish Small Pipes attracted eight entries and was won by StewartGaudin from Mauchlin, Ayrshire, with a set comprising Mary Scott, The Earl of Errol, Jocky Said toJenny, and Wee Totum Fogg. And as the afternoon moved into extra time, the final class, theLowland/Border Pipes Open, was won by Judy Rockclff of Hassle , Humberside, with fluid playing ona Jon Swayne set of pipes.

For the second year there was a prejudged cassette class for overseas entrants. There was only oneentry, from John Dally of Seattle, but the committee made it clear that John didn' t win the GoodacreTrophy by mere default; his was a very commendable set.

Results:Open - Lowland/Border pipes (Hamish Moore Quaich): 1. Judy Rockchff, 2. Douglas Walker, 3. JonSwayne.Open - Scottish Small Pipes (Colin Ross Trophy): I. Stewart Gaudin, 2. Jim Eaton, 3. JohnGoodacre.Pipe and Song (Jimmy Wilson Memorial Trophy): 1. Judy Barker, 2.Davie Robertson, 3. JudyRockchff.Duet - Pipes and Other Instrument (Dunfermline Tassies ): 1. Manuel Trucco & John Levine(clarinet), 2. Hamish Moore & Fiona Moore (fiddle), 3. Stewart Gaudin & Steve Wall (whistle).Duet - Pipes (Mains Castle Medals): 1. Jean Campbell & Rona MacDonakl.New Composition (London Trophy): I. Jon Swayne, 2. Judith Rockliff ; 3 (equal), Jock Agnew &John Goodacre.Novice (Heriot & Allan Quaich): I. Eoin McIntyre, 2. Nick GuiseOverseas cassette (Goodacre Trophy): 1. John Dally.

38 39

Meetings and EventsJune 12th. DUET AFTERNOON - School of Scottish studies,Edinburgh. A chance to show what players have been puttingtogether with pipes and/or other instruments.

BALMORAL PIPING SCHOOLS, U.S.A,Gordon Mooney teaching:-13th - 26th funs- Center College, Danville, Kentucky27th June - 10th July. University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA11th - 24th July. Edinboro University, P.A.

July 2/3/4th. Galashiels. TUITION on Border and ScottishSmallpipas, Scottisdh Country Dance, Accordion, Fiddle, CeilidhBand, Clarsach and singing. Contact Gordon Mooney 0896822426

July 3rd. NEWCASTLETON FOLK FESTIVAL has LowlandPiping Competitions. Contact Carole Sanderson 06978 255

July 19th - 23rd. Hanish Moore PIPING SCHOOL, NORTHCAROLINA. Contact Jo Johnstone, Box 824, Rt. 8, Abingdon Va24210. Telephone 703 628 9835

July 26th - 30th Hamish Moore PIPING SCHOOL,CALIFORNIA. Contact John Creager, 5690 Corbett Circle,Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Telephone 707 576 0511

2nd - 20th August. Hamish Moore PIPING SCHOOL, CAPEBRETON. Contact The Gaelic Collage of Celtic Arts & Crafts,P.O.Box 9, Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada, BOE IBO. Telephone902 295 3411

August 6/7/8th. Galashiels. TUITION on Bagpipes,Flute/whistle, Fiddle, Guitar/Mandola, Percussion, SongandTraditional Dance. Contact Gordon Mooney 0896 822426

August 23rd - 27th. Hamish Moore PIPING SCHOOL,VERMONT. Contact Matt Buckley, P.O.Box 646, Main St,Richmond, VT 05477 Telephone 802 434 4603

September 3/4/5th. Galashiels. TUITION on Bagpipes,Clarsach, Fiddle, Keyboards, Concertina. Song and TraditionalDance workshops. Contact Gordon Mooney 0896 822426

October 17th. ANNUAL COLLOGUE, Old Gala Hons.,Galashiels. From 8th to 17th October; week or weekendCOURSES IN BAGPIPES etc concurrent with Collogue.