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The North East Scotland Session Tunes Project 9: March, Strathspey and Reel

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FluteFling NE Tunebook Project: 09 Pipe Major Jim Christie of Wick/ The Rose Amang the Heather/ Bonnie Kate o’ Aberdeen

A session at the Dalriada at Edinburgh FluteFling 2019. L-R Munro Gauld, Harry Mayers, Malcolm Reavell, Melanie Simpson, Orin Simpson (c) Gordon Turnbull

This ninth video in the series features three tune types – a march, strathspey and reel.

For background to the project of 10 sets of tunes being recorded over 10 weeks, and to see the first video, start here. Alternatively, go straight to the videos on my Youtube channel.

You can download the free PDF of the sheet music here:
FluteFling Aberdeen 2019 NE Scotland Tunes

Wick to Aberdeen Over the Heather

FluteFling NE Tunebook Project: Pipe Major Jim Christie of Wick/ The Rose Amang the Heather/ Bonnie Kate o’ Aberdeen

This ninth video in the series features a march, strathspey and reel, all associated with the North and North East of Scotland. These are from the FluteFling NE Tunebook of Scottish session tunes for flute and whistle and I play these on my Rudall and Rose 8-keyed flute in D.

Pipe Major Jim Christie of Wick

Pipe Major Jim Christie of Wick was written by Wick fiddler Addie Harper. Apparently one of Addie Harper’s earlier compositions, it sits neatly in the bagpipe scale and suits flutes and whistles well too. I find the structure encourages a pulse of breath that makes it flow along readily. Look out for variations in the deployment of snaps in the melody.

The Cape Breton fiddler Buddy McMaster helped to popularise this tune in Canada and The Traditional Tune archive has some background information on the composition.

For more background on Jim Christie, who founded a girls’ pipe band during WW2, there’s a good account of his life here.

The role of Pipe Major is explained in this Wikipedia entry.

Update: Munro Gauld (pictured, above) was in touch about this tune, with helpful information on different versions and background. In particular, he points out that the version in the NE tunebook is not a common one in Scotland and is usually played in 2/4 time with 4 parts. He said,

It’s a tune I know well as it was a staple of the Plockton session when I lived up north 20 years ago, here in Dunkeld it’s also played most weeks at the session and wherever there is a session with a Borders / lowland / cauld wind piper, it usually gets an airing. But it also makes a great fiddle tune. And once you’ve got the hang of articulating the Strathspey-like dotted notes and octave jumps, it’s great fun to play on the flute.

But looking at the NE Tune book version –  I’ve never seen it / heard it played as a 4/4. Any time that I have ever heard it played (or played it myself) it is always as a 4-part 2/4 pipe march (as written for the pipes).

Munro illustrated this by sharing a Pipe band version:

Additionally, here’s a session-like version played by a young fiddler in Wick, Addie Harper’s home town.

Munro continues:

It would seem that the version in the NE Tunes book is taken from the playing of Buddy MacMaster (as found on the Trad Tune Archive). Obviously when it travelled with him over the Atlantic it got smoothened out from its 2/4 Pipe March roots to more like a 4/4 reel. Having said that, I couldn’t find a recording of Buddy MacMaster playing it online, so I may be wrong. I did find this fiddle version from Gus Longaphie from (I think) Prince Edward Island which might give an indication of how Buddy MacMaster plays it.

I’d suggest that perhaps, in a Scottish context, the Cape Breton version of the tune is an outlier – and not one that would be commonly played in Scottish sessions. In your Blog it might be worth mentioning this and if you can easily find it, put in a link to music for the 4-part 2/4 Pipe March version.

Munro adds,

Note that the third and fourth parts are both quite tricky – but lovely to play on the flute.

PM Jim Christie of Wick as published in Ceol na Fidhle, published by Taigh na Teud Music Publishers.

This is a good reminder of how things are often not straightforward in traditional music, with different versions and origins often sitting side by side. This is true, even when the composer is known and the music is published, and my thanks to Munro for drawing attention to this.

From my own perspective, I was surprised that the pipe march only had 2 parts, when 4 is more common. Now I know why.

Munro illustrated the 4 part version with a photo (opposite) from the excellent Ceol na Fidhle music book series published by Taigh na Teud Music Publishers based in the Isle of Skye, edited by fiddler Christine Martin. It can be found in the combined Book 3 and 4 edition and I can recommend these and the related books. To see a list of some publications that have been helpful to us in FluteFling, check out the Resources page.

The NE session sets tune book was compiled by John Crawford from existing session material to be found around Aberdeen music groups. The 2-part version allows us to also play with Cape Breton musicians and there is now an opportunity to broaden the repertoire by adding in the additional parts so that we can play with others. I’ll be adding a bonus video of the 4 part version at the end of this project.

Uncertainty about origins and versions is a big theme for this set of tunes and illustrates the folk process in action.

The Rose Amang the Heather

The Rose Amang the Heather is a traditional strathspey in D. It is known by various titles and was taught by Tom Oakes in 2021 as a Northumbrian tune, The Kielder Schottische. I learned it as The Laddie wi’ the Plaidie and it is a good example of a tune that happily exists in different traditions (link to The Session).

The Traditional Tune Archive gives a different, but related, 2-part tune for The Rose Amang the Heather, from The Middleton Collection of 1870.

However, a search for The Lad wi’ the Plaidie reveals a 2-part version from 1910 and a more elaborate 5-part strathspey, 3 of which are the same as our version.

For comparison, here is The Kielder Schottiche from The Session.

And here’s a recording of Tom Clough (Northumbrian pipes), Billy Ballantyne (piccolo) and Ned Pearson (fiddle): https://youtu.be/rrQaMMjCczA

I suspect that it is Scottish in origin and originally in two parts, but completely take on board Tom’s assertion that it is Northumbrian. Many tunes are common to both Northumbrian and Scottish traditions as each repertoire leaches over the Border.

In addition, the running triplets in the third part are a strong feature of hornpipes beloved of Northumbrian pipers and others. Harvest Home and The Belfast Hornpipe are two notable and well-known tunes that feature this. However, triplets and quadruplets are also common in strathspeys, which are often played at a hornpipe tempo.

I’ll leave it there with regards to this tune, but in my opinion, Northumbrian pipers’ tune books are generally a rich resource for flute and whistle players exploring different settings of Scottish material. Cross-Border hybridisation is clearly a long and noble tradition and there are many threads to the heritage of this lovely tune.

The three part version is the one I have come across the most and it certainly fits the flute and whistle well. Be sure not to let the triplets run away, find a space in the music to breathe and keep it steady.

Bonnie Kate o’ Aberdeen

Bonnie Kate o’ Aberdeen is a reel in Em and has its own questions regarding origins. A tune and a country dance by that name were published in 1771 by Thomson, but the melody, also known as Bonnie Kate, is different. After a bit of hunting around with little success, I tried playing the tune into the Tunepal app.

Mobile phone screenshots of the Tunepal logo, music score and letter notation in ABC format.

Tunepal is a cloud-powered app developed for traditional musicians by Bryan Duggan and his team. It is available for Android and Apple phones, as well as online. After playing a 12 second clip into the app, it will search the free online databases and suggest matches with different degrees of confidence. For any musician trying to identify a tune from a fragment, maybe heard or recorded in a session, it’s a really valuable tool.

Tunepal suggested an Irish reel, called The Mountain Lark, which I have heard but don’t play. A search on The Session reveals that there are two tunes with that name, both in the same key, but distinctly different from each other. One of those is our version and lesser known.

The tune also has a couple of alternative Scottish titles – The Rakish Highlander and Bonnie Kate o’ Aberdeen. Additionally, the annotation to The Rakish Highlander in The Traditional Tune Archive discusses the interest in Scottish repertoire to Irish fiddlers.

On The Session page linked above, FluteFling’s own Sharon Creasey, aka The Archivist and a specialist in Fermanagh music and older manuscripts, writes:

This tune is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as Boney (sic) Kate of Aberdeen.
What a great tune!

The Gunn Book predates Ryan’s Collection (1883) by almost 20 years and strengthens a Scottish claim.

Sharon herself reintroduced the to Aberdeen, teaching it in her workshops, and hence into this PDF. I’m not aware that the tune is otherwise known in Scotland currently.

From Scotland to Ireland and back again with this reel, a Northumbrian schottische or a Scottish strathspey for another tune, from Caithness to Cape Breton and back for our march. Whichever way you look at it, the connections and cross fertilisation of people, culture and music makes the world a richer place.

Ten weeks of videos

Over a 10 week or so period, I am recording and uploading to YouTube a set of tunes from the PDF roughly once a week. The aim is to introduce the tunes, point out some techniques along the way and then play them as a set as I might play them in a session.

As I go along, I’ll take in suggestions to improve the sound and presentation and get back into the way of teaching again. There is an in-built slow down function in YouTube and the PDF is available to everyone, so why not join me on the journey?

Look out for some more tunes in this project. In the meantime, enjoy learning and playing the tunes!

 

September polkas, singing, breath

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Anascaul Lake - geograph.org.uk - 919995

Photo of Anascaul Lake, County Kerry by Peter Church

The Autumn workshops got off to a fine start with a look at a pair of Irish polkas that I have been teaching for many years that make a great way to warm up.

Tune background

I learned Patrick O’Connor’s Polkas from a cassette recording of a County Cork band called The Monks of the Screw, who took their name from a drinking club (the screw in their name is a corkscrew). There’s an old web page on them here and you can hear snippets of the recording at Irishtune.info.

I have also recorded the version I wrote and will add sheet music to the Repertoire page. Polkas have an interesting history as a dance form and can found around the world. In Ireland, a distinction can be drawn between the polkas of the south west, in particular Cork and Kerry and the area around Sliabh Luachra, and those of the Connaught area (Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon) further north.

The Cork and Kerry polkas are played very briskly and often have an off-beat emphasis, while those of the Connaught area are more like marches in many ways. Indeed, some of the Irish polkas can be traced to Scottish 2/4 marches. Farewell to Whiskey and The Barren Rocks of Aden are two obvious examples. For this latter reason, I find the way of playing Irish polkas on the flute and whistle a useful in road to playing Scottish marches on those instruments.

Patrick O’Connor’s Polkas were originally collected in Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol 2 as untitled tunes and I reversed the order that they appeared there and in the recording as I preferred the contrast between the runs of the first and the more punchy jumps in the second. It turns out that the one we learned first is better known as the Anascaul Polka (notation and discussion on The Session), named after a village on the Dingle peninsular, whereas the other one has no other name of its own (notation and discussion on The Session).

Caution: The Session is a very useful website that I often refer to, but the notation and information can sometimes contain errors, so please refer to it with a pinch of salt

To my knowledge the tunes are not as widely known as they maybe should be. Perhaps their relative simplicity puts people off, but this also creates an opportunity to concentrate on playing techniques.

Techniques

We began by listening to the Annascaul Polka, which is constructed on simple runs up and down. In A Dorian (see here for some ready modes information) with A as the top note and G at the bottom, it sits within the bagpipe scale, hinting that it may even have been a bagpipe tune at one point. There is a C natural as it ascends, but this and the F# are missed on the descent, making it a little ambiguous. Patrick O’Connor’s No. 1 is more punchy within the same scale.

We then alternately sang and played that part of the tune to help root it and connect it to our breathing more directly. Singing the tune, no matter how quietly, helps to develop the ear and to find places to breathe. We also naturally articulate parts of the melody in diddling that can be referenced when playing our instruments, particularly the whistle or low whistle.

It is arguably present in Gaelic puirt à beul, here’s a direct Irish example:

On the flute, glottal stops are more common in Ireland for rhythm and articulation, but tonguing is sometimes subtly used and is generally associated with whistle playing.

We looked at generating pulse with breath and on the low whistle this proved to be subtle but effective.

We discussed cuts, strikes, rolls and crans and also what I call The Sylvain Barou Method for learning and developing them, which is described in this post from 2017.

Finally, we looked at some books to support our learning. Some of the stand-out ones are discussed in this post, to which I would add Steph Geremia’s Up She Flew, a CD with her accompanying book of transcriptions and notes. To date, the only book on the low whistle I am aware of is The Low Whistle Book by Steáfán Hannigan and David Ledsam.

Upcoming events

The next Edinburgh workshop will be 23 November, while the Aberdeen Weekend takes place 1-3 November.

January Edinburgh workshop: The Rose in the Gap

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We began the January workshop with a simple warm-up piece, a Gavotte Ton Double from Brittany and had fun taking turns in playing call and response with drones in a Breton-influenced manner with various high and low pitched whistles and flutes in D and a sonorous A flute. I have taught this previously and wrote about it here.

This led to a discussion and interest on playing parts against each other which led to Laridé de Portobello, a 9-part extended arrangement of mine of a 2-part traditional Breton tune. This page has some discussion and a version of it played by a FluteFling ensemble a few years back (via the Soundcloud widget). If you scroll down this page there is a bit more written about it, with some suggestions on how to play it, along with another recording of a performance. I haven’t yet recorded the parts separately for people to learn, so that’s one for the future.


Our main tune was an Irish march, The Rose in the Gap. I was surprised to learn that The Rose in The Gap is not widely known. I have heard it in Edinburgh sessions played by Dublin singer, whistler and fiddler Saidhbhin Bhreatnach. As I recall, she plays the version by Dónal O’Connor (fiddle) and John McSherry (uilleann pipes, whistles) on their Tripswitch CD:

If you haven’t heard this before, by the way, it is highly recommended, with some very fine arrangements and a stripped-down sound. Listen and more at John McSherry’s website.

Dónal is the son of Dundalk fiddler Gerry O’Connor and singer/ fluter Eithne Ní Uallacháin, who performed as La Lúgh, and a 4-part version of The Rose in the Gap appears on their CD Senex Puer (confusingly as The Rose in the Garden, but see below) as well as their Brighid’s Kiss album.

They popularised many tunes and songs from the Louth area, which has an often overlooked gaeltacht, Oirialla (Oriel in English). You can hear their version on the well-produced Oriel Arts website which is a mine of information and is well worth an explore. We listened to both versions in the workshop but focused on the Tripswitch one. The La Lúgh one is a little closer to the original source.

The ever-reliable Tune Archive website throws up some interesting links and origins for the tune. The Rose in the Garden is a different tune that contains phrases to be found in The Rose in the Gap, hence the confusing renaming on the La Lúgh recording.

The Rose in the Garden seems to be better known as The White Cockade, which is also known by other Scottish titles and some northern English ones too. The White Cockade appears in late 18thC/ early 19thC Scottish collections as well as being part of fifing traditions, Cape Breton, Old Timey and Morris traditions too. For me the connection underlies the ties between neighbouring traditions and how a good tune will always travel.

Resources for the January workshop can be found on the new Resources page for this year.

The next FluteFling workshop in Edinburgh will take place 23 February.

December workshop: of Squirrels and Tatties

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A few of us braved the icy conditions last Saturday to continue the journey of learning tunes aided by a process of internalisation. The Tribe Porty White Hall is far warmer than a couple of years ago, with new heating and insulation in place. And Malcolm brought some mince pies along, which were equally welcome!

A few blind tunes were prepared and all of them had noteworthy names: Hunt the Squirrel and The Droketty March were from the playing of Cran, an Irish band with an active interest in Scottish repertoire that also have flutes, whistles and pipes at their instrumental heart.

These proved to be popular, but everyone was also taken by the performance of Mike Vass and Mairearad Green of Tha ‘m Buntata Mor. So instead of working on a new tune and then repertoire, we learned Hunt the Squirrel and Tha ‘m Buntata Mor. Sheet music and recordings of all three tunes are in the Resources section.

Hunt the Squirrel has a rich history. The Sleeve notes for Cran’s Dally and Stray CD seem to be no longer available online, but a search around sees it associated with Dumfriesshire and Ayrshire.

Tune Archive suggests it is played in England, Scotland, Ireland and USA and first published in Playford’s English Dancing Master, 1689. There it is listed as A New Scotch Jigg, as Scottish music was fashionable in London at that time. It appears in Oswald’s Caledonian Companion in 1760.

Another, possibly later, name for it is The Geud Man of Ballangigh, which seems to be the name of the dance that accompanies it. This fascinating account reveals that The Geud Man was none other than James V in disguise going about his people in Stirling. Although whether that tale was collected by Scott or invented by him is open to question. The dance that accompanies Hunt the Squirrel can be found on YouTube.

Other references associate it with Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire and Kelso, which gives it a good Lowland spread.

Cran play Hunt the Squirrel in quite a stately and unhurried way, which leads nicely into the busier 3-part Drocketty March. The D and G notes sit strongly on flutes and whistles and are helpful for getting the ear into focus.

Tha ‘m Buntata Mor translates as The Potato is Large and appears to be a 9/8 port a beul, as sung by Julie Fowlis here:

Aside: Note that the port Julie Fowlis sings is more like what the Irish call a hop jig, characterised by an underlying long-short note pattern throughout. By comparison, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh‘s following song An Bairille has a more standard slip jig sound featuring quavers grouped in three. Incidentally, if that second sounds familiar, it’s a version of The Rocky Road to Dublin. This set is one they recorded on dual, available as a download here. With fine singing, flutes and whistles and Éamon Doorley and Ross Martin accompanying, it’s one to look out for.

However the arrangement by Mike Vass and Mairearad Green, simply entitled Buntàta, is in the old 3/2 hornpipe time, illustrating the connection between 3/2 and 9/8 tunes. Indeed, their arrangement, as recorded on A Day a Month may have been influenced by that relationship.

In G and Em, the tune sticks closely to an arpeggiated melodic structure, so the rhythm becomes even more important. The close repetition of phrases and unusual time signature lends it a hypnotic and beguiling air that draws the listener in. As in some other 3/2 tunes such as Pawky Adam Glen, the underlying rhythm is a constant:

1-and-2-and-3-and | 1-and-2-and-3-and |

1-and-2-and-3-and | 1-and-2-and-3-and ||

The beat tends to fall most heavily on the 1 and 3, so requires a pulsing breath. 3/2 tunes tend to be punchy but this one can also take a moderate pace, so feel free to take it easy while learning it as you won’t lose its inherent identity.

At the workshop we had the three low whistles and two flutes getting into quite a groove with countless repeats and nuances merging that was pleasing to be part of. I wish I had recorded it at the time, but it inspired me to play for a bit longer than usual in my own reference recording of it.

This tune would go well in a set ahead of Pawky Adam Glen. Both are in 3/2 and the shift from G/Em to Bm/D is a striking one. Alternatively, going into a tune in 9/8 would also be effective.

The Droketty March is from Drogheda in County Louth. While we didn’t manage to cover this tune, I have also included it in the Resources.

Upcoming worshops

Edinburgh FluteFling workshops resume 26 January 2019. The FluteFling Scottish Flute Weekend for flutes and whistles will take place in Edinburgh 26-28 April. Sign up to the FluteFling Newsletter to hear news about events and tickets directly.

Scotch Mary and Peter Pan

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A danger of running an event on the third weekend of the month is that eventually you get to December and meet Christmas head-on. When that happens, it’s hard to know what to expect. So when Kenny Hadden said he would come down that weekend, I jumped at the chance to get him to also do some teaching alongside me and it became something bigger than usual.

Flutes at The Dalriada: (l-r) John Corbett, Malcolm Reavell, Sean Paul Newman, Kenny Hadden, John Crawford. (c) Gordon Turnbull

John Crawford and Malcolm Reavell were also there, also from Aberdeen, and we went for a flutey session afterwards at The Dalriada with Sean Paul Newman welcoming as usual and providing accompaniment. Later that evening Sharon Creasey came along with Cathal McConnell  to play at The Captain’s Bar. All in all a bit of a mini flute festival.

Sharon Creasey and Cathal McConnell at The Captain’s Bar, Edinburgh

The workshop began with a slow tune to warm up: Caol Muile (The Sound of Mull), the air to a Gaelic song (Youtube link to a version sung at Plockton School). I have a version with some harmony parts and added another myself, so we had some fun trying them out. Grace notes and breathing came up as we added expression.

I followed this up with a reel that seems to be from Donegal and presented problems in pinning down a definitive version. We had one for the day and Kenny and I also had some variations. Scotch Mary can be found in various collections and with various titles. Irish Molly is one, Ireland Green is a title given by PJ Hayes and Martin Hayes too. Flute players John Skelton and Kieran O’Hare recorded it on whistles on their great CD Double Barrelled (link has a clip of the music).

The tune actually exists in three main versions, as two parts: A+B, B+C or three parts: A+B+C. To confuse things, the A and C parts are similar, there are different changes in other versions and key shifts too. The version I taught includes elements of these. Here’s a closely related Donegal version on Youtube played by Paddy, Seamus and Kevin Glackin. It’s the second tune in the set.

Kenny Hadden with others walking and feeling the rhythm while playing at the December FluteFling workshop.

Kenny took over after the break and kept the festive theme by teaching and sharing some tunes by Johnny Cunningham that were originally for a musical theatre performance on Peter Pan. Johnny and brother Phil studied at local Portobello High School so it was doubly apt for the location.

The first tune, Two is the Beginning of the End, not only had a strange title, but was in an enigmatic scale that served as a useful warm-up piece to get the ears tuned in. As it has actually been a good while since I found myself learning a tune by ear in a workshop, it was good to have the tables turned and be reminded of the experience.

The second tune Kenny introduced was more traditional, but recorded by Johnny Cunningham. The Celtic Society’s Quickstep (music and background can be round at the Traditional Tune Archive) is a dance tune first published in Kerr’s Merrie Melodies of the 1880s, but in existence since at least 1820. A delightful tune with some interesting jumps and straightforward runs that can be played with some bounce. It doesn’t seem to be played very much and could benefit from more exposure.

Resources for the tunes are to be found on the resources page for 2017. Two is the Beginning of the End doesn’t feature for copyright reasons, but those who attended will have something to work with. I will add The Celtic Society’s Quickstep very shortly.

Here’s Johnny’s version of The Celtic Society’s Quickstep, as recorded on Fair Warning:

Kenny has a YouTube channel with some rare archive video and TV footage, particularly of music from Scotland, that is worth exploring.

Finally, a wee plug for the Scottish Flute channel on YouTube, which has evolved out of the FluteFling workshops and sessions. Set up and run by volunteers and supporters in the Aberdeen area, there is some footage from the Aberdeen weekend in November and more can expected both from the archive and as more events occur.