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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!

 

The North East Scotland Session Tunes Project 4: Marshall Reel Set

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The recording of the videos was squeezed into a corner over the Christmas period. (c) Gordon Turnbull

FluteFling NE Tunebook Project: 04 The Road to Berwick / There’s Nae Harm Done Guidewife/ Mrs Brown of Linkwood

This fourth video of the NE Scotland Session Tunes Project features reels composed by 18th Century fiddle composer William Marshall.

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

Marshall Reel Set

This fourth video in the project features three reels from the FluteFling NE Tunebook of Scottish session tunes for flute and whistle. I play these on my Astor flute in D.

William Marshall

William Marshall (1748-1833), Violinist and composer

William Marshall (1817) by John Moir (1775–1857), from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

William Marshall (1748 – 1833) hailed from Fochabers in Aberdeenshire and is regarded as one of the most important fiddle composers in Scotland, alongside the Gow family, James Scott Skinner and others. Praised by Robert Burns, he worked for the Duke of Gordon and one of his roles was to compose music for the Duke during a golden age of Scottish music.

Aberdeenshire fiddler Paul Anderson has a YouTube project where he goes through every single William Marshall composition once so you can hear how they should sound. His channel is worth exploring, and is recommended for anyone curious about the strong NE Scotland fiddle style.

About the tunes

This set of reels presents some tricky problems for flute and whistle players. I didn’t know any of these tunes prior to this project, and it will take a while longer before they are completely fluent under my fingers.

This is true of course for any newly learned tune and the process for me is also slower when I learn from printed music than if I learn by ear. The next stage is to try playing the tune away from the music. There are a few ways to do this. I tend to keep the sheet music nearby for reference and go over the tune, pausing at any sticky transitions between the phrases, repeating them and slowing down to encourage the fingers to move correctly.

If you are particularly reliant upon the sheet music, try placing the music stand progressively further away from you as you go over the tune. The individual notes become harder to make out, but you will still see the general rise and fall of the melody. Surprisingly, your brain already knows what to do and at one point you will reach the sweet spot where it becomes harder to read the music than it is to remember it. It’s a process of trusting yourself and developing confidence, but definitely worth persevering with as you develop your skill in this area.

The next key stage for me is to move away from visualising the printed music and instead to understand the feel of the tune. This may take a while and the incipits in the PDF can prompt the recall of the opening bars to help trigger the phrases that come next.

Reels are played with a bit of pace, but don’t be tempted to race away with them. All three of these tunes have dotted phrases and keeping them slower allows you to better integrate them into the music. When played faster, there is less time for each note, dotted or otherwise, and the rhythm tends to become ironed out. And of course, speeding up is a common feature of sessions, so practising and learning slower is the opportunity to keep your technique secure

The Road to Berwick is in D and was first published in 1781. It was renamed The Buck of the Cabrach in an 1822 collection. Cabrach is an area near Fochabers in Aberdeenshire, whereas Berwick probably refers to Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland, right on the Border with Scotland.

Points to be aware of when learning this tune:

  • Octave drops: e-E and d-D
  • The ascending phrase in the penultimate bar of the B part could become confused with the corresponding bar in There’s Nae Harm Done Goodwife (the second tune). Consider taking time to work on both of these and how they connect to the preceding phrases of their respective tunes.

Also published in 1781, There’s Nae Harm Done Guidewife is also in D and was possibly dedicated to his wife. See The Fiddler’s Companion (a precursor to the Traditional Tune Archive) for some more information. Note that there are a few different spellings of the title — Guidewife/ Guidwife/ Goodwife — the PDF for this project uses two different spellings, for example.

Points to be aware of with this tune:

  • The opening bars of a tune in a set are important in communicating a change to other musicians and to dancers and should be strong. In the A part this combines octave jumps and snaps with use of the G# key that gives the rising phrase an extra lift. It can be tricky but is effective.
  • Where a passage presents problems, work on it in isolation. Take each bar on its own and then combine them with others to get them to work together. In this instance, understanding where the tune goes from there will help make this a secure opening.
  • The B part is relatively straightforward, although again, be aware of the penultimate bar and its similarity to The Road to Berwick. Once more, consider taking time to work on both of these and how they connect to the preceding phrases of their respective tunes.

Mrs Brown of Linkwood is in E minor and was possibly first published in 1822. The title honours a woman associated with the founding of the Linkwood Distillery in Elgin, which still still produces whisky to this day.

The reel runs easily, almost like some Irish polkas, and has a snapped phrase and a phrase that uses D#, both of which recur within the melody.

The use of D# ties the tune in with musical tastes and sensibilities of the 18th Century. It appears in several tunes of that period and also in the classical music of the time. I have come across some tunes where this has been dropped in more recent times, resulting in more than one version of a tune.

If you don’t have a D#/ Eb key, the tune still makes musical sense and it would be possible to play it with others if they had also understood that the D# is not to be played. However, it would not only lack the lift that the D# phrase introduces but also clash if others were playing the D#.

Similarly, this version in the National Library of Scotland has more dotted phrases that are not in the version we are learning and to my mind give it a stronger feel of modern Irish polkas.

I mention the Irish connection not because I think that the tune is somehow directly related to Irish music, but because the large numbers of flute players in Ireland makes it easier to find examples of how such phrases might be played. As flute players we can then use our judgement to bring that into Scottish playing where we think it can be effective. If you’re looking for an introduction to Irish flute playing, there are many guides online, but begin with Brad Hurley’s site.

Be sure to check out John McKenna, who was very influential in the early 20th Century. Some of his playing of Irish polkas includes tunes that Scottish musicians would recognise and his breathing and rhythm are of particular interest to flute players in Scotland. Here’s something I wrote about him a few years ago.

More than one version of a tune?

The other lesson here is that there tends to be more than one version of any tune played in traditional music. This could be due to different instruments, regional and individual styles or the folk process shaping it across the years and centuries. As so much of Scottish music has been in print for a long period, different editorial hands have also been involved, sometimes changing a title or making adjustments to suit personal or audience taste and not always in a way that appeals to our times. Sometimes too, there are just plain mistakes and errors that are then copied and repeated.

So, be aware when playing with others, that they may play the tune differently to you. This may be that they have a different version, their instrument is different or their individual style is (e.g. they have been influenced by different musicians).

In sessions, deference is given to the musician that starts the tune and the trick then is to get in step with them by adapting your playing. If they aren’t a confident player, then doing so supports them and avoids dominating their music. Entrainment is how musical communities and styles evolve and develop. There’s there’s quite a science behind it as this study from the University of Durham shows.

There’s also plenty of discussion about session etiquette to be found online, much of it heated.

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 next week. In the meantime, enjoy the music!

Tunes, lyrics, Hogg and Burns: a late January update

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The January workshop couldn’t have taken place without a nod to Robert Burns and it turned out that much of the music we covered had lyrics or associations with words.

Gordon demonstrates how to engage the diaphragm while playing the flute. Photo (c) Oonagh O’Brien

We also tried out some different flutes and whistles and explored learning to use the diaphragm.

When playing while lying down, the diaphragm has to be engaged. The sensation is then recreated when resuming a vertical position in order to better support the breath.

Other technique covered included rolls, cuts and strikes and longer phrasing.

Leaving Lismore

We began with Leaving Lismore as a slower piece to warm up. A retreat march in D by Mrs. Martin Hardie (of which nothing seems to be known), there is a harmony for fiddle by Christine Martin from Breakish, Isle of Skye that I have adapted for flutes and whistle. There are some good opportunities for simple decoration and space to concentrate on tone and breath support.

Once we had the slow waltz feel down, we tried introducing the harmonies to good effect, with the whistles adding to the range of sound. While I have taught this tune before, it was new to the group and is one of a few pieces that might be suitable for working on as an ensemble.

Kye Comes Hame

A strathspey I have never heard others play but is undoubtedly related to When the Kye Comes Hame, a song written with James Hogg (“The Ettrick Shepherd”) and first published in 1822 in his novel The Three Perils of Man. There’s a good historical overview of the song at the National Library of Scotland web site which suggests that the tune may have already been well known.

I learned my version many years ago via Kerr’s Merrie Melodies and I think it was the lyricism of the tune that appealed to me at the time, although I was unaware of the song at that point. Being aware of the lyrics can often help with phrasing and is often recommended for slow airs that derive from songs. However, without the words, the opportunity opens to emphasise the rhythm and bounce of the tune.

In D, this tune goes well with Leaving Lismore.

Here are the Tannahill Weavers with their version of the song:

Green Grow the Rashes

Green Grow the Rashes O is a poem of 1787 by Robert Burns with a very long and detailed history. Some information here from the Scottish Country Dancing perspective and also some lyrics analysis from this website, which says there were three other pre-existing versions that Burns took as inspiration.

However the Traditional Tune Archive has more on the melody that can be traced back to 17th Century lute collections and became known in a different format as Grant’s Rant. As the Grants were traditionally in the Rothiemurcus area, this might suggest it is from the heart of strathspey country.

I had thought that the version we learned is based on one from Donegal, but listening back to my sources which have some of the Scotch snaps shaved off, I think that other influences may have overridden it. Our version is more like a Highland or west coast strathspey, in its bounce and punch and certainly not at all like Dougie McLean’s wistful version of the song, which shows how versatile a melody it is.

Our version is in G and sits on flutes and whistles nicely, with opportunities for typically Scottish short rolls on the G in particular. This tune goes well after Kye Comes Hame.

Flutes at this afternoon’s workshop. @tribeporty

A post shared by Gordon Turnbull (@gordontheflow) on

Och Is Duine Truagh Mi

While looking through some teaching material that Rebecca Knorr gave to me a few years ago, I came across the west coast pipe reel/ port a beul Och Is Duine Truagh Mi (Alas I am a forlorn man). It’s a lovely tune that was recorded by the influential Ossian a good few years back, with Iain McDonald on pipes, flute and whistles.

Rebecca’s version is in G to sit on the whistle more readily, which is how we did it, but I also provided music and a recording of it in A, which is how it would normally be played. The version in G features long G rolls and follows nicely out of Green Grow the Rashes, keeping the key but changing the rhythm.

It’s a really useful skill to know a tune in more than one key, particularly if you know it well. It’s like seeing someone in different clothes in that it brings out different parts of the personality. However, it also builds up technical skills in terms of fingering and anticipation. Neither the A version nor the G version are particularly difficult on flute or whistle, but if you try it out you will have to think of different fingering and phrasing transitions which is useful.

Niall Kenny on The Session says he got this from Allan McDonald (Iain’s brother, who with Dr Angus McDonald make up the three piping brothers of Glenuig ) and that it may originally hail from Scalpay.

There are some lyrics to the reel and I have found a couple of intriguing versions, one with pipe variations. This first one has a slightly different title, but features whistles as well as pipes played by Seoanaidh MacIntyre with Ross B. Wilson on keyboards. There are two variations on each part, effectively making it a six part tune. The video includes the sheet music:

The second version is by fiddle and harp duo Jenna Moynihan & Mairi Chaimbeul:

Dhomhnuill a Dhomhnuill

Dhomhnuill a Dhomhnuill is a piece of mouth music (port a beul) from the isle of Skye that I learned from Gaelic singer Michel Byrne. This was part of the repertoire for The Big Squeeze Ceilidh Band for many years when we both played in it together. We didn’t spend much time with it, but it would go well after Och Is Duine Truagh Mi in either key. I taught this reel a couple of years ago and at the time wrote about it here.

February workshop

The next workshop will take place on Saturday 24th February and will be taken by Sharon Creasey. It’s a rare chance to spend some time with Sharon, who plays Boehm system flute as well as whistle.

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.

 

Mullindhu: an ambiguous tune

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September’s workshop looked at a version of Mullindhu, which translates as The Black Mill. A Scottish tune with Highland origins, there are a few different versions and spellings about in the main collections (Skye, Fraser and Athole are ones I regularly refer to). A reel in A Dorian, our version is slow and stately, more like a march, and was recorded by Jock Tamson’s Bairns.

Resources for this and the two other tunes we looked at (PDF, ABC and MP3 formats) have been added to the Resources Page.

Alba Low whistle in D (c) Gordon Turnbull

The story I originally heard about this melody from Edinburgh fiddler Doug Patience (now in County Clare) was that the mill in question stood on disputed land between two rival families and was burnt down by one of the sides. The composer was local and diplomatically wrote a tune that could be seen as either celebratory or in lament, depending on the point of view of the listener.

On The Session.org, a discussion on the tune quotes a story from Cape Breton Island about the Mill as a clandestine rendezvous for romance that similarly divides opinion:

Apparently, on Cape Breton Island the tune/song was not allowed to be played in certain parts because it was so closely associated with the MacDougalls of Margaree, who apparently were extremely touchy about hearing it played within their earshot! It appears that one line of a stanza of the puirt a beul set to the melody goes “Tha nead circe fraoiche ‘s a’ mhuilean dubh.” (In the black mill is the heather-hen’s nest). The offense to the Margaree MacDougalls was due to a joke that was told about hens at the expense of the clan, and they were so sensitive to any reference to the joke that they could not tolerate mention of poultry of any kind, and took the playing of the tune to be a veiled insult against the clan.

More on the tune background and stories can be found at the Fiddler’s Companion, including one story that includes devilish dealings.

I was pleasantly surprised that a bit of playing about with the tune reveals it to be a version of The Oyster Wives’ Rant, a reel I have known for many years but not often played. We also had a look at this in the workshop. The Fiddler’s Companion informs us that the earliest printed version is in Bremner’s Collection of 1775 and that it is part of a family of tunes and variants from Scotland to England and Ireland — so our Mullin Dhu connection is no surprise.

In searching about for a possible companion piece, I came across the distinctively titled An Oidhche Bha Na Gabhair Againn (The Night We Had the Goats) in the Athole Collection, a book which handily orders the tunes by key. This is in the relatively rare G major and I have adapted it slightly to my playing style. We didn’t have time to look at it properly, but it bounces nicely off the Ds and Gs and lends itself to short sharp spiky rolls. Interestingly, it resolves on to A, which lends it a whistful, inconclusive feel to my ears.

While it is described as a pipe tune, and printed versions may go back to 1795, the origins may be in puirt-à-beul. The odd title might be explained by another translation, The Night the Goats Came Home.

Here’s a version played a few years ago by then 17 year olds Hannah Stockley and Brad Murphy at the Gaelic Society in Sydney, Cape Breton.

After the workshop, myself and Malcolm Reavell rounded off the day by walking along to the Dalriada in Joppa and joined in the regular Saturday afternoon session for a couple of hours. Thanks to Sean Paul Newman (guitar) and Robert Chalmers (concertina) for their hospitality.

Reminder: FluteFling workshops take a break in October, but goes on the road in November with a big Aberdeen weekend featuring tutors Davy Maguire, Sharon Creasey, with a concert and sessions. And to keep the momentum going, regular Edinburgh workshops resume in November and December.