Tag Archives: strathspey

A strathspey: The Braes of Mar

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This is a four part strathspey that sounds very much like a pipe tune but the fourth part drops below the piping range, suggesting that this may be a fiddle setting.

The Fiddler’s Companion confirms that the itself tune is old, having first appeared in the Drummond Castle Manuscript of 1734 as Sir Alexander McDonald’s Reel and later printed in Bremner’s Collection of 1757 as Sir Alexander McDonald. It has traveled to Canada and Ireland and exists in many forms under different names, including as as fling and as a jig. Some say the Devil’s Dead is a well-known song in Ireland that is set to this tune.

I first learned this as an Irish two-part reel that I later realised was a fling. I then found it was a strathspey and discovered from Edinburgh fiddler Doug Patience (now in Meenross, County Clare) that it had a third part. And finally, years later I learned it had a fourth part. It seems that 2, 3 and 4-part versions are common.

The most frequent decoration here is cuts and casadhs (a late double grace note), but there is an opportunity to roll in the third part on the high E in the opening phrase and later in the 4th part on a low E phrase near the end. Keep a regular pulse throughout with the breath and it’s OK to tongue the shorter parts of the scotch snaps to give them more punch. Look out too for opportunities to put in a brief pause on the longer parts of the snaps.

The resources for the tune can be found on the Resources page for this year’s classes.

Photo: Native pine at Glen Derry, Mar Lodge Estate. Copyright C Mills 2013. Used with kind permisssion.

Katie Bairdie: a 500 year old children’s tune

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Katie Bairdie is the most recent tune we have covered can be played as a strathspey, a schottische, a reel, a waltz and it was originally a march on the highland pipes.

Resources for this can be found on the Resources page for the year.

The tune is one with a very ancient and coloured history. It’s often taught in schools as a playground song, Katie Bairdie, which has lots of variations. It’s great to teach in schools as a spur for songwriting. Singer Christine Kydd has recorded some of these with schools and written on the background of the song, with one suggestion being it can be traced back to 1628.

However, there is evidence that the melody goes back further than that. Katherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar include it in their schools’ anthology, Scottish Traditional Songs and Music. There is it called Sherramuir March or The Stewart’s March. It was originally a pipe tune with 9 parts entitled Gabhaidh Sin An Rathad Mór (We Will Take the High Road), and associated with the MacIntyres of Cruachan, Argyll. The Stewarts of Appin then claimed it and played it when returning from the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The Gaelic title refers to the Battle of Inverlochy of 1644.

It was played by the Stewarts of Perthshire at the Battle of Sherrifmuir of 1715, which is where the English title comes from. James Hogg may have added lyrics to the tune and Robert Burns also wrote about the battle.

Eventually the Katie Bairdie lyrics are added and at some point it also becomes the tune for London Bridge is Falling Down, itself an old song. More information from Education Scotland, which also quotes from Campbell and McVicar.

However the story doesn’t end there, as it is also goes by the title Kafoozalum, the title of a bawdy song to the tune printed in the USA in the mid 19thC. I have seen reference to it being in vaudeville theatre and a search shows that Rudyard Kipling and James Joyce referenced it in their own ways.

More recently, Belfast flute Harry Bradley recorded it on his first CD and called it Davy Maguire’s after the flute player he associated with it. Davy Maguire teaches flute in Belfast and else where. Here the snaps have been smoothed out, but it is recognisably the same tune:

Brochan Lom: food for the feet

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Brochan Lom is a Gaelic song or port a beul (“mouth music”) that is well-known in Scottish music circles. Perhaps almost too well-known because many people have grown up with it, meaning it tends to get overlooked by many musicians. The title translates as Thin Porridge and it is often taught in Scottish schools, including those where Gaelic is not otherwise spoken.

Some background and lyrics can be found on Wikipedia. The ever-helpful Tobar an Dualchais/ Kist o’ Riches web site has many recordings, both vocal and instrumental, including one by Kate Buchanan and Nan Bryan (Mary Anne) Buchanan, collected in 1965 by Thorkild Knudsen.

It is undoubtedly a tune that swings along nicely and has much rhythmic emphasis. In G, it suits the flute and whistle very nicely and allows the D and G notes to punch through, providing lift for dancers. When I play this in celidhs, it’s great for setting up a good rhythm and giving the dancers a boost as they latch onto it.

Resources for the tune are now up, as are those for Katie Bairdie, another school favourite that we will be learning next.

Photo: Record-breaking porridge by chatirygirl, some rights reserved.

 

Music from the Western Isles and beyond

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At last week’s class we discussed some aspects of Gaelic Mouth Music, psalm singing and Cape Breton fiddling in relation to some of the tunes we have been learning. This quick follow-up post is to share some related links.

Gaelic psalm singing

  • For some background on this unique singing style, there is an introduction at the Education Scotland website:

    Each line of the psalm is ‘put out’ by the precentor or leader. The congregation then joins in gradually and slowly sings those words, but with varying degrees of ornamentation and at varying speeds. Although each singer is singing the same tune, the effect is of a continuous sound with different chordal effects being created. This is known as heterophony.

    Although the music sounds very complicated, the roots of the melodies being sung lie in straightforward Scottish metrical psalm tunes.

  • Gaelic psalms at Back Free Church, Isle Of Lewis- 20/21/oct/2003:
  • The clip is from the church in this recording, Salm vol 2 which the text in the link describes as:

    the congregation singing unrehearsed, unaccompanied Psalms with various precentors.

    This is traditional Gaelic psalm singing in the style of free heterophony – precentor-led singing with the congregation following through. Various precentors lead a large congregation in the most popular psalms.

  • The many field recordings at Tobar an Dualchais/ Kist o Riches website includes this anonymous recording of Salm 133.

Mouth Music

  • We have looked at music associated with Mouth Music a little before. Here’s an example in strathspey time, similar to the Bidh Eoin and the Donegal Highlands we are looking at. Air Do Shlàinte Mhàiri an Dotair is sung by Annie Arnott and was recorded by the great archivist Hamish Henderson.

Cape Breton fiddle

    • We talked about the relationship between the fiddle styles of Cape Breton, the west of Scotland and the type of swing we are trying to put into our playing as flute players. I mentioned Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald as someone to look out for and there are some related clips on Youtube, but it can also be seen in the opening strathspey by left-handed fiddler  Kimberly Fraser  in this set, accompanied by Mark Simos on guitar.

Highlands

  • Here’s a clip of Duncan Chisolm to compare, playing a strathspey followed by Scottish and Irish reels:

Donegal

  • And here are some links to Donegal. First some fine fiddling from Glencolmcille. The tunes are Casey’s Pig (The Duke of Gordon’s Birthday) and Miss McLeod of Raasay:
  • Here’s a Highland being danced:

Finally

  • Here’s a clip of flute player Calum Stewart astonishing performance of James Scott Skinner’s astonishing variations on Tullochgorum.

Photo from the Western Isles (CC) Kristian Dela Cour.

Bidh Eoin: mouth music on flute and whistle

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Boat in Fisherrow HarbourThe Improvers class resumed this week with a lively piece of music from the Western Isles via Northern Ireland.

Bidh Eoin (Eoin’s Boat) is a piece of port a beul (mouth music) that I first came across on one of a series of landmark recordings of Scottish Music that were produced by The School of Scottish Studies, originally on vinyl. Consisting of field recordings, they showcase a variety of different types of traditional music to be found in Scotland. Volume 2 is Music from the Western Isles and features waukling songs, psalms and mouth music. Bidh Eoin appears there as Seallaibh Curaigh Eoghainn (Look at Ewen’s Coracle) as sung by Mrs Annie Arnott. Puirt à beul (plural) are songs for dancing to, often when no instruments are available. The emphasis is more on the rhythm and less on the meaning of the words. There are some recordings of people singing Bidh Eoin on YouTube.

This was recorded by Belfast flute player Desi Wilkinson on The Three Piece Flute and is part of a set that includes a Highland — a type of tune found in the north of Ireland that is directly related to the Scottish strathspey — which we will look at next time. Desi Wilkinson was the first person I heard play Scottish tunes on the flute and his work with the band Cran also explores the two traditions.

Update: Here’s a video of Desi Wilkinson with fiddler Gerry O’Connor and Brendan Hearty on guitar playing Bidh Eoin as part of the Steeple Sessions concerts. The following tune is Casey’s Pig, a version of The Duke of Gordon’s Birthday, written by William Marshall. Thanks to Stirling-based flute player Ian Stevens for the link.

The written and recorded resources for this tune can be found on the Resources page for the class

Photo of a boat in Fisherrow harbour, East Lothian (c) Gordon Turnbull.