THE JOURNAL OF THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS SOCIETY. Scottish smallpipe by Julian Goodacre

Transcription

1 ISBN June 2012 VOLUME 29 NO.1 THE JOURNAL OF THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS SOCIETY Scottish smallpipe by Julian Goodacre IN THIS ISSUE From the Archive (4); Annual Competition (5); Teribus - The Original Set (15); Piping By Numbers (19); Wandering Pipers (27); Playing Reels to Oysterwomen (28); Robin Shure in Herst (32); Whores and Rogues and Roundheaded Cuckolds (35); Enlarging the Smallpipe (43); Review (49); Event News (51); 1

2 President Iain MacInnes Chairman: Hamish Moore Treasurer Iain Wells Secretary Judy Barker Minute Sec. Jeannie Campbell Membership Pete Stewart THE JOURNAL OF THE LOWLAND AND BORDER PIPERS SOCIETY EDITORIAL It is interesting how some myths survive against all the odds and evidence available. Your editor has had experience of this in his one-piper struggle to re-instate the correct tune for The Day it Daws, a matter that was first correctly stated over two hundred years ago and which has been ignored ever since. In this issue we print a discussion of the tune known as Teribus - the Town Tune of Hawick. Despite the fact that this tune has been sung and played every year in Hawick for the past 240 years or more, most pipers will not recognise it, having been playing a different tune with the same, enigmatic title. Your editor, in his publications, has been as guilty of this as just about every other commentator on Lowland and Border music. We are relieved to be able to put this matter right at last. editor@lbps.net At the same time, we are pleased to include the results of Keith Sanger s investigation into the state of piping in the Highlands at the beginning of the 18th century. Something of the nature of myth attaches to this question, the popular notion that pipers were to be found in almost every household in the region. I had long suspected that this could not be the case and it is good to have Keith s deep knowledge of the documented sources confirm this suspicion. Keith s argument that when the British Army began to require two pipers for every regiment those posts could only be filled by recruiting Lowland pipers seems to have repercussions beyond mere numbers. It appears to be a credible explanation of the fact that so much of the music in early 19th century Highland piping publications is of Lowland The views expressed in Common Stock are those of the contributors and not necessarily those either of the Editor or of the Lowland & Border Pipers Society. The contents of Common Stock are protected by copyright. None of them may be reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner. The copyright in the individual contributions belongs to their authors and the copyright in each edition of the magazine as a whole belongs to the Society. ] 2

3 origin. There is also the possibility that in these early sources can be found clues to the kind of techniques that Lowland pipers were employing at that time. We had hoped to include in this issue an article exploring just this topic. Both space and time have proved to be insufficient, however. Hopefully this will appear in the next issue. Meanwhile you may be interested to learn that the ceol sean collection of bagpipe music, formerly available on CD, is now freely viewable at Here you will find just about all the early 19th century collections (except McLachlan s Piper s Assistant). The number of participants in this year s competition was significantly down on recent years with only two classes having more than 4 entrants, two classes having two entrants and two classes having only one. This is a pattern which has been repeated in border piping competitions elsewhere this year, particularly at Morpeth. It does give pause for thought as to whether the appetite for competitions is waning, and that perhaps the time for some other format for showcasing achievement might be due. On the other hand, it may be that there were too many other things to do in Edinburgh this year. We would welcome members opinions on this topic. We would also welcome suggestions for how the Society might celebrate its thirtieth anniversary in Some plans for celebrating this event are already in their early stages. However, it happens to coincide with a planned Bagpipe Colloquium and Exhibition to be held in Edinburgh University in August, and arrangements are being made for the Society to make a number of contributions to the fortnight of events. It is also hoped to hold a very special Collogue in the Autumn. Please send any other suggestions to the editor Another myth which has survived despite the fact that many instruments exist which defy it, is the notion that a cylindrical -bored chanter, such as that of the Scottish smallpipe, does not over-blow. This is a myth which we are delighted to explode. Those present at this year s competition will have heard it defied in no uncertain manner with the performance by Callum Armstrong in the solo smallpipe class. In this issue Julian and Callum explain how it s done. The Society website continues to expand. Recent additions include the paper The Common Bagpipe which your editor presented at the International Bagpipe Conference held in London in March, and sound files of all the awardwinning performances from this year s competition. You can also hear Callum Armstrong playing the full version, as printed in this issue, of his winning entry in this year s New Composition class, in which he produces two octaves plus a sixth from his chanter. It s smallpiping, Jim, but not as we know it Pete Stewart Winton, May

4 In the December 2010 issue we printed the text of the original 1981 announcement calling anyone interested in Lowland piping to a meeting in Edinburgh. The Society archive contains a sheet of contact prints of photos taken at the first competition held in 1984, from which this photo has been reclaimed. Mike Rowan was the original instigator of the Lowland and Border Piper s Society. Recently, writing about the founding he recalled; I contacted Hugh Cheap and Gordon Mooney and together we set up the first meeting in the MacEwan Hall in Edinburgh in 1981 and went on to found the Lowland and Border Pipers Society. At that time there were 2 working sets of Lowland pipes (one turned out of aluminium by Gordon Mooney!) and no makers and no information on the history of the instrument, though there were a few dead sets in museums. Effectively the lowland pipes were dead. As the first chairman I also set up the first competition award - the Mains Castle medal - where I lived at the time. Since then the Society has spread across the world: Mike Rowan adds: "Forming the society was one of the things in my life that I am most proud of. To see so many members round the world and so many hugely talented young musicians roaring away on the smallpipes is wonderful." Gentleman-piper Mike Rowan at the School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh during the first LBPS annual competition in The Society now holds a large and well-catalogued [thanks to Julian Goodacre] archive of photos of Society events. If you have photos of any LBPS competition or any other event featuring lowland or border pipes, we would be delighted to receive copies. Contact the editor, editor@lbps.net This is a plea specially aimed at the person who took photos at this year s competition! 4

5 The 29 th Annual Lowland and Border Pipers Society Competition was held in Edinburgh on 7 th April The competition was once again held at the Pleasance Theatre as part of Edinburgh s Ceilidh Culture programme. This is in many ways an excellent venue, the cabaretstyle audience seating arrangements nicely complementing the informal character of the proceedings [though see Rona s comments below]. The availability of car parking so close to the city centre is another major advantage, as is the adjacent bar and food. It is unfortunate therefore that the only tuning facilities it can provide necessitate a short walk outside and upstairs to a large and echoing room. This year the numbers competing were somewhat down, with several classes failing to produce three competitors. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable occasion which owed much to the hard work of of Society secretary Judy Barker, who once again, ably assisted by a number of volunteers, managed to produce an almost seamless proceedings. The judges this year were Hamish Moore, Julian Goodacre and Iain Mac- Innes. In previous years marking has been divided equally between the judge and members of the audience. However, it has been noticed that wide variations in audience marking, and of significant variations between audience and judges, sometimes produced anomalous results. There has on occasion seemed to be a tendency for audience judges, who are asked to judge chiefly on entertainment value, to award higher marks to competitors playing familiar music, which inevitably favours those playing highland music, whereas judges are asked to also consider appropriateness of repertoire, that is, to consider the Society s remit to promote the performance of the music of the Lowland and Border regions. This year therefore 75% of marks were awarded by the judges, with 25% by the audience. Some basic calculations on the results did suggest that the impact of this change was indeed to bring the audience marks closer in line with those of the judges. We have however, had objections to this change, and we are happy to hear the thoughts of others. The Novice and Intermediate classes continue to be but sporadically supported. This year, though the Intermediate class attracted four entries, the Novice class had only one. Whilst a winner under such circumstances can congratulate themselves for their achievement it must detract from the satisfaction they feel in announcing their success to others. In fact, the Novice class had one more entry than it has had for the past two years. It may well be time for this class to be conjoined with the Intermediate. The same applied this year to the Seasoned Pip- 5

6 ers class. As your reporter s time approaches and seasoned status looms, I wonder exactly what the purpose of this class is? I am told that the intention was to create an opportunity for those whose flesh was growing weaker faster than their spirit, the sort of argument that would put me off, for one. Although having said that, it is refreshing in a way to see such a class rather than a young pipers class, even if the pool of likely contestants for the former is growing faster than that for any such as the latter. Last year the new composition class attracted 10 entries this year only four which, by a quirk of the marking, managed to share the three prizes between them. Only the Smallpipe open and the pipe and song classes attracted more than four entries. Equally worrying was the dearth of entries for the most recently added class, that of duet for pipes and singer; the sole entry was beautifully performed, with lovely harmonies between the pipes and singer and would have stood well in any competition, but again, it would have been more satisfying to see others making a contribution. So abbreviated were the morning classes that an early lunch became an extended lunch and much goodly conversation ensued in the Pleasance bar. The first class of the afternoon, that of pipe and song, included a contribution from a visitor from the Czech Republic; Chip Doehring had been a prize winner in former years and it was a delight to hear him sing his own song it seemed to me to well deserve a place in the prize list. The duet for two pipes class attracted a number of entries, several of which suffered from a lack of attention to the length of the performance; this particular class often includes duet combinations which have been put together on the day itself [there being a real challenge for pipers in remote areas to develop duets with others, even in the age of instant technology]. The result is often a miss-timed collection of tunes. The object of this class is for pipers to explore the harmonic potential of two instruments, but too often we hear unison playing throughout; it seems to me also that two pipers playing together should at least occasionally look at each other, but again we regularly see two separate players with heads down and no communication. For me a duet is the interaction of two players, not just two instruments. One of the most innovative classes of the annual competitions has for several years been the pipe and other instrument. Each year we hear new combinations from very accomplished musicians. This year we had only two entries, both of them superb. The lyrical combination of smallpipe and harp has long been one of my favourites, and John and Caroline would have deserved the trophy in any other year, but this year it went to two music students from Trinity College in London with smallpipe and cello, a virtuoso performance. 6

7 The final class of the day, the Open Solo for Border/Lowland pipes was unusually poorly supported in numbers. Before the last minute arrival of one of the entries it looked as if there would be only one, and that was one that had been prepared just the day before. How close we came to having no entries in the Open Lowland/Border Pipe Class! This year saw the first presentation of a new trophy, introduced to mark the memory of Martin Lowe, former chairman of the society, whose ubiquitous presence at past competitions was this year sadly missed. This trophy was designed to encourage the performing of the music of the Lowland and Border regions, something which continues to be surprisingly lacking in a competition ostensibly set up to showcase it. The trophy, which includes a miniature model of the Society s patron, Geordie Syme, was made by Iain Wells with woodwork by Julian Goodacre. The accompanying certificate says The Martin Lowe Memorial Trophy - Awarded for the greatest contribution to the performance of Lowland and Border music on the day of the competition. It is to be hoped that more competitors will set their sites at having their name added to the winners list. The editor is always delighted to receive comments on the topic of the competition. The following comments from two participants reflect the variety of responses of members of the audience. Prize-winners at this year s competition; left to right back; Pete Stewart, John Bushby, Bob Low, Peter MacKenzie, Alan Howie, John Mitchell, Richard Fernandez, David Hannay: front: Caroline Bushby, Rona Dawson, George Greig, Callum Armstrong, George Pasca 7

8 Rona Dawson sent the following observations: We have reported on this event in the past elsewhere, noting the convivial atmosphere and the same was true again this year. The jury is out on whether the Easter weekend is a good date for this event on the one hand it allows far flung members time to travel up and spend the holiday weekend in Scotland, on the other hand locals are often away and miss the event. Several well kent faces were absent this year. The seasoned pipers class was well won by Dr David Hannay, a long time member of the Society with a set including the attractive tune, Sorbie Tower, which he had composed himself. The intermediate class was notable for the number of first time competitors and one who hadn t competed in public since 1989, so unsurprisingly nerves were a bit in evidence. There were a few issues with steadiness of blowing, but happily not with finger technique as most of the pipers seemed to have had at least a brush with Highland training. Congratulations to winner Robert Low. I don t think even the winner would disagree that the result of the Solo smallpipe class was a classic case of the best performance not being awarded the prize. The time limit set for this class is four minutes, with an allowable over-run of 15 seconds before penalties are incurred. There were some very good entries a tricky set with intricate variations from Pete Stewart, another 8 Border orientated selection from George Greig but it was the final player Callum Armstrong who really wowed the audience using stopping techniques to produce a staccato effect then retuned his Goodacre pipes half way through to the minor key with overblowing and keywork which produced nearly another octave worth s of notes! A playing sensation, but unfortunately too long a set to take away the prize Again entries were sparse for the pipe and song class - although the quality of the two entries here was outstanding. The Bushbys entered on pipe and clarsach which were well balanced for volume and tone and the husband and wife team looked comfortable playing together, producing a most musical set. Calum Armstrong and George Pasca on cello played variations of their own composition on a ground bass which employed a number of techniques on both instruments and was a joy to listen to - and finished with 4 seconds to spare! The open Border pipes class was won by Pete Stewart (playing the Day it Daws and Welcome Home My Dearie among other tunes) who had a very successful day. A new trophy had been presented to the Society in memory of the late Chairman Martin Lowe, for the piper who, in the opinion of the judges, made the greatest contribution to Border music on the day. The judges were unanimous in awarding this to Pete Stewart and Martin s wife Janet arrived just in time to present this to Pete [and to hear

9 him play new tune he had composed for Martin, which had won joint third prize]. All in all a pleasant day we are still not convinced about the venue (both acoustically and logistically with its lack of tuning facilities) but on the plus side it has the benefit of centrality and a bar on hand! Well done to Judy Barker for organising everything so ably and for the usual band of willing volunteers who helped out on the day.. David Hannay also offered the following comments: Alan Howie won the novice award with a creditable performance for someone who had only been playing for two years. The seasoned piper was won by David Hannay playing two tunes named after Sorbie Tower in Galloway. Robert Low won the intermediate competition with a well fingered selection of Highland, Welsh and Canadian tunes. The open solo for Scottish small pipes was won by John Mitchell with a slow air and selection of jigs on a good pipe and sparkling highland fingering. Second was Pete Stewart with a 17th century mazurka, followed by the Oyster Wife s Rant and the Stool of Repentance from William Dixon with variations which flew along. Third was Rona Dawson on a good pipe with tunes from a teaching weekend followed by two strathspeys and a reel. The Judy Barker Trophy for pipe and song duet was awarded to John and Caroline Busby singing Leezie Lindsay with lovely harmonies between the pipes and singer. After lunch the Jimmy Wilson Memorial cup for pipe and song went to John Busby singing his own attractive tune. Second was Judy Barker with some nice harmonies in High Germany, and third was Pete Stewart with The Mill, The Mill O. The duet for pipes was won by George Greig and Rona Dawson, with Lawrence Thompson and Donald Cowan second and John Mitchell and Callum Armstrong third. There was at times a lack of harmony playing in this competition. The duet for pipes and other instrument was won by Callum Armstrong on the smallpipes and George Pasca on the cello. This was a stunning performance from two music students with the pipes improvising over a base theme on the cello. It was an excellent venue with car parking, and the only drawback was the lack of tuning facilities. This year the numbers were somewhat down, perhaps due to the Easter weekend, and there is a case for having it on the previous Saturday. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable occasion and our thanks are due once again to Judy Barker and her team. 9

10 COMPETITION 2012 RESULTS Novice - Heriot & Allan Quaich 1. Alan Howie - Pipe Major JK Cairns / Colin s Cattle Intermediate - Julian Goodacre Trophy 1. Robert Low - The Flower of Yarrow / Y Ferch o Blwy Penderyn (The Lass from Penderyn Parish)/ Morfa Rhuddlan / (The Marsh of Rhuddlan) / Finbarr Saunders 2. Craig McDougal - Clara s Journey / The Panda / The Soup Dragon / The Cook in the Kitchen 3. Pete Mackenzie - Shoals of Herring / The Irish Jig Seasoned Pipers - Nigel Richards Trophy 1. David Hannay - Sorbie Tower / The Hannays Return to Sorbie 2. Henry Aitchison - Mrs Hamilton of Pencaitland New Composition - London Trophy 1. (Joint 1st) John Bushby - Moniaive Ceilidh Callum Armstrong - Thanks to Julian 3. (Joint 3rd) George Greig - Robert Walker - A Tune for Anita Pete Stewart - Dr Martin Lowe Open Solo for Scottish Smallpipes - Colin Ross Trophy 1. John Mitchell - Farewell my Love / Gallway Whistler / Arlies Big Day / Miss Monaghans / John Keith Laing. 2 Pete Stewart - Rothes Rant / The Oyster Wife s Rant / The Stool of Repentance 3. Rona Dawson - The Atom of Delight / Paulo's Waltz / Shepherd s Crook / Alex Currie s Favourite / An Cota Mòr Eleasaid / Red Fox Duet for Pipes - Mains Castle Medal 1. (joint 1st) George Greig & Rona Dawson- She moved thro the Fair / The Mill, The Mill O / Go to Berwick Johnnie 2. Lawrence Thomson & Donald Cowan - Bloody Fields o Flanders / Rockin the baby / Doug Boyd s favourite / The Kesh Jig / The Eavesdropper3. 3. John Mitchell and Callum Armstrong - Fair Maid o Barra / Itchy Fingers / Drops o Brandy Pipe and Song Duet 1. John Bushby and Caroline Bushby - Leezie Lindsay 10

11 Pipe and Song - Jimmy Wilson Memorial Cup 1. John Bushby - Toddlin Hame 2. Judy Barker - High Germany 3. Pete Stewart - The Mill, The Mill-O Duet for Pipes and Other Instrument - Dunfermline Tassie 1. Callum Armsttrong & George Pasca (cello) - Improvisation and Variations over a ground bass 2 John Bushby and Caroline Bushby- Where will our Gudeman Lye (from the Balcarres Manuscript) Open Solo for Lowland/Border Pipes - Hamish Moore Cup 1. Pete Stewart - The Day it Daws / Hunts Up / Welcome Home My Dearie / Salmon Tails 2. Richard Fernandez - The Geese in the bog / Donald Cameron s Powder Horn / Famous Baravan / Sandy Broon The Martin Lowe Memorial Trophy - Awarded for the greatest contribution to the performance of Lowland and Border music on the day of the competition Pete Stewart Callum Armstrong and George Pasca during their winning performance in the pipes and other instrument class at this year s competition 11 31

12 New Composition Class- Winning Tunes [Copyright of the tunes printed here remains with the respective composers] The first prize in the New Composition Class was awarded jointly to John Bushby and Callum Armstrong The Moniaive Ceilidh John Bushby John added the following comment to his tune title: Written for the wonderful Hogmanay we spent with friends in Moniaive, Scotland, 2012 Callum Armstrong introduced the other joint-first-prize winner, [printed overleaf] as titled simply jig ; only later did it gain the title it has here,. It is bound to raise eyebrows. The details of exactly how a smallpipe chanter can play a G#, a high E or a high E two octaves above the chanter s normal E, is explained in the extended interview with Callum and the maker of his pipes, Julian Goodacre, included in this issue. It should be said that although Callum presented to the judges the tune as printed here, he played only the first two parts in the New Composition Class. He did however, play the entire piece in his entry in the Smallpipes Open Solo class. You can hear a performance of the full tune on the website 12

13 Thanks to Julian Callum Armstrong 13

14 The third prize was awarded jointly to George Greig and Pete Stewart Robert Walker- A tune for Anita George Greig Dr Martin Lowe Pete Stewart 14

15 Teribus - The Original Set The pipe march Teribus will be well known to many. It is often said to be the Town Tune of the town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. This is not so. Here we introduce, with the help of Hawick resident Matt Seattle and others, the original tune Teribus is the iconic song and tune of the town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. It is quite different from a tune of this name played by highland [and lowland] pipers. Until 1797 the Toun Piper and drummer played music for the Common Riding but then were substituted by fife and drum. However, a different event took place in Hawick in 1777 at which both piper and fife and drum band are said to have played. This was the opening af a new bridge, over the Slitrig, the river that runs through the town. Whether the fifes and drums were there is perhaps debatable; what does seem likely however, is that it was on this occasion that someone noted down the tune as played by the piper, Walter Ballantine. Here is a photo of the original unsigned manuscript, preserved in the Hawick Museum. [Ed: efforts to acquire a better image have so far proved unsuccessful] Matt Seattle, who supplied this image says of it The manuscript in Hawick Museum is titled "The Original Set of Teribus as played by Walter Ballantine Town Piper, in 1777" and following the tune a note reads "This is the tow [sic] parts that Answer the Song" followed by an exact copy of strains 4 and 2 in that order. There is a metrical anomaly in the manuscript: in strain 1 bars 1 and 3 the note values do not quite make a full bar, so in the following transcription we have changed the first note, a dotted quaver, to a crotchet; also the key signature is changed from 1 to 2 sharps, corresponding both to the pipe scale and to the way the tune is still sung and played. 15

16 The Original Set of Teribus as played by Walter Ballantine Town Piper, in 1777 It has to be said, however, that there is nothing to confirm that the manuscript itself dates back to 1777; in fact, one could argue that the text implies that it does not. The phrase the original set [Note: the manuscript key signature is 1 sharp] suggests that by the time the manuscript was made a different set was in vogue. Nevertheless the song as sung today remains much as the two parts of the song given in the manuscript. Teribus as played by the Hawick Fife and Drum Band [This transcription and that of the Original Set by Matt Seattle] The Fife Band version is closely related to the song version, but with many divergent details.2 There are two songs currently sung at the Riding in Hawick. The oldest, known as The Old Song, written by 16 Arthur Balbirnie in the 1790 s, when Balbirnie, originally from Dunfermline, moved to Hawick. The excerpts here are from Robert Wilson s 1825 publication A Sketch of the History of Hawick p. 343

17 Tiribus and Tiriodin Tune: Drumlanrig s March; or Tiriodin We ll a hie to the muir a-riding; Drumlanrig1 gave it for providing Our ancestors of martial order, To drive the English off our border Chorus: Up wi Hawick, its rights and common Up wi a the Border bowmen! Tiribus and Tiriodin We are up to guard the common Now Tiriodin blaws the chanter As rank and file the town we enter As to the possibility that this is an updating of an earlier song, as Neil Wallace says Drumlanrig gave it for providing/ ancestors of martial order/ to drive the English off our border is pretty convoluted grammatically and the dear memorial of our valour line doesn t sound at all Hawick. 3 The tune title given here is Drumlanrig s March with the alternative [title or tune?] Tiriodin. [The Tiriodin spelling more closely reflects the pronunciation than the more common Teriodin]. However, as the verse above makes clear, Tiriodin was recognised at least by 1790 s as the tune s title; the final line of another verse of Balbirnie s song is We ll face the foe to Tiriodin. In 1819 James Hogg The Ettrick Shepherd, wrote a new extended set of verses which opens with the lines Scotia felt thin ire O' Odin, On the Bloody Field of Flodden. with the chorus Teribus ye Teri Odin, Sons of Heroes Slain at Flodden, Imitating Border Bowmen, Aye Defend your Rights and Common. When Hogg was asked about [the tune], he replied, " it's air's eternal" That's why it is often referred to as "The Eternal Air". Actually Hogg named the song "The Colour" but it is better known now as "Teribus".4 The argument about the origin of Hogg s line Teribus ye Teri Odin remains unresolved. The Dictionary of the Scots Language entry for Teribus has the following comment, after the quotes, [the earliest of which is that from Robert Wilson given above]: The source of the phr. has not been traced back to much before the beginning of the 19th c. and its orig. is obscure. The explanation given by Jam. and accepted by Murray [in Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, 1873], that the words represent O.E. Týr hæbbe us, ze Týr ye Oðinn, May [the god] Tyr keep us, both Tyr and Odin, fails on the grounds that the gods names are given in their O.N. forms, not the O.E. Tīw and Wōdan, that the normal phonological development would not result in the modern pronunciation and that in any event the survival of a supposed O.E. sentence in its near orig. form for more than 700 years is barely conceivable. The explanation seems to be a piece of dubious 18th c. antiquarianism. The phr. may well be a 17

18 succession of meaningless syllables meant to represent the sound of a march played on drums and bagpipes as some of the quotes suggest and as may be paralleled in the sim. Hey tutti tatie as the title of an old military march. Quite obviously the song, in both versions, is of deep significance to the people of Hawick: you can see the two versions being sung in two slightly different contexts: youtube.com/watch?v=tno-u1mxo0m Hogg s song] youtube.com/watch?v=oxnzxjku6ns [Balbirnie s song] For completeness sake, here is the tune titled Drumlanrig s March from the Snowhill Manuscript, date uncertain, but possibly early-to-mid 19th century. There seems to be no musical connection between this tune and Teribus. Matt Seattle adds As for the tune more commonly known as Teribus, we have been unable to trace anything of its history before it appears in the 1954 Scots Guards book. It does seem to be related to the tune family of Bobby Shaftoe which dates at least from the late 17th century. How that tune, if it is connected, got its new title remains as much a mystery as what that title might mean. Many thanks to John Dally, Matt Seattle and Bill Telfer for inspiring the debate which resulted in this article, and to Matt for seeking out and transcribing the original manuscript.5 Notes 1. The band can be seen playing this tune at youtube.com/ watch?v=awlwy5gyf3a&feature=related aj0haaaaqaaj&q=teribus#v=onepage& q=347&f=false 2. William Douglas, 6th of Drumlanrig died at Flodden; this would be his son, James, 7th of Drumlanrig /02/21/1777-what-teribus-did-jamesrichardson-sing-from-drumlanrig-bridge/ 4. co.uk/commonriding/songs.htm 5. Matt Seattle and Bill Telfer can be heard playing the pipe tune at youtube.com/watch?v=f9yz71fq0zw. 18

19 PIPING BY NUMBERS Keith Sanger has been compiling a collection of documented and named Lowland pipers; the total is currently around 250, which begs an obvious question To generate copy the editor of Common Stock has evolved a new technique of asking questions to which there are no easy answers but do raise a challenge in trying to deal with them. In this case the question was 'what were the comparative numbers of highland and lowland pipers around 1700'. To have some chance of injecting a degree of accuracy, by mutual agreement that date was pushed forward to 1717, for reasons which will be more obvious later. In trying to produce an answer the first hurdle that has to be jumped is what is defined by the terms highland or lowland piper? We therefore start by standing at the top of a rather slippery slope, but for the purposes of the rest of this article a 'highland piper' will be regarded as a Gaelic speaking piper usually to be found in the geographical area described as the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland. This immediately produces another problem in that the dividing line between Gaelic speaking Scotland and the rest of the country had been constantly moving over time and, to add another variable, so had the question of the size of the pot, as the total population of Scotland was also a changing variable; in other words it is a bit like shooting at one moving target from another. So to get our bearings let s start by considering what is known about Scotland's population. Population figures, at least before the nineteenth century censuses are mostly academic guesses but in our case there is one reference point when in 1755 an enterprising Church of Scotland Minister called Webster decided to request from his fellow ministers details of the size of their parish populations. This produced a total population for Scotland of million people, (England at that time had a population about five times as large). Of that total the population of the principle counties of Gaeldom was an estimated 229,741 which had grown by 20% to reach 276,106 by the year However over the same period the total population of Scotland had grown by 43% to reach million people.1 In other words, although the 'highland' population had grown in absolute terms, in terms of its percentage of the total population of Scotland it was in decline. Turning to the population prior to 1755 we have to resort to a degree of 19

20 speculation although what is clear is that population growth had not been one continuous upward climb. Starting from after the Black Death in the midfourteenth century when the population was certainly considerably diminished and remained so for over a century or more, the total population of England, Wales and Scotland together was thought to have been around 3 million with that of Ireland adding a further half million people.2 Or, to place that in context, the total population of Scotland was no larger than the current population of greater Edinburgh, although more evenly spread around the country, and with the Gaelic speaking proportion probably comprising around fifty percent or perhaps a little more. Between then and our date of 1717 the upward growth continued to experience a number of setbacks. The plantation of Ulster circa 1610 resulted in a number of lowlanders, especially from the Borders and Southwest of Scotland moving to Ireland; another large emigration occurred when, partly the result of famines, between 1688 and 1715, it has been suggested, some 200,000 Scots again moved to Ireland, an extraordinary figure when compared to Scotland's likely population at the time.3 So taken together a reasonable estimate of the population of Scotland in 1717 is around 1.1 million people with the 'Highlands' being around a third of that total. This would imply that on a simple population basis around the year 1717 in Scotland there would have been twice as many 'lowland pipers' as there were 'highland' ones. This of course assumes an even spread of the piping fraternity throughout the country, so we now have to look at what evidence there is to support or adjust that figure. Since by the nature of the problem we are relying entirely on contemporary written evidence then it is necessary to consider how thoroughly that covers the areas concerned and how far written records do reflect the actual numbers on the ground. Which brings us to the point of choosing the date of Following the 1715 rising those on the Jacobite side had their estates forfieted and the first move made by the government was to send in lawyers to undertake Judicial Rentals to find out what they had got. This required everyone holding land on an estate, whether by a legal 'tack' or a verbal arrangement, to swear on oath what they held and the rent they had formerly paid to the forfieted 'laird'. If people were sitting rent free then they still had to take the oath and state what the rent of their holding would have been if they paid one. These rentals cover some estates which were otherwise light on surviving estate papers and taken together with the more complete surviving manuscript records from the estates of those on the government side form the most comprehensive early collection of estate records covering most of Scotland. 20

21 One of the first points of note was the difference between the highland pipers and those in lowland Scotland where the pipers tended to have a variety of 'patrons' often at the same time. For example, a burgh piper technically was employed by the burgh, but could still at the same time serve a local laird, or, as individual paying customers, the piper s local population at weddings and so on. Burgh pipers were also, outside of their early morning and late evening Burgh duties, free to have a secondary occupation. The highland pipers on the other hand were patronised directly by their lairds (no burghs), and in what was almost a cashless society they received a holding of land effectively as their salary, which in turn should have appeared in those Judicial Rentals. Some of the 'chiefs' or nominal heads of clans themselves occupied rather small holdings and certainly did not run to providing for a piper Taken collectively the written records present an interesting picture of two halves, highland and lowland, but within each half there was also some variation. Taking the 'highland' pipers first, there is some circumstantial evidence which suggests that within the locus of their communities they had a higher degree of status compared to their average lowland counterpart. For example, the earliest appearances of highland pipers in the records are as witnesses to deeds or in one case contracting to be foster parent. This may well have been a result of the arrangement whereby they received land, or a 'tack' as it was known, in lieu of salary and thereby placing them on the same level as the other 'tacksmen' or clan gentry. They also noticeably feature less in the Kirk Session records than the lowland pipers but too much should not be made of this as there are other explanations and they certainly were not Saints and over the 17th Century feature prominently in the legal accounts concerning the internecine strife which occurred then. The popular image of 'highland clan' history with every clan having a chief and every chief his piper, along with much else in that image simply does not stand up to close examination. Some of the 'chiefs' or nominal heads of clans themselves occupied rather small holdings and certainly did not run to providing for a piper. Even with the larger estates the presence of pipers was not always proportional to the size of the estate: the Campbells of Breadalbane for example had one of the largest holdings in the southern highlands yet rarely had more than one piper, nor did he actually sit rent free in lieu of salary but paid the full rent although at times receiving a 'meal' allowance. At the other extreme the estate of MacDonald of Glencoe was small and very poor land and in 1717 there was no sign of a piper at all. Indeed the estate was so small that there were few enough 'tacks' 21

22 for the chief s own relations and although by 1745 a piper called Donald McHendrick appears he was a paying co-tenant of one tack.4 Further more as the 'tacksmen' were the officer class, McHendrick served through the 45 rebellion as one of the Glencoe military officers and not as a piper. As far as the rest of the pipers in the 1745 Jacobite Army were concerned there seemed to have been more Lowland than Highland pipers involved, a factor which reflected the relative make up of that army. In fact the number of known 'highland' pipers involved was virtually matched by the number of Fidlers of whom there were six. In the surviving daily order book from that side, on the occasions when the pipers are mentioned the descriptions of the duties of the pipers (and drummers) would easily have also covered the job description of a Burgh piper or drummer.5 Of course most of the employers of the better known families of highland pipers, having had their fingers burnt, along with estates forfeited in the previous rebellion of 1715, this time around tended to be less than enthusiastic supporters of the Government side. Therefore following the principle of he who pays the piper, it follows that most of the principle highland pipers were also nominally on the Government side as well. However, apart from the unfortunate MacCrimmon who managed to get himself shot, evidence for active participation from the other piping families or for that matter other highland pipers generally does not suggest an abundance of available pipers. Following the '45, the estates of the participants on the Jacobite side were again forfeited and once more judicial rentals were taken which show very few pipers, consistent with the fact that most of those Highland Lairds employing pipers were on the government side. When the next demand for military pipers occurs in 1757, two of the known pipers came from one of the 'pro government' estates which was reducing the number of pipers it had supported. Some extravagant claims have been made in regard to the numbers of pipers and drummers recruited at that time, but the evidence does not tend to support them although regimental records for that period are incomplete.6 having an establishment for two pipers and actually finding the highland pipers to fill it were two different things However we are on firmer documentary ground with the next attempt to find pipers for the 'highland' regiments being raised for the events in By this point the Royal Warrants issued to raise a regiment had started to specify that there would be a grenadier company which would have two extra musicians on top of the normal complement of two drummers. Grenadier companies had been around for a while but had not differed from all the other 22

23 companies in terms of men and drummers, so this change to the Warrants was clearly to cover the extra two musicians. For most infantry regiments the musicians were Fifers, but in the warrants for the Highland Regiments instead of Fifers they were given two Pipers. However, having an establishment for two pipers and actually finding the highland pipers to fill it were two different things and the evidence again suggests that highland pipers were few and far between. In many cases even to provide musicians for the recruiting parties the regiments were mostly obliged to hire local Lowland Pipers to do the job. Ignominious as this may have been it does provide some further records of Lowland pipers, for example recruiting parties for the 71st (Fraser) Highlanders in used a William Hamilton for 79 days while at Cullen and Banff, and a John Philip while at Buchan.7 To replace the regiments sent to America a number of Fencible regiments were formed and when in 1778 the Duke of Gordon raised the 'Northern Fencibles', nominally, according to its warrant, a highland regiment with two pipers, the Duke s own two Lowland pipers, Jameson (at Murlach Market) and Fordyce, were sent to help with recruiting. Indeed at St Sairs Fair 'Fordyce your Graces piper had his pipes broke' at the head of the recruiting party by 'some violous people',8 while in the muster roll of the completed regiment there was only one recruit whose previous occupation was listed as a piper and he too was a Lowlander one Arthur Strath from Tarvis in Aberdeenshire.9 An extreme example of the problem occurs with the 77th Atholl Highlanders. This regiment was one of the last to be raised for the American conflict and when in 1778 it had its first muster the roll showed the positions of the two pipers as 'wanting'. Things did not improve and despite writing to a minister in Skye in 1781 no pipers could be obtained. The next move in 1781 was to have 'four promising boys' trained as pipers by old John MacGregor, but as the regiment was disbanded in 1782 following the end of the American war, when or if they made it onto the regimental establishment, it is clear that for just about the whole of that regiments existence its complement of 'Highland Pipers' had been unfilled. One of the main intentions of the organisers of the 'Exhibition' in Edinburgh following the Falkirk Piping Competition of 1783, according to the account distributed by its organisers was, 'with the assistance of the public to establish a college for the instruction of such young men as may be sent him, ( John MacArthur), to be bred to that ancient music, the utility of which in recruiting his Majesty s army, and the military ardour with which it inspires the highland regiments, are too well known to say anything further. It is therefore hoped that those at the head of the army will in particular encourage so laudable 23

24 an undertaking, that the highland corps may be better and more easily furnished with pipers than they have hitherto been.10 The original Highland Society Competition that year had incurred some controversy due to a number of young boys taking part,11 (presumably they were the boys who had been intended for the disbanded Atholl Highlanders). The presence of relatively young competitors was a feature of most of the early competitions. For example, in 1786 John MacGregor, a boy of thirteen years of age, took part and in 1792 the third prize was won by another John MacGregor 'a boy of ten years of age'.12 This continuing presence of 'boys' among the competitors has some human physiological parallels with what might be called the 'reticulocyte' effect. Reticulocytes are young red blood cells which still retain traces of their former nucleus when they first enter the blood stream. Normally red blood cells live for an average of 110 days before the old ones are then removed from the circulation. So in a normal healthy cell population as they are removed and new ones replace them the overall system should balance with the new 'reticulocytes' being less than 1% of the total circulating cells. An increase above that number indicates that there is a shortage of the usual number of healthy adult cells. The Highland Society of London Piping competition was set up to encourage an increase in the numbers of pipers. Once a piper had won the 'Prize Pipe' he was eliminated from further competition, thereby continuing to offer the carrot of a prize pipe to be won as well as continually adding to the overall stock of bagpipes in circulation. For the first few competitions the winners tended to be some of the oldest pipers there and as only one per year was removed from further competition, then if there really was a health reservoir of pipers the loss of one competitor a year should have had little effect. However, the continuing presence of 'boys', (the 'reticulocyte effect'), suggests that there was a severe and continuing shortage of adult highland pipers. Even as late as 1825 the fifth prize was won by a John MacDonald, one of four competitors including Angus MacKay, who were described as 'none of them beyond 13 years of age'.13 Clearly, the initial evidence from the second half of the eighteenth century supports the suggestion that historically genuine highland pipers were a minority of the piping population. However, to still be struggling for numbers at that late date implies something else was also happening to affect the rate of maturing pipers. Therefore to start at the root of the problem requires returning to the 18th century and to a point when both highland and lowland pipers were in a stable situation with supply roughly matching demand. The new formation of specifically 'highland regiments' for the wars represented an increased de- 24

25 mand for which there was no great reservoir of highland pipers to fill. Evidence shows that at least two pipers in that conflict, both downsized from the same highland estate, failed to return, thereby indicating that the new demand for military pipers had its own built in loss factor. Little improvement seems to have occurred by the next increase in demand for military pipers for the regiments raised between 1775 to In fact the potential pool of highland pipers may have been even lower if some contemporary evidence reflects a wider solution. The example of one lowland piper being recruited for the Northern Fencibles was given earlier but at least one line regiment, the 2nd battalion of the 71st Highlanders also had a lowlander, one Archibald Baxter as one of its two pipers when it sailed for America in April Although the efforts of the Highland Societies to increase the numbers of pipers had got underway in 1781 any positive results over the initial years were probably negated by the commencement of the Napoleonic wars which although once more increasing the demand for pipers also had a counterbalancing effect of losses through military action. When at the end of hostilities in 1815 numbers of military pipers would have returned to their homes some of them were then lost through subsequent emigration.15 However, supply does eventually catch up with demand and the promotional efforts of Sir Walter Scott following and the 'invention' of pipe bands by the military circa ensured an ever-increasing supply. Therefore the actual numbers of players of the Great Highland or Military Bagpipe18 continued to rise at an accelerating rate throughout the nineteenth century. However, the surnames of the pipers show an increasing diversification away from the traditional heartland of 'highland piping'. In fact, if the definition for a 'highland piper' used at the beginning of this article of a Gaelic speaking inhabitant of the highlands and islands of Scotland was applied today, the 'highland pipers' would once more be a minority, not just of the total numbers of pipers in Scotland, but with the increasing popularity of bellows pipes, probably also outnumbered by players using a common stock. Notes 1 MacInnes, I. Allan, Clanship, Commerce and the House of Stuart, (1996), Miles, David, The Tribes of Britain, (2006), Pittock, Murray, The Myth of the Jacobite Clans, (second edition 2009) National Archives of Scotland, (NAS), E754/1 5 National Library of Scotland, MS 3787, pp 14,17,18,19,42,43 and The 77th Montgomery Highlanders are frequently cited as an example of the rapid recruitment of a large number of pipers and drummers. However clothing accounts suggest otherwise as far as the pipers are concerned. see Sanger, Keith, One Piper or Two: Neil MacLean of the 25

26 84th Highlanders in The Highland Bagpipe, Joshua Dickson, ed. (2009), 129; Nor does the case for drummers look any better as a letter from Colonel Montgomery written in Charlestown South Carolina to his senior officer Brigadier Forbes requests a drum major as ' we have not one drum in the Regiment and without a proper person to teach them'. (National Archives of Scotland GD45/2/87/1). 7 NAS GD44/47/1/17 and GD44/47/1/38. 8 NAS GD44/47/6/19 and GD44/47/8 9 NAS GD44/47/5/1/4 10 Circumstantial Account of the Exhibition on the Highland Great Pipes, in Dunn's Assembly Rooms, on Wednesday October Donaldson, William. The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society , (2000). 12 Competition report in 'The Star' (31 July 1792). This differs from the edited competition reports given in the front section of Angus MacKay's A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland Music, (1838), where the boy's age has increased to twelve. All the contemporary newspapers agree with and specifically note the age of ten years, but as the first prize that year was won by Angus Mackay's father John, massaging the age suggests a greater degree of competition. 13 Edinburgh Evening Courant, 11 July MacKay's edited competition accounts only mention the winner of the fifth prize. The following year the now fourteen year old Angus Mackay won the fourth prize with another boy winning fifth. 14 NAS RH2/8/80, Order Book of the 2nd battalion, 71st Highlanders. The two pipers with the grenadier company were James Munro and Archibald Baxter. 15 For an overview of the subject see; Bumsted J. M, Scottish Emigration to the Maritimes 1770 to 1815, A New Look at an Old Theme, Acadiensis, Vol 10. No 2 (Spring 1981); Emigration especially when linked to the clearances is always an emotive subject with a subsequent loss of perspective. The evidence of earlier famines due to weather or cattle diseases suggest that it was not necessarily a life of plenty before the coming of the sheep farms. Indeed the resettlement of those returning soldiers post 1815 who had been promised land as an incentive to enlist resulted in the break up of existing holdings into smaller and even less viable crofts. The potato blight, although handled better in Scotland than was the case in Ireland was also responsible for large numbers of people leaving the land. However, despite these problems the population of Scotland still more than doubled over the course of the 19th century. 16 A trend towards having an 'estate' piper was already underway as a result of the establishment of the Highland Societies of London and Scotland with their members nostalgic attachments to estates on which they were rarely now resident. Sir Walter Scott's romanticisation of the 'highlands' gave that process a boost which was completed by Queen Victoria's purchase of Balmoral and its imitation by a large part of the monied establishment also desiring to follow suite. 17 Since only two pipers were actually on the regimental establishment the extra pipers required for a band were initially funded through a levy on the officers. It was not until 1854 that the official establishment was raised to six pipers although as pipe bands usually had twelve or more pipers the practice of the officers contributing funds continued. 18 Most bagpipe-makers catalogues throughout the late nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries continued to link both descriptions together to describe their products. Keith Sanger 31 March

27 Arecent article in the History Scotland magazine (May/ June 2012) revealed a surprising piper image. It appears as an ornament to a map of the town and harbour of Burntisland, Fife, prepared in 1745 to accompany a request for funds to rebuild the harbour, made to the government in London. At that time the harbour was said to be the finest between London and Orkney. The piper, however, is an unlikely visitor, a player of the zampogna, a bagpipe from what was then the Kingdom of Naples, central and southern Italy. Exactly what he is doing in this situation remains unclear. The image itself however can be identified as a borrowing from a famous print, first made by Jacques Dumont, dated by the British Museum as The position of the right leg is the result of the omission from this image of the marionette a planchette puppets attached to the knee of the original piper. The fact that this map was produced only a few years after the original work from which the piper was taken shows a remarkable contact with the international print market, if not with any piping tradition then current in Fife. C S By way of a return visit, here is an excerpt from a work entitled A journey from London to Genoa, through England, Portugal, Spain, and France. (Giuseppe Baretti, 1770). In the summer of 1760, an Italian gentleman is returning to his homeland from London; on board ship he meets a Scottish surgeon; in a letter he writes of his new friend: he plays, besides, on the bagpipe; an odd instrument I never saw in Italy. Our mountaineers indeed have the bagpipe, but different from his. They introduce the air into the bag by blowing continuously into a tube whilst they are playing; but he swells it by means of a bellows which he presses with his left elbow, while he is managing the flute with his fingers. A very good contrivance to spare one s lungs! I think when he speaks of 'our mountaineers' he means the Italian mountains, that is, players of, among other pipes, the zampogna. 27

28 Playing Reels to Oyster-women A Highland Laird s thoughts on a famous Lowland piper It is a summer s evening in the countryside east of Edinburgh in In a tavern known as Lucky Vint s, at the west end of Prestonpans, close to the spot where four years later Johnny Cope would meet his nemesis, a group of gentlemen have gathered. One of them, the Rev. Alexander Carlyle, has bequeathed us a record of the evening. As well as himself, the company includes Mr Erskine of Grange1, Simon Fraser, [Lord Lovat]2, Lovat s son and several of his fellowtravellers. Carlyle, having explained that Lovat had arranged for him to be invited to dine with this company in the hopes that he would befriend Lovat s untutored savage son,3 describes the evenings entertainment: We had a very good plain dinner. As the claret was excellent, and circulated fast, the two old gentlemen [Lovat and Grange] grew very merry, and their conversation became youthful and gay. What I observed was, that Grange, without appearing to flatter, was very observant of Lovat, and did everything to please him. He had provided Geordy Sym, who was Lord Drummore s piper4, to entertain Lovat after dinner; but though he was reckoned the best piper in the country, Lovat despised him, and said he was only fit to play Hogarth portrait of Lovat on his way to his trial and execution, 1747 reels to Grange s oyster-women. He grew frisky at last, however, and upon Kate Vint, the landlady s daughter coming into the room he insisted on her staying to dance with him. She.. was a mistress of Lord Drummore, who lived in the neighbourhood5 Lovat was at this time seventy-five, and Grange not much younger; yet the wine and the young woman emboldened them to dance a reel, till Kate, observing Lovat s legs as thick as post, fell a-laughing and 28

29 ran off. She missed her second course of kisses, as was then the fashion of the country, though she had endured the first. This was a scene not easily forgotten. 6 Here, then, is the society s favourite piper, Geordie Syme, a famous piper in his time, according to the artist John Kay, whose depiction of him is the Society s logo, being dismissed by a highlander in no uncertain terms. This remark seems to me to be indicative of two things; firstly that there was a distinct difference between Geordie s playing and that which a highland laird from an ancient family might expect. In 1741 the music of the highland piper would have been almost entirely marches, that is, pibrochs; the lowland piper, on the other hand had a long tradition of playing music for dancing, something that Lovat clearly felt was beneath a highland piper s dignity. The second point that this passage raises is the patronage of Syme himself; here he is described as Lord Drummore s piper. In his notes to his etching, Kay says: Geordie was much taken notice of by the nobility of his time and his presence was considered indispensible at all their entertainments. Among his particular patrons were Lord Drummore and the Earl of Wemys, then Mr Charteris of Amisfield.7 Kay opened his Edinburgh print shop in 1785; in his notes to the published edition of Kay s work, published in 1834, Paton says that the engraving of Syme must have been one of Kay s earliest attempts, implying it was done either shortly before or around that date, that is, more than forty years after the tale told by Carlyle. At this point Charteris was living in No 33 St Andrew s Square in Edinburgh. He was well known says Grant, during his residence in Edinburgh as the particular patron of Old Geordie Syme the famous town-piper of Dalkeith, and a retainer of the house of Buccleuch. Drummore died in The title of Duke of Buccleuch changed hands from father to grandson [aged 4] in 1751; it seems likely that it was this 3rd Duke, [Henry] who was Geordie s patron at Dalkeith. Unfortunately we do not currently have any earlier information regarding the piper of Dalkeith Henry was married in 1767 and died in 1812 and it is his widow whom Paton describes as being the patron of Jamie Reid, Syme s successor, who was still remembered by a few old people in Dalkeith in A few moments with the sums will suggest that these figures do not really add up. The earliest date for Paton s story is 1812; the earliest date for Jamie Reid s taking over from Syme is 1785; anyone born during Reid s tenure could not be more than 49 in 1834, and probably less- hardly the remnant few old people that Paton describes. Notes 1 Lord Grange, who, with Lovat s connivance, had his wife kidnapped and exiled to St Kilda. 2 Lovat was the last man to be executed publicly on London s Tower Hill, in Carlyle was then aged 21 29

30 4 Lord Drummore: Carlyle, who was indebted to him for his preferment, has only good things to say about Drummore, apart from disparaging Drummore s taking of a mistress after his wife died. However, he has in the above passage already credited Drummore with two sons by another mistress in Others are not so constrained, and it has been suggested that he was very fond of fine claret and oyster-women who were smuggled into his home, Preston House, for his delectation. [hence Lovat s reference to your oyster-women. It is Drummore who figures in Kay s anecdote about the disguised wandering piper His estates lay in the two parishes of Inveresk and Preston pans says Carlyle, whose father had been a great friend of Drummore. 6 Carlyle, Alexander, Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk; containing memorials of the men and events of his time. Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1861, p In his Old and New Edinburgh Grant says Wemys was fifth earl; in fact he assumed the title of 7th earl in 1787, although the earldom had been forfeited after the 45. Charteris was born in 1749 and died in The reliability of these Old Edinburgh books, including Chambers should be regarded as dubious. C S A Bellows Bagpipe in Limousin Pete Stewart reports on a chance encounter with what might be a very early bellows-blown, common-stock bagpipe in France. While at the International Bagpipe Conference held in London in March this year, I was fortunate to meet with Belgian musette-de-court player Jean-Pierre van Hees who introduced me to the history of the chabreta or cornemuse à miroir du Limousin, an instrument which I knew little of. These pipes were still being played in the region at the beginning of the 20th century and most of those instruments, and others that have survived in museums, are mouth-blown. However, Jean- Pierre showed me an image of a bellows-blown, instrument which is now in the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague and which he said was dated We are now trying to learn more of this bagpipe, particularly whether the bellows are original, the general opinion being that for these pipes the bellows were a 19th century improvement. The image here is from a copy of an original painting dated 1835.

31 Robin Shure in Hearst Very many of the titles of early lowland tunes are clearly those of songs. Sadly, very few of these songs are sung today, but words to them can often be found in 18th century collections. In the first of an occasional series, we look at one of them. The title of this familiar tune has a number of spellings; this one, and the words below, are taken from the song included in the chapbook Sweet Hellen of the Dee, printed in Falkirk by T. Johnston around 1800 [now in the Glasgow University Library). In the notes to this song in Folk in Print Cowan and Paterson write: [note - shearing here has nothing to do with sheep; it is the corn harvest that is being sheared] Burns polished a version of the traditional song for the Scots Musical Museum. He received it from Robert chorus Robin shure in hearse, I shure wi him; Fient a neuk had I, yet I stack by him Ainslie who was brought up near Duns in Berwickshire, a preferable reading to the Duase of line 2 in the version given here. The original s first verse was somewhat coarser, As I gaed up to Dunse To warp a pickle yarn Robin, silly body He gat me wi bairn Thus was the Kirk-elder s daughter disgraced. The twa trumps and a whistle mentioned in the last two verses refer to sexual deceit [We leave readers to draw their own conclusions as to the full meaning of this phrase] sheared in harvest not a lot had I, yet I was loyal I gaed up to Duase, to warp a wab o plaiden, At my father s yeat wha met me but Robin? Was ne Robin bauld, be t I was a Cotter To play sic a trick, & me the El er s douchter [chorus] Robin promis d me a my winter s victual Fient a haet had he, but twa trumps and a whistle Now I m Robin s bride, free frae kirk-fo k s bussle Robin s a my ain, wi s twa trumps and a whistle [chorus] Dunse? gate considering that I was Church Elder s Daughter not a whit had he 31

32 The version that Burns provided for the Scots Musical Museum is rather different in places. For instance in place of the twa stumps and a whistle, Burns has three goose feathers and a whittle. He also has the more probable [in the context of shearing] Fient a heuk had I, yet I stack by him, which changes the meaning of stack too. Several versions of the tune exist; this one is from James Oswald s Caledonian Pocket Companion, book 5. It is remarkable (as Matt Seattle pointed out in his notes to the tune in his edition of the William Vickers manuscript) in that it establishes a direct link between this title and Mock the Soldier s Lady included in the Wm. Dixon manuscript [Oswald s original is in G]. Dixon's setting is a useful source of solutions to the challenge of piping those strains of Oswald s that go above the octave. Rob Shear d in Her st from Oswald s Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book V 32

33 The song version here is my adaptation of Oswald s tune to accommodate the words of the chorus and the first verse. I have set four lines to each verse, to match the music as given by Oswald and Dixon. You will probably need to make your own adjustments to suit the second verse For completeness, here is the tune that Johnson used in the Scots Musical Museum. Since it s not a pipe tune [though there are plenty of pipe settings of the basic material] I ve left it as it is in the original. It is easier to sing Burns words to this tune, and each verse has only four bars, two lines as printed here. 33

34 The Beggar s Benison By way of a complement to the foregoing article, here is a contemporary report of an amusing incident from the harvest fields of East Lothian An Anecdote In the Autumn of 1755, soon after the marriage of the Marquis[of Tweeddale] and [Lady Francis Carterey], being then at Yester House his lordship's chief seat, they walked out of a fine evening, into one of the adjacent fields, where his Lordship had a large band of reapers at work with the sickle. Being their last reaping day, they were attended, as is usual in that part of the country, by a Scotch bagpipe. The Marquis and marchioness found them all very merry and happy Stooping and swelling the lusty sheaves, Each by the lass he lov d; To bear the rougher pact and mitigate By nameless gentle offices, her toil The Noble Couple having surveyed the scene for some time with much complacency, the Marchioness was desirous of seeing some of the Lads and Lasses dance to the Bagpipe. In this she was immediately gratified, to her no small contentment. The dance over, the Marquis, after ordering his Land Steward, who superintended them, to entertain the reapers at the neighbouring village, gave half a guinea to the Piper, who, with his bonnet in hand touching the ground, made his Lordship many scrapes and reverences, wishing him 34 repeatedly the Beggar s Benison. To her Ladyship this was a phrase quite new. Observing that her Lord was much pleased with the gratitude of the honest Piper, and particularly with his wish, they had no sooner turned to go homeward than the Lady asked the Marquis what the Beggar s Benison meant? He fell a-laughing and was in no haste to answer her. His hesitation, as well as the language of his looks only served the more to whet her curiosity. In short, she teized him into an explanation, which was no sooner given her than she put her hand into her pocket, pulled out her purse and walking quickly back to the Piper, presented him with a guinea, excusing herself for having almost forgot him. He received her ladyship s bounty with due acknowledgements and in return gave her the Benison also. The whole field was instantly in a titter; and the Marquis himself seemed to enjoy the comicality of the scene with peculiar relish. The Star, October, 1794 [Many thanks to Keith Sanger for supplying this story. For details of the Beggar s Benison see David Stevenson s The Beggar s Benison; Sex Clubs of Enlightenment Scotland.]

35 Whores and Rogues and Round-headed Cuckolds Pete Stewart tracks down a mysterious tune with an unlikely history In Edinburgh in the summer of 1736, when the Edinburgh mob was about to wreak vengeance on the notorious Captain Porteous, an extraordinary event was reported in the local press: nine unfortunate young women, very naked and meagre beings made an amends honourable through the streets of Edinburgh, the hangman attending them, while drums beat to the tune of Cuckolds come dig.1 So at least says Cyril Pearl in his Bawdy Burns, (Muller, London, 1958) citing The Edinburgh Courant and Mercury. Presumably this means both the Courant and the Caledonian Mercury ; I have been unable to find this report in the Mercury, and no copy of the Courant seems to be currently available in the Edinburgh Libraries. This is particularly frustrating since later sources, apparently quoting Pearl, add a piper to the parade. Whether or not we take the quote at face value, and there seems little reason why Pearl should invent such a story, and similar events have been reported elsewhere, the identifying of the tune remains a challenge. In all my researches through sources of Scottish popular music pre 18th century this was the first time I had come across this title. A little research, however, led me to conclude that it was not unknown to Sir Walter Scott who quotes it in Woodstock: "Rat-tat-tattoo!" said Wildrake; "there is a fine alarm to you cuckolds and roundheads!" He then half-mimicked half-sang the march so called cuckolds come dig, cuckolds come dig, roundabout cuckolds come dance to my jig' "By Heaven! this passes midsummer frenzy," said Everard, turning angrily on him. "Not a bit, not a bit," replied Wildrake; "it is but a slight expectoration, just like what one makes before beginning a long speech. I will be grave for an hour together, now I have got that point of war out of my head."2 Scott, however, seems to have been unaware of the origin of the song, since he misquoted the significant word. Three years earlier he had been slightly better informed He could hear the hum of "The King shall enjoy his own again," or the habitual whistle of "Cuckolds and 35

36 Roundheads," die unto reverential silence 3 The king in question here was not, as one might assume from Scott, the bonny prince, but the third Stuart king of Britain, Charles II, but both songs date from the reign of Charles I. In fact, it turns out that our title was well-known in England from the mid-17th century onwards. The story begins with the threat posed to the City of London by the encroaching Royalist army. Charles, in 1642, marched with fifteen thousand men from Northampton towards the capital. The parliament ordered the trained bands to be in readiness, and all the passages and avenues leading to the city to be fortified with posts, chains, and courts of guard. The citizens were thrown into such terrors that persons of all ranks, ages, and sexes, willingly offered themselves to work; and by digging and carrying earth and other materials, they soon completed their barricadoes and fortifications. The royalists, called Cavaliers, looking upon them with an air of contempt, made a ballad upon them and their seasonable industry, in the opprobrious stile, " Round headed cuckolds come dig. 4 By the time of the Restoration, the song and its tune were firmly associated with the military in two related contexts. The first is implied in the various tellings of the notorious story of the events that took place in the Wiltshire village of Tedworth in 1662/3 at the house of a Mr Mompesson: Mompesson intervened in the case of a drummer, William Drury, who had requested money from the local constable at the neighbouring village of Ludgershall on the basis of a pass which turned out to be counterfeit. Mompesson had the man arrested (although he was later freed) and his drum confiscated; subsequently, in April, it was sent to his house at Tidworth. Thereafter, he and his family were assaulted by thumpings, tattoos of the drum and other noises. There were also scratchings, panting like a dog, sulphurous and other smells, and strange lights; in addition, objects were thrown around the room, beds were elevated, horses lamed and the like. These disturbances continued over several months into 1663, despite the fact that for part of this time Drury was incarcerated at Gloucester on a charge of theft. Meanwhile, the case became well known, and many people visited Mompesson's house to witness the strange occurrences for themselves. 5 Mempesson himself wrote in a letter in 1662 that the drummer would for an houre together play the tune called Roundheads and Cuckolds goe digge, goe digge, and never misse one stroke, [but beat] as sweetly as skillfully as any Drummer in the World can beat, and then [it would beat] the Tattoo and severall other points of Warre.6,7 36

37 The implication here that our tune was to be included among the Points of War played by military drummers as a call is born out by various sources which link it to a tune known as The Pioneer s March, In 1788, under the topic The Pioneer s March France Grose wrote The Pioneers call known by the appellation of Round heads and cuckolds' was for pioneers to come and dig. 8 Pioneers were the section of the army whose task was the digging of fortifications, preparing of camps etc.9 I have so far been unable to establish at what date the march was associated with the Pioneers, or indeed when the Pioneers themselves first appeared as part of army contingents. However, it seems to have got its use as a 'drumming out' tune by the fact that soldiers who did not behave themselves might get 'demoted' to pioneer status, an event which would likely be accompanied by the pioneers tune. Grose quotes several examples: A Regiment or company of horse or foot, that chargeth the enemy, and retreats before they come to handy strokes shall answer it before a council of warr: and if the fault be found in the officers, they shall be banished the camp ; if in the souldiers, then every tenth man shall be punished at discretion, and the rest serve for pioners and scavengers, till a worthy exploit take off the blot. 10 This usage of our tune was widely known outside military circles. For instance, it appears in the footnote added to many edition of the Diaries of Samuel Pepys, to his entry for Monday 10 June 1667 Here I eat a bit, and then in the afternoon took boat and down to Greenwich, where I find the stairs full of people, there being a great riding there to-day for a man, the constable of the town, whose wife beat him. 11 The footnote includes a quote from the 1811 edition of James Pellam Malcolm s Anecdotes of the manners and customs of London A porter's lady, we are informed by the Protestant Mercury, who resided near Strandlane, beat her husband with so much violence and perseverance, that the poor man was compelled to leap out of a window, to escape her fury. Exasperated at this virago, the neighbours made what Dawks, the editor, called a "Riding;" or, I suppose, a pedestrian procession, headed by a drum, and accompanied by a displayed chemise for a banner: the manual musician sounded the tune of " You round-headed cuckolds, come dig, come dig;" and nearly seventy coal-heavers, carmen, and porters, adorned with large horns fastened to their heads, followed. The public seemed highly pleased with the nature of the punishment, and gave liberally to the vindicators of injured manhood. 12 According to Wikipedia, The Protestant Mercury was published during 1689, so this usage of our tune was well 37

38 established by this time. It is clear that the song was widely known; it is also clear that a drummer was sufficient to give a recognisable performance. The practice of employing this tune for ridings or skimingtons survived into the 18th century; George I was regularly burnt in effigy with horns on his head, or derided in a mock skimmington ride to the tune of the 'Roundheaded Cuckolds',13 and something similar is implied in this description of a bizarre military practice: Hoisting. A ludicrous ceremony formerly performed on every soldier the first time he appeared in the field after being married. It was thus managed. As soon as the regiment, or company, had grounded their arms to rest awhile, three or four men of the same company to which the Bridegroom belonged seized upon him, and, putting a couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to represent Horns, it was placed on his head, the back part foremost. He was then hoisted on the shoulders of two strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife beating and playing the Pioneers' call, named Round-heads and Cuckolds, but on this occasion styled the Cuckold's March. In passing the colours he was to take off his hat. This in some regiments was practised by the Officers on their brethren. 14 This is all very well; it establishes a long history for the song that Scott attempted, from the 1640 s until the 1830 s, although the song seems to have disappeared by the 1870 s.15 But what of the tune itself? We now have two titles for our tune, in addition to the song title Ye Roundheaded cuckolds The Pioneers March and The Cuckold s March is there any evidence for the music they indicate? The most likely source would seem to be the music books of the 18th century Military, where the title of Pioneers March first appears in Rutherford s Compleat Tutor fro the Fife of 1750, along with that other well-known drumming-out tune The Rogue s March. Here is the version from Longman and Broderip s 1780 publication Entire and New and Compleat Instructions For the Fife: 38 The Pioneer s March (Entire and New and Compleat Instructions For the Fife, Longman and Broderip s 1780}

39 It is not difficult to see how Scott s words, or something very similar could be sung to this music. However, there is one source for The Pioneers March which gives a different tune. It occurs in the Copy Book of Thos Molyneaux, Ensign - 6th Regnt., Made in 1780, in Shelbourne, Nova Scotia. His version is a tune known elsewhere as The Jolly Toper and which Chappell prints as Women All Tell Me.16 The valuable thing about Molyneaux s tune however, is that he gives it the alternative title of The Whore s March. This is the title the earlier Pioneers March music has when it appears in the manuscript of William Vickers in The Whores March (Wm Vickers ms, (Newcastle, 1770, original key G) We are thus brought full circle; this third title is perhaps explained by the manner in which the tune was apparently used in Edinburgh in 1736 and in the British Army in 1782, when the following was included in Advice for Officers of the British Army. It warns that drummers, in particular, were sure of bringing off a girl in every quarter. After infecting her with a certain disease, and selling her clothes, you may introduce her to the officers, your employments making all dependant on mercury as well as Apollo, a reference to the contemporary treatment of venereal disease. When matters did get out of hand - the women of the camp are pretty much in common, according to the same source or perhaps when the married women of the battalion mutinied at the behaviour of the sluts and bawds who hung about the lines after dark, soliciting custom, the long-suffering commanding officer might turn out the drums and fifes to play the pioneer march to drum out the idle women from the camp. 18 Apart from the episode reported by Pearl and the quotations from Scott [both of which are from his English novels] there does not appear to be any evidence of this tune in Scotland. The tune does not appear in the known records of the Scotch Duty, 39

40 the military music used by the Scots regiments. Nevertheless, Pearl s report of its use in Edinburgh does suggest that both the tune and its popular context were known in Scotland. The Scotch March However, in researching this article it was inevitable that I would encounter material discussing the much-sought Scots March. One contender, proposed by no less an authority than Henry Farmer, for this widely mentioned but as yet unconfirmed tune is that in Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book of 1656, titled The Scots Marche.19 I can t help noticing the close relationship between the melodic material in that source and that of the Pioneers March. It occurs to me that perhaps this march, apparently known throughout Europe by the late 16th century, was the original melody to which the Roundheaded Cuckolds words were written; the relationship between the puritan roundheads and their Presbyterian Scots brethren being the motive. The call to come dig, come dig would then be a natural reason to transfer the tune to the Pioneers. From this derisory use of the tune and its link with the 17th century s fixation with the figure of the cuckold, its use as an accompaniment to rough music would be a simple transition. The Scots Marche from Elizabeth Rogers Virginal Book

41 Notes 1 In some Scottish towns the hangman and the town drummer were the same person; not, it seems, in Edinburgh. 2 Sir Walter Scott, Woodstock or the cavalier: a tale of the year sixteen hundred and fifty-one, Baudry's foreign libr., 1832, p Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak, p Hughson, David, London: being an accurate history and description of the British metropolis and its neighbourhood : to thirty miles extent, from an actual perambulation, Volume 1, Printed by W. Stratford..., for J. Stratford, 1805, p183. See Appendix 1. 5 Hunter, Michael, New light on the Drummer of Tedworth : conflicting narratives of witchcraft in Restoration England in Historical Research, Volume 78, Issue 201, pages , August /j x/full [ret. 21/07/2011] 6 Hunter s note here [91] is: The precise tune mentioned by Mompesson has not been identified, but for tunes invoking cuckolds see, e.g., Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to the Late Times (2 vols., 1662, repr. 1874), i A similar collection of tunes was cited in a letter written to the Tattler describing the contribution of a drummer boy to a musical contest in 1711: The first tune that he entertain'd the listening crowd withal, was ye round-headcuckolds; at which, some: of the company seemed to be displeased. Then with all his might he beat a point of war; then, to soften them again, he play'd, Jenny- come tye-me ; then to arms, to arms ; and so on [Lillie, Charles, Original and genuine letters sent to the Tatler and Spectator during the time those works were publishing, Volume 2 Printed by R. Harbin for C. Lillie, 1725, p66 8 Grose, Francis, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, British Army website: As a Pioneer you'll join a proud family regiment of men and women who do just about any job, from preparing and guarding defensive positions and handling sensitive stores such as fuel and ammunition, to bricklaying and carpentry. 1.aspx [ret. 20/07/;2011] 10 Grose, Francis, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Pepys, Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, F.R.S.: secretary to the Admiralty in the reign of Charles II and James II.J. B. Lippincott & co., The reference to Malcolm (Manners of London) is to Peller Malcolm, James, Anecdotes of the manners and customs of London from the Roman invasion to the year :To which are added, illustrations of the changes in our language, literary customs, and gradual improvement in style and versification, and various particulars concerning public and private libraries..., Volume 1, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1811, p Rogers, Nicholas,, Crowds, culture, and politics in Georgian Britain, Oxford University Press, 1998 p55 41

42 14 Brand, John & Ellis, Sir Henry, Observations on popular antiquities: chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies, and superstitions, Volume 2, Charles Knight and Co., Notes and Queries for Jan-June 1869 [4th series vol 3 rd ] contained the following: "Round-headed Cuckolds." I would be much obliged if any of your correspondents could inform me whether a copy is known to exist of the Cavalier song "Round-headed Cuckolds, come dig," made by the Royalist party during the civil war. Jacob Larwood. Mr Larwood does not appear to have received a reply to his query. 16 Chappell Popular Muisc of the Olden Time vol II p.679/80; ; one of the most popular drinking songs of the time, says Chappell 17 Seattle, Matt, The Great Northern Tune Book. According to Seattle, Vickers title is The Whars March. Seattle added editorial accidentals in the first edition, but ommitted them in the current edition The final short length bar is as in Vickers. 18 Murray, David, Music Of The Scottish Regiments, The Pentland Press, Bishop Auckland, Durham, 1994, p A number of other tunes have claim to the distinction. Jack Campion suggested another possibility, the tune printed in Amsterdam in Estienne Roger's Oude en Nieuwe Hollantse Boeren Lietjes en Contredansen of , [ brelease/embro/16army/16army.htm]. C S 42 A 16 th century illustration from the Cantabrian Maritime Museum in Santander, reproduced in Der Dudlpfeifer Nr 63, May/June 1990

43 At this year s Annual Competition, Callum Armstrong won the new composition class with a tune that made demands on the Scottish smallpipe chanter that pushed the instrument into a new dimension. Here Julian Goodacre describes the history of his Scottish smallpipe design and the chanter Callum was playing. Ican t explain what Callum is doing when he plays my A chanter. We can all hear the results, but how he achieves those high notes is a mystery to me, and I will leave it to him to describe. It appears to me that he is contravening the Laws of Acoustics, which is something I strongly approve of! It was never my actual intention that any of my smallpipe chanters would play into the upper octave. When my pipes leave my workshop they take on a life of their own which can sometimes surprise and delight me. What I can do is trace the design history of my A chanter. This goes back to my very early days of bagpipe experience. It must have been in 1982 that my brother John asked me to make him an English smallpipe in D with a single drone. This is what we eventually called my Leicestershire smallpipe. Oddly enough the Leicestershire chanter design was born out of a modern Scottish smallpipe. At the time I was obsessed with All Things Bagpipe and searched everywhere to find information. One place was the Exchange and Mart [for our younger readers, this was a pre-cyberspace newspaper version of ebay], and it was there that I discovered Discount Highland Supplies, a business in Edinburgh run by one Fred Freeman, which was offering Lowland smallpipes in D made by Jimmy Anderson. Jimmy had pioneered making smallpipes for Rab Wallace to play in the band The Whistlebinkies, as well as playing them himself in the groups Cloutha and Kentigern. (I need to spin some of my old LPs to see who played smallpipes in which band and in what key.) I visited Fred s shop and bought a blackwood chanter in D for 43. Jimmy s chanter used modified bassoon reeds; he was working before it became general practice to use a Northumbrianstyle reed in Scottish smallpipes. I get the impression that in those early days of the revival most Scottish smallpipes, such as there were, were pitched in D, although I think someone plays a B flat set on one of those early LP s. In those heady days pipemakers seemed to be giving very little attention to copying the original dimensions of surviving 18th century smallpipes. I began measuring Jimmy s chanter and found it had a minimum bore of 5/32, but from about half way down it was very slightly conical. Jon Swayne had written an article in FoHMRI on 43

44 how to make long drills using silver steel and I went searching for some. Someone told me to visit Dunn s of Blair Street off the High Street in Edinburgh. Entering this shop was like walking into the past as it appeared to be unchanged from when it opened in Wooden shelves from floor to ceiling and very aged staff. Some of its stock must have been over 100 years old. It closed a few years later and in its closing sale I bought an ancient box of hand-forged coffin nails which I still keep as a memento. I showed Jimmy Anderson s chanter to the elderly woman in the shop who inspected it and to my surprise said This looks like a Breton Biniou chanter. Nothing about that shop would have surprised me! It turned out that she was a Highland piper and had even played during a Pankhurst suffragette march. Anyway, I bought some silver steel and returned to my caravan in Kirkcudbrightshire and set about making an English smallpipe based on this chanter, by reducing the overall length and repositioning some of the finger holes so that the leading notes played C#. At this time I knew nothing about the measurements of surviving 18th century Scottish smallpipes. My sole aim was to make an English smallpipe. My first chanters were made of yew, bored with a drill made from 5/32 silver steel. I made a triangular reamer out of a piece of ¼ steel to replicate the conicity of the bottom half of the bore. Years later I met Jimmy Anderson who told me that he had made his reamer out of a planer blade. I made my first two sets of Leicestershire smallpipes in 1983; a mouthblown set for me and a bellows blown one for brother John. All my smallpipe chanters used modified bassoon reeds until about 1985 when I developed my design of plastic reeds using yoghurt pots. (I bought 1600 empty pots from Howgate Dairies when they ceased making yoghurt). Bassoon reeds worked well, but they were tricky to modify and I wanted to create a more stable and reliable reed. I think it was my Leicestershire chanter 56 that was the first one that I supplied to a customer with a plastic reed. Subsequently I have retro-fitted them to older chanters for customers who chose to change from bassoon reeds to plastic ones. At some stage, possibly in the late 1980 s, I found, either by chance or design, that chanters in D and C worked better when I widened the minimum bore to 3/16. The wider bore made them more stable and gave a broader sound. On a completely cylindrical chanter the bottom hand notes can sound rather weak in comparison to the upper hand. My chanter has a slightly conical bore over the bottom half giving a stronger sound to the bottom and improving the balance. Thus was born my Leicestershire smallpipe. In 1984 I moved back to Edinburgh and set up as a professional pipemaker on the Enterprise Allowance 44

45 in a workshop in Salamander Place, Leith. Shortly after this I went to my first LBPS meeting on a Saturday afternoon at the School Of Scottish Studies in George Square. A number of pipers were there playing a range of smallpipes and border pipes. I brought my set of bellows-blown Leicestershire smallpipes in D which I played and people seemed interested in them. Within the next two months I made my first Scottish smallpipe chanter, by the reverse process of lengthening the bore of my Leicestershire chanter and once again repositioning the leading notes! Thus I had gone from a Scottish smallpipe to an English one and finally back to a Scottish one. At the next meeting I was able to play along with the other pipers on my Leicestershire smallpipes fitted with my new Scottish chanter (number 32), still using a bassoon reed. The first full set of Scottish smallpipes that I made was my 37th set of pipes and was completed by Easter I still have it. It is easy for me now to see that its outside appearance leaves a lot to be desired! My brother borrowed it from me to take part in Hamish Moore s first piping course at The Edinburgh Folk Festival and John was impressed enough by its potential to order a set. In June that year Hugh Cheape arranged for me to measure up a mouthblown set of smallpipes (LT38) which was then in The Scottish Museum of Antiquities, Queen Street. I tried to My first set of Scottish smallpipes base the general outward appearance of my first few sets of Scottish smallpipes on this set. The original had a chanter of about 8 ¾ long with a 1/8 bore which played higher than D. On my copies I increased the length of the drones to make them play D a d, and I increased the chanter stock dimensions to allow it to accommodate a bassoon reed. By December I completed Brother John s set, my 47th set of pipes. He still plays them. I carried on making Scottish smallpipes with this general outward appearance, but using plastic reeds, until early in It was then that I measured the Montgomery smallpipes. Since then I have made exact copies of these pipes for pipers interested in exploring the early smallpipe repertoire. The outward appearance of my modern Scottish smallpipes has been influenced by the Montgomery pipes. It is important to bear in mind that Scottish smallpipes in D, C, B flat & A that are being played today are all modern instruments which have been developed by pipemakers in the last 30 years or so. The surviving 18th century pipes have much smaller bores and play in a 45

46 higher pitch. My Montgomery smallpipes play in E with a sharpened top leading note and a flatter bottom one. The chanter has an 1/8 bore with only the slightest taper at the very bottom. Having successfully produced a D set of Scottish smallpipes, I developed sets in C and B flat. This was straight forward as I had already developed Leicestershire chanters in this pitch, again using a 3/16th bore with a slightly longer conical bore for the bottom half of these chanters. These all worked well with the same design of plastic reed. However I came close to despair in 1990 when designing my first A chanter for Stevie Lawrence. I had assumed that I could lengthen my B flat chanter and use the same design of reed, but the chanter had other ideas. I could not get it stable; it would squeal and jump all over the place. There were some lonely months until I eventually hit on the idea of scaling up my chanter reed by using a wider staple and bigger blades. I also increased the chanter bore by 1/64th to 13/64th and these discoveries resolved the problems. They also opened up the way to making playable Scottish smallpipes in low G and F#. Ultimately they led me to designing the Cornish Double-pipe chanters; these cylindrically bored chanters play in D an octave lower than the Scottish smallpipes while still having comfortable finger spacing. I have achieved this by using a ¼ bore and a huge reed. This is the rather circuitous journey of how I arrived at the design of my standard A chanter; the chanter that Callum was playing at this year s competition. I have, however, added a number of features on his pipes at his request, which I ll leave him to describe. I have very little theoretical knowledge of acoustics; my knowledge has been gained through practice. My suspicion is that Callum can achieve this wizardry because the cylindrical bore of my chanter only extends half way down after which it is very, very slightly conical. There is a potential line of research here, which I am very happy to leave to others! [Ed: I was delighted to learn that the A chanter I have played for the last 18 years is the first one Julian made. It was made on September 10th It still has its original plastic chanter reed. ] Fig. 1 Front view of the top end of the chanter, showing High B and High G# keys 46

47 Fig. 2 Back view of the bottom end of the chanter, showing right-hand thumbhole and G# hole with plug removed Callum Armstrong describes his exploration of the potential for expanding the range of the Scottish smallpipe chanter Iam currently a student at Trinity College in London, playing recorder and baroque oboe, but when I was around 15 years old I was taught highland pipes by an ex-scots Guards Pipe-Major and won a few competitions in London. My interest in smallpipes blossomed when I met Julian at the 2009 Early Music Festival in Greenwich. When I saw that there were bagpipe makers there I went straight to the stalls and picked up a set of Julian s A/d combination pipes; by the end of the weekend I had ordered set. I knew I was going to want to play in several keys and wanted drones to suit, so I worked with Julian to modify the four drones of his A/D pipes [Adad]. This we did by adding plugs along the length of the drones - the A drones have one plug, giving B in addition to the G of the drone tuned down, and the D drones have two plugs, giving C with the drone tuned down and F# and E by removing one or other of the plugs. With the plugs removed the drones can be tuned down giving notes of the same pitch as the standard drones, but with different tonal qualities, something which has its own potential. For the A chanter I wanted to be able to play a C natural, G# s and a high B. This involved a number of solutions. The C natural is achieved using a righthand thumbhole [see fig. 2]; the high B and high G# are attained using keys; [see fig. 1]; the low G# is achieved by removing a plug near the bottom of the chanter [see fig. 2], effectively shortening its length. It was cold December when this chanter arrived; I was playing it in my practice shed when I found, by chance, that I could get the chanter to jump from the low G to a note in the upper octave by quickly tapping the B 47

48 key. The note this produced was a high D, and once there I had access to higher notes, right up to an E two octaves above the usual E. I also found that by playing an A and tapping the B key I could jump to the E in the upper octave. The chanter was basically behaving rather like a clarinet, over-blowing a 12th above the root note. I thus had a range of two octaves and a sixth, with the only note missing being the c# above the usual high A. I have just discovered that the C natural, for which I had been using an unorthodox fingering, is available in a surprising way - the fingering is the same as for the low A, but with the B key held down. In this position it is also possible to play a high D by putting down the right-hand pinkie, still keeping the B key down. I had at first thought that the upper octaves would only play if I moved from note to note one step at a time, but I have since found that leaps of minor or major thirds and fourths are possible I have also found that it is possible to get the same effect on a standard A chanter by leaking the thumbhole while playing a low G. I have tried this with several different reeds; the reed design does not seem to play any part in this. The pipes I have play at a fairly low pressure and to tune the upper notes well requires a full bag and very careful pressure control. Callum using the G# key during his competition performance I now have a set of smallpipes that will play in almost all the sharp keys [with the current exception of F#] as well as F and Bflat when using a C chanter. I am now experimenting with tuning the drones in intervals other than the standard octaves and fifths. It s interesting that there is at present amongst instrumentalists, particularly wind-players, a growing interest in extending the range of techniques and sounds available. I m excited to see that bagpipes need not be left out of this development. Ed: If you still don t think it s possible, you can hear a recording of Callum playing the full version of his composition as printed in this issue on the LBPS website. You can also view a video of Callum and George Pasca s winning performance at the LBPS competition this year. 48

49 Borders Young Pipers John Bushby reviews Volume 7 in the Borders Traditions series produced by Fred Freeman CD recordings dedicated to the Scottish Lowland Pipes and Scottish Smallpipes are few and far between and are eagerly awaited, certainly by me. So it was with this new recording produced by Dr Fred Freeman, Volume 7 in the Borders Traditions series of CDs. This offering features two talented young pipers, Chris Waite and James Thomson aided and abetted by multi-instrumentalist Marc Duff on bodhran, bouzouki, recorder and whistle; Stewart Hardy on fiddle and viola; Stevie Lawrence on bouzouki, guitar, bodhran and dulcimer and Angus Lyon on accordion and keyboard. This is not a recording of specific Border music and we must ask in all fairness, what is Border music? It is often hard to pinpoint exactly what tunes come from where in the UK as most areas will have their own versions of the same or similar tunes. However as an example of music played on the bellows-blown Lowland and Smallpipes of Scotland you should enjoy it. I think the CD title Borders Young Piper refers more to the fact that the pipers are young, from the Scottish Borders and play the Border Pipes rather necessarily a recording of specific Border music. To my ears as a reviewer, it is a recording of two halves. I will admit that on first hearing I turned it off after the first six or seven tracks as I felt I could not bear the sound of fighting harmonies with the whistles etc. overpowering the pipes. On some tracks the melody on the pipes was almost lost, most notably on track 6, Go to Berwick Johnnie. Also Stewart Hardy s usually exquisite fiddle playing was lost on some of the earlier tracks. The sound and pitch of fiddle and Lowland pipes especially are so close it needs good separation in the mixing. However, on tracks 9 13 there is a more balanced sound as there doesn t seem so much in the way of fighting harmonies. Whilst harmonies are a good to hear they need to be balanced more in the mixing. I also feel that on many of the tracks the main melody was not allowed space to be heard and to breath before 49

50 other instruments launched in. For example the first tune on track 7, The Gardener s March, is not allowed to develop before the players launch into the second tune. That tune deserved more time to develop. The CD opens with some lovely whistle playing being joined by the pipes but then a grinding style of accordion playing to my ears ruins the track. I found the same thing happening on the previous Fred Freeman Border Piping CD. This is not to say that the playing is bad, far from it, but as an arrangement to my ears it does not work in the general context of the music portrayed on the CD. While innovation is good it should add, not detract, from the music. This is a personal view and no doubt others may disagree. On this score I don t think we should be too hide bound by what we perceive as the tradition either, but if something doesn t add to the overall picture then leave it out. This all may sound over critical but dubious arrangements and balance can ruin an otherwise delightful CD. It is a shame too that it wasn t seen fit to feature both pipers playing solo rather than always in a band situation. This would have provided some variation but it would also have enabled the listener to hear the pipes in their own glory with the harmonic offerings of the drones contributing to the sound. Drones are an integral part of piping and they tend to get lost in a band situation. There are some very nice original compositions by James Thomson and Chris Ormston that sit well with the traditional tunes. I feel too that with any CD there should be rather more acknowledgement of the tune sources than the summaries Fred provides in his introductory notes; only the original compositions are fully credited. This is a CD that takes a few playings to get into it. Did I like it and would I recommend it? At first playing maybe not but on more than one playing I think it would be worthwhile addition to a collection and at the very least proves that the pipes are alive, well, and living in the hands of the younger generation irrespective of what music is being played. Thanks must go to Dr Fred Freeman for his enthusiasm in bringing the bellows piping of Scotland and its music to a wider audience. I really like the delightful CD cover artwork by Lorenzo Galantini.! John Bushby is a multi instrumentalist playing a range of pipes including Lowland and Scottish Smallpipes, Galician pipes, Irish pipes, whistles, guitar and bouzouki. He also runs a recording studio, Shearwater Digital in Newcastle upon Tyne. He studied classical music at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, Australia and was heavily involved with the folk and traditional music scene in Tasmania, Australia before moving with his family to the UK in

51 Bridge of Allan LBPS Teaching Weekend March 13 th -15th A familiar format at a new venue - event organiser George Greig reports on this annual weekend The annual LBPS teaching weekend, known for many years as The Melrose Weekend this year moved north to a new venue in Stirlingshire. The hotel owner and his staff were extremely helpful, the feedback from the participants was very positive and the hotel is likely to become a regular resort for future weekends. The central location and easy access by rail was seen to be a bonus. Tutors were Fin Moore, John Saunders and Angus MacKenzie. Most teaching was by ear; however, there were a few instances where the dots were given out to make life easier for one or two of the participants. There was a good variety and, again, the feedback was very positive. Fin introduced a super tune written by Sarah Hoy's dad called 'An Atom of Delight' [you can hear Rona Dawson play this as the first tune in her set in the competition]. Fin also taught O er the Dyke from the William Dixon manuscript. Angus taught some Cape Breton tunes and John introduced some fine tunes he had written himself. The tutors managed to produce a good range of material which was much appreciated. The participants were put into three groups: I separated out those playing Border pipes - I encouraged them to play on smallpipes for one of the sessions but they elected to stick to Border pipes all the time which was okay by me. The remaining folk played smallpipes in A and I put them into two roughly equal groups on my own assessment of ability aided by what they put on the booking forms. People were free to swap groups if they wished. The feedback suggests that people were happy with the groups in which they found themselves. The 'concert' at the end with participant groups playing things that they had learned interspersed by tutors playing 'party-pieces' went well and was thought to be a good way to finish up. 51

52 LBPS member Bjørn Willemoes-Wissing travelled from Trondheim to the Bridge of Allan event. Here he gives his impressions of the weekend About 20 persons participated in the weekend and I realized that several had traveled quite far. For example coming from Manchester by train or north west Scotland by car to Bridge of Allen takes a comparable amount of time as to come all the way from Trondheim in Norway. The teaching was divided in to three sessions, two on Saturday with one in the morning and one in the afternoon and one the Sunday morning. The participants were divided into three groups having one session with each tutor. The tuition, at least in our group, was given so we had to learn by ear and by watching the tutors fingers. It's a bit challenging when not being used to it but nevertheless a very good exercise and it went quite well, especially in the beginning. During the day the ability to focus did everything else than improve, so maybe some shorter breaks a bit more often could keep the concentration going a bit longer throughout the day? It definitely helps to know the tune before starting to learn it on the pipes (or any instrument I guess). I remember in Melrose in 2010 where Gary taught the tunes by getting us to sing the tune first. I found that this was a very efficient way to learn a new tune. To practice in that way on your own playing along with recordings from CD s or mp3 files is also possible. Different software is available as downloads for the pc or apps for the mobile phone to slow down the music without changing the pitch. [Ed: see separate article for reviews of this software] The tunes we learned in our group during the weekend were Katie s Waltz (Donald McNeill), Some State! (John Saunders), Cota Mor Ealasaid (trad.), Turbo Shandy (Ross Martin), Walking the Floor (Trad.) and John Barber s 50th (Duncan Moore). A bit of music theory was put in between practicing on the tunes. Finding out if a tune is composed in major, minor or in pentatonic mode, and in which key, helps a lot during the work with learning the tune. On Saturday afternoon Fin held a short improvised session with reed repair and maintenance for a few that needed some adjustments to their pipes. I think it could be valuable to have a short workshop during future teaching weekends where topics like reed maintenance, chanter tuning and suchlike could be discussed. It s much easier to observe and understand what to do in a given situation when it s shown live than picking it out of even a well-written text about the same topic. I also found it nice that Fin brought a pressure gauge so it was possible to see the effect of one s bellows work on 52

53 bag-pressure during playing. The pressure gauge had the scale divided from 0-30 inches of water and was connected with a hose to one of the drones where the top had been taken off. A good dinner was served in the restaurant of the Hotel and at the end of the dinner Iain MacInnes was invited to play to round off the day Afterwards there was a session in bar and during the evening and night some fine sets of tunes were played. Altogether the weekend was well worth the effort of travel to participate. Just to mention a few things that will let me recommend going to an LBPSteaching weekend: good tutors, great tunes, lots of inspiration and, not the least, meeting all the nice and friendly people interested in bellows piping C S Tools for Learning by Ear Computer/phone software applications that may be invaluable to those who struggle to learn tunes by ear Along with his report from the Bridge of Allan weekend, Bjorn mentioned a piece of software that he had tried called Amazing Slow Downer. Intrigued, I looked up this program and downloaded the free trial version. However, a google search for Slowdowner revealed a number of things. Firstly, there are a lot [I mean a lot!] of options available for software that does this sort of thing, though this one seems to be the most widely used. Some of these have userinterfaces that are rather more friendly than this one. I was particularly impressed by the interface for Transcribe!. In the process of this search I discovered that freely available software such as Windows Media Player and Quicktime also provides some of the featuresthe free audio-editing software Audacity provides most of the features too; the chief advantage of buying software such as the one here is that these programmes can change pitch and tempo on the fly and have an interface designed to do the one job. You can use a CD or any audio file on your system. You can choose any speed by moving the slider, and you can change pitch in a similar way. This is not only valuable for learning a tune from recordings, but it is particularly useful for pipers, not only for identifying gracings in a performance, but also, if you listen to your own performance [you can record direct into the software], you can identify passing-notes and other errors. Both items cost around $40. Amazing Slowdowner Transcribe!: 53

54 The South West Coast Piper Drummer workshops, Victoria, Australia, April 27th - 29th, Geoff Jones reports on the smallpipe workshop he ran at this event This weekend is hosted by the Warrnambool & District Pipes & Drums Inc. (WADPADI). Since 2009 they have also included workshops for the Scottish smallpipes. The smallpipe workshop was led by Geoff Jones. The small number of keen players attending this workshop enjoyed working on rhythmic expression, particularly for strathspeys and reels, as well as learning various ornamentation to give different effects to a tune. Another main topic of the smallpipe workshop was that of adapting tunes. This included altering Highland pipe tunes to become more appropriate for playing on the smallpipes, utilising different 54 ornamentation as well as converting tunes to a different style or time signature. One particularly enjoyable adaptation of a common pipe tune, Sandy s New Chanter was rewritten as a waltz by Sarah Wade. After dinner on Saturday evening we were treated to a blackboard concert of performances from various groups and individuals attending the workshops, from beginners to more advanced players, both serious and having fun with tunes. The smallpipe players performed Mo Ghile Mear with harmonies written by Sarah, as well as The Bluebells of Scotland in three-part harmony. Following this, Andrew Teusner sang The Mermaid,

55 accompanying himself on the smallpipes. Andrew finished his tune set with a hornpipe accompanied by a Highland dancer. For his entertaining and inspiring performance, Andrew was presented with a copy of A New Way to Melrose and Judy Barker s CD Chanters Weave. For the harmony writing and tune adaptation, Sarah was presented with a copy of The Day it Daws and membership to the LBPS. These items were kindly donated by the LBPS. Sunday morning began with more workshops. However, since these had more of a Highland pipe focus, the smallpipe group socialised over brunch. The weekend finished with a BBQ lunch and the presentation of more awards. For those interested in next year s SWCPD workshops and information about other smallpipe workshops and events in the region see my website Sarah Wade s waltz adaptation of Tom MacAllister s tune Sandy s New Chanter [thanks to Ewen MacAllister for permission to print the tune] 55

56 Pipers Gathering, Vermont August 3rd - 6th The Pipers' Gathering features emphasize the linkages between the Northumbrian Smallpipes, varying bagpipe types. There are ongoing traditional Irish sessions and plenty Scottish Smallpipes, Irish uilleann pipes, Border pipes and many of spontaneous jamming. A highlight of different varieties of English and European bagpipes. Participants are exposed with musicians of many backgrounds, the event is the ability to meet and play to the broad range of these fascinating in groups which constantly form and instruments and the people who play reform throughout the grounds. and make them. Saturday and Sunday evenings feature The Pipers' Gathering is frequented by concerts by of some of the best pipers some of the finest pipemakers in the in the world. Come treat yourself and world. It is the one place to go in North the whole family to a new world of America if you want to try out and traditional music. order one of these musical instruments. Fin Moore, Iain MacHarg and Dan The Gathering begins on Friday evening with an informal ceilidh. The small pipes; Fin will also be teaching Houghton will be teaching Scottish mornings are dedicated to hands-on Border pipes piping classes. Saturday and Sunday For further details, including tutors for afternoons feature mini-concerts, lecture-demonstrations, special working, see other instruments, scholarships, bookshops, and discussions designed to C Prince Edward Island Fiddle Camp 13 th - 20th July Tim Cummings and Dr. Ellen MacPhee will be joined this year by Iain MacInnes for an expanded piping experience for smallpipers, Border pipers and Uilleann pipers. The vision for the piping programs is to allow the advanced piper an opportunity to learn tunes and technique, jam with other musicians, and incorporate the spirit of dance in their playing. Beginner smallpipes and border pipes programmes will also be available. Visit for full details 56

57 BELLOWS BY THE BAY Bay Area Piper s Weekend A new venture in San Leandro, CA, USA, NOV 16-18, 2012 The Bellows By the Bay Piper s Weekend offers 2 full days of classes at a variety of levels, and the opportunity for a pipe maintenance session. A Friday night jam session and Saturday concert round out the offerings. [Smallpipes classes are open to all mouth-blown and bellows-blown pipes if tuned in A Two Day Smallpipes Workshop will cover topics such as: Practical tunes selected to give the player usable repertoire for playing in public How get the most out of forming your own group Effective use of ornaments on the smallpipes, border pipes, and flute/whistle Style and Repertoire: Medieval and Renaissance music for the pipes Breton dance tune class A bag of new ornaments stolen from other musical traditions Style and phrasing unique to small pipes Instrument technique: techniques, drills and exercises for all leels Reed making or pipe making Tutor EJ Jones Appreciating that everyone who attends the workshops needs to gain something substantial in their musical growth, EJ will confer with each participant in advance of the workshops so he can get a sense of what to bring to the workshop as well as to help participants prepare for the weekend. Full detail and booking forms at or piprmacpherson@gmail.com 57