The Piobaireachd Legacy of PM Donald Macleod.

The Piobaireachd Legacy of PM Donald Macleod. Andrew Wright It is 30 years since the passing of master piper and composer PM Donald MacLeod who was born in 1916 in Stornoway Isle of Lewis. Excellent articles giving full biographical details of his army and his piping career appeared last summer in the Piping Times vol. 64 numbers 10 and 11. His achievements were also the subject of presentation during piping live week in Glasgow last August. The Piobaireachd Society in setting out the programme for this conference thought that an appraisal of Donald s work and contribution to piping would be an excellent subject to present especially since he is still within living memory. I have been asked to make this presentation. I first got to know got to know Donald him in 1963 when he took me on as a pupil after he came to reside and work in Glasgow after he had finished his army service. Our association lasted over all of the remaining years. Today I want to talk about his compositions especially his Piobaireachd compositions. But also I want to touch on his teaching, his method of teaching and what it was like to work with him. But before doing so I will touch briefly on some of his personal history. He was taught piping initially by his father and then by John Morrison of Assynt House and by Pipe Major Willie Ross followed by Pipe Major John MacDonald of Inverness over a period of 25 years. He enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders in 1921 and after four years was appointed Pipe Major. He served in World War 2 and was taken

prisoner at St Valery when serving with the 51 st Highland Division. He subsequently escaped and managed to return to the UK. When Piping got going again after hostilities, competitions were reinstated and from then until 1963 he established a competitive record that is unsurpassed. All of this is already on record. Personal Reminiscences I first saw him, when as young boy in my early teens I went to listen to one of the big indoor competitions in Glasgow which took place in the Old Highlanders Institute in Elmbank Street. This was run by the Scottish Piper s Association about 1955-56. All the top players of the day were there. He wore army uniform of battle dress jacket, green hose and black Glengarry Bonnet. At that time he was pencil slim in the army uniform. He played the Piobaireachd The Blind Pipers Obstinacy. At that stage I was new to piobaireachd but I remember being taken with the tone of his pipe which was very quiet and sweet compared with the others. He wasted no time in tuning. Pipes struck up - 1-2-3- Drones brought quickly in to perfect tune and off he went. That was one of the features I always noticed about him. He was not a marathon tuner. Tuning was not part of the performance. Over the years I heard him play often in competition. He had his own style of playing, more round than pointed. In no way was the playing overstated or forced. He had a very accurate but not a flashy finger. The playing was not over rehearsed although he certainly did a lot of practice. His playing had a special element and that was spontaneity. In light music he

would change his setting of a tune within a performance. He was not adverse to putting in new turns or alterations and being able to do the same on the repeat. When he played there was no sign that he was trying to impress or project himself. He always seemed to me more concerned with projecting the music. The first time I spoke with him was when as brash young man I went into Grainger and Campbell s bagpipe shop in Glasgow where he was the manager as well as partner.in the business. That would be about 1963. I asked him if he would give me lessons on Piobaireachd. He said he was absolutely full and had no vacancies but might be able to put my name on a waiting list. He asked me my experience and who had taught me so far, and to play something for him on a practice chanter which was lying on the shop counter and said he would take my name. He asked where I stayed and it turned out it was a half hours walk from where he stayed in Cardonald Gardens Glasgow. He then said he had a class on Thursday evening and I could pop along if I was free which of course I made sure I was. That was it. All very informal. Others who attended in those days were Dougie Ferguson, Archie MacPhail, James Jackson now in Alness, Angus John Maclellan, Iain Mackay Glasgow, Donald Bain New Zealand, Donald Gannaway New Zealand and others from time to time. We would work on the set tunes for the gold medal - no silver medal in those days. The aim was always to get them off by the end of the year. He taught us in a group and we played the tunes as a group in unison on the practice chanter. He led and guided us through them. He would beat out the pulse and rhythm on the table with his practice chanter. He conducted the playing and we followed. There was the odd bit of singing or humming but no formal Canntaireachd as such. He would make up his own as and when required.

The class might comprise three or four players. He put each one of us to lead or be in charge of a different tune, and we all played together through every tune - if we were up to it we would learn all of them. Not just the one he had chosen for each of us. Later on as time went by he was able to give me one on one instruction and this went on for many years. I remember thinking at first that he played the piobaireachd fast but came to realise that was because all of us were very slow with it - I certainly was - I think now that he perhaps deliberately over compensated with the speed at times knowing that when we were on our own we would revert to being slower but not as slow as what we were before. He would state that the main pitfall in playing the music was slowness or lack of movement caused by waiting too long on the less important notes, and that we were thinking of notes individually rather than the notes as a group, like speaking and thinking one word at a time rather, than the whole sentence. He could also make the very telling remark at times, such as once during an individual lesson he asked me to play a march for him for a change. I played the John MaColl classic march Dugald MaColls Fare well to France. When I had finished he said Oh that s very round. where did you get that style of play? I told him that I got it from Donald MacLean Oban and Glasgow who I had played alongside in one of the Glasgow pipe bands. I said I think he was taught by John MaColl and he told me that was the way that John MaColl played. Donald said with a twinkle in his eye. Oh always remember it is said that Donald Maclean played more like John MaColl than John Macoll played like John MaColl. Lesson learned. Pupils always over compensate at first and the transfer of the finer points or touches in music is not an instant process. Donald Maclean of course was a very special and a top player with an individual style.

He never made any mention of, or discussed competition results and never put pressure on any of us to achieve results although all of us at that time were competition orientated and trying to make a mark. He presented us with the music but did not seek to coach us in competition performance technique. But he would always give praise when due and with enthusiasm if the playing was to his liking. I remember that all of the tunes that he taught us, he was able to play them from memory and seldom if ever had to refer to the book. He played all of the tunes and taught all of the tunes in the same method or using the same musical grammar. Sometimes I could get him to talk about the teaching that he himself had received. He would recall John MacDonald of Inverness and what could be termed his formal approach. He told me he was always referred to by him as MacLeod and that he came over as being hard to please and that he taught with the student playing on the bagpipe and he would direct the music all the time using his arms and by singing to illustrate what he wanted. Musical Legacy Donald MacLeod was a master composer with a magical gift. But he also had a capacity for hard work. And a very strong work ethic which is evident in the amount and the quality of the music that he composed and published. All of us have our own special taste in music. Many composers have also and their work often goes down a familiar road. To me the music of Donald Macleod went down every road and he composed tunes for every taste from the very difficult to the very simple. For the advanced as well as the basic player and equally as important he composed tunes with the listener or the non- player in mind.

He also had the knack of rearranging old or forgotten tunes and bringing them back to life, sometimes with the addition of extra parts which often made the tune better than the original. Tunes which spring to mind in this category I would name as the Strathspeys John Roy Stewart and Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch. The reel The Smith of Chilliechassie and the four-four march The Meeting of the Waters. The six books of his own published collection contain some 320 tunes of which 120 are of his own composition. These books are still best sellers and the music contained therein is played all over the world at the present time. However round about 1978-79 he brought out, more or less unannounced and without any advance publicity a book entitled Donald MacLeod s Collection of Piobaireachd book 1 Of all the great work that Donald Macleod has left with us, it is my opinion that his piobaireachd legacy is the cream of the cake and it is this that I want to talk about now. I will try to illustrate by example and to this end I have the electronic chanter set up at the small pipe pitch. I am sure if he were here today he would have no objection to this medium being used to illustrate his music. By the way this pitch is not far away from the pitch that the great pipe would have been in the hey- day of piobaireachd. In round figures the piobaireachd repertory available today has about 300 pieces of varying quality, the oldest of which date as far back to round about 1500. The heyday of composition is reckoned to be 1600 to 1750. Information on the old composers is sparse and what was not known would no doubt have been conjectured over the years which in turn adds to the attraction and the air of mystique that the music enjoys. Present day studies indicate that a portion of the music originated in and has strong connection to Gaelic song with the main

motifs being arranged in the phrase patterns and structures that prevail through Piobaireachd. Another portion would have been composed by pipers for pipers and around the limitations that the instrument itself imposes. It is here that the gems of the repertory reside. A third category could have come from others airs existing at the time and not necessarily Gaelic airs. There would have been a cross fertilisation over all of these three as the music evolved, over the centuries. Many famous pipers down through the years have made contribution to the repertory of Piobaireachd by tunes of their own composition but the tunes have been small in number even though good in quality. Probably one of the most prolific composers according to the information we have was John MacKay of Raasay 1767-1840- father of Angus MacKay. John Mackay has some ten pieces credited to him including the Majestic Lament for MacLeod of Colbeck. His compositions are usually long of length and go through the full spectrum of Piobaireachd variations. There is evidence that he built at least some of his compositions around existing airs or songs and not necessarily Gaelic songs at that, but they are highly regarded by pipers and are often used today as test pieces today in major competition. Donald MacLeod s book of piobaireachd contains twenty of his own compositions and there are seven more of his compositions contained in other modern day collections, making a total of 27 published tunes which have his name. By any standards this can be considered prolific and well exceeds the output of anyone else on record. In the foreword to his book he admits to some trepidation in presenting it and has quoted words from Goethe who wrote - whatever you can do or dream you

can do, begin it. He also makes the point that the tunes were composed in a busy city environment far from the tranquillity of Stornoway where he was brought up. He states also that he has followed traditional tonal patterns but in some tunes has deliberately not always followed the pattern of the theme in the variations. All of these tunes are highly melodic with high degree of originality as would be expected from a master composer. There is a strong element of freshness about them and when we hear them for the first time we become aware that they are different from what has gone before. They are not overloaded with the musical clichés that prevail through a lot of the traditional repertory. His music is perhaps more rhythmically driven than the more ancient examples. He has introduced in six of his tunes, what could be termed a new rhythms in the variation following the ground. These have not been tried before and are certainly innovative and most welcome and add to the music as a whole. I will try to illustrate these in what follows. The Sound of the Sea We will be familiar with the traditional tune The Sound of the waves against the Castle of Duntroon which could be said seeks to replicate the sound of sea water crashing against the ramparts of the castle and the rise and abatement in volume of sound of the wind or gale. This signifies to me that the tune perhaps originated on an instrument other than the bagpipe which can only produce a sound of constant volume. Donald Macleod in his tune seems to seek to portray the rhythm of the water against rocky shore as the tide comes in and out against the rocks in a much slower fashion. The first variation is unlike anything that has come in Piob before,

although it follows perfectly from the ground.. I will play the ground and the first variation. This is one of the new forms that that I have spoken of The Field of Gold This tune has had a positive reception after publication. It has a simple melody, easy to memorise and is very popular in the USA and Canada at the present time. It makes an immediate impact with many who are not familiar with the music of Piobaireachd. It is popular with younger players as well as recitalists. Again Donald does something away from the norm in the first variation after the ground. In this type of variation the theme notes are usually shortened and cut down to the tonic A of the chanter but here we have them being cut down and going up to higher notes as well. The ear accepts this right away and we are left wondering why this has not been used before. Lament for the Iolaire This tune was named in memory of a shipwreck off the Isle of Lewis in 1919. The Iolaire went down taking hundreds of service men who were on their way home after world war one.it has a beautiful ground. The notes come in groups of four and this is carried all the way through the tune. It is a beautiful piece. I will play the ground. The variations are of standard construction. Corrievrechan Lullaby This tune was submitted as a free choice for the Macgregor Piob. Competition at the Argyllshire Gathering last year. It is light and attractive and again the composer has introduced something different in the variation following the ground. I will play the ground and the first variation. Lament for Islay Flora Macleod

Here we have a bottom hand tune of standard three line construction. Once gain the composer gives a different approach to the first variation by converting the simple time in the ground to compound time and changing the rhythm. This might be heard to indicate anger or anguish at the loss rather than keening which we come to associate with a lament. He also changes the metre or the structure of the ground which he has in the pattern of 6,6,4 and converts the pattern in the variation to 4,4,4, with the first line repeated. This is certainly unconventional. I will play the ground and the first variation. McMurrich s Salute This tune is published in book 5 of Donald s collection of light music. I understand that it was composed in 1969 at a summer school he was conducting in Sascatchewan Canada. I have been told on good authority by one who was there that Donald was working on the tune whilst at the school and actually composed the first variation when he was tuning the pipe before going on to play it at a recital. Again the first variation takes a new shape. A Son s Salute to his Parents This tune is in triple time and can be demanding to play with a lot of the top hand movements in the ground dropping the full octave in the variations. The triple time is maintained relentlessly right through the whole of the piece not unlike what happens in the classic tune the Unjust Incarceration. It is a tune of that quality, class and technical difficulty. The tune is an even lined composition where in standard convention the first of the three lines is played twice all through the tune. But here is where Donald departs from convention as stated in his introduction to the book and the first line is directed to be played only once. I will play through the ground and into the first variation. Lament for the Rowan Tree

This is a beautiful and to me it has the strains of a Gaelic Hymn. In his note on the title Donald states Travelling through the Highlands one often sees ruins of crofters cottages left derelict when the occupants sailed away to begin life in another country. At the gable end of each ruin stands the Rowan Tree planted long ago as a defence against evil spirits. It has witnessed the joys and sorrows of family life and listened to the laughter of children as they played around the house. The lonely old Rowan now stands sentinel as if awaiting the absent family s return. Caber Feidh Gu Brath This was one of Donald s early compositions and the title translates as the Deer s Horn Forever and was composed when the Seaforth Highlanders were merged with the Cameron Highlanders. It is one of his most beautiful tunes and I will round off by playing the ground. The present day repertory of traditional tunes numbers about 300 pieces which evolved over a time span of approximately 500 years. Donald Macleod composed about 30 pieces within a period of 20 years. The mathematics of this shows just how prolific a composer he was.