Timothy Jaques wrote:
> Whatever happened to Nigel's plan to learn to play [Tullochgorum] on the
> ukelele?
Went to the town's meanest session, sat down in the inner circle and,
after looking around nervously, pulled out my Hawaiian ukulele (note the
spelling, Timothy). The alpha players stopped in mid-schottische; the pub
went silent for a few moments until an almost imperceptible snigger broke;
that opened the floodgates. How they tittered, how they laughed. How my
fellow sessioneers chaffed!
All but one. Ace fiddler Derek "Shippa" Hoy had sat through the hilarity
with a knowing smile, and when the hooting and guffawing died down, he
quietly said "Nigel, how about "Tullochgorum"?"
I gratefully took the cue. Turning a couple of pegs to make sure I was in
tune, I started, nice and steady. The first part I stuck to the straight
tune, the octave leaps testing my skill. I could hear people whisper -
hmm, not bad... OK, so far so good. Into the next turn, and, my confidence
up, I decided to go for McGlashan's variations. By the end of the second
part, I was away. I began to throw in some Skinnerisms and the odd James F
Dickie, just flexing my muscles. The crowd had been transfixed, but were
now shouting out hoots and "Yo!" now and again. By the last two parts, I
was playing with the audience, quoting a bar of Alastair Fraser here, an
Angus Chisholm there. The final turn became a dazzling display of
double-time diatonic arpeggios and I ended with a couple of bars of "The
Stars and Stripes" arrogantly quoting Hendrix. My uke was up in the air as
the final triplet was struck.
There was silence once again as the notes faded, then the place erupted.
People were cheering, slapping me on the back saying all manner of "I'll
never laugh at a ukulele again" and "Whaur's yer George Formby noo?" Jack
Campin put down his bass recorder and chucked a grudging nod in my
direction.
I said to my new-found friends, "Enough of this, let's play some music!".
The session later became legendary for its quality of music, its
brilliance, its sheer excitement. I pushed the uke to its limits that
night. I spat out "Calum Crubach", "Braes of Mar", "Crabbit Shona".
They'll never laugh when I take the old ukulele out again, till the next
time.
--
Nigel Gatherer, Crieff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Scottish Music Pages:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/scottish/index.html
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