Re: [scots-l] Tempos
Cynthia wrote: re Highland march: Rather, Mike told me it was a swinging fast walk. Maybe he was thinking of the kilts, but a louping jog could fit the description as well. I think the great kilt (full thingy, huge length of fabric in one piece for cloak and all) pretty much forces a swinging walk on the flat. For battle the Highlanders discarded their philamor and fought in their smalls, must have looked like a load of Marley's ghost actors weilding claymores instead of candles. The theories I've heard (and, well, developed) on the harped brosnachadh are that it would have been performed in the camp either the night before the battle or the morning of the battle. Maybe just for the generals. The concept of a ritual stand-off that you refer to is intriguing. Can you share more? (And if everyone else is groaning right now, let us know...we can take our conversation off to a quiet corner.) A lot of my info is from rather doubtful sources like 'Waverley Anecdotes' (1833 - no author identified!) which in turn quote old accounts. The early Highland clan chiefs had champions - eventually becoming a hereditary thing - and they must originally have had some purpose. There's a load of stuff out there about the courtesy of Highlanders towards their enemies, and in the Borders (different ethnic group, but many shared principles of rapine, theft etc) it's said that battles were sometimes over without any blood being spilled. The real object was to take prisoners and then ransom them, and it was so formalised that the prisoner would be taken, would agree to pay his ransom immediately, would then be released and have to sit on the sidelines agreeing not to fight any more - like a chess piece taken off the board. Small inter-clan battles governed by rules of ransom, blood-money and blood-feud must have been a very strange mixture of extreme violence and caution. Kill someone, and you would either have to pay a substantial amount to their clan, or suffer a state of feud for generations; take them a live prisoner, unharmed, and they would pay you instead. Not only that, they might respect you and in a future battle would endeavour to ensure they took YOU prisoner in return since being taken prisoner was a good way to ensure safety. I bet that while all this courteous bloodshed was happening for the chiefs and their families, a load of the peasantry was getting wiped out on their behalf. I think the harpers were honoured and protected as if family members. They could well have been known to both sides in a dispute. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
Richard Evans wrote: I've started playing this tune on Northumbrian Pipes, having found it in 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes', published by Matt Seattle. In his notes, Matt says that this version is similar to James Oswald's. It sounds like a harp tune to me, and the title would possibly support that. Is this right? Any further information much appreciated. I've been playing it as an air- it's a beautiful, relaxed melody. Since Oswald published anything he could lay hands on, who knows what source... Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally). But Oswald also played violin and keyboards. Rob MacKillop would know if Oswald played harp - have a look at www.robmackillop.com for more about Oswald. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
I've started playing this tune on Northumbrian Pipes, having found it in 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes', published by Matt Seattle. In his notes, Matt says that this version is similar to James Oswald's. It sounds like a harp tune to me, and the title would possibly support that. Is this right? Any further information much appreciated. I've been playing it as an air - it's a beautiful, relaxed melody. If I remember right, Oswald didn't mention the harp on the title pages of the _Caledonian Pocket Companion_ (where that tune was published): there wouldn't have been much reason to, as it wasn't very fashionable in the 1740s. His own favourite instrument was the cello, though he had a professional knowledge of all the instruments in use in his time. The early volumes of CPC are primarily intended for transverse flute as the melody instrument with cello doing the bass, or keyboard doing both - later volumes get more fiddle-friendly. It's a derivative of The Duke of Albany's Tune printed in garbled form in Playford's Apollo's Banquet of 1687, which has a preface saying the fiddle is all the rage at the moment and forget about playing anything else if you want to keep your street cred. On the other hand it sounds like a march, which would imply that when it was first played a few years earlier (as the title implies) it might have been for a band. The harp wasn't greatly in favour in the 1680s either, except in Ireland (which the Duke did not yet have any links with). I suppose you could rewrite history a bit and pretend it's a Carolan tune (written before Carolan was 15). It is also used as the air of a song in the _Scots Musical Museum_ which you do not want to know about. If you can adapt it for the pipes as well, it'll fit on anything. Must include it in my forthcoming collection The Caledonian Ophicleide. There is scope for some good accordionist to have a go at Oswald's tunes, perhaps one of the free-bass fraternity. Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, perhaps a Glasgow-Irish-Republican accordion street band (if there are any still - I haven't heard one in years). - Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack * food intolerance data recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files, and my CD-ROM Embro, Embro. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] new computer, old question
Yes, Please do so.Thank you! Toby Rider wrote: Probably an even better place to ask this question would be on the ABCusers list. They're wizards at this type of stuff. If you wish I could forward you question and ask them to respond to you directly.. Toby I'm not aware of anything that does that, but there's a lot of freeware/shareware out there to convert ABC to MIDI, as well as sheet music to MIDI -- but that's manual, not automatic input. -- I.A. When I purchase my next 'puter, which will not be an Apple, I wish to be able to take a CD, isolate a tune/track, and convert it to a midi file. What software do I need to do that? -- May neither your strings nor your spirit ever break, May your harp and your soul always be in tune. Rita Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html -- Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all. - James Graham, Marquis of Montrose Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html -- May neither your strings nor your spirit ever break, May your harp and your soul always be in tune. Rita Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
Jack, Thanks for the information. It is also used as the air of a song in the _Scots Musical Museum_ which you do not want to know about. If you can adapt it for the pipes as well, it'll fit on anything. I didn't need to adapt it. Matt's book is a selection from the 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes' held in Gateshead Public Library, mss. dated 1830s/40s. It plays excellently as written on Northumbrian Pipes. It's written out in G with a range from low D to high a, couldn't be better for that instrument. Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, What associations are they? Cheers Richard -- Richard Evans Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] SHSA Comps
Jack said: I've been doing string things (mainly the ud) a bit lately, having had some doubts about whether I would ever be able to blow anything again after some surgery last year - seems I can in fact even play the clarinet again, though I made sure my first experiment was at Sandy Bell's, i.e. within two minutes walk of an AE unit so they could sew up anything that burst. (I wonder if there is any other session pub with that particular advantage? - inhale your sax reed, herniate yourself lifting an accordion or incur some stereotypical sort of bluesman's mayhem and you're in just the right place). I worked in that AE for a while many moons ago, and there were indeed frequent visits from Bell's regulars requiring patched up in some way. I used to pop in on my way home off a back shift to see how the stitches were holding out. But all that will be gone when the infirmary moves out... Glad to hear your puff has been restored Jack :) Derek Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, What associations are they? Playford's title - the Duke of Albany was James V before he became king in 1685. === http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ === Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] SHSA Comps
Well TobyI read your email aloud to Eric (my husband, producer, and the bloke who plays the bodhrans and flutes on my recording) and he said he's right there with you.here I go. Oh, Toby: Eric just told me he wants your desert island list of required listening. Would you mind? Boy, that's going to be a very long list indeed, mostly because I listen to so much stuff, everything from really traditional recordings of solo players, to stuff that uses white noise and amplifier feedback as part of the tunes. Let me think about this one for awhile :-) Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] SHSA Comps
At 11:07 AM 1/20/03 -0800, you wrote: Oh, Toby: Eric just told me he wants your desert island list of required listening. Would you mind? Boy, that's going to be a very long list indeed, Take your time. Just remember, this is a desert island we're talking about! I think what he really wants to know is what you listen to that inspires you write that you'd like to hear: a genuinely inspired fusion sort of harp-playing. --Cynthia Cathcart http://www.cynthiacathcart.net/ Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Good fusions, bad fusions (was SHSA Comps)
I think what he really wants to know is what you listen to that inspires you write that you'd like to hear: a genuinely inspired fusion sort of harp-playing. I guess it's because it's not so common to hear really listen-able fusions of different musical genres in general, but especially (as Jack just mentioned) traditional Scottish or Irish music along with anything else. It's genuinely tough to get it to work beautifully. Not to say that it isn't done regularly with success. Some of my favorite artists in Scottish music are doing what I guess could be called fusion, or have done fusion projects in the past (don't worry, I'll include them on my desert isle list :-) For instance, every album Alasdair Fraser has released except for one, is basically fusion and I think they've all come out great. I'm sure he'd be touched to hear me say that :-) I've heard plenty of attempts to combine North American Country music with Scottish music, and it's mostly been really hard for me to listen to.. I hate to pick examples, but as talented as the Rankin Family is, I really can't get into their music for that reason. If I want to hear country music, there folks who make more listen-able country music then the Rankin family, and since they're trying to combine their country influences into their albums, it keeps the traditional sets down to a minimum on their albums. So it keeps me from listening to them. Plus the teenage fan club aspect of their band used to really bugged me too.. Ha.. Ha.. Speaking of teenage fan clubs, they're a killer band from Glasgow. They'll be on my list. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
