Due to disintegration of the paper on which it was typed, there are some gaps at the beginning of the discourse. And the first page is missing entirely.
(------------------------) MacDonald to whom more detailed reference will be made presently says so plainly, and describes the Highland Pipe as a martial instrument for use in the field of battle and the Lowland Pipe as only fit for a room. At the famous battle on the North Inch of Perth in 1390, the rival champions are said to have stalked into the warriors to the sound of their own great War Pipes. In 1549 a French Officer describing military operations near Edinburgh, said that the wild Scots encouraged themselves to arms by the sounds of their bagpipes. An unpublished poem of 1598 b the Rev. Alexander Hume, Minister of Logie, speaks of three different kinds of pipes: Highland, Scottish and Irish. In 1745 Prince Charlie is said to have had 32 pipers playing before his tent at meal time.
But we have nothing written by any practical piper, and so we have no evidence of what the pipers played except one very interesting allusion in the Wardlaw MS, which tells us briefly of competition held in 1651 and of the earliest instance of an eminent piper getting a prize on his reputation and not on his playing. When Charles II was at Stirling in May 1651, we are told, he reviewed his army. "There was first 'Great Competition' between the Trumpeters, the next one was amongst the Pipers but the Earl of Sutherland's Domestick carried it off all the field for none could contend with him." "All the Pipers in the Army gave John MacGurman, ie MacCrimmon the van (?) and acknowledged him for their patron and chief." Then in the morning when the King was reviewing the Regiments and Brigades he saw 80 pipers in a crowd bareheaded with John MacGurman in the middle of them with his bonnet on. The King asked what Society that was. He was told, "Sir, you are our King and yonder old man in the middle is Prince of Pipers." The King then called John MacGurman and gave him his hand to kiss. Instantly John MacGurman played an extemporaneous part 'I got a Kiss of the King's Hand' of which the chronicle adds "he and they all were vain." There is no reason to doubt, I think, that this was the tune which we now know as "I got a Kiss of the King's Hand." Most of us pipers perhaps will doubt whether it was actually composed on the spur of the moment, but in this case we would say that the tune was probably one which already had been made, and which was waiting for a name.
But the story tells us these things: firstly that the MacCrimmon Family was at that date held in the utmost respect by all pipers. Secondly, that at that date the Prince of Pipers used piobaireachd as the form of music in which he expressed his reverence for his sovereign. Thirdly, that the MacCrimmon Family did not remain buried in Skye, but took service with the other chiefs and notables. Nearly 100 years later there was another occurrence also recoreded in writing which showed the complete supremacy which other pipers acknowledged to be the right of the MacCrimmon Family.
In 1745 the MacLeods marched into Aberdeenshire as part of the Government Forces and were defeated by the Jacobites at Inverarie. One of the MacCrimmons was taken prisoner. Next morning none of the pipers in the Jacobite Army would play. The Prince asked the reason and was told that they would not play so long as MacCrimmon was in captivity, and they did not play until he was released.
The tradition that there was a school of piping held by the MacCrimmons in Skye is supported by a deed written in 1743 by which it was agreed between Simon, Lord Lovat and his servant David Fraser (who had already been taught by Ewan McGregor, His Lordship's late piper) that David Fraser be sent to the Isle of Skye at His Lordship's expense to be "perfected as a Highland Pyper" by the famous Malcolm MacCrimmon. David Fraser was to serve Lord Lovat for seven years, receiving board, lodging, clothes and 50 Scots marks a year.
These fragments of stories show that all other pipers held the MacCrimmons in very great esteem for the sake of their piping abilities, and it is pretty safe to say that at any rate from 1650 the piobaireachd, which was certainly a MacCrimmon production, must have been considered the highest form of Pipe Music.
For some years after the '45, piping was suppressed by the Disarming Act. In 1750 there was a revival when competitions were organized by the Highland Society, first at Falkirk Tryst and afterwards in Edinburgh. They were held sometimes annually and sometimes every three years from 1781 to 1844, and for piobaireachd only. There is no hint of any competitions for marches or for strathspeys and reels, although dancing displays were given at some of the competitions. It is apparent from the history of these competitions that during these years piobaireachd was regarded as the only form of music worthy to be played by pipers of the highest class. Pipers in the regular army were frequently among the prize winners. But the matter is placed beyond all doubt by Joseph MacDonald, the first Piper, so far as we know, to give any description of piping in writing.
Joseph MacDonald was the son of a minister and was born in Strathnaver in Sutherland. He seems to have been to some extent a musical genius. He may or may not have had a complete knowledge of the pipes, but he had a good knowledge, certainly, and he was certainly a player. During a voyage to India in 1760 he wrote a treatise on the Highland Bagpipe in which he made the earliest attempt ever made to fit pipe music to the musical staff notation. A good deal of his description about how to finger grace notes is hard to understand, principally because there are many obvious printing mistakes in the book, but his general description of Highland Pipe Music is most informative.
What he calls Pipe Music is most instructive. What he calls pipe music or rather music for the Highland Bagpipe, we call Piobaireachd. He divides piobaireachd into (1) Marches including Gatherings such as 'The Macleans March,' (2) Rural pieces and Laments. The use of the Highland pipe he says is both to "rouse men to the defense of their country and to animate them when approaching an enemy and solemnize rural diversions in fields, and to parade before companies and to play amongst rocks, hills, valleys and caves where echoes abound." In the Low Countries all their pipe music consists in imitating the music of other instruments such as violins, etc. He calls it a ridiculous and preposterous thing to attempt to play on the Highland pipe music peculiar to other instruments such as slow Scotch tunes. The Lowland Pipe he describes as blown with bellows and used for imitating Italian and Scotch tunes and minuets and this he alleges is what has given people so contemptible a notion of the pipes, because the imitation is so poor a one.
The Highland pipe according to him should only have played upon it music composed specially for it. This music is firstly piobaireachd, and secondly reels and jigs. In which latter there is a large number. Joseph MacDonald makes no mention of what we nowadays call marches or any direct mention of strathspeys. Quick marches were evidently not known to him as pipe music. What he calls marches were piobaireachd. He writes, 'slow music, viz. marches, is always performed walking'.
To sum up what I have been saying I believe that the piobaireachd is a product, not of barbarism but of civilization. That it is the end and not the begining of the development of music constructed solely for Highland bagpipe. That it is not very much older than 300 years, and that although we may have advanced in comparison with the pipers of the old days in the art of making bagpipes and reeds, we have not advanced, and we have not got so far, in the art of musical composition, since the ability to compose what is acceptable to the best pipers as the highest class of pipe music has departed.
Before going on to describe what a piobaireachd is and how it is made I shall say a few words about the other classes of pipe music which arise at the present day.
There are (1) Quick Marches - played for drilled troops to march to, either with or without the drums, (2) more elaborate marches which are not played quick enough for regimental marching, but which are played for competition or for exhibition of a piper's ability (3) Slow Airs, played sometimes by bands at military displays and often by individuals at concerts and the like, and are very suitable music for beginners (4) Strathspeys (5) Reels and (6) Jigs.
What are the histories of these several classses of music?
(1) Quick Marches. In 1760 we have Joseph MacDonald saying that the only kind of music fit to be played on the Highland bagpipe is music composed specially for it, and that other music borrowed from other instruments is quite unsuited to it. In 1780 we have the Highland Society starting a long series of competitions in piobaireachd only. According to Joseph MacDonald the only music made for the Highland pipe which was in existence in 1760 was piobaireachd, reels and jigs. The Highland regiments were being raised at the time Joseph MacDonald wrote. The first raised was the 42nd now the 1st Bn. The Black Watch in 1740. The last of these regiments now surviving was the 93rd now the 2nd Bn. A & SH which was raised in 1800. It is pretty clear that there were no pipe bands in Highland Regiments playing quick marches in 1760 when Joseph MacDonald wrote and it is exceedingly doubtful whether there was any quick march music in existence when the Highland Society started their competitions in 1750.
Our present Quick Marches include several tunes adopted from songs and from the music of other instruments (for example) Highland Laddie, Killiecrankie, Bonnie Dundee, etc., which Jos. MacDonald considered an improper use of the Highland pipe. We have no marching tunes called after any battles before Waterloo in 1815 or indeed before the Crimean more than 40 years later. We hear stories about Pipers playing in the Peninsula War and at Waterloo, but the tunes mentioned are piobaireachds such as 'logadh no sidh' or the 'Cameron's Gathering.' Major MacKay Scobie, a historian of the Seaforth Highlanders, states positively in an article written for the Regimental magazine 'Caber Feidh' that pipers were not officially recognized by the War Office until 1854 and that before that date the regiments had pipe and drum bands with Company Pipers, who usually played individually in barracks or in camp, and very seldom if ever in concert. Their music was mainly piobaireachd.
In 1854 pipes were abolished, the Drums and Pipes were put together and pipe bands were started. The marching tunes in my young days were habitually called by Highland musicians Quick-steps, a name adopted no doubt to distinguish them from piobaireachds called Marches, and a name which itself furnishes evidence of their modern origin. All this points to the probability of quick-steps having been first played on the Highland pipe comparatively lately, perhaps not much longer than 100 years. When the need for them arose we may conjecture that some of the regimental quick-steps were adapted from Scottish Songs, some were composed then and there by pipers and a good many, perhaps, of the 6/8 tunes were obtained by taking pipe jigs and playing them slowly. Such tunes as the 'Braes of Glenorchy' and 'The Campbells are Coming' were probably jigs to start with.
It is doubtful I think whether any quick-steps were taken directly from piobaireachd although I shall show presently that the method of arranging them in two parts, each played twice with a finish, or in three parts, was very likely borrowed from piobaireachd. I do not think the quick-step 'Pibroch of Domnil Dubh' was taken from the piobaireachd in spite of the tradition that Sir Walter Scott got the air for his song from a translation from the Cantaireachd by Capt. Neil MacLeod of Caests. I think it more likely that the piobaireachd and the song air from which come the quick-step were made up independently from a far older air to which words were sung perhaps by the old harpers. If I am right then our present day marching tunes are a later-developed kind of pipe music, made up from various sources, some borrowed from songs, some adapted from jigs, and some specially composed for the pipes within the last 100 years.
(2) Competition Marches. The more elaborate marches can conveniently be called competition marches. These like piobaireachd have been composed and constructed for the Highland Pipe alone. They are true bagpipe music, but vey modern bagpipe music. I am told that in the 1870's, Competitions for marches at the Northern Meeting frequently played simple 3-parted marches of the character of the 'Earl of Mansfield;' the earliest competition marches had been composed before then, but not long before.
The earliest composer seems to have been Angus MacKay the celebrated collector of piobaireachd who was Queen Victoria's Piper from about 1840 until shortly before his death in 1858. He seems to have composed our oldest competition marches when at Balmoral, these included Balmoral Highlanders, the Glengarry Gathering, Stirlingshire Militia, Duke of Roxburgh's Farewell to the Black Mount, and some others. It was not long before other composers were at work on similar productions. Wm. Macdonald made 'Leaving Glenurquhart,' Ross, 'The Athol Highlanders' March to Loch Katrine', MacKinnon the '74th's Farewell to Edinburgh.'
In the '80s these tunes began to be played regularly at competitions. Wm. MacLennan (also famed as a dancer) was regarded as the master performer then and he elaborated them considerably. After him came his equally famous disciples Angus MacCrae and John MacColl, who with the possible addition of D.C. Mather, were supreme up to the end of the last century. After that came what we may call the era of Geo. MacLennan whose influence was responsible for a much larger number of grace notes being put into these tunes. He began playing at competitions when quite a boy and his fine work with the fingers found much favor and other players were obliged to do likewise, in some cases I think, rather against their own inclinations. The upshot has been the Competition March as you have it today, heavily ornamented with grace-notes and a distinctly different thing to what Wm. MacLennan and John MacColl used to play 40 years ago and still more different from what Angus MacKay used to play at Balmoral with his pupils. Whatever the pipers themselves thought (and some used to say that the old plainer style was the best) the listening public vastly preferred the new way so much so that for 30 years and more there has been a positive craze for competition marches. This craze had an almost disastrous effect upon piobaireachd. Piobaireachd had been for at least 250 years and probably longer the only music at which an ambitious Highland piper strove to excel. We have a minute written by the Highland Society of Scotland to the Highland Society of London deploring the fact that the leading pipers of the day took no interest in playing Strathspeys and Reels and confined themselves entirely to Piobaireachd and putting forward suggestions for remedying this state of affairs by holding a Strathspeyand Reel Competition.
Now in the middle of the 80's and 90's piobaireachd was shoved into the background and at the beginning of the present century, it was necessary to start the Piobaireachd Society in order to rescue the piobaireachd from oblivion. The fact that the Piobaireachd Society is constantly endeavoring to increase its membership and extend the scope of the work shows that piobaireachd is still in the background to a certain extent. There is no necessity whatsoever today for the formation of a society to preserve and encourage the playing of competition marches although someday there may be. It is very unfortunate that at the time when General Thomason, one of the three whom I regard as the great men of Piobaireachd (Jos. MacKay and Angus MacDonald are the other two) was working at and bringing out his work 'Ceol Mor,' the Competition March craze was at tis most unreasonable height. And the present movement I think is a slight reaction to Piobaireachd. Piobaireachd music is difficult music for the ordinary person to understand and it may never become really popular, but there seems to be a feeling nowadays that enough attention is not given to it, and lovers of bagpipe music seem more disposed than they were, to take pleasure in hearing a well-played piobaireachd on a well-tuned pipe.
I always think that what has happened about the Competition March is probably what happened about piobaireachd. The competition march suddenly sprung up, apparently out of nothing and within 50 years and probably less of the appearance of the first tunes. This class of music was firmly established as the one in which all the pipers aimed to excel. Already we are talking of Competition Marches known to be much less than 100 years old as fine old tunes. Both the Piobaireachd and the Competition March are genuine bagpipe productions owing nothing to other instruments. When the piobaireachd was at the height of its glory, chiefs and other big men used to send their pipers to Skye to be taught Piobaireachd by the MacCrimmons. If Chiefs had pipers nowadays and if the centres of piping as in everything else had not been moved to the cities much the same sort of thing might be done nowadays and pupils would be sent to the leading experts.
(3) Slow Airs come next on my list. Those that are played nowadays are like quick marches, a mixed collection, many are song airs, some Gaelic, some Lowland. There are among them probably many old airs older than the bagpipe itself, and some perhaps played long before the day of the piobaireachd was made. A few of those composed in modern days have been made for the pipes and I can think of two which have been adapted from piobaireachd and which by accident may represent old original airs on which those pobaireachds were built up. They are 'Findlay's Lament' and the 'Unjust Incarceration' the settings of which we have now were evolved by Angus MacKay and his brothers. But on the whole I should be inclined to say that we cannot claim this class of music as one composed for the Highland Pipes only, meaning by Highland Pipe the form of the bagpipe we play today.
(4) Strathspeys: neither slow airs nor strathspeys, the next on the list, are mentioned by Jos. MacDonald as Highland bagpipe msic, but you will remember that he speaks of violin dance music being suitable for the Highland pipe, if within its compass. I fancy that all the old strathspeys which we have were originally fiddle tunes. They were first put on the pipes for dancing to, later on competitions were instituted for Strathspeys and Reels, and Strathspeys were elaborated, fresh parts were added and more grace notes were inserted until the modern competition Strathspey was produced, which is played but seldom for dancing and generally more for competition or exhibition purposes. You do not hear 'Blair Drummond' and 'Athol Cummers' or 'Shepherds Crook' played much for the Highland Fling.
(5) Reels: next come Reels. These according to Jos. MacDonald were genuine pipe music and very fine music too, the old Highland reels are. Some of those played nowadays may have been fiddle tunes once, but many seem to be true Highland pipe tunes. A selection of them, like strathspeys, has been elaborated for competition purposes and are played solely for display. We do not dance the eightsome reel to 'John MacKechnie's Reel' yet this tune, in the much simpler form that we play it, is given by Jos. MacDonald in 1760 as a typical example of a Highland dancing tune. Anyone interested in tracing the evolution of a competition Strathspey or Reel can study with profit the original simple form of the tune given in one of the earlier-published books of pipe music such as Gunns and compare it with what is played on the platforms today.
(6) Jigs: lastly we have Jigs. These, like the piobaireachd have suffered in popularity owing to the latter-day craze for competition marches, strathspeys and reels. They have probably suffered too because the dances for which they were played in the old days have disappeared. But they are genuine bagpipe music. Jos. MacDonald's brother Patrick, who published a book of Highland music in 1784 calls them "reels in 6/8 time" and calls reels "reels in common time." I have suggested that some of the old jigs have been turned into 6/8 marching tunes. It seems that expert pipers have always been fond of playing jigs for their own amusement or as finger exercises. I have heard of old pipers of our time or just before our time who would play nothing but piobaireachd and jigs, Malcolm MacPherson the old Cluny piper, for example. But there are no competitions for jigs, or very few and although they are popular to some extent in South Uist and the Islands, they are generally played in private for the piper's own amusement. A drawback to my ear is that there is much false-fingering in them when played by anyone but a first class performer.
So much for History, or rather I fear, for mere suggestion and conjecture, for there is very little proper evidence on which to construct a history of the various kinds of Bagpipe music which we hear today.
The next question to be dealt with is "What is a Piobaireachd?"
The Piobaireachd is sometimes spoken of as the Highland Bagpipe Symphony. It is a theme or ground with variations added. No doubt when a piobaireachd was composed the air was often an original one made by the composer but it is permissible to guess that the air was often an adaptation of an existing air to which words were previously sung. Many of the piobaireachds which we play nowadays have words attached to them. Angus MacKay gives some in his book but it is not always easy to fit the words exactly to the notes of the piobaireachd ground. This fact seems to indicate that what we now know as a piobaireachd was at one time known in somewhat different form as a song.
According to tradition the MacCrimmons at one time would play nothing else but piobaireachd and another of my conjectures is that, when a MacCrimmon was asked to play a certain air he turned it into piobaireachd form before he did so. Nowadays it may happen that an Officer gets hold of a song air and asks his Pipe Major to put it on the pipes. The Pipe Major of today tries to play the tune as nearly as possible as it is sung. This is precisely what happened in the case of the Slow Air 'The Hawk that Swoops on High' adapted for the pipes by the late Pipe Major John MacKay, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
The MacCrimmons on the other hand proceeded to make the air into a piobaireachd, there is one little piece of evidence which supports this theory of mine. Donald Ban MacCrimmon when ordered on service with the MacLeod forces in 1745, is said to have composed the piobaireachd 'Cha till mi tuille' (MacCrimmon will never return) in consequence of a presentiment that he would not return alive to his sweetheart. The air of this is the same or similar to that to which a well-known Gaelic song is sung and the song experts have succeeded I believe in proving that the song and its air are older than 1745. It looks therefore that MacCrimmon wishing to play on the pipes something that would fitly express his sorrowful expectations of never coming back to his sweetheart took the old air and turned it into the form of a piobaireachd.
If this is so we have an explanation of why some piobaireachds have names of battle and other events which occured before the days of the MacCrimmons and before the piobaireachd form was developed. A piobaireachd like the 'Battle of the Inch of Perth' may have been composed as a piobaireachd many years later and constructed from some air to which the bards sung a song commemorative of that notorious battle.
The ground or Urlar is the basis of the rest of the tune. Its arrangement appears to follow definite rules. Some of these rules have got to be worked out, but some can be detected easily enough by anyone who has studied a number of tunes. Much of the credit for putting us onto the track of these rules belongs to Gen. Thomason, the author of Ceol Mor. He arranged the tunes in lines and showed clearly that a piobaireachd is built up of musical phrases corresponding with the lines of a piece of poetry. Nearly all piobaireachds can be placed in 3 lines.
There are exceptions but it will be time to look at the exceptions when a learner has been shown the main rules.
There are 2 kinds of arrangements: (1) where the first and second lines are of the same length, and the third is shorter by one third. The commonest example is a tune where the first 2 lines consist of 6 bars and the third of 4 bars; (2) where all three lines are equal in length, and the first line is played twice. Class I can be divided into 2 main divisions, (a) Primary Piobaireachds and (b) Secondary Piobaireachds.
(A) A primary piobaireachd is made up of two phrases of music, each phrase consisting of 2 bars. In speaking of bars it is to be remembered that the placing of notes in a bar is an arbitrary proceeding done merely for convenience sake. The 2 bars of a phrase may be one bar, or it may be 4 bars. But writers of piobaireachd music usually put the phrases of primary piobaireached into 2 bars. The two phrases can be called A and B. The tune is built up thus:
Line I AAB Line II ABB Line III AB
Each phrase A and B is of two bars in the tune 'Mary's Praise' which is a perfect example of this construction. In most cases however there is litle alteration in the phrases as they are repeated. Sometimes A in the second time in the first lineis slightly altered as in the 'Rout of Glenfruin.' A more common alteration is in B the first time in the second line. Examples 'Glengarry's Lament' and the 'Battle of Waternish.' sometimes B is distinctly altered in the third line, example, 'The Battle of Waternish' again. Such alterations do not alter the fact that the phrases A and B are substantially the same throughout and that the construction of the tune is as stated above.
(B) In the Secondary Piobaireachd there are 4 phrases of which A and B are each half the length of C and D. That is to saygenerally A and B each of one bar and C and D each of 2 bars. The arrangement is:
Line I A B C D Line II C B A D Line III C D
A perfect example is the 'Desperate Battle' in the variations, but not in the Ground. Looked at as a whole the 'Desperate Battle' is an exceptional piobaireachd since the variations do not follow the Ground. Perfect examples are very rare. Usually there is some changes in B and A in the second line and in D in the 3rd line. But C is nearly always the same in the second line as in the first line and this is the principal feature which stamps the tune as a secondary piobaireachd.
As regards examples 'The Blind Piper's Obstinacy' would be a perfect example of a secondary piobaireachd were it not for the alteration of D in the last line. 'Piobaireachd of Domnil Dhibh' would be a perfect example of secondary piobaireachd but for the slight alteration of C in the last line. Another nearly perfect example is 'Lady Margaret MacDonald's Salute.' A lesser example is 'The Big Spree' but it is a secondary piobaireachd all the same, C is the same in the second line as in the first and the other phrases correspond substantially, though not exactly.
Sometimes we have in the second lind C A B D instead of C B A D, an example is 'Glengarry's March.'
I come now to Class II where all the lines are equal and the first line is played twice. I believe that rules can be worked out, and the various descriptions of Class II tunes classified but this has not yet been done. The arrangement of the phrases is certainly more intricate than in tunes of Class I.
All that can be said is that among several types there are 2 which appear to have been adopted as patterns for the construction of quick marches. Quick marches are a form of music put on the pipes comparatively recently. Take Piobaireachds like the 'Lament for the Old Sword,' 'Struan Robertson Salute' and 'Kinlochmoidart's Lament.' We have the first line repeated, then we go up to the high hand for the second line. The 1st half of the third line is exactly the same as the first half of the 2nd line, and then for the finish we go back again to the 1st line or at any rate finish differently in some respect from the 2nd line.
This is exactly like 2-parted quicksteps such as 'MacKenzie Highlanders.' Again we have another type of tune where all three lines are different like the 'Unjust Incarceration', 'Praise for Marion', 'The Lament for the Viscount of Dundee', 'The Children's Lament." These correspond to my mind with such 3-parted quicksteps as the 'Earl of Mansfield.' At one time it was a favorite custom of composers of quicksteps to make three parts and three parts only, and the original way of playing may have been to play the 1st part 3 times and the 2nd and 3rd parts once each. Anyhow it is a fair surmise to make that the composers may have been imitating deliberately a certain type of 3 equal timed piobaireachd. If this is not so then the correspondence between the 2 kinds of music must be accidental, for it is quite certain that the piobaireachd arrangement cannot have been derived from that of the quickstep.
A piobaireachd therefore commences with an Urlar or Ground constructed on a certain pattern into which is woven the air or melody which is the framework of the whole structure. To the casual ear the air is sometimes disguised rather completely by the application to it of certain embellishments (prominent among which are the long E cadence grace-notes and of certain conventional note combinations.) Of these latter the most characteristic are what Gen. Thomason calls the Double Echo beats and the Gralloch on the low A. The long E grace note is a conspicuous feature, both the E and Gralloch of the double echo beats on C and B. A good instance for study is the ground of the piobaireachd 'Borach nam Brierqair.' Play this and then play the song verson or pipe slow march and the resemblance will be slight. Take away however from the Piobaireachd ground the long E cadence grace notes and the resemblance becomes almost complete. The grace noting of the ground of a piobaireachd is most important. Every high G grace note has been put in or left out with an object on what precise system this has been done. We in our ignorance cannot say for we cannot compose piobaireachd music and until we begin to be able to do so, our ignorance must continue. What we have to remember in the meantime is that a piper cannot in a piobaireachd take liberties with the composer's grace notes as he can in marches, strathspeys and reels. He must play the exact grace notes which he finds, neither more nor fewer, otherwise he will land himself in trouble.
After the ground comes the variations. In many tunes these are entirely conventional in form. Some tunes have one or more variations of a more original character, and these tunes are usually highly esteemed. What may be called the conventional variations are the following:
(1) The Thumb variation: this is constructed bysubstituting throughout the ground high A for some prominent theme note of the ground. eg 'Mary's Praise', High A substituted for E and F.......'MacKay's Banner', high A substituted for C and E............'Lament for the only Son', High A substituted for Low A. In a very few instances High G is also used as a variation note in the thumb variation. Examples the 'End of the Great Bridge' and 'Glengarry's March.' Sometimes the thumb variation is followed by a doubling of the same variation, this consists in a slight alteration of form, a slight increase of pace, and the blending of the whole into one continuous phrase instead of the movement being split up into a number of phrases. Examples 'Mary's Praise', 'MacKay's Banner', 'The Rout of Glenfruin', 'Piobaireachd of Domnil Duibh.'
(2) The Suibhal: the next form of conventional variation of low A's or low G's with the prominent theme notes. Sometimes the accent is on the low G or A as in 'Glengarry's March' and 'MacCrimmon's Sweetheart,' sometimes the accent is on the theme note as in Angus MacKay's setting of 'Donald Gruamoch.' The Suibhal is usually played first as a singling cut up into phrases and then as a doubling with the movements blended into one long phrase.
(3) An alternative to the Suibhal and perhaps more common form is the Dithis. In this the theme note is before the variation note low A or low G, the theme note being played with a high G grace note and the variation note with an E grace note. In the doubling the theme note with an E grace note is substituted for the variation note. Examples are numerous, 'Bells of Perth', 'Battle of Waternish', 'Desperate Battle', etc.
(4) A 3rd form of first variation uses A, low A or low G with an E or high G gracenote in a somewhat different way. Examples 'Kinlochmoidart's Lament', 'Corrienessans', 'Lament for the Harp Tree.' This is also played in a singling and a doubling. It often precedes a Taorluath and Crunluath played in the Breabach form.
(5) A 4th pattern of conventional variation is that adopted for the 1st variation of the 'Prince's Salute.' It is used often as a 2nd variation following a Dithis as in the Battle of Waternish, Scarce of Fishing or following a Suibhal as in Mary's Praise.
(6) In a few tunes such as the Piobaireachd Domnil Duibh, the Rout of Glenfruin, Borach nam Briqus, a variation called the Lemluath (singling and doubling) comes before the Taorluath.
(7) More often the Taorluath follows the 1st or the 2nd variation and is followed by the Crunluath (a) the ordinary (b) the Fosgailte, (c) the Breabach. There are one or two examples of peculiar forms of Taorluath and Crunluath for example in the 'Lament for Mary MacLeod' where the Taorluath and Crunluath are not as they seem to be at first sight in the Breabach form but in a slightly different form. Other peculiar forms can be seen in MacLeod's short tune 'The Battle of Brunlock nam Broig' and a "Flame of wrath for Padruig Chaoig' but in the great majority of tunes the Taorluath and Crunluath are either (a) (b) or (c) above, and the peculiar forms to be used is is often determined by the particular form of the preceeding variations. It has been observed already that some tunes have exceptional forms of 1st variations.
The most famous of these perhaps is the 1st variation of 'Padruig Og MacCrimmon's Lament.' Another tune the 'King's Taxes' has one of the same character but these two tunes appear to be unique in this respect. Another unique 1st variation is that of Donald Gruamach. One of the most beautiful is that of 'Donald Ban MacCrimmon's Lament' which has 1st cousins so to speak in the variations of the 'Earl of Antrim', 'the Big Spree', 'Donald Doughal MacKay', 'The Lament for Queen Anne,' another is 'Lament for the Children.' It resembles the 1st variation of the 'Salute for Rory Mor MacLeod' and the ground of 'My King has landed in Moidart.'
A very curious one is the 1st variation of 'Marion's Wailing' and something like it occurs in 'Grain in hides and corn in sacks' also 'A flame of wrath for Padruig Chaoig'. There is no rule apparently that a piobaireachd must have any particular number of variations but if one kind of variation be used, it often means that the next variation must not be one of a certain, or must be one of a certain kind.
Most tunes have Taorluath and Crunluath variations, but some tunes are so long that it is sometimes supposed that Taorluath and Crunluath were added to them in later days, simply in order that they could be played for competitions. In any case there is a sprinkling of tunes which have been handed down to us without Taorluath or Crunluath variations, and I have heard an expert, the late J. MacDougall Gillies, say of several other tunes that he regarded them as finished before the beginning of the Taorluath. It is correct to say, as a general proposition that each variation must correspond with ground both in structure and in melody. By correspondence in structure, I mean that the phrases must be correspondingly arranged as in the ground. In many tunes the correspondence in melody is obvious. In others it is less prominent, but it is there all the same. In a few it is most difficult to date, and in one or two it appears to be absent. Why, we cannot tell.
Two of such cases are the Desperate Battle and the Lament for the Union. In neither do the variations correspond with the ground either in structure or in melody. Although in both the several variations correspond strictly with each other yet the Desperate Battle is a very favorite tune nowadays and The Lament for the Union, a still more curious production, was a great favorite in past days. Angus MacKay played it when he won 1st Prize at the Highland Society's Competition in 1835 and other eminent pipers constantly had it in their Competition lists. The Ceol Mor version is not what the old pipers played.
Gen. Thomason has involved an arrangement of his own which may be more in accordance with the general rules of Piobaireachd construction. But there is no proper authority for it.
It is not perhaps feasible to lay down any general rules about how a piobaireachd should be played but a few suggestions can be made. Some piobaireachds are Laments, Salutes, some are Gatherings or Marches, some are Battle Tunes and some are miscellaneous tunes and what Joseph MacDonald would probably call rural pieces. One rule applicable to all is not to drag the variations, it is a mistake to think that a Lament cannot be played too slow. A Lament is supposed to be expressive of grief and sorrow and like every other emotion rises and falls. It may rise from a dull sense of pain to a violent and passionable and it may smile again to resigned apathetic stupor. The ground of a lament may be slow but this does not mean that variations should be slow too, or that they should be played at the same pace. In certain Gatherings and Salutes all the variations should be animated without being hurried. This is one of the difficulties in playing the music.
In this connection it is necessary to warn the present day piper against being influenced in his method of playing by the names which are attached to the tunes nowadays, there are good reasons for making this statement. The late Alexander Cameron told me that he considered the tune nowadays known as MacLeod of Raasay's Salute to be a Lament. He was also firmlyconvinced that what is called Kinlochmoidart's Salute (and is so called in the Ceol Mor) is also a Lament and he regarded the Big Spree as a Lament and to be played as such.
The late Dr.Bell used to speak of the Little Spree as one of the saddest Laments in pipes. My advice to a piper would be that if after studying a so-called Lament, he thinks it in the character of a Salute or the other way round he should play the tune according to what the composer intended it to be.
Generally speaking the expression given to the ground is what marks the piobaireachd player and the secret is largely in the treatment of the short notes, which we usually find written as semi-quavers. There is considerable art in playing these quickly without cutting them and in bringing in various shades of shortness, the same note maybe a little shorter in one place than it is in another, or a little longer.
Another essential is to mark the phrases, to cut the ground into sentences or lines of poetry by accenting the first and last lines of a phrase. In the ground and in the variation singling the end of phrase is often marked by a threenote cadence, for example E long grace note with high G grace note before it, C with D grace note before it and low A should have plenty of time given to it. It is the same as a full stop. Do not hurry away from it to the next note.
The difference between good and bad piobaireachd playing is the same as that between good and bad reading or writing. The good reader pays attention to his commas, his quiestion marks, full stops and the meaning of the words he is reading. The bad reader drones out a whole page without pausing for stops, without altering his pace, and without raising or lowering his voice.
Yet another rule could be stated that the conventional variations are to be played so as to keep the original melody of the ground, in other words so as to bring out what are called the theme notes and not to make them subordinate to the variation notes. Sometimes as in the Suibhal the strong accent is on the variation notes, but the theme notes should not be clipped away to nothing.
On the other hand the final A of the Taoluath and the final E of the Crunluath are not to be dwelt on. The older pipers (that is to say counting from the revival of piping in 1700) used to stand for Taorluath and Crunluath doublings and to play these doublings considerably faster than the singlings. They also repeated the ground after the Taorluath doublings and after the Crunluath doubling. Thus the Crunluath singling was played about the same pace as the first variation singling.
Nowadays as a rule the ground is only played once and the tendency is to increase the pace gradually throughout the tune, playing a variation doubling only a little faster than the singling and playing the singling of the next variation about the same pace as a doubling This may be well enough but it is a pity to forget the old way. The old way had more variety, sometimes we would have a variation played in the middle of a lament played quite briskly and then the player would slow right down for the singling of the Taorluath.
My own criticism of present day playing is that the ground and earlier variations are played too slow, and the singlings of the Taorluath and Crunluath played too fast. However, as I have said already no general rule can be laid down except perhaps this: The two extremes to be avoided are dragging and hurrying, and it should be remembered that a piobaireachd ground or variation can be played slowly without being dragged or played briskly, without being hurried.
In conclusion I am going back for a minute to the other forms of music. In connection with them it must be remembered false fingering is a horrible error and that never should a desire to get in all the grace notes he can manage, slacken a piper's vigilance against playing false notes. False E's and F's are the curse of modern march, strathspey and reel playing and the causes are firstly: too many gracenotes and secondly: too much playing of difficult tunes in bands. This is all that can be said about strathspey and reels except that you are playing Dance music, and that people must be able to dance towhat youplay although it is neither necessary nor advisable to play a competition reel fast enough for an eightsome. Steadiness is more important than speed. If the right notes are accented Competition Strathspeys and Reels will always have life even if played on the slow side. Competition Marches require more to be said about them. In most quicksteps the required lilt of a good march is contained in the melody itself, and the tune usually 'plays itself' so to speak .
The Competition March on the other hand is a peculiar thing and expression has to be forced out of it by accenting certain notes and cutting others. Unless this is done, tunes like 'Abercairney Highlanders' and 'Stirlingshire Militia' are usually feeble and uninteresting. A piobaireachd played without expression is bad enough but a competition march played without expression can bring the art of piping into disrepute more completely than anything else.
A beat in a Competition March consists as a rule of 4 notes written as semi-quavers, or a quaver and two semi-quavers. The first principal is to lengthen the note on which the foot comes down at the expense of the other notes of the beat, and particularly the note on which the left foot comes down. Another sound principal is never to cut the high A and to cut a Low A very seldom. 'Leaving Glenurquhart' is a very good tune in which to observe and put into practice these principals. It is a typical competition march, a splendid piece of music when played properly and a paltry thing to listen to when played by a tinker.
The last bar in many competition marches consists of a doubled C and a low A in the first beat and two A's in the 2nd formed by a double strike of the little finger. In the preceding bar, that is the last bar but one, the best players emphasize the 1st note of the last half beat of that bar, this is the last semi-quaver but one. In the case of 'Leaving Glenurquhart' it is an E, in 'Stirlingshire Militia' a B, it is a low A in the 'Duke of Roxburgh's Farewell to the Black Mount,' it is a D in the 'Lochaber Gathering.' This is nothing more than a trick but it is an effective trick and you should always be on the lookout for similar tricks.
You should never be content with being able to play the mere notes of a competition march. When you have learnt the notes study the tune carefully and see what tricks you can introduce by lengthening some notes and shortening others to give the tune life and spirit, or better still listen attentively to some first class player and see what he does in that line.
The trick mentioned above is not employed in every tune. In 'Abercairney Highlanders' and 'Bonnie Anne' for instance, you will find very often that the note emphasized is the last semi-quaver of the last bar but one, not the last semi-quaver but one. Still I think I can remember John McColl emphasize the last semi-quaver but one in those tunes, too.
Finally, in my opinion and that of your instructor it is a fault to put a high G grace note before the double strike with the little finger in the last bar and so make 3 notes instead of 2. This practise was introduced by that very fine player the late Geo. MacLennan and although some people have tried to argue that it suited his wonderful fingers, I personally think it was a blot on his playing. Unfortunately however, as I think, he has many imitators today. All that I can say is that my own instructors Angus MacRae, John MacColl and Pipe Major Ross would have nothing of these three A's.
You will see then what you have to learn at this class are marches you will never play for marching, dance music you will not play for dancing and Piobaireachd. You are not to be hampered by thoughts of what will suit the particular dancers in front of you. You will not have your time dictated to you by a drum or by the tramp of marching feet behind you. You have to show off the powers of your instrument and the quality of your own musical talent and the best I can wish you is that you will discover very soon that you can do this best by playing a piobaireachd on a good going pipe.
Piobaireachd as I have said before is difficult music to understand. This difficulty must be recognized and in learning piobaireachd what will matter most will not be the time spent on it on a chanter but the hours spent turning it over in your mind note by note and thinking how you lengthen one note here and shorten another there, or quicken up a little in one variation, or slow down in another.
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