The Big Music (61 page)
Authors: Kirsty Gunn
On Sunday morning selected tunes set for this year’s senior competitions were demonstrated by Bill Witherspoon (nameless Angus MacKay MS, ‘Red Hector of the Battles’, ‘Pretty Dirk’, ‘Sister’s Lament’) and Andrew Wright (‘Aged Warrior’s
Sorrow
’, ‘Old Woman’s Lullaby’ (Campbell Cainntaireachd setting), ‘Park Piobaireachd 1’, ‘Salute to the Birth of Rory Mor MacLeod’. Both players had done their homework, and, as well as playing beautifully, gave thoughtful analysis about the music and its construction. Word on the street was that Bill’s pipes were the best at the conference.
The AGM was next. All office-bearers were reappointed by acclamation. John Shone tendered his resignation from the General Committee and was thanked for his contribution. John Frater was welcomed in his place. The meeting heard that the Society is in a healthy state, largely due to the success of the website, and that the General Committee is generating ideas about how we can use our resources to further our aims. The sound clips on the website are a very popular feature and the meeting was informed that the Music Committee had decided to expand these further by adding tunes not already included, and by including, in a separate
section
, ‘alternative styles’, such as those gained by interpretation of the Lady Doyle manuscript and other recent research.
The president closed the meeting by thanking all office-bearers for all their hard work.
Periodicals, journals, relevant publications
The Piping Times
The New Piping Times
Piobaireachd Society
Newsletter
Local Dunbeath/Tongue publication:
Piobaireachd in the North East
Finally, to complete the account of additional information available in connection with this book, an example of a fully written-out piobaireachd appears here – the famous ‘Lament for the Children’ taken from the original Angus MacKay edition of
A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd
… (1838).
fig./nine: fully scored piobaireachd
(opposite)
- Cowie, Iain:
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13 - MacKay, Helen:
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13 - MacKay, Katherine Anna:
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14 - MacKay, Margaret:
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19 - MacKay, Mary:
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7 - Nichol, Elizabeth Clare:
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7 - Sutherland, Callum (younger):
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9 - Sutherland, Callum (older, see also under Roderick John):
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7 - Sutherland, John Callum MacKay:
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15 - Sutherland, Roderick John:
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- Lullaby:
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8 - Death and Regeneration:
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11 - Love Songs:
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14 - Time, return:
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12 - Fathers and Sons:
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12 - Mothers and Daughters:
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12 - THE LAND:
- Water:
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10 - Hills:
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16 - Sky:
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10 - Peat:
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6 - Stone:
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- The Grey House:
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15 - The Schoolroom:
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6 - The Little Hut:
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15 - John Sutherland’s final room:
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11 - The Music Room:
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14 - The secret path:
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5 - London:
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6 - Edinburgh:
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5 - Areas of Sutherland, N.E.:
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(notes below refer to examples of musical references in the text only and do not indicate the many pages where they also appear as certain words or recurring phrases: “I’ll not be back” as the ‘D’ note of Battle, for example, “Shhh…” for the ‘F’ note of Love, and so on.)
- Low ‘G’ – Note of Gathering:
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9 - Low ‘A’ – The Tune’s note:
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15 - B – Note of Challenge:
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9 - C – Most Musical Note
1 - D – Note of Battle:
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7 - E – Echoing note:
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12 - F – Note of Love:
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12 - High ‘G’ – Note of Sorrow:
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17 - High ‘A’ – Piper’s note:
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