Scottish Gaelic Studies 17

Choice Reviews Online, 1999

Matheson's attitude been common when the last of the traditional, ear-x Preface learned pipers were passing into oblivion in Scotland, and when traditional piping was waning in Cape Breton, how much more we might have known today, albeit through the printed word. The terms ceol mor and ceol beag appear frequently throughout the text. The former, which means "great music," is used synonymously with classical bagpiping and covers a large repertoire of pipe music distinguished by theme and variation, very often several predictable variations. Pipers generally understand it also as piobaireachd, an abstract Gaelicization through its (feminizing) suffix eachd of the word piobaire (piper), which is often seen as pibroch. I have used cedl beag to include the rest of pipe music, distin¬ guishing between march, air, and dance cedl beag piping when necessary. When necessary, the group dance reel has been designated "Reel" in the upper case, whereas the reel tune played by a musician or danced by a stepdancer has gone by "reel," lower case. Full musical notes are likewise given in upper case while grace-notes are given in the lower, although the value of any distinction is often moot. Here and there slightly varying Gaelic orthographies have been cited, often involving the dropping of vowel accents. These citations have not been altered and no comment has been made, except where clarification is required. I have generally followed an older Cape Breton understanding and usage of the word "Scotch" to signify, as a noun or an adjective, Gaelic Scot¬ tish. The "of' in titles such as "MacKenzie of Gairloch" denotes ownership; the absence of the "of," as in "John MacKay, Raasay," indicates the name and address of a non-landowner, wadsetter or tacksman. I have reluctantly given greater prominence to the English versions of Gaelic names. This book grew, broadly, out of a curiosity about eighteenth-century piping that had long roots in the Scotland of my youth, where, my oldest halfbrother, Dr Charles W.M. Orr, left a practice chanter around the house near Glenfinnan in the 1940s, which I played by ear, right hand upper. The work solidified with the Nova Scotian field work I began in the 1970s. Then, as now, Cape Breton had the last native Gaelic-speaking communities in North America, so most of the informants lived or came from there. Hundreds of kindly Gaels gave generously of their memories. Space has permitted me to list only the most important of them in the appropriate places in the text. I wish to thank them all, named or not. My gratitude for unstinting and excel¬ lent service goes to the staff of Eastern Counties Regional Libraries in Mulgrave and Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. While some of these are named below, many other librarians and archivists in Canada and abroad are not. They are very much appreciated nonetheless.

Ethnomusicology, 2011

2014

Eighteenth-century Scottish repertoire for flute has remained separate from mainstream continental flute music for both performance and study, and as a result, is not well known. This music, written in an environment where Scotsmen embraced nationalist pride and their Scottish identity, offers flutists insight into a unique repertoire that often carries distinct Scottish inflection. This study examines music for flute written by Scottish composers from 1720-80, identifying distinctive elements of style, and presents a view of the music on a stylistic continuum that demonstrates a blend of continental concert and Scottish traditional elements. Repertoire written by James Oswald, William McGibbon, Alexander Munro, General John Reid and Charles McLean serves as the main focus for examination. Placing this music in historical and musical context, the study synthesizes existing scholarship by Matthew Gelbart, Robert Gjerdingen and David Johnson with other research, to draw new connections to Italianate compositional practices and elements of Scottish traditional music performance practice. These new perspectives on Scottish flute literature can serve as a complement to the body of existing research of continental flute music performance practice. iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to many who have been instrumental in the completion of this work. I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Robin Elliott for his guidance, insight, patience and professionalism; and to my committee members Alison Melville and Dr. Gregory Johnston, for their keen observations and feedback. I am fortunate to have had a committee with such breadth and depth of expertise.

While there is no reason to doubt current thinking, which suggests that the bagpipe was a late arrival in the Highlands, having spread from continental Europe during the late medieval period; an examination of its place and appearance in the wider Gaelic culture of the era may help our understanding of its eventual pre-eminent position in the musical hierarchy. Early Gaelic literature frequently refers to two stringed instruments, the "Cruit" and the "Tiompan", (the latter a version of the North European Lyre),1 but it is obvious from the odd written reference and the evidence ofIrish and Scottish stone carvings that mouth blown wind instruments were also used.

Scottish Language, 1993

Éire-Ireland, 1995

the harp that is stamped on every piece of the Republic of Ireland's currency bears witness to the symbolic power of Irish music to represent Irish national identity. The concept of an exclusively Irish musical tradition reaches far back through the island's history. In the twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis noted during his travels that the musicians of Scotland and Wales sought instruction from Irish harpers and tried to emulate their music. 1 Although he otherwise found little cause to praise the Irish, Giraldus wrote admiringly of the Irish cruitire ("harpers"): They are incomparably more skillful than any other nation I have ever seen. For their manner of playing on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and rapid, while the melody is both sweet and pleasing. It is astonishing that in such a complex and rapid movement of the Wngers the musical proportions can be preserved, and that throughout the diYcult modulations on their various instruments the harmony, notwithstanding shakes and slurs, and variously intertwined organising, is completely observed. They delight with so much delicacy, and soothe so softly, that the excellence of their art seems to lie in concealing it. 2 Beyond its aesthetic qualities, Irish music was felt to wield sociopolitical power to which even the English dwellers on the island were dangerously susceptible. In 1537 a British statute suppressed the activities of "rhymers, piobaire (pipers), bards, and aois ealadhn" in Ireland because, by singing praises to "gentilmen of the English Pale," these musicians allegedly instilled in the English gentry "a talent of Irishe disposicion and conversation." 3 A

Hearing Heritage: selected essays on Scotland's music from Musica Scotica conferences, 2020

This is my PhD dissertation. The third chapter might be interesting since it shows that the natural scale was the primary scale used in European antiquity (the so-called Folk Music Scale). It combined with the early diatonic scale (stacking thirds on the diatonic scale that those instruments couldn’t play) to create our modern scale. The Highland bagpipe is an ossified hybrid between the two. The fourth chapter might be of interest to composers because it explains the rhythm of languages (especially English) and also the pitch-patterning of the spoken word which is used as the basis of melody. The link brings you to the University of Otago library which is open and non-private. So you have to force your web browser to continue to the site. ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate through archival and musicological analysis the audio recordings of Fenian lays made in the middle of the last century. These recordings were made from informants who learned the material orally; they contain cultural elements that assist in comprehending the musical mechanics of Fenian lays at a time when their performance practices were being extirpated by foreign musical influences. These elements include Indo-European (IE) thematic material, poetics, language register, pitch structuring, rhythm, and vocal techniques. Audio recordings of Fenian lays from Ireland, Scotland, and Nova Scotia, Canada were analysed in terms of their linguistic-musical material. Results show that the rhythm of the lays did not display a repetitive musical metre but the more complex structure of speech. However, rhythmic patterns did alter with volume. Also, resonance tuning was apparent. Many characteristics associated with volume in lay recordings exist in declaimed speech as well; both may be seen to act as a bridge between speech and metered song. Lay poetry appeared to be syllabic, which is unusual for a stress-timed language; this reflects an Indo-European genesis that is supported by the presence of oral formulaic language. Both stress and accent shifted pitch by poetic line to match spoken characteristics. A high language register was present, which does not indicate composition by the intelligentsia for use at court, but rather a fear-induced protective linguistic device apparent in all social classes. Moreover, the addition of delineated pitch to spoken declamation may be seen as an attempt to further increase the communicative register. The pitch structure was seen to be anachronistic, matching the linear scales played by pastoral instruments, particularly that of wooden shepherd trumpets used since at least the beginning in the Early Neolithic Age.