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April 2022 Meeting: Traditional Scottish Music Adapted for Recorders

Apr 3, 20224 min read

“A Gentleman is someone who can play the bagpipes but does not.” -Oscar Wilde


GREATER FREDERICKSBURG CHAPTER OF THE ARS

March 6, 2022 Chapter Meeting

Chapter Representative: Dr. Kelly Kazik

Conductor: James Kazik

Instagram: @fredrecorder


WATCH OUR HYBRID MEETING AT YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/jEWH6V_hd_k

Scottish Music Adapted for Recorders



*NOTE: if you are looking for the scores and part used in our play alongs, please see the description boxes of the individual videos.


Features of Traditional Scottish Music.

1. Monophonic.

2. Other than bagpipes, the violin is a heavily favored instrument. For a very nice article on Scottish fiddling, see here: https://www.sfcv.org/articles/feature/classical-violin-and-scottish-fiddle-two-hundred-year-musical-conversation

2.5 There is actually a Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. https://www.sfo.org.uk/category/famous-fiddlers-and-composers/

3. Heavy use of dance form and rhythms.

4. According to traditional music session players, you will find a lot of Scottish tunes in the keys of A or A mixolydian, probably because of the tuning of the bagpipes.

5. Many of the traditional tunes were written or collected between the 16th-18th century.


How are Irish Music and Scottish Music Similar/Different?

1. The two groups have interacted (sometimes positively and sometimes negatively) with each other for a long time.

2. Similarity: Both forms of music are heavily monophonic.

3. Similarity: Both forms use a lot of dance rhythms and forms.

4. Difference: Some traditional music session players comment on the prevalence of the keys of D and G in Irish music and the keys of A or A mixolydian or B-flat in Scottish Music.

5. Difference: Some traditional players also remark that Scottish music tends to stay within and octave range while Irish music might extend to an octave and a half.

6. Difference: the Irish have a native flute/whistle. The Scottish don’t seem to have a native flute/whistle.




Actual Scottish people dancing to actual bagpipes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be59_bdC-6w



Traditional, “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond”, arr. Grosvenor (SATB)


Play along YouTube: https://youtu.be/_FxL_pjt2pQ

Arranger David Grosvenor writes, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or simply "Loch Lomond" for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song (Roud No. 9598) first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The song prominently features Loch Lomond, the largest Scottish loch, located between the council areas of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Argyll and Bute. In Scots, "bonnie" means "pretty", often in reference to a female. Historian Murray G. H. Pittock writes that the song "is a Jacobite adaption of an eighteenth-century erotic song, with the lover dying for his king, and

taking only the 'low road' of death back to Scotland." It is one of many poems and songs that emerged from Jacobite political culture in Scotland.”



Henry Purcell (1659-1695), A New Scotch Tune, Z.655, arr. Tennent (SATB)

Play along YouTube: https://youtu.be/-woak3ATpgo



A New Scotch Tune Z. 655 was composed in 1687 and is originally for keyboard. In the last half of the 1600s, Britain was undergoing the very destructive and divisive reigns of Charles II (reign:1660-1865) and James II (reign:1685-1688). Both Scotland and Ireland were, of course, subjected to the royal policies of the day. Several military coups were attempted, etc. With all the Royal chaos in the political background, the “public” had a high demand for new Irish and Scottish tunes and composers such as Purcell obliged. I can’t tell if the demand for the music was intended to serve as propaganda or a peace offering. Fun fact: Haydn would eventually arrange Purcell’s A New Scotch Tune in a more Classical setting. The arrangement was a salon hit in the 1790s.



Traditional, The Skye Boat Song (Speed Bonny Boat), arr. Solomons (SAT)


Play along YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y1455X8SlBM


The Skye Boat Song (Speed Bonny Boat) was written in the late 19th century and recounts the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart from Benbecula after the failed Jacobite uprising of 1745. During his escape, the Prince was said to have dressed as a serving maid. Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet, wrote lyrics in 1870. In 1885, poet Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote alternate lyrics and added some verses.


Lyrics:

Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul, she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye

Billow and breeze, islands and seas Mountains of rain and sun (mountains of rain and sun) All that was good, all that was fair All that was me is gone

Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul, she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye

Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I?



Traditional, Green Hills of Tyrol (A Scottish Soldier), arr. Morris (SATB)


The text to A Scottish Soldier (Green Hills of Tyrol) was written by Andy Stewart in 1961. The text was put over the tune “Green Hills of Tyrol.” The text tells of a dying soldier who would rather die in his home in the highlands that in Tyrol.


The tune itself has quite a history. It does not seem to be a proper highland air, but was thought to be a Tyrolese air. The tune was incorporated by Rossini into the third act of his opera William Tell and eventually made its way to Scotland. Read more about the tune and its evolution here: https://bagpipe.news/2020/07/04/stories-of-the-tunes-the-green-hills-of-tyrol/

Play along: YouTube: https://youtu.be/9hnp4qJKVVQ




Traditional, The Black Bear, arr. Morris (SATB)


Play along: YouTube: https://youtu.be/PVc9HEYmXHE


The Black Bear is the traditional parade tune for Scottish regiments returning to the barracks after the day’s maneuvers. The tune is traditionally played on bagpipes. The form is a hornpipe. The Black Bear is called the fastest march in the UK Army. But why is it called The Black Bear? The Black Bear is native to North America!


An 1866 manuscript named the tune The Black Baird. A baird is a Scottish word for poet. Another translation called the tune The Black Beard. The history of the black beard is a bit confusing, but in some cases, men’s faces get dirty from gunpowder. The powder would make a dirt pattern on the soldiers’ faces that made it look like the men had black beards. However, during the Victorian Era some Scottish regiments were encouraged to grow beards. (Some regiments were payed a small stipend to grow their beards.) The beards would then become dirty from the gun powder. There are more hypothesis so feel free to read more about this tune: http://cornemusique.free.fr/ukblackbear.php





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