1 minute read
This book was not written on a preconceived plan, drawn up from the beginning of the work. It “growed.” It had its inception in a commission to write for the Weekly Herald half-a-dozen biographical articles on famous pipers. The necessary investigation produced a mass of material too interesting to be left unused, and the half-dozen articles of the original commission became twenty-seven, with very little of the biographical in them. These, after being finally recast, revised, and in several cases re-written, are now in the form of a book flung at an unoffending public. If the volume interests any one—well. If not—well. There is nothing more to be said on that point. It were vain to attempt to acknowledge indebtedness to books or to men. Every available book bearing on the subject even in the most indirect way has been consulted, in many cases read. A great deal of the...
11 minute read
“A Hundred Pipers”—Scotland becoming Cosmopolitan—The War spirit of the Pipes—Regiments, not Clans—Annual Gatherings—Adaptability of Pipes—Scotch folk from Home—An aged Enthusiast—Highlands an Extraordinary Study—Succession of Chiefs—Saxon introduced—Gaelic printed—Highlands in 1603—The Mac Neills of Barra—Highland hospitality. “Wi’ a Hundred Pipers an’ a’ an’ a’” is a song that catches on with Highland people as well now as in the days when the piper was a power in the land. There is a never ending charm about the pipes, and there is a never ending swing about the song of the hundred pipers, that stirs the blood of the true-born Celt, and makes him applaud vigorously in rhythm with the swing of the chorus. But it is because the song harks back to the time when one good piper was a man to be revered, and a hundred in one place a gathering to be dreaded—if they were all there of one accord—that...
18 minute read
Ancient musical instruments—Priestly harpers—Hereditary harpers—Irish versus Scottish harpers—Royal harpers—Use of harp universal—Welsh sarcasm—Mary Queen of Scots’ harp—The last of the harpers—“The Harper of Mull”—From harp to pipes—The Clarsach —Pipes supplanting bards—The last clan bard—Bardic customs—Bards’ jealousy of pipes—The bard in battle—Duncan Ban Mac Intyre—Two pipers scared—When the pipes became paramount—The fiery cross—The coronach. The harp was the immediate predecessor of the pipes; but in ancient times, and also contemporary with the harp, there were other instruments. The Complaynt of Scotland , written in 1548, speaking of a company of musicians, says:— “The fyrst hed ane drone bagpipe, the next hed ane pipe made of ane bleddir and of ane reid, the third playit on ane trump, the feyerd on ane cornepipe, the fyfth playit on ane pipe made of ane grait horne, the sext playit on ane recorder, the sevint plait on ane fiddil, and the last on ane quhissel.”...
37 minute read
The time of the Flood—Pipes in Scripture—In Persia—In Arabia—In Tarsus—Tradition of the Nativity—In Rome—In Greece—In Wales, Ireland, and Scotland—Melrose Abbey—In France—In England—At Bannockburn—Chaucer—In war—First authentic Scottish reference—Oldest authentic specimen—Became general—Rosslyn Chapel—Second drone added—At Flodden—“A maske of bagpypes”—Spenser—Shakespeare—James VI.—A poetical historian—Big drone added—The ’45—Native to Scotland—The evolution of the Highlands. Gillidh Callum was (so goes the story) Noah’s piper, and (still according to the story) Noah danced to his music over two crossed vine plants when he had discovered and enjoyed the inspiring effects of his first distillation from the fruits of his newly planted vineyard. So the tune was named after the piper. This “yarn,” to give it the only appropriate name, can easily be spoiled by anyone who tries, but the dance alluded to does seem to have been originally practised over vine plants. Swords, however, came to be more numerous in Scotland than vines, and they were substituted....
16 minute read
There’s meat and music here, as the fox said when he ate the bagpipe.— Gaelic Proverb. The “Encyclopædia” definition—The simple reed—Early forms—Simple bagpipes—The chorus—The volynka —Continental pipes—British pipes—The Northumbrian—The Irish—The Highland—Tuning—Modern pipes—Prize pipes. “A wind instrument whose fixed characteristic has always been two or more reed pipes attached to and sounded by a wind chest or bag, which bag has in turn been supplied either by the lungs of the performer or by a bellows.” This is the encyclopædia definition, and generally speaking it is correct. But the bag is certainly an addition to the simple reed or shepherd’s pipe. And if we wish to go further back we can go to the time when a schoolboy on his way to school pulled a green straw from the cornfield, and biting off a bit, trimmed the end and made for himself a pipe. “Many a pipe,” says J. F. Campbell,...
22 minute read
Dr. Johnson—Inspiration of Scottish music—Professor Blackie—Highland music simple—Scottish airs once Highland—Age of Highland music—Capability of the bagpipe—How it has suffered—Peculiarities of the pibroch—Pipe music not fitted for inside—How it troubled the pressman—Chevalier Neukomm—Professor Blackie again—A Chicago jury’s opinion—An ode to the pipes. Dr. Johnson, who was in several ways a bundle of contradictions, found at least one thing in Scotland that he enjoyed. When on his tour through the Hebrides, he was on various occasions entertained by the bagpipe music of his host’s piper, and he liked nothing better than to stand behind the performer and hold the big drone close to his ear while the instrument was in full blast. He was not so affected as some of his country men and women nowadays, who say the sound of the drone is unpleasant, forgetting, or ignorant of, the fact that it is simply the bass A of their fine...
16 minute read
Have the pipes a language?—A wild, fanciful notion—How it got a hold—How much of it is true?—The reed actually speaking—A powerful influence—The power of association—Neil Munro—Descriptive Highland airs— A Cholla mo run —Military stories—In South Africa—An enthusiastic war correspondent. In this chapter we would walk warily, knowing that we are on dangerous ground. The question is, Has the bagpipe a language more than any other instrument? Can it speak to the heart of the Highlander more than any other instrument can speak to hearts that know it, and the music which it discourses, and the associations of that music? Through the great bulk of what has been written about the bagpipe there runs this idea of its power, this wild, fanciful notion that it has an actual language and that those who understand that language can converse by its means. Some have even attempted to analyse the music, and to...
21 minute read
Ancient music lost—Transmission by tradition—Druidical remains—Systems of teaching—No books—“Unintelligible jargon”— Canntaireachd —The Mac Crimmon System—The Gesto Book—A scientific system—A tune in Canntaireachd —Pipers unable to explain—Earliest printed pipe music—Mac Donald’s books—More recent books—Something to be done. For long, the music of the pipes was so much a part of the life of the people that no records of tunes were necessary. But there came a time when interest in these things waned somewhat, and it was then that the want of printed or written records were felt. By reason of that want, we now know little or nothing of truly ancient Scottish music. Perhaps we have not lost much, but in any case it would have been interesting to know the musical tastes of our forefathers away back in the early centuries. We are quite willing to believe that some of the exquisite melodies still existing were handed down to...
19 minute read
A Culloden incident—Ancient Celts in battle—The harper and bard superseded—First mention of pipes in battle—First regimental pipers—In the navy—Prince Charlie’s pipers—An “instrument of war”—A Mac Crimmon incident—Power of pipes in battle—A Magersfontein incident—Byron’s tribute—Position in actual battle. Professor Aytoun in these cynically humorous lines, from the “Bon Gaultier Ballads,” would have us believe that the piper was more important in times of war than the actual fighting man. He was important, no doubt, but hardly in the proportion of thirty-five to twenty-four. The Duke of Cumberland, a man whom Highlanders, and more especially those with Jacobite leanings, do not hold in very high reverence, was making ready to meet Prince Charlie at Culloden, and when he saw the pipers of the clans who supported him preparing their musical instruments, he asked somewhat testily, “What are these men to do with such bundles of sticks. I can get far better implements...
17 minute read
One cowardly piper—At Philiphaugh—At Bothwell Bridge—At Cromdale—The Peninsular War—At Waterloo—Reay Country pipers—At Candahar—At Lucknow—In America—In Ashanti—In the Soudan—In South Africa. The pipers of a regiment are exposed to very much the same dangers as are the soldiers, and in all the history of British warfare we read of only one cowardly piper. This was Raoghull Odhar , a Highlander, who, being one day in the exercise of his duty in the battlefield along with his clan, was seized with such terror at the sight of the enemy, whom he thought too many for his party, that he left off playing and began to sing a most dolorous song to a lachrymose air. Some stanzas were picked up by his comrades, and afterwards when an adult was seen crying for some trifling cause he was said to be singing “Dun Ronald’s tune.” Likewise when a Highlander threatened vengeance for some boisterous...
14 minute read
Preserving the pipes—Regimental bands—Pay of army pipers—The seven pipers of Falkirk—Duties of regimental pipers—The meaning of “Retreat”—A story of Napoleon—In a social capacity—An army wedding—A military funeral—At the officers’ mess—Awkward incidents—“Boberechims.” Nothing has helped more to preserve the bagpipe as our national musical instrument than the fact that it has always been used in connection with the Highland regiments. On several occasions officers, always English, it should be noted, have tried to get the bagpipe superseded by instruments more to their own taste, but they have always failed. The sentiment in favour of the pipes was too much for them, and the arguments were too strong to be slighted by the Crown authorities. In one case, indeed, a regiment did lose its pipes. The 91st, or Argyllshire Highlanders, landed at Dover in April, 1850, and were inspected by Major-General G. Brown, C.B., K.H., then Adjutant-General to the Forces. For some...
32 minute read
Clan pipers—Chief’s retinue—At weddings—Pipers prohibited—In sorrow—At funerals—Queen Victoria’s funeral—To lighten labour—The harvest dance—The shepherd’s pipe—In church architecture—In church services—As a call to church—Ministers and the pipes—Falling into disrepute—“As proud as a piper”—Jealousy of the old masters—“As fou as a piper”—An Irish piper. The pipers of old were hereditary pipers, and lived from generation to generation in the family of the chief who ruled their clan. They were trained from childhood to the use of the pipes, and grew up as retainers of the family, whose services no chief would dare to dispense with. They were often sent by their employers to the great masters of Highland music for instruction, and when they were old they acted as mediums through which all that was best in Celtic lore and music was passed down to future generations. The piper was, in the days of his splendour, a living exhibition of his clan’s...
54 minute read
Royal pipers—In France—At the English court—The Edinburgh Piper—Dumbarton—Biggar—Wigtown—Glenluce—Dumfries—Linlithgow—Aberdeen—Perth—Keith—Dalkeith—Dundee—Peebles—A weird story—Falkirk—“Gallowshiels” pipers’ combat—The Hasties of Jedburgh—Habbie Simson of Kilbarchan—Bridgeton—Neil Blane of Lanark—The Piper of Northumberland. Although as a clan musician the piper was to a large extent a public character, he was quite as public in one or two other capacities. There were semi-royal pipers, and there were burgh pipers. We have not much record of the former, that is, until our own day, when the piper is one of the principal personages in the Royal retinue—but we have plenty of the latter. In 1505, we read, “pipers on drones” shared of the royal bounty of James IV.; and we have various references to pipers in connection with Court ceremonials. In France the piper was an appendage of the royal household in the seventeenth century, and in Ben Jonson’s Irish Masque , performed at the Court of England in 1613, six...
23 minute read
Poking fun at the pipes—English caricature—Mixed metaphor—Churchism and pipes—Fifteenth century satire—A biographical sneer—Thackeray—Bitter English writers—Testimony of a Jew—Home sarcasm—The bards—Joanna Baillie—A Frenchman’s opinion—William Black—Ignorance breaking its shins—Imported sportsmen—The duty of Highlanders. There is a curious tendency, except in truly Highland circles, to poke fun at the pipes. This tendency is very noticeable in the domain of English comic journalism, the more or less comic papers hailing from the metropolis finding in Scottish people and Scottish customs an inexhaustible field of humour. They never tire of joking about the strictness of our religious beliefs, our supposed slowness at perceiving a joke, our relations with visitors from the south, our alleged parsimony, our national dress, and our national music; and they never fail to depict us as on every occasion wearing the kilt, carrying the pipes, and hiding away a bottle of whisky. Sydney Smith once declared that one might as well...
24 minute read
Punch’s joke—King Charles’s heads—An amusing competition—A Highlander’s Irishism—Wedding experiences—A piper’s fall—A resourceful piper—A Cameron piper and his officer—“Lochaber no more”—An elephant’s objection—Embarked in a tub—Glasgow street scene—Bad player’s strategy—What the wind did—A new kind of tripe—A Pasha and a piper—A Gordon nervous—A jealous piper—Dougal Mac Dougal’s downfall. Apart from the wilfully sarcastic humour exemplified in the previous chapter, there clings round the pipes a host of innocently laughable stories. Punch , the recognised pioneer of comic journalism, and always the ablest of that class of papers, has in its day had a number of jokes about the pipes, and, to do the writers and artists justice, they have always been enjoyable, even to the perfervid Scot, and not of the kind which does more to show the ignorance of the inventors than create a laugh. Punch’s humour is broad, but hardly ever offensive, and the picture by Charles Keene, reproduced...
18 minute read
Tam o’ Shanter—The Devil’s favourite instrument—“Sorcerers” burned—A bard’s satire—Glasgow Cathedral story—A Hebridean Tam o’ Shanter—Continental ideas—Reformation zeal—Ghostly pipers—A “changeling piper”— The Lost Pibroch —The Chisholm “enchanted pipes”—The Black Chanter of Clan Chattan. It was not at all a new idea that of Burns, when he represented the arch-enemy of mankind playing the pipes to the revellers in Alloway’s “auld haunted kirk.” The ancients had it, and the sylvan divinity Pan, who can be identified with the Satan of Scottish superstition, is said to have appeared as a performer on the bagpipe. A flute with seven reeds was his favourite instrument, and this may be identified with the bagpipe of tradition. Popular belief in the seventeenth century labelled the pipes as the Devil’s favourite musical instrument. In 1679 some unhappy women were burned at Bo’ness for sorcery, and they were accused, among other things, “of meeting Satan and other witches at...
22 minute read
In fairies’ hillocks—Stories with a common origin—Sutherlandshire version—Away for a year—Harris piper and the fairies—Seven years away—Fairies helping pipers—Helping the Mac Crimmons—A boy piper—How the music went from Islay to Skye—Faust-like bargains—A Caithness story—A fairy piper. Pipers with a leaning towards the uncanny dealt largely with fairies, and in West Highland mythology piping is said to have been heard in fairies’ hillocks. “I know two sisters,” says a boy in a story of Skye—“one of them is a little deaf—and they heard a sound in a hill, and they followed the sound, and did they not sit and listen to the piping till they were seven times tired? There is no question about that.” We do not believe in those things now. Our forefathers did, however, and there seems to have been an idea that pipers were special favourites of the little harmless green-coated ones. It is, indeed, their association...
15 minute read
Allied to fairy stories—Venturesome pipers—The Skye cave—The Mull version—The Argyllshire—The Ghostly piper of Dunderave—“Wandering Willie’s Tale”—A Sutherlandshire cave—A Caithness story—Underground passages. The story of a piper endeavouring to explore a mysterious cave is so closely allied to the class dealt with in last chapter, that all might quite fairly have been included under one heading. The only difference often is that in the one case the piper enters a cave opening out to the sea, whereas in the other he enters a knoll, which may be any distance inland. There are always fairies in the knoll, but in the majority of cases there are none in the cave. Their place is taken by wild beasts, who take the life of the venturesome explorer. The piper generally has a dog with him when he enters the cave, and the dog always returns, though the last that is heard of his master...
22 minute read
Hereditary in two senses—When they ceased—The Mac Crimmons—A traditional genealogy—A Mac Gregor tradition—The Mac Crimmon College—Dr. Johnson—College broken up—An Irish college—Its system—A Mac Crimmon’s escapades—Respect for the Mac Crimmons—The Rout of Moy—The last of the race—How they excelled—The Mac Arthurs—The Mac Intyres—The Mac Kays—The Rankins—The Campbells—The Mac Gregors. The hereditary pipers were hereditary in at least two senses. They were hereditary because son followed father, generation after generation, in the service of one chief, no one disputing their claim to the succession. But they were also hereditary in the sense that their talents were not self-acquired. They came of a race of pipers, and piping to them was hereditary. Seven generations of pipers for ancestors and seven years of personal training were considered necessary to produce the true hereditary piper. It is this to which Neil Munro alludes when he says—“To the make of a piper go seven years of...
14 minute read
Angus Mac Kay—Queen Victoria’s first piper—His book—Donald Mac Kay—John Bane Mac Kenzie—The Queen’s offer—The piper’s reply—Donald Cameron—His achievements—His theory of pipe music—His system of noting—His last competition—A special reed—“The King of Pipers”—Other latter day pipers. After the death of the last Mac Crimmon piper in 1822 no one was left to maintain the traditions of the hereditary pipers. But the class was not wholly extinct. The next notable name we come across is one that is not likely to be soon forgotten by those interested in Highland music. There is no name better known to the world of pipers than that of Angus Mac Kay, the compiler of the first really serviceable book of pipe music, but, curiously enough, very little is known of his life. He belonged to a well-known family of pipers, and was connected with the famous Mac Kays of Gairloch. The family home was at Kyleakin,...
32 minute read
The waking—Professor Blackie—Highland Society of Scotland—Highland Society of London—The system of competitions—The first competition—The venue changed—The gold medal—Present day competitions—Some suggestions—R.L.S.—Pipe bands—Examples from high life—Quality of music—The Pipes abroad—Sir Walter Scott. The verse of Scott’s, quoted at the head of this chapter, referred to the harp, but we may use it as referring to the pipes, remembering at the same time that there is little hope of these ever occupying the position they once occupied. The waking must be to another life altogether. Civilisation ousted the pipes from the position of clan and war instrument of a native population, but it did not find them another. “Had the governing powers been anxious,” says Professor Blackie, “to do common educational justice to the sons of the brave fellows who so freely shed their blood in our defence, the last thing they would have suffered to be neglected in the Highland schools...
6 minute read
One of the earliest recorded instances of the bravery of a piper is contained in the annals of our own Highlands, and is inseparably connected with the tune known as A Cholla mo run , referred to in a previous chapter. [16] It may be as well to give the story here at full length. The hero was the piper of Coll Kitto, or left-handed Coll, who landed in Islay with the advance party of an expedition from Ireland, with instructions to take the Castle of Dunivaig by surprise, should he find that this could be attempted with any degree of success. The Campbells, however, had heard of the expedition, and they drew the party into an ambush and made them prisoners. All were hung off-hand, except the piper, who asked leave first to play a lament over his comrades. The chief of the Campbells had heard of the fame...
3 minute read
Another tune—“Duntroon’s Salute”—is mixed up with A Cholla mo run in a rather peculiar way, a way that suggests that the origin of the one is somehow being attributed to the other. Sir Alexander Mac Donald, Alister Mac Cholla Chiotaich , so this story goes, made a raid on Argyllshire in 1644 (the dates are irreconcilable with the accepted facts of the two stories), and surrounded Duntroon Castle, with the object of cutting off every person inside in revenge for the murder of his father’s piper. He himself, with a fleet of galleys, besieged the castle from the seaward side, and he ordered his piper to play the “Mac Donalds’ March.” Instead, however, the piper, on the spur of the moment, composed and played a war cry to alarm Duntroon. After saluting Duntroon and wishing him good health, he warned him of his danger, pointed out that the enemy were...
45 minute read
Mac Crimmon’s Lament—Best known of all pipe tunes—Its story—Blackie’s poetry—Scott’s—The war tune of Glengarry—A tragic story—The pibroch o’ Donuil Dhu—Too long in this condition—Pipers and inhospitality—Oh, that I had three hands—Lochaber no more—Allan Ramsay’s verses—An elated Mac Crimmon—Rory Mòr’s Lament—Clan Farlane pibroch—Pipers, poetry, and superstition. There are several reasons why “Mac Crimmon’s Lament” should be the best known of all pipe tunes, but the most important is the fact that it is, and must ever continue to be, inseparably associated with the famous pipers of Dunvegan. The tune was composed by a piper who was leaving home, and had a presentiment that he would never return, but it has often been used in other circumstances. In the evicting days, when Highlanders were compelled to emigrate from their native shores, the favourite air when they were embarking was (I’ll return no more), and on many other mournful occasions the lament of...
20 minute read
A Tune with four stories—The Carles wi’ the Breeks—The Mac Gregor’s Gathering—Scott’s verses— Caber Feidh —The Camerons’ Gathering—Well-matched chiefs—The Loch of the Sword. The first tune to be noticed in this chapter is peculiar in this respect, that whereas to many are ascribed two origins, to this there are ascribed three or four. More than one cannot possibly be correct, unless we conclude that different pipers at different times in different places and without any co-operation, composed the same tune. That is rather too much, however, but we will give the stories as they are to be found in many books of Highland history and tradition. In the first place, then, this tune has three names. It is known as (or March), “Wives of this Glen,” and Bodaich nam Briogais (“The Carles wi’ the Breeks”), and each name applies to the air as it is associated with a certain district...
36 minute read
The Clan Stewart March—Mac Gregor of Ruaro—The Braes of the Mist—Episode at a Dunvegan competition—A Mac Crimmon surpassed—Mac Pherson’s Lament—Burns and the story—Rob Roy’s lament—The Mac Lachlans’ March— Gille Calum —The Reel o’ Tulloch—The Periwig Reel—Jenny Dang the Weaver—Mac Donald’s salute—Mac Leod’s Salute—Disappearing lore—Something to be done. The Royal House of Stuart should perhaps have been mentioned earlier, but, like other names famous in history, they did not leave much to posterity in the way of music or poetry. Enough has been composed and written about them, but that is another matter. is known in Perthshire as the “Sherramuir March,” because it was played at that battle by the pipers of the clan. According to tradition this tune was played both when the clan were marching to battle and in honour of a victory. It was played at Pinkie, Inverlochy, Sheriffmuir, and Prestonpans, and it was all along recognised as...
8 minute read
In making a few observations on the scale of the bagpipe ( Piob-mhorna h-Alba ) it is not necessary to go deeply into the evolution of instrumental music, but it may be well to state shortly that the earliest instruments devised for expressing musical sounds, that is sounds having a definite relation to one another, were of two distinct orders, the first probably being the reed or pipe, made of various materials, such as straw, reeds, bone, wood, or metal, blown by the mouth and giving a single note which varied in pitch according to the diameter and length of the tube or pipe through which the wind escaped. The second order was a stringed instrument wherein cords varied in length and thickness were fixed at both ends upon a suitable frame, and the sound was produced by plucking with the finger and allowing the cord to vibrate freely. The...
14 minute read
If the player is standing the body should be perfectly upright, head erect, and eyes carelessly fixed on some object as high as himself. Great care should be taken that the shoulder on which the big drone rests is not allowed to rise, or yield in any way to the weight or blowing of the pipes; the head must not incline towards the big drone or droop backwards or forwards; the chest must be kept inflated and the shoulders square. If the player is marching the shoulders should be allowed to swing to and fro, the motion proceeding from the haunches only and not exceeding what will suffice to give a free and easy step. His bearing should be stately and lofty in accordance with the warlike instrument on which he plays. In playing marching tunes the performer should never stand, if possible, and when marching should beware of taking...
6 minute read
The list of books of pipe music is not very long, but the difficulties of making it complete and accurate are more than may at first appear. The principal difficulty is in the matter of dates, publishers, no doubt for good reasons, nearly always refraining from giving on their title page the year in which the book was first issued. Some of the older books, too, are now very rare, and there are not many people who have anything like a complete set. The following list has been compiled with every possible care:— 1784— Mac Donald —A collection of Highland Vocal Airs with a number of Country Dances or Reels of the North Highlands, a few Bagpipe Strathspeys and Reels set for the Violin, and also four Pibrochs, viz.:—Mac Intosh’s Lament, Mac Crimmon’s Lament, The Finger Lock, and Peace or War. Compiled and published by Rev. Patrick Mac Donald, minister...
3 minute read
In 1781, the Highland Society of London instituted competitions in pibroch playing. It was not, however, until 1835 that the gold medal now so well known as the highest honour attainable by pipers, was first awarded. The following is a list of the first prize winners and gold medalists so far as it has been found possible to obtain them. Unfortunately for the absolute authenticity of the list, the records of the Highland Society were lost in a fire sometime ago, and the secretary, therefore, could not supply them officially. It has, however, been carefully compiled from Angus Mac Kay’s book of pipe music, the files of the Glasgow Herald and those of the Inverness Courier , and it may be relied on as thoroughly accurate:— 17 . In Chapter XIX., page 278 , the date 1838 is given by mistake instead of 1835, as the year of this competition....
1 minute read
The making of bagpipes is almost, if not quite confined to Scotland. One or two firms in London profess to be makers, but they either make very little or get the instruments from Scotland. There are no makers abroad, but a large trade is done by Scottish makers with colonial customers. The following is a list of all the makers of any professional standing:—...
5 minute read
The following list of pibrochs, which is the index to Major-General Thomason’s Ceol Mor , [18] is the most complete that has ever been published. With the exception of three new tunes included in The Music of the Clan Mac Lean , and one or two others, it contains all the pibrochs known to present day players, while the particulars as to composers’ names and dates of origin are more full than anyone else has attempted:— 18 . See page 110 . With nineteen pibrochs, of which name and date and composers are all alike unknown....
17 minute read
The “quelt,” as very ancient writers called it, is one of the few things that are left to remind Scotland of its once distinctive nationality. Together with the Gaelic and the pipes, it makes Scottish history peculiar among the histories of countries. In no other land have the distinguishing marks of a nationality that, as a separate kingdom, has ceased to exist been retained in almost all their original purity. Of the three things, the kilt is perhaps the most interesting. The language and the music have been, and are, confined to the people of the Highlands, either in or out of the Highlands; but the kilt, while no longer the everyday wear of Highland people, has found its way into non-Highland circles, and the tartan has become a fashionable dress. But still, and this is a peculiar thing, it remains the Highland garb, and must, wheresoever seen, be associated...