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lengthy comment on how it should be played and since it is also one of my favourite pieces I will spend the rest of this article on his discussion of this piobaireachd. He writes that the tune should be played with the following in mind, and I quote:- ‘Var 1 Doubling not too quick;
Dotted quavers in the singling of the 2nd var. (E 1st part) (F 2nd part) not to be made too
long.Also applies to Breabach. ‘In this tune the ‘E’ is the accent
note and must be carefully timed in both singling and doubling’ The page bearing these comments
is dated 6thAug
1914.There is also in pencil by the side ‘13.30’ did he mean this to be the time the tune should take to play? If so it is interesting to compare this timing with that of Donald MacPherson recorded some 75 years later on his CD of 1989 where he completes the tune in 11mins. 58 secs. Can we assume that our playing has speeded up over the 20th century? Perhaps the ‘13.30’ timing also includes the repeat of the whole of the ground? At this distance in time we shall never know. Of the greatest interest is the fact
that whoever wrote the MS did not play the high G in his doubling of the Taorluath and Crunluath movements, but did in the doubling of the first variation.A century later what are we to make of this? One thing for sure, present day players invariably play the high G. I suppose the writer could have
made a transcription error when copying, but I doubt this since he plainly inserts the F in place of the high G in both the T and C
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variations. The Angus McKay MS however is quite clear: the high G is to be played. So this sets a real problem for us! Is this an error or did fashion change over the intervening years since Angus McKay? I have heard both competing pipers and listeners comment that the high G does ‘grate’ on the ear in what is otherwise a beautiful melody. When Bob Brown taught me this
tune in the 1960s he said to me he was passing on the instruction he had been given by John
MacDonald.This did not include the F in lieu of the high G. Consulting the authorised alternative settings in the notes by the Piobaireachd Society in book 5, page 155, no mention is made of a possible F in lieu of high G An alternative is given namely that
it is permissible to play a high A to replace the G but that is all. Book 5 bears the date July 1934 under the editorship of Archibald Campbell. If an F was commonly played at that time then I would have thought that the editor’s notes would have carried a mention of it, but no, they do not. One never hears an F in contests
these days. Is it that pipers, though aware of the setting, feel unable to play it since it is not well known by judges and they may be penalised as a result?
For Sale: Pipes by James Robert- son, Edinburgh, circa 1914; pristine early set, superb ivory and runic silver, including full silver mouth- piece, silver sole on vintage Sinclair chanter.Hand engraved silver added later;£3,200; 01925 654458.
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