Monthly Archives: January 2016

Interviews

‘Better to be a mistress than a wife’

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One of the highlights of my research to date has been interviewing the Gaelic scholar John MacInnes. Allan MacDonald took me to visit him on 22 April 2015, knowing that John would be able to cast light on some linguistic questions that were troubling us. An excerpt from our first interview was published in October, on Gesto’s digraph “ie”.

Today, I updated that post, adding images and links. Here is a second snippet, interpreting Colin Campbell’s title for the tune Angus MacKay called The Old Woman’s Lullaby (PS 51).

This was recorded in Edinburgh on 17 December 2015 looking at Colin Campbell’s spelling in his index to C1:

051_C1-index

I have lightly edited the audio, deleting some of our “ums”, a few repetitions, and my cues for his pronunciation at different speeds (at the end). I have added silent pauses so that John’s pronunciation can be repeated by Gaelic learners. Here is how they would be spelled in modern Gaelic orthography:

B’ fhearr a bhith dìolain na a bhith pòsda (It were better to be a mistress than a wife)

S’ fhearr a bhith dìolain na a bhith pòsda (It is better…)

Announcements

The “General”

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Here we go again! Another little recommendation that you visit our Research materials (slowly growing - please feel free to alert us if you see something you think should be posted/hosted here!), this time an article written by Niall MacKenzie.

A fascinating look on the role of bagpipes in military history, with insights in to martial practices, the Jacobite rebellion and changing meanings of the word ‘march’.

Of particular interest to those who know the tune “War or Peace” - this article shows its use as a military signal, as mentioned by Barnaby in his recent post on Singlings and Doublings. The signal concerned was called in English the “General” (French la générale, Spanish la generala) and it was usually delivered on drums or bugles in European armies without Highlanders. It served “to give notice to the troops that they were to march” or “to give notice of sudden danger, that all may be in readiness for immediate duty” (p. 10).

The “General” thus corresponds in function to the Gathering (cruinneachadh) or Assembly Tune (port tional).

Niall MacKenzie’s full article is here.

Announcements, Proposals

Singlings & Doublings in military drum calls

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Yesterday I stumbled across this in an 1812 book of drum beatings:

Singlings of Troop or Assembly (p. 6)
Doublings of the Troop (p. 7)
Singlings and Doublings of the Tattoo (p. 8)
Doublings of Troop (p. 31)

The Troop and Tattoo are military signals, notifying soldiers what to do. The evidence for pibrochs being used as military calls (Reveille, Troop, Retreat, Tattoo and General) is found here.

Ashworth 1812 cover

A New, Useful and Complete System of Drum Beating – Including the Reveille, Troop, Retreat, Officer’s Calls, Signals, Salutes and the whole of the Camp Duty as practiced at Head Quarters, Washington City; intended particularly for the United States Army and Navy by Charles Stewart Ashworth, Leader of the Marine Band of music, Washington City. To which are added Tunes for the Fife adapted to the Drum. Boston, Published for the Author 1812 by G. Graupner

A couple of months ago, I noticed another thing that may throw light on where the pibroch terms “Single” and “Double” come from. The choreographic terms simple and double are abbreviated to S and D in notations of court dances from around 1500. These abbreviations and the alternation of measures (choreographic units) of different length immediately bring to mind Colin Campbell’s Instrumental Book:

Basse danse. The principal court dance during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. It reached a height of cultivation during the 15th century and disappeared after the middle of the 16th century. The musical practice that grew up around it served as a proving ground for many early instrumental techniques such as improvisations over a ground, variations and the forming of suite-like combinations.

… the dance was performed by couples and employed only five different step-units: R (révérence); b (branle); s (simple, usually found in pairs); d (double) and r (reprise or des marche). These five steps were combined into codified patterns called mesures. Several mesures made up a complete dance, some dances being of six mesures (a total of 62 step-units, as in Le doulz espoir). A typical choreographical structure involved alternation of one mesure with another of different length.

Daniel Heartz and Patricia Rader, ‘Basse danse’. Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press (accessed November 2015)