First published last year in West Highland Notes & Queries, (Volume 4. Number 2), it is probably worth reprinting on this site as an example that the great piping names of the past would not[…]
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Category: Historical Documents
Who was Black Donald ?
Piobaireachd Dhomnuill Duibh (Black Donald’s March), in the original form and especially from it’s adaption into a 6/8 military march, is one of the more generally known titles both among pipers and the more general[…]
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Mapping the Clarsach - by Keith Sanger at WirestrungHarp.com
Our member, Keith Sanger, sent along this link to an article he published at WirestrungHarp.com. Mapping the Clarsach A very detailed and extensive survey of harping and harpists from the 13th through the 17th century[…]
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The pipe is not played but sung
This is a little interruption to my series on canntaireachd. It is not altogether unrelated. Keith Sanger recently sent me a cutting from The Scotsman that set me thinking. Dastaram gu seinnim pìob (PS 91) literally means ‘I am seized by[…]
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Turning back the clock ?
Although it is possible to turn back a clock, in reality it does not turn back time; the earth still continues rotating around the sun as it always has done. The stimulus for this article[…]
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Using colour to convey musical pitches – Part 2
In Part 1, I observed how the difference between sound waves and light waves has severed the vocal practice of canntaireachd from its written forms. In this part, I explain the rationale for a colour system that could heal the[…]
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Using colour to convey musical pitches – Part 1
This series of posts seeks to elucidate canntaireachd, pibroch’s oldest tool for memorisation and musical understanding. In this part, I notice how the difference between sound waves and light waves has severed the vocal practice of canntaireachd from its written forms. I propose[…]
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