Tunes of the Month is a series designed to engage the readers of the blog to learn a new tune (or two) each month. Come learn with us and expand your piping repertoire!

Novice Level: 2 Part Tune of the Month is Patrick O’Connor’s Polka. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “polkas are cheesy.” Well, good thing you don’t play the accordion. I like to think of polkas as easy little reels. They are great tunes that are easy to play, and easy to play quickly which is what makes them so fun. Next month we’ll have another polka (Tom Billy’s) you can pair with this one; both were obtained from Jerry O’Sullivan at the Spanish Peaks Piping Retreat back in September 2016.

Patrick O’Connor’s Polka – sheet music

Patrick O’Connor’s & Tom Billy’s Polkas – Tom Billy’s will be the Novice Tune of the Month for February 2017

Intermediate Level: January’s 4 Part Tune of the Month is actually a 5 part reel. The Foxhunter’s Reel, usually played in the key of G in Irish sessions, actually goes beyond the highland bagpipe scale even if transposed up to the key of A. Most importantly, it requires a low E in the 2nd part which we simply don’t have. However, the tune is so cool it’s worthwhile to play on the pipes even with the modifications it takes to make it fit our scale.

To get some potential confusion out of the way first, this is NOT a reel version of the 9/8 jig that is so popular; Alasdair Gillies was well known for playing jig, reel, and waltz versions of that tune. But this month’s The Foxhunter’s Reel is not that tune at all. It is a completely different tune. Here it is, doesn’t it just sound like a party you want to be part of!?

If you search for the tune in the Pekaar Tune Encyclopedia, there’s only one result that is pertinent to the version heard above; all the other references are to the 9/8 jig and its many manifestations. The version found in Barry Shear’s Cape Breton Collection Of Bagpipe Music is the only relevant published version I could find. Handily enough, Barry gives you the sheet music as a snapshot of his collection on his website (scroll down to the green book for the pdf of the sheet music). Apparently this tune survives in the Cape Breton tradition as evidenced by its inclusion in Barry’s book.

I did not come across Barry’s version until compiling this blog entry having first heard the tune in a facebook video played by a couple fiddlers playing it together on one fiddle, one bowing the other fingering (anyone have a link to this band/video? It is super cool). Barry’s version is different than mine by how it adapts the tune to fit the highland bagpipe scale. Try arranging the tune yourself! The stripped down score can be found on thesession.org in ABC format. Transpose up from G major to A major, ignore all the transient G sharps and just play our usual G naturals instead, and then adapt the rest!

The Foxhunter’s Reel – Patrick McLaurin’s version

Community Contributed Recordings: None yet!

Here are December 2016’s Tunes of the Month, a 2 part jig intended for novice level players and a 4 part hornpipe intended for intermediate level players.

Novice Level: Kenmure’s on and awa’ = 2 parts of 6/8 March or Jig

Kenmure’s on and awa’ is a 6/8 March that can be found in older collections in addition to Jim McGillivray’s pipetunes.ca. I first heard it in Jig form off of Brian McNeill‘s fiddle on Ed Miller‘s Lyrics of Gold album, an album dedicated to songs of Robert Burns. Ed’s voice is unsurpassed, just like Brian’s fiddle. For how simple it is, it has an excellent melody.

Sheet Music: Kenmure’s on and awa’

Intermediate Level: The Inverness Gathering = 4 parts of 2/4 March, Hornpipe, or Quickstep

I mean, who hasn’t played, or at least heard, The Inverness Gathering? It’s a classic; literally, no composer is ever listed. While it is usually scored as a 2/4 March, David Glen’s version is scored as a 4/4 March (dates somewhere between 1876 – 1900, the publication dates of his Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music). Henderson’s Tutor for the Highland Bagpipe and Collection of Pipe Music, the second edition published between 1918 and 1932, presents a similar setting with a little twist in the 4th part. Page 15 of Scots Guards Volume I has a modern, 2/4 March version of Henderson’s setting. However, I find these settings lacking. Specifically, they succumb to the monotonous ending of every other 2/4 March that ends with a C doubling, low A, birl combination in the 8th bar, and in this case the 7th bar just being what it needs to be to make the C doubling in the 8th bar sound appropriate.

However, we can thank PM W. Norris in 1951 for publishing The Glendaruel Collection which provides a, I daresay, better setting. Better in that the 8th bar starts with an E doubling instead of Glen’s C doubling, all else being the same in the 8th bar. This requires a different 7th bar which is more fluid and musical, i.e. less finger twisty and less technical sounding. Judges might look at you weird, but I would personally play this setting, perhaps with Henderson’s 4th part twist added for flavor. Alasdair Gillies played his own setting with the E doubling ending on the first track of his Lochbroom album. I’ve transcribed his setting for you below.

However, I’m not inclined to actually play the tune as a 2/4 March as listed in these collections. Those familiar with Coin MacLellan’s World’s Greatest Pipers album will recognize what is listed as the Clachnacuddin Hornpipe as just a hornpipe version of The Inverness Gathering. Colin tells me it is an arrangement played by his father John MacLellan, dating back to the mid-20th century. Googling “Clachnacuddin” reveals a connection to Inverness so there’s an obvious connection intended. Hornpipes are also in 2/4 time so it’s not the hardest transition from a 2/4 March, you play it faster and round it out a bit (and much more!). The astute listener will note that Colin’s hornpipe version also utilizes the E doubling ending with the more fluid 7th and 8th bars akin to my preferred Glendaruel version. One can find another hornpipe-like version that has the E doubling ending in James Bett’s A Collection of Pipe Music published in 1899. Colin’s version is very much an average between the Bett and Glendaruel versions, though I am certainly not claiming that was the process for deriving the setting. It certainly stands on its own!

Colin MacLellan has graciously allowed me to share my transcription of his setting of the tune here. Thank you Colin!

Colin MacLellan’s setting sheet music (and the Tune of the Month): Clachnacuddin Hornpipe

Clachnacuddin Hornpipe – 1950 Henderson drones, X-TREME tenors, Rocket bass, Murray Henderson straight cut reed, Prototype chanter, Colin’s setting, Fingers that haven’t played in 3 weeks due to illness.

Clachnacuddin Hornpipe – Same as above but different prototype chanter and different Murray Henderson reed (how consistent), last two notes in the 4th bar of the 4th part a wee bit different

Alasdair Gillies’ setting: The Inverness Gathering