Event
4/18/2010 – Loch Norman Highland Games, Huntersville NC. The EUSPBA
Southern Branch sponsored the third gathering and informal discussion of
piobaireachd music at 10:00am on the Sunday of the Loch Norman Highland
Games. Attendance was better than ever, with about 2 dozen in attendance,
and the weather definitely cooperated.
The Conclave began with a presentation by Dr. Alan Armstrong, who has
researched the modern Piobaireachd composer John Grant. Two of his more
notable pieces are salutes to Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt. An
original manuscript of the salute to FDR wound up in the Harvard Library,
where Dr. Armstrong was the first person to see the piece. Alan hopes to
publish his paper in The Voice in the near future, so be sure to look for
that.
We continued with Jimmy Bell presenting some suggestions for improving
your crunleauths, then discussing the tune Colin MacRae of Invernate's
Lament. He used this tune as an example of how some judges look for bold
interpretations of the music, while other judges may look for a closer
adherence to the written page. He left it for individuals to decide for
themselves how to approach the music.
Preparations for massed bands interrupted the presentation of tunes by
attendees, a feature that was missed by most. I hope next time scheduling is
more conducive to sharing our tunes.
Original Announcement
Loch Norman Piobaireachd Conclave – Sunday, April 18, 2010.The
piobaireachd conclave will be held at the piping and drumming tent
immediately following the Parade of Tartans. It will consist of the
following:
- Dr. Alan Armstrong - a discussion on piobaireachd findings at
Harvard
- A Tune- Colin MacRae of Invernate's Lament
- Alasdair Gillies- Unjust Incarceration- how to get the music out
- Attendees are welcome to have a tune for discussion
Dr. Armstrong has provided a brief introduction:
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, Savage and shrill!
But with the breathe which fills Their mountain pipe, so fill the
mountaineers With the fierce native daring which instils The stirring
memory of a thousand years. - Byron
Although nowadays a number of
musical styles vie for a piper’s attention, it was not always so. The
corpus of known music for the Great Highland Bagpipe for most of two
hundred years was piobaireachd, or more correctly Ceól Mòr (literally:
“Big Music”). The facts concerning the origin and composition of the
earliest works are still shrouded in pre-history, as the Gaels were
given to oral, not written, history. However, one fact is certain:
regardless of when it was written, and by whom, Ceól Mòr is music suited
solely for the Great Highland Bagpipe and as such, worthy of a piper’s
attention and study. The soul of the Highlands is found within its
measures; the hearts of its pipers as they stirred men into battle,
lamented the death of clansmen, paid homage to lairds, rejoiced in the
arrival of chiefs or their ladies, and commemorated historical events
are laid bare before us once again as its strains fill the air. There
is nothing quite like piobaireachd, and the fulfillment one receives
from studying and performing of it is unequaled in all of music.