Volume 8 of the Cape Breton Musical Heritage Series
Scottish settlers in Cape
Breton have maintained traditions of instrumental dance
music since the time of the highland clearances, a period
which coincidentally coincided with the Golden Age of
Scottish fiddle music. This collection presents
older Scottish fiddle music from the era 1740-1935. The
settings of these tunes pay respect both to the composers'
intentions as given in classic Scottish published
collections, and to the Cape Breton traditions which have
given this music new life and caused it to
evolve. Samples
of music from the
book. complete with chords and footnotes (showing Cape
Breton sources). Independent
Review Also available as a part
of a multiple book
bundle
(published in Fiddler Magazine)
BOOK
ONLY
$19.50
Music Notation Samples (36 Tunes) addenda
-----Title
(alphabetical)-------Tune Type----- Alexander
Deas' Jig (19th
century Scottish jig) Appin
House (18th
century Scottish - AEAE tuning) Joe
Peter MacLean,
Sandy MacIntyre Brisk
Bob (18th century
Scottish strathspey) Cease
Your Funning
(19th century Scottish reel) Joe MacLean (78 disc),
Carl MacKenzie Charles
Sutherland (20th
century Scottish reel) Winston Fitzgerald, Jerry
Holland & Howie
MacDonald Cheap
Meal (18th century
Scottish reel) Culloden
House (19th
century Scottish strathspey) Cameron Chisholm, Joe
Cormier D.
Morison's Seven Thistles
(20th century Scottish march) Dan R. MacDonald &
John
Campbell Dunt
the Grund at Leisure (18th
century Scottish strathspey) Donald
MacLellan Factory
Smoke (19th
century Scottish hornpipe) Theresa MacLellan,
Lisa
MacArthur Flowerdale
(19th century Scottish air) Wilfred Gillis The
Forth Bridge (19th
century Scottish reel) The
Green Shades of Gask
(18th century Scottish jig) The Inverness
Seranaders The
Hon. John Leslie Melville's
(18th century strathspey) Hon.
Mrs Maules Strathspey
(19th century Scottish) Doug MacPhee James
Ware of Wick -
(19th century Scottish strathspey) Dan Joe
MacInnis Lady
Betty Hay (18th
century Scottish) Lassie
and Silver (18th
century Scottish jig) Paddy LeBlanc Light
and Airy (18th
century traditional jig) Loch
Leven Side (18th
century Scottish jig) Aliie Bennett MacLauchlan's
Reel (18th
century Scottish) Dan J. Campbell, Dave
MacIsaac McLauchlan's
Scottish Measure
(18th century march) Hector MacKenzie and
Stan
Chapman Miss
Clemintina Stewart (18th
century Scottish reel) Miss
Johnston of Byker's
(18th century reel) Johnny Wilmot Miss
Lucy Johnstone's Compliments to Niel
Gow (18th century
Scottish jig)- Ray Ellis Miss
Menzies of Culdares
(19th century Scottish reel) Miss
Robertson - 18th
century Scottish reel Mr.
Douglas of Springwood Park (19th
century Scottish strathspey) Winnie Chafe Mr
Morrison's (18th
century Scottish jig) Carl McKenzie Mrs.
Hamilton of Pincaitland (18th
century Scottish air) Mrs
Wemyss of Cuttle Hill (18th
century slow strathspey) addenda Mary 'Hughie'
MacDonald Sir
Alexander Don -
(18th century strathspey) Little Jack
MacDonald Sir
James Baird -
(18th century slow strathspey or air) The Rankin
Family Square
and Compass -
(18th century Scottish reel) Johnny Archie
MacDonald Sweet
is the Lass Amongst the
Heather (18th
century marching air) Watson's
Class (18th
century march)
Addenda Miss
Mary Stewart of Derculloch -
B2 typo corrected Captain
Grant - an
alternate strathspey setting to McLauchlan's Reel The
Bonny Highland Hills
- with 4th part composed by David Greenberg Lady
Viscountess Duncan's
- a marching air popularized by Joe MacLean (to be included
in future digital editions) Miss
Dalrymple - a
Daniel Dow Bb jig played in G by Alex Gillis (to be included
in future digital editions) Mrs.
Ross's Reel - A
William Marshall tune mis-identified ? Sodger
Laddie - Scottish
jig recorded by Dan Joe Macinnis on a '60s LP (to be
included in future digital editions) The
Gobbie O - a 2nd
setting with added history and influence from earliest
sources Lochgary's
Strathspey - a
diffent 18th century setting related to Mrs. Wemyss of
Cuttle Hill Mrs.
Ramsay of Barnton
- revised Cape Breton setting of an F# minor strathspey
playe by Joe Cormier
A review from
Fiddler Magazine You know how when
listening to any medley of Cape Breton tunes recorded in
someone's kitchen in the 1950s there is often one tune
that jumps out right through the layers of sonic mud
typical of a dub of a dub of a dub? And as it replays in
your mind for two weeks you can't shake the tune but you
also can't quite learn it because most of the third line
is obliterated by the sound of a teapot falling on the
piano and when at last you learn the title and are able
to trace the tune to an 18th century Scottish tune book,
it turns out - if you can find a copy - that the book
version isn't quite the same as the tune on the
recording? I have good news for
you. Three hundred and eighteen of just these sort of
tunes, in their Cape Breton versions, have been gathered,
edited, and printed clear and large by Paul Cranford in
the eighth volume of his Cape Breton Musical Heritage
Series. "The Cape Breton Scottish Collection" is exactly
what the title suggests. All the tunes originated in
Scotland. Most are in old tune books in somewhat
different versions. A few are from aural tradition, and
all are presented in Cape Breton versions gathered from
one or another great fiddler and sometimes expertly
assembled in a compatible whole from the disparate
versions of several fiddlers. Every tune is followed by
annotation of source(s) and sometimes by historical
and/or anecdotal information as well. This adds depth and
dimension to the book users' experience. Several
introductory pages of well-thought-out history and
philosophy give context and further meaning to the music.
There are 120 pages. Tunes are organized according to
key. There is an alphabetical index. I haven't found a tune
in this book that I don't like. I was happy to at last
find the titles of tunes I've been hearing for years,
amused to find printed versions of tunes that accord with
settings that I arrived at independently, and delighted
to find improvements to my settings of other tunes. There
are also plenty of good tunes in this excellent book that
I've never heard before. Chords are given for each tune.
Perhaps they are meant to clarify melodic editing
choices. I find the chord choices viable but not
inevitable or inviolable. They are printed large enough
to see and small enough to ignore. Finding just the right
size to print the chords is typical of the care that went
into putting together "The
Cape Breton Scottish
Collection". I
recommend this book to anyone interested in Scottish
fiddle music. Jody Stecher
The
Cape Breton Scottish Collection
