# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Scottish tunes for mandolin

## JP07

Hi,

As you know, I am playing ITM.

I want to increase a bit my repertoire with a few scottish tunes. I know only one, McLean of Pennycross, which I have learned from a Sean Keane version. I am looking for about ten scottish tunes, which are used to be played in sessions, and pleasant to play on mandolin.

If you have a couple of nice classic scottish tunes to suggest to me for mandolin, thanks very much.

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## Dobes2TBK

Other than the ones that are listed under Tablature pages here, a couple I can think of off the top of my head are Scotland the Brave, and Loch Lomond.  Loch Lomond being a nice fit in ITM in that with a few rhythmic changes, at least, it becomes the Irish based Red is the Rose.  Also MacPherson's Farewell.  Throw Flower of Scotland into the mix - which is the national anthem. A u-tube search of The Corries will give you some more ideas.

Loch Sloy!

Connie

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## John Kelly

Go to Nigel Gatherer's great site, The Gathering:  www.nigelgatherer.com and you will find lots of good popular Scottish tunes ready for your enjoyment.  Also have a look at www.thesession.org for abc and standard notation tunes, or look for the very many Scottish fiddle music sites.  You are really spoiled for choice when you decide to play Scottish music!  The Song-A-Week group on this site has lots of Scottish stuff too and you can watch the videos of many of us playing the tunes there.  
Good luck with your search.

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Ben Cooper, 

Matt Harris

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## Jim Garber

I am no expert on the repertoire of Scottish players today, but I am particularly enamored of strathspeys which are (I think) pretty unique to the Scottish repertoire.

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## Adam Sweet

Angus Campbell is one of my favorites, also Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap.  You can find music and chords for both in the Fiddler's Fakebook  (sorry I don't do tab).

Many Cape Breton tunes are actually Scottish originally - so anything you've heard Ashley MacIsaac or Natalie McMaster do is a good bet

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## Jim Nollman

strathspeys +1

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## Jim Garber

Strathspeys:





 (tunes start around 2:40)

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BinkWms

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## Dave Hanson

Get a copy of ' The Scottish Mandolin Tutor ' by Dagger Gordon, it's full of great Scottish tunes and comes with a CD.

Dave H

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## Bertram Henze

There's Scottish tunes sometimes in the Song-a-Week group, such as High Road to Linton (reel), Leaving Glenurquhart (march), or Sweetness of Mary (strathspey).

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## John Kelly

As Adam pointed out, many Scottish tunes link closely to Cape Breton tunes and vice versa, and the one you mention above, Bertram, The Sweetness of Mary, is a Cape Breton tune composed by Joan MacDonald Boes.  I play it along with Glencoe Village Hall (another Canadian tune, by Dan R MacDonald, in spite of its name - the Glencoe is apparently on the US/Canadian border) and have it posted on YouTube at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD73NamUjOE

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## Bertram Henze

> ...Glencoe Village Hall (another Canadian tune, by Dan R MacDonald, in spite of its name - the Glencoe is apparently on the US/Canadian border)


Scots are everywhere. At least, I guess, there were no MacDonalds killed in that particular Glencoe...

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## John Kelly

At least not the two composers.  Don't think they are related, Bertram, but then the world had many MacDonalds; our own accordion player is a Macdonald from Inverness!  I still always get loads of fun from your linguistic gymnastics and your really spot-on sense of humour.
 :Laughing:

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## Ravenwood

> I play it along with Glencoe Village Hall (another Canadian tune, by Dan R MacDonald, in spite of its name - the Glencoe is apparently on the US/Canadian border) and have it posted on YouTube ...


Here's a little side note of trivia. Glencoe is a very popular name for small towns in Canada. It seems like there are two or three so named towns in every province. There are two that I know of in Ontario, at least one that I know of in Nova Scotia, and one on Cape Breton island not far from where Dan lives. They hold dances in the village hall there so I suspect that would be the subject of the tune.  :Smile:

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## ptritz

There's a Glencoe here in Minnesota too.

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## Mike Snyder

Glencoe township here in Kansas.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Farewell to Whiskey
Flowers of Edinburgh
Mairi's Wedding
Captain Norman Orr-Ewing
Hector the Hero

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## Ronny

As a former bagpiper, I love to play highland bagpipe tunes with my mandolin... I read it directly from the score (for example : http://www.celticscores.com/instrume...ttish_bagpipe/) : it'mando friendly, you only use the two higher courses (+the G on the second courses - 5th fret)...
I have tabledited 2 tunes for the mandolincafe: the Clumsy Lover and Hecla...
Nigel Gatherer website is an amazing resource, too.

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## Jim Garber

Ronny: Do you attempt any of the ornamentation to transfer to the mandolin? Like this one?

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## jdyoungca

I play mandolin with a Celtic group in Ottawa once a week.  Our tune books are mostly Irish but there are quite a few Scottish tunes as well

http://home.bendbroadband.com/bellro...%20Volume1.pdf

http://www.corkeryroad.ca/Carp/addendum_may_2012.pdf

Road to the Isles, The Atholl Highlanders, Flowers of Edinburgh are all good Scottish tunes from the first book.  Lots of Scottish stuff in the second book, including several Strathspey's.

Jeff

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## John Kelly

Jeff, two really great wee books of tunes there!  What a collection for anyone starting out, or indeed building on their existing repertoires.  Thanks so much for putting them here for our perusal.  You are a fine gent indeed!

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## Bertram Henze

I forgot a classic jig set Jig of Slurs /Atholl Highlanders; typical pipe tunes, but can be done on the mando:

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## Dagger Gordon

Well those guys certainly look the part, Bertram!  They sound pretty good too.
The funny thing is you don't really see people who look that in Scotland very much.
When we wear kilts we aren't usually going for such a (trying to think of the right word - Braveheart maybe?) look.

But Jig Of Slurs and The Atholl Highlanders are certainly great Scottish tunes which everyone should probably know.

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## Bertram Henze

Dagger, those guys are the Dutch band Rapalje, who are into a rough image (watch their version of Drunken Sailor) and seem to actively go for the Braveheart look, aka feileadh mor (as opposed to the less cumbersome feileadh beag, which is more modern but still was invented long before Mary Quant was even born...)

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## Dagger Gordon

Wow! Incredible! I'll need to start doing that kind of thing - we've obviously been far too sedate.  And we've even managed to get Mary Quant into the thing ...

What a start to the day!

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## Jimdalf

The Trumpet Hornpipe and The Lamb Skinnet are both great tunes.
There was a (I think) called Carron water from the Mel Bay Celtic Mandolin Encyclopaedia which I really like, though I can't find it played anywhere else.

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## whistler

> The Trumpet Hornpipe and The Lamb Skinnet are both great tunes.


I think of those two as English tunes - the latter of the two being Northumbrian.  

_Troy's Wedding_, a pipe tune by Colin Magee from British Columbia, is a great tune on mandolin.  Not actually Scottish in origin, but very much in the Highland piping tradition.

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## Dobes2TBK

The Jig of Slurs/Atholl Highlanders set looks to be a fun bit for exercising/strengthening the 3rd & 4th fingers.

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## Ronny

Jim, I usually change the birls (ornementation on the low A), grips and hedre bagpipe ornementations with triplets... With the mando, we don't have to cut all the notes the bagpipe have to (because of the continuous blow), so we don't have to play all the ornementations.

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## Eddie Sheehy

I use a 'slur' of the course below the note to create a 'grip' effect - e.g slur (drag pick across both courses ) a D note on the A course with a G note on the E course ...

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## JP07

Hi,
I must thank you for all these informations. It is really interesting for me.
I just have to work now !
Just another question, do you think the Corries can be considered for Scottish Traditionnal Music, as Planxty, De Danann, Bothy Band for ITM, so reference bands ? (For me...)
Thanks

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## Bertram Henze

> Just another question, do you think the Corries can be considered for Scottish Traditionnal Music, as Planxty, De Danann, Bothy Band for ITM, so reference bands ? (For me...)
> Thanks


For me, the reference bands of the time were The Tannahill Weavers, Kentigern, Silly Wizard. One of the more contemporary examples would be Deaf Shepherd (they even have a left-handed bouzouki player, that would be Donal Lunney's counterpart).

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## Dagger Gordon

The Corries came before the other bands you mention, and were very popular indeed - indeed they remain so many years after Roy Williamson's death.

However they weren't really the same type of thing - it was almost all songs with much less emphasis on instrumental music.  But if you want to learn lots of Scottish songs you won't do any better than listen to the Corries.  Incidentally, Roy wrote the song 'Flower Of Scotland'.

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## Fretless

Piping in here  :Wink:  with another vote for strathspeys. A couple of weeks ago my mando-playing Sweetie, who usually accompanies me on guitar when I play Scottish tunes, decided to switch to playing melody on a few of them. He was fooling around with _Captain Campbell_ (strathspey) and when I heard his snaps I was blown away; they sound deliciously crisp on mandolin!

Since then we've been experimenting with sets and came up with some winners. I've been taking monthly lessons from a Scottish fiddler so we're mainly using tunes he's taught me - I'd call them beginner to intermediate level, nothing really difficult.

Anyway, one set we're having lots of fun with is _Calum's Road_ (march), _Captain Campbell_ (strathspey) and _Glenburnie Rant_ (reel). Sometimes we squeeze in _Old Grey Cat_ after _Captain Campbell_ - ramps up the tempo very smoothly. _Glenburnie Rant_ is easy to learn and fits in with almost anything; the bonus is that it doesn't sound like a beginner tune, so a good bang for the buck.

Oh, and *John Kelly* - thanks for introducing me to _The Sweetness of Mary_  :Smile:  I learned Joan Boes' _Swingin' On Home_ from Andrea Beaton last year.

Fretless

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## trebleclef528

> Piping in here  with another vote for strathspeys. A couple of weeks ago my mando-playing Sweetie, who usually accompanies me on guitar when I play Scottish tunes, decided to switch to playing melody on a few of them. He was fooling around with _Captain Campbell_ (strathspey) and when I heard his snaps I was blown away; they sound deliciously crisp on mandolin!
> 
> Since then we've been experimenting with sets and came up with some winners. I've been taking monthly lessons from a Scottish fiddler so we're mainly using tunes he's taught me - I'd call them beginner to intermediate level, nothing really difficult.
> 
> Anyway, one set we're having lots of fun with is _Calum's Road_ (march), _Captain Campbell_ (strathspey) and _Glenburnie Rant_ (reel). Sometimes we squeeze in _Old Grey Cat_ after _Captain Campbell_ - ramps up the tempo very smoothly. _Glenburnie Rant_ is easy to learn and fits in with almost anything; the bonus is that it doesn't sound like a beginner tune, so a good bang for the buck.
> 
> Oh, and *John Kelly* - thanks for introducing me to _The Sweetness of Mary_  I learned Joan Boes' _Swingin' On Home_ from Andrea Beaton last year.
> 
> Fretless


Hi Fretless,
You probably already know of Nigel gatherers wesite where he has loads of Scottish tunes... if not you can fin it at http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab1.html

I wish the weather here in Scotland was as nice as the music! its been raining for 4 days solid. By the way do you know the story behind "Calums Road" ?
Best wishes
Ian

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## John Kelly

Hi Fretless, as Trebleclef says, Nigel's site has a great collection of Scottish tunes;  it was there I got "The Sweetness of Mary".  Another source of good Scottish tunes is the series of books published by Taigh Na Teud such as the 4 set series "Ceol na Fidhle" and the "Ceilidh Collection" series.  Standard notation of the tunes with guitar chords suggested.  I find the books a great source of material.

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## kmmando

They'd sound good on this!



http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-6132.htm

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## Bren

Right now, I'm liking corny-sounding Adam Rennie tunes: Caddam Woods, JB Milne (particularly), Kemnay House.
Try them!

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## Bren

> Right now, I'm liking corny-sounding Adam Rennie tunes: Caddam Woods, JB Milne (particularly), Kemnay House.
> Try them!


Whoops! Apparently JB Milne is an Angus Fitchett tune. Perhaps that's why it stood out from the others.

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## Dagger Gordon

Re Caddam Woods.

Back in 1989 I was involved in a cultural exchange to Poland.  The Poles seemed to recognise Caddam Woods, and in fact it was a tune we would all try to play together.

Incidentally, I've always known it as Caddam Wood (singular).  Don't know if that's right or not.

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## Fretless

> Hi Fretless,
> You probably already know of Nigel gatherers wesite where he has loads of Scottish tunes... if not you can fin it at http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab1.html
> 
> I wish the weather here in Scotland was as nice as the music! its been raining for 4 days solid. By the way do you know the story behind "Calums Road" ?
> Best wishes
> Ian


Hi Ian! I agree that Nigel Gatherer's site is a handy source; I don't read tab so I appreciate that he also includes standard notation. Best of all are the ABC files, which makes it easy to tweak tunes or compile sets to share with friends without having to transcribe 'em from scratch.

My teacher told me about Calum's Road - on lesson days we have lunch together and I get to hear about tunes, players and life in Scotland, kind of like a mini enrichment class  :Smile:  Calum MacLeod's story is fascinating, yet sad on many levels. 

And about those strings of rainy days - the climate here on the Olympic Peninsula is similar to Western Scotland's (albeit a tad warmer and drier) and pretty windy also. Nothing finer than hunkering down by the fire on a gray, rainy day and playing some sweet Scottish tunes  :Smile: 




> Another source of good Scottish tunes is the series of books published by Taigh Na Teud such as the 4 set series "Ceol na Fidhle" and the "Ceilidh Collection" series. Standard notation of the tunes with guitar chords suggested. I find the books a great source of material.


Thank you for the info on the Taigh Na Teud books! And, to stay on topic, while I was looking at the tune list of *Ceol na Fidhle* vol. 5/6 I spotted another fun tune;_  Chuir i Glùin air a' Bhodach_. I learned it from Diedre Morrison as _She Put the Knee in the Old Man_ - which is good since I can pronounce it without spitting on anyone. She taught it as a strathspey and a reel, played as a set, so it's a twofer.

Where the heck do these names come from anyway, and why are so many of them R-Rated?  :Disbelief: 

Fretless

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## Bren

> The Poles seemed to recognise Caddam Woods


 Maybe it's that polka feel.
Right enough, Caddam Wood near Kirriemuir is listed as Wood singular.

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## Jock

I think anyone wanting to get into scottish tunes could do well by listening to the pipes and pipe tunes played on other instruments, the pipes are at the heart of it.

Another vote for "Troy's Wedding", and while we're on the jigs: "Price of the Pig" "Jig Runrig" for an introduction to jigs in a scots  style, and then perhaps tunes like the "Snuff Wife" and "Braes of Melinish" to go in a set with Troy's............ "Chloe's Passion" is a great 9/8 jig that sits really well on the mandolin.

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## Brian Sharpe

> Go to Nigel Gatherer's great site, The Gathering:  www.nigelgatherer.com and you will find lots of good popular Scottish tunes ready for your enjoyment.  Also have a look at www.thesession.org for abc and standard notation tunes, or look for the very many Scottish fiddle music sites.  You are really spoiled for choice when you decide to play Scottish music!  The Song-A-Week group on this site has lots of Scottish stuff too and you can watch the videos of many of us playing the tunes there.  
> Good luck with your search.


Thanks for the great link!

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## Greg Stec

Found a digital copy of The Ancient Melodies of Scotland on google books.
http://books.google.com/books?id=2qU...page&q&f=false
Music starts on page 217.

Enjoy

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## Mandolin Mick

Ronny,

Thanx for the bagpipe tunes! I love to play this type of thing, and usually play them in D or A. I play with open A & E strings to give that droning bagpipe effect.  :Mandosmiley:

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## catmandu2

I love drones--play some of these tunes on hammered dulcimer which produces great resonance I employ in lieu of "drones," and recently got a hurdy gurdy which I use for the tunes

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## bmac

Yeah, but can those guys  play Meloncholly Baby????

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## ollaimh

as a direct escendant of the last gaelic law laird of glencoe--the scottish one,  i love scottish tunes.  i'm from guysborough county nova scotia where the laird's youngest son settled while on the lam. back then the redcoats were pretty thin on the ground. the laird's family are actuLLY MACIAINS.  we are an illegitimate line from iain og macdonald , the first lairds of glencoe. he was the illegitimate son of the macdonald laird of the isles, so he called hinself son of himself==MACIAIN.  we were bastards way back!

the oldest son of the laird hid in scotland under an assumed name while the name was outlawed. maciains were the closest clan of the norhern war hawks. they were the smallest as well. hence the reason the english and ntheir traitorous minions wanted them destroyed. the masacre was rather inept, killing only 38 people directly but more died from exposure while fleeing over the mountains from the troops.

however as to tunes. i have travelled most of my adult life so i tend to play irish tunes as i meet a lot more irish players on the road. however i did start on fiddle as a kid and have learned those tunes on mandolin.  i love the air farewell to whiskey--although its nicer opn harp. the jig wind from ben whyvess also called highlanders is a favourite as well.and the highland mrs macleod's reel(rasaay). i like go to the devil and shake yourself here on tabs and ingonish as well.  high road to linton is nice.

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## Jock

> as a direct escendant of the last gaelic law laird of glencoe--the scottish one,  i love scottish tunes.  i'm from guysborough county nova scotia where the laird's youngest son settled while on the lam. back then the redcoats were pretty thin on the ground. the laird's family are actuLLY *MACIAINS*.  we are an illegitimate line from iain og macdonald , the first lairds of glencoe. he was the illegitimate son of the macdonald laird of the isles, so he called hinself son of himself==MACIAIN.  we were bastards way back!
> 
> the oldest son of the laird hid in scotland under an assumed name while the name was outlawed. maciains were the closest clan of the norhern war hawks. they were the smallest as well. hence the reason the english and ntheir traitorous minions wanted them destroyed. the masacre was rather inept, killing only 38 people directly but more died from exposure while fleeing over the mountains from the troops.
> 
> however as to tunes. i have travelled most of my adult life so i tend to play irish tunes as i meet a lot more irish players on the road. however i did start on fiddle as a kid and have learned those tunes on mandolin.  i love the air farewell to whiskey--although its nicer opn harp. the jig wind from ben whyvess also called highlanders is a favourite as well.and the highland mrs macleod's reel(rasaay). i like go to the devil and shake yourself here on tabs and ingonish as well.  high road to linton is nice.


The majority of MacIain's land was on the Ardnamurichan peninsula, a very difficult place to get to in those days, still is by modern standards. MacIain's kin were shifted off after the Glencoe business as all MacIain's land was now forfeit to the state and the new owner (who had a hand in the massacre ) wanted the people off, it took a fair bit of time to serve the writ and by this time there were more that a few protestations regarding the Crown's handling of MacIain.

Many were taken in by MacDonell of Glen Garry, better known simply as "Glen Garry" and their descendants can still be found throughout the Great Glen area of Scotland today. Very few would use the name MacIain or MacEion these days, it's usually translated in English-Scots as "Johnstone" and indeed the Great Glen Johnstones are noted as a sept of the MacDonals rather than a sept of the other Johnstone families/clans found in Scotland. 

Also of interest, a few parish registrars show an up surge in people named both Donaldson & Johnston(e with or without) shortly after Glencoe and the Ardnamurichan clearance. Notably, in and around East Lothian.

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## Caleb

I really like Allan Alexander's "Airs of the Scottish Renaissance" book. 
http://www.guitarandlute.com/ancient_scottish.html
Some very beautiful and haunting melodies. "Kilt Thy Coat Maggie" is worth the purchase price alone.

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## ollaimh

i grew up in guysborough county when young,  we could see cape breton.   so i failed as a fiddler but i remembered a few good tunes that work on mandolin.  "the highlkanders jig, aka wind from ben wyvess"  very scottish snap paced, nice to play next to an irish jig and get some contrast.  the scotts fiddle version of macleod's reel,  called "miss macloun's reel, rasaay"  its very percussive so does nicely on mando--but hard to get the triplets--a good practice piece.  "the high road to linton"  , "pipes of donal dubh"  slow jig. swcotts tunes tend to be slower and more percussive and with more ornimants, they suit mandolin very well.

dan r macdonald wrote thousands of tunes.  many fabulous, none bad.  i rather like "go to the devil and shake yourself" for the name. and "the stool of repentence"  the last two are on the tablature pages.

what i want is a tablature to erin's green shore??

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## ollaimh

speaking of dan r macdonald. "the north nova scotia highlanders enter the reichwald forest" is a great tune and about the first allied unit to enter germany in ww2.  i was in the north novas militia when a boy so i am partial.

"king george the V", is a very popular tune in nova scotia as well.

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## Gelsenbury

> Right now, I'm liking corny-sounding Adam Rennie tunes: Caddam Woods, JB Milne (particularly), Kemnay House.
> Try them!


JB Milne is a great tune! As it happens, I was just searching for the social group on Scottish music, which no longer seems to exist. 




For a "Burns Night Special" on the Song-a-Week group, I have also tried my hand(s) at Loch Ruan - which I learnt from Dagger Gordon's book "The Scottish Mandolin Tutor" - and Major Malley's. 




The boundaries between Scottish and Northumbrian tunes seem to be very blurry, probably for historical reasons and because the tunes are likely to have crossed the political borders of the day several times during their development. If anyone can point out particular hallmarks, I'd be very interested. What they all have in common is that I enjoy them a lot!

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Ben Cooper, 

Dagger Gordon, 

mandogerry

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## Ben Cooper

Really enjoy listening to this.  My take me a while to,learn though.

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Gelsenbury

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## mandogerry

Glad this old thread has reemerged. I've been exploring Scottish music for the past year or so but had overlooked it. Thanks, Geisenbury. 

And I especially enjoyed the "Loch Ruan" video. I recently got hold of Dagger's Scottish Mandolin Tutor book and CD, and "The Lambing Storm" (which he wrote) has become one of my favorites (although I doubt if I can ever play it at his speed).

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Dagger Gordon, 

Gelsenbury

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## Dagger Gordon

Good stuff guys.

I'm delighted that you're getting something from my book.  Please get in touch if you have any questions or anything.

Loch Ruan is a nice little tune.  The Lambing Storm is the only one of my own tunes in my book.

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Ben Cooper, 

Gelsenbury, 

mandogerry

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## kmmando

Can anyone identify this tune name for me?
many thanks Kevin

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mandogerry, 

whistler

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## kmmando

OK, sorted, its Dh’fhalbhainn Sgiobalta (I Would Go Quickly)

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## Jim Garber

> OK, sorted, its Dhfhalbhainn Sgiobalta (I Would Go Quickly)


Great! Please pronounce that Celtic!! Or else I would go quickly!

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## Ben Cooper

> Good stuff guys.
> 
> I'm delighted that you're getting something from my book.  Please get in touch if you have any questions or anything.
> 
> Loch Ruan is a nice little tune.  The Lambing Storm is the only one of my own tunes in my book.


I can't wait to get your book.  I am just waiting for the next paycheck to order it.  I am thinking of ordering from Elderly Instruments or Amazon.   Relative newbie to mandolin  here (been playing less than a year) and I really want to learn some Scottish tunes. Hoping that some are accessable to one of my abilities.

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## whistler

> OK, sorted, its Dhfhalbhainn Sgiobalta (I Would Go Quickly)


Great tune.

Here's its Donegal cousin, Darby Gallagher's:
http://thesession.org/tunes/810
Different enough to be another tune, but close enough that the connection is obvious.

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kmmando

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## Dagger Gordon

> I can't wait to get your book.  I am just waiting for the next paycheck to order it.  I am thinking of ordering from Elderly Instruments or Amazon.   Relative newbie to mandolin  here (been playing less than a year) and I really want to learn some Scottish tunes. Hoping that some are accessable to one of my abilities.


Yes I'm sure you will be able to play several of the tunes. It is more than just a tune book, however.  It discusses techniques and ways to make the tunes sound better (I hope! ), features different types of tunes and looks at playing in different keys, so I hope it will help both your playing and give you a greater understanding of Scottish music.

Thanks a lot,

Dagger

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Ben Cooper

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## Bertram Henze

> Great! Please pronounce that Celtic!! Or else I would go quickly!


Much of it is lenited away, so I guess the pronouciation would sound like "alvenn skip alta"

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kmmando

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## Ben Cooper

> Yes I'm sure you will be able to play several of the tunes. It is more than just a tune book, however.  It discusses techniques and ways to make the tunes sound better (I hope! ), features different types of tunes and looks at playing in different keys, so I hope it will help both your playing and give you a greater understanding of Scottish music.
> 
> Thanks a lot,
> 
> Dagger


Fantastic!  Thank you very much!

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## whistler

There are many tunes from the Highland piping repertoire that work well on mandolin.

Here are a couple of pipe jigs I enjoy playing: 

Troy's Wedding (by Colin Magee of Victoria, British Columbia)


Glasgow City Police Pipers (by P.M. Donald McLeod)


The syncopated 3rd part of Troy's Wedding presents a bit of a technical challenge (even after playing it for 17 years) - especially if you play the optional variation that I include on the repeat.  I think I managed to keep the tempo fairly steady on this rendition, but my apologies to those with a more finely tuned rhythmic sense than my own.

Apologies, also, if my playing seems a bit soulless - I suffer from 'red light syndrome' (...which is not a condition picked up in red light districts).

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zoukboy

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## harper

> OK, sorted, its Dhfhalbhainn Sgiobalta (I Would Go Quickly)


This is a wonderful tune for mandolin.  I have tried to transcribe it from Mr. Macleod's video, but I do not have the tech savvy to slow it down.  Can anyone have a look to spot errors in my transcription?



Thanks,
Evelyn

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kmmando

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## whistler

> ...Can anyone have a look to spot errors in my transcription


Looks fine to me, Evelyn.

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harper, 

kmmando

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## zoukboy

Whistler: Thanks for reminding me of "Glasgow Police Pipers." I first heard it about 30 years ago when Alistair Anderson brought his "Steel Skies" tour to Kansas City. Robin Dunn played it on mandolin.

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## John Kelly

> Looks fine to me, Evelyn.


In the General Mandolin Discussions, Kevin asked for the identity of this jig and I posted the following info there:

Hi folks, just been listening to Kevin's effortless playing and realised that I know this tune as "Cold Winds From Ben Wyviss" or "Highlander's Jig" and it is from the famous old collection Kerr's Merry Melodies Book 3. It is available at that great source of tunes, our own Nigel Gatherer, on his website and I attach the abc from Nigel's site for your delectation. The B part is played slightly differently by Kevin, who plays triplets rather than the crotchet and quaver combinations on the music. 
As a Scot but not a Gaelic speaker I am glad of the Kerr's titles! Ben Wyviss is the mountain near Inverness which is often thought of as Inverness's own mountain, just as Fort William has Ben Nevis! Both can be the source of extremely cold winds.

Nigel's abc:

X:1
T:Highlander's Jig
T:Cold Winds from Ben Wyvis
B:Kerr's Merry Melodies Bk3, p32
Z:Nigel Gatherer
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:A
d|c2 e ece|fdf ecA|c2 e ef=g|B=GB B2 d|c2 e ece|fdf ecA|
cec dBG|ABA A2::g|a2 f g2 e|fdf ecA|a2 f =g2 d|
B=GB B2 ^g|a2 f g2 e|fdf ecA|cec dBG|ABA A2:|]

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kmmando

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## ollaimh

I really like wind from ben wyvess "highlander's jig" on mandolin, but I have to transpose it to g.  its in A as a learning tune for cape Breton fiddle, but I never got far with cape Breton fiddle , so I play some of those on mandolin.  mrs macleod's reel"rassaay" and high road to linton are also fiddle learning tunes in like on mandolin.

"go to the devil and shake yourself" is on tablature right here on mandolincafe. and the stool of repentance.

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## whistler

> I think I managed to keep the tempo fairly steady on this rendition (of Troys Wedding - ed.)


No I didn't! :Crying:   I just listened back to it and I speed up something terrible.

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## James Rankine

Whistler - I thought you did a really good job, great playing.
I was recording something with a singer the other week, playing guitar not mandolin. At the end he said why did you slow down? I must have been so conscious of my tendency to speed up at the finale that I over compensated. I think having an in built metronome must be one of these God given talents like perfect pitch.

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whistler

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## Bertram Henze

> No I didn't!  I just listened back to it and I speed up something terrible.


What James said - I could not detect any speed-up.
But you just wanted us to say that, didn't you  :Wink:

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whistler

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## whistler

> What James said - I could not detect any speed-up.
> But you just wanted us to say that, didn't you


Only if it's true, Bertram. Anyway, _I_ can still hear it. It's just, I've been playing that tune for years, presumably with wavering tempo every time, and I never realized it. I've even _taught_ it to people. I wonder now how many other tunes I do it on.

Anyway, carry on talking about Scottish tunes - apologies for the intermission.  I'm off to buy a metronome.

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## Fretless

> In the General Mandolin Discussions, Kevin asked for the identity of this jig and I posted the following info there:
> 
> Hi folks, just been listening to Kevin's effortless playing and realised that I know this tune as "Cold Winds From Ben Wyviss" or "Highlander's Jig" and it is from the famous old collection Kerr's Merry Melodies Book 3. It is available at that great source of tunes, our own Nigel Gatherer, on his website and I attach the abc from Nigel's site for your delectation. The B part is played slightly differently by Kevin, who plays triplets rather than the crotchet and quaver combinations on the music. 
> As a Scot but not a Gaelic speaker I am glad of the Kerr's titles! Ben Wyviss is the mountain near Inverness which is often thought of as Inverness's own mountain, just as Fort William has Ben Nevis! Both can be the source of extremely cold winds.
> 
> Nigel's abc:
> 
> X:1
> T:Highlander's Jig
> ...


FWIW, here's a slightly different version I learned from Cape Breton fiddler Andrea Beaton last fall:

X:1
T:The Highlander's Jig
C:Traditional
C: Andrea Beaton 2013
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Amix
d|cBA ecA|fdf ecA|cBA efg|BGB d2 B|cBA ecA|fdf ecA|
cec dBG|1 BAA A2:|2 BAA Afg||a2 f g2 e|fdf ecA|
a2 f g2 d|BGB d2 e|a2 f g2 e|fdf ecA|cec dBG|BAA Afg|
a2 f g2 e|fdf ecA|a2 f g2 d|BGB d2 e|
afa geg|fdf ecA|cec dBG|BAA A3|]

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John Kelly, 

kmmando

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