Thursday, October 9, 2008

Books of Interest

During my career serving under the Queen's and Regimental Colours I have read and collected some interesting reference books which I used at the Pipes and Drums School, School of Infantry, Singleton, NSW. I would like to share some of the titles with you should you be interested to purchase. The books are;

"The Highland Bagpipe and its Music", (new edition), by Roderick D. Cannon;
"Pipers", (a guide to the players and music of the Highland Bagpipe), by William Donaldson;
"The Piper in Peace and War", by C.A. Malcolm;
"Uniforms and History of Scottish Regiments", by Major R.M. Barnes.

And if you fancy tales of Jacobites, Clans and Pipers then , Stuart McHardy has a fine collection worth reading these are;
"The Silver Chanter", (pipers' tales); "The Well of Heads", (tales of Scottish Clans); and "The White Cockade", (Jacobite tales).

In Roderick Cannon's book "The Highland Bagpipe" he mentions that some years ago (1973), Thomas Pearston, a well-known piper and teacher, put forward an interesting list of the feelings associated with different notes. These are;

low G the loudest note;the note of the Gathering;
low A the piper's note;
B the chiming note, or note of challenge,
C the most musical note,
D the angry note, the note of battle,
E the echoing note,
F the note of love. Look out ladies, if he plays around the house playing only the F note,
high G the note of sorrow or lament, and
high A like low A, the piper's note.

I have experimented using this list when writing music. Angus (Snr) can comment on that. It's worth trying.

From the coast of NSW, Tea Gardens Bill

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It should be noted that Pearston's analysis regarding the "feelings" associated with notes was aimed at the classical music of the bagpipe - i.e. piobaireachd.

CEPB member said...

Hi Bill
does this mean you are selling the books, iam very interested in 2 of them, Piper in peace and war, and uniforms of the Scottish regiments, by the way both my parents send their hello's, Sandy & Christian Thomson
Regards Andy T

Anonymous said...

Likewise Bill, very interested in having a look at "The Silver Chanter" at the very least. As wi' Tattie here, "The Piper in Peace an War" would be a greatly interesting read for me.
Very interested in finding out more as to availability of these books, standing by for more info when you can.
Cheers from a very wet NQ!!