At the risk of boring the audience ................

Drummond Castle Laundry.

This ancient castle is situated near Crieff in Perthshire. This polka was Composed by Ronald Meldrum and appeared in the Logan Collection of Pipe Music. Whatever was going on in the laundry we might never know, but it is a catchy and well-loved addition to the piper’s repertoire.


The Fairy Dance

This Reel was composed by the famous fiddler Natheniel Gow for the Fife Hunt Ball of 1802. The Fairy Dance is found under many names, including Rustic Dance (US), La Ronde des Vieux (Canada), Rinnce Na Sideoga (Eire), Daunse ny Farishyn (Isle of Man) and many other guises.


Gin I Were A Baron's Heir

This is a traditional air made more popular by the words added by Joseph William Holder (1764 - 1832).



Going Home.

This is a small extract from Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” which has proved irresistible to pipers because it works so well in our scale. It is often played at funerals and also as an element in the final bracket to be played at a band engagement.


Green Hills of Tyrol.

A popular tune among pipers and non-pipers alike, but strangely enough its origins were not as a pipe tune at all, but part of the opera “William Tell” by Rossini in 1829. It is not hard to imagine the catchy phrases of the overture appealing to a piper’s ear, and the resulting transcription has been universally
popular ever since. The composition for the pipes is normally attributed to Pipe Major J. MacLeod. In more recent times, Andy Stewart, the popular Scottish singer and comedian, put his own words to the tune, called it “The Scottish Soldier”, and consequently sat on top of the popular charts for months.

Lord Dunmore.

This traditional Jig is also known as “The Bride’s Jig”. The late Donald MacLeod added the third and fourth measures thus increasing the appeal to pipers and bands.


Marie's Wedding

This is another reasonably recent popular song which has become entrenched in the piper’s repertoire. Known also as the “Lewis Bridal Song” it was written by Sir Hugh Roberton.


Mary Darroch.

Composed by John MacLellan of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
This tune has not been published in any major collection to my knowledge but did appear in the little known “8th Argylls” book many years ago. A lovely waltz-tempo tune that can sound quite magical with seconds.


Miss Ishabell T. MacDonald

This tune is from Donald MacLeod’s Book 8, and was an instant hit with our pipers when we first introduced it in the 1980’s.



Mist Covered Mountains

A Gaelic song to a traditional melody called “Johnny Stays Long at the Fair“. The words were by Iain Cameron in 1856 and translated from the Gaelic by Malcolm MacFarlane.