Piobaireachd Society Announce Set Tunes for 2017 – Comment Added

Robert Wallace

9 years ago

The Piobaireachd Society recommends the following lists of tunes for competitions in 2017:

A. SENIOR COMPETITIONS
In Praise of Morag PS 1, K
The Prince’s Salute, PS 1, K
The Unjust Incarceration, PS 2, K
Colin Roy MacKenzie’s Lament, PS 3, K
Craigellachie, PS 6, K
Ronald MacDonald of Morar’s Lament, PS 8, K
My Dearest on Earth give me Your Kiss, PS 11
Rory MacLoude’s Lament, PS 11

Competitors will submit four of the above tunes, one of which they will be required to play.

B. GOLD MEDAL COMPETITIONS
Nameless: ‘Hiharin dro o dro’, PS 4, K
The Park Piobaireachd No 2, PS 4, K
The King’s Taxes, PS 5, K
The MacDougalls’ Gathering, PS 5, K
Beloved Scotland, PS 6, K
The Vaunting PS 7, K
Lady MacDonald’s Lament, PS 8, K
Lord Lovat’s Lament, PS 9, K

Competitors will submit four of the above tunes, one of which they will be required to play.

C. SILVER MEDAL COMPETITIONS
Group 1 Tunes from PS Book 16, published in 2015:
Hail to My Country, PS 16
Lord Berisdale’s Salute, PS 16
The Sword’s Lament PS, 16
Rev. Dr Norman MacLeod’s Lament, PS 16

Group 2 Tunes composed by Pipe Major Donald MacLeod:
Cronan Phadruig Seumas, DM Book 3
Lament for John Morrison of Assynt House, PS 20th Cent. Ceol Mor
Lament for The Iolaire, DM Piobaireachd Collection
Roderick MacDonald’s Salute, DM Piobaireachd Collection

Competitors will submit two tunes from each group, one of which they will be required to play.

PS = Piobaireachd Society Collection K = Kilberry Book of Ceol Mor DM = Donald MacLeod

DM Book 3 is one of the books in Donald MacLeod’s light music collection.

Competitors are not restricted to settings specified above. Those who wish to play alternative settings should submit legible scores, indicating the origins of the settings, to competition organisers along with their tune selections.

A wide range of source materials and alternative settings is available on the Piobaireachd Society website at: www.piobaireachd.co.uk and on other piping websites.

PS Music Committee Secretary Alan Forbes

Commenting on the lists Music Committee Secretary Alan Forbes said: ‘The Senior and Gold Medal lists are fairly standard – long heavy tunes for the senior competitions and mid-length ones for the GM, but all should be popular with competitors, judges and audiences.

‘A point of interest is that The MacDougalls’ Gathering makes its first appearance as a set tune for 15 years – last set in 2002. There is no obvious reason for this – possibly considered too demanding for SM lists but a bit short for GM ones. It should lie well with the other GM tunes next year.

‘The Silver Medal list is a bit different from past ones. Three or four years ago the Music Committee surveyed the piping and judging communities to find out what they thought about set tunes. There was a poor response, but most comments came from SM level players who expressed a wish for modern tunes to be set – in particular, those composed by Donald MacLeod. So here they are – some beautiful tunes, which should be popular, but quite demanding in terms of musical interpretation and memory!

‘The rest of the list is made up of tunes from the new Book 16, some of which will seldom, if ever, have been played in public before now.

They are also attractive musically, though, and some of them are quite long, so demanding also in terms of stamina. It was felt that the current generation of talented SM competitors would be up for the challenge, so we hope that turns out to be the case.’