‘Pipers Meeting’ (the title comes from one of the tunes) is taken from the Campbell Canntaireachd manuscript and many of the tunes have never been published in staff notation before. The book’s compilers are Patrick Molard and Dr Jack Taylor, friends and students of the ‘Bobs of Balmoral’, RU Brown and RB Nicol.
In interpreting the vocables, the ‘hiharin, hindro’ of the manuscript, Patrick and Jack have applied the knowledge gained from these two masters to their own expertise gathered during a lifetime of piobaireachd study. The idea for the book followed a demonstration of some of the tunes by Patrick at the Piobaireachd Society Conference in 2012. The Society has made a substantial contribution towards the cost of publication.
A review will appear in Piping Press in due course, but at first glance I can say this is a high quality product, well laid out, wire bound, A4 size, 45 tunes, 33 of them in staff notation for the first time. Canntaireachd is possibly a form of shorthand, a quick means of taking down a tune from someone’s playing. In the days before staff notation it was the only way pipe music could be recorded. Its weakness is that it does not convey any sense of time and it is here that the editing skill of pipers such as Jack and Patrick comes to the fore.
Moreover the source manuscript, possibly for speedier writing, misses out many of the ‘cadence’ E figures so typical of ceol mor. Jack and Patrick have added these judiciously to pleasing effect and, at a stroke, made many of these tunes eminently playable. Wisely, they have indicated where these cadence Es have been inserted.
I am sure this book will be seized on by the piobaireachd enthusiast. At the moment the Piping Press Shop is offering it at a pre-launch price of £13.50 a saving of a whopping £1.50 on the RRP!
