Dougie Pincock: ‘That Peter MacLeod reel [above] is known nowadays as The Highlanders’ Institute. It appears under that name in the ‘Bicentennial Collection’ of the music of both Peter MacLeods Snr. and Jnr. published in the USA by Donald Varella.
‘I learned the tune from Pipe Major Iain MacDonald of Neilston, and played it in the Glasgow folk group Kentigern in the late ’70s/early ’80s. Iain might well have had his attention drawn to it by Duncan Johnstone.’
Anonymous: ‘The reel Donald Macleod, which is shown as having been composed by Peter MacLeod Jr., is published in a slightly different form in the ‘Caber Feidh Collection’, where it is attributed to Peter MacLeod Senior.
‘But there’s more. A version very similar to the one you published was contained in Donald Varella’s book and there named The Highlander’s Institute and attributed to Peter MacLeod without identifying whether senior or junior.
‘It was this latter version that Stuart Liddell played in his prizewinning MSR at Inverness this year. He he played all four parts in the right order both times through.’
Mike Rogers: ‘There is also a reel called Donald MacLeod in ‘The Cabar Feidh Collection’ which appears to be the same tune. In this publication it is attributed to Pipe Major P. MacLeod (Senior).’
Scots Guards KO
Jimmy Banks: ‘We have had to rearrange our piping KO scheduled for 24 November at the Scots Guards Club, Haymarket, Edinburgh. Craig Muirhead and Sandy Cameron were due to play off against one another but we now have to look for a new date. I’ll let everyone know as soon as we have re-scheduled.’
‘Talk Piobaireachd‘
The Piobaireachd Society’s very popular series of discussions on ceòl mòr resumes for winter 2024/25 this Wednesday, November 20.
The host is Society Vice President Derek Fraser and the talk will be delivered by Gold Medallist Dr Peter McCalister. Peter’s tunes are Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry and Lament for the Viscount of Dundee.
The hour-long discussion is free to all members of the Society. They have already been notified of the access code. There will be a further five monthly talks in the series up to, and including, April:
December 18th – Mike Cusack: Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute and MacFarlane’s Gathering
January 22nd – Robert Wallace: Salute to Donald, the Prince’s Salute
February 19th – Dr Jack Taylor: Lament for the Departure of King James, Duke of Atholl Salute
March 19th – Alan Forbes: Chisholm’s Salute, MacLean’s March
April 23rd – Jack Lee: Munro’s Salute, Lament for Ronald MacDonald of Morar.
If you would like to avail yourself of this educational resource and are not a member of the Piobaireachd Society, you can join here.
One further thought; all three versions are different from each other
I’m confident that the reel is named “The Highlander’s Institute”
I’m confident the reel is name the Highlanders’ Institute too – note the position of the apostrophe! And I’m confident it is also called Donald MacLeod.
What I am not confident about is the original or final name allocated by the composer and nor for that matter who the composer was.