A digital version of the historic ‘Kilberry Book of Ceòl Meadhonach’ is now available for purchase on Piping Press.
First issued in 1909, the book was compiled and edited by Captain John Campbell, Kilberry, and his brother Archibald.
The book has 43 tunes each with a note on its provenance. The music is neither piobaireachd nor simple slow march but somewhere between both – hence the title.
The tunes are to be played slowly and, like piobaireachd, not necessarily following the strict timings of the time signatures. Pipers will know some by their titles but here they are often found in interesting, seldom heard, settings.
Most are ancient Gaelic airs or drawn from the song repertoire. Some single part tunes have had parts added by the editors.
There is an erudite introduction: ‘The music of the Highland bagpipe is usually said to be divided into three categories, Ceol Mor, the ‘big music’ or Piobaireachd; Ceol Beag, the ‘little music’, that is quicksteps and dance music, and Ceol Meadhonach, the ‘middle music’ which lies between the other two, and consists of such tunes as are neither constructed in the measure of Piobaireachd nor adapted for the quick march or dance.
‘Ceol Meadhonach comprises most of the simple primitive airs of the Highlands. It is probably the oldest form of Highland bagpipe music, and for many centuries was perhaps the principal form, until the MacCrimmon school had perfected the development of that most remarkable of all musical products, the Piobaireachd…..
‘In the hope of drawing attention to the fact….that Ceol Meahonach is a separate and interesting branch of pipe music, which of late years has been most unreasonably neglected, the editors have resolved to issue the present work consisting of some of the most characteristic tunes known to them.
‘They have been encouraged to do so by the fact that these airs, when played even by such mediocre performers as themselves, meet with the approval of Highland audiences…’
The downloadable book is offered at a nominal price of £4 as a service to readers. It can be bought here:
Ceol Meadhonach…middle music…interesting…
Am I the only piper to have never heard of this category of pipe music?