Category Archives: Scottish
Gravel Walks (Ador)
This reel, “Gravel Walks” or “The Gravel Walks,” is also called “The Gravelled Walks to Granny,” and “Jenny Tie your Bonnet.” In Vallely’s Fiddler’s Companion Caoimhin Mac Aoidh writes that Granny (or sometimes Grainne or Cranny) is a secluded and unpopulated glen between Ardara (pronounces Ar-DRA) and Glencolmcille (pronounced Glen-CULLIM-kill) in southwest co. Donegal. People […]
Tabhair Dom Do Lamh (G)
The tune “Tabhair Dom Do Lamh” is often played at Irish weddings — the Irish title is pronounced “Tour Dum Dah Lahw (or Lahv)” in Irish, and most often translated as “Please, Give Me Your Hand.” The tune is by the Irish harpist (and pipe player) Ruairi Dall Ă“ Cathain (c.1570-c.1653), whose name is variously […]
Spootiskerry (G)
Spootiskerry (G) is a Shetland reel, and an early composition of Samuel Ian Rothmar Burns, known as Ian Burns (1932-1995). It was written in the early 1960s, and published along with many other tunes he wrote on a self-recorded cassette entitled “Spootiskerry” (1980). Ian Burns lived in Tingwall, but the title of this tune is the […]
Far From Home (G)
There is some confusion about the reel “Far From Home” (G). Some say it was written in 1998, some say it is much older. The latter are correct. I know because the tune is #1261 in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903). Some say the tune is from Shetland, while others deny it. It does seem odd that […]
Atholl Highlanders (Amix)
The four-part jig “Atholl Highlanders” is originally a Shetland tune, and originally called “The Three Sisters.” Â I don’t think anyone has called it by the original name for a very long time, however. It is a characteristic Scots pipe march, though there are some odd things about it. As a pipe march it is known […]