Core Repertoire
For anyone beginning to explore the music of the Lowland and Border pipers, here are links to some of the core items of the repertoire. Most of these tunes have a long history, during which they have been published or notated in a variety of forms. We have tried to offer here, not a definitive setting, but one that can be used as a foundation for your own exploration.
The tune s referred to by Allan Ramsay in his additional verses (published in 1716) to the 15th century poem written by James I, 'Christ Kirk on the Green:
"He fits the Floor syne wi' the Bride To Cuttymun and Treeladle, Thick, thick that day."
Matt Seattle's exploration of the well-knwon song and tune as it appears in a variety of sources, including his own bagpipe arrangement
Matt Seattle's exploration of the well-known song and tune as it appears in a variety of sources, including his own bagpipe arrangement
In the December 2010 issue of Common Stock we printed three versions of this tune, two from the 17th century and one from the 19th; here are a number of 18th & early 19th century versions, chosen for their variety of 'interpretations' and 'developments' of the original song theme, which I currently take to be that notated by Henry Atkinson in his manuscript, though there may have been a 'different' tune in circulation which eventually got concatenated with Atkinson's.
