November’s Tunes

Mari Black will be leading us in learning a set of two strathspeys and a reel in our November workshop. We'll work on stylizing and orchestrating each tune so the whole set can sound really great with the whole group.

The first strathspey, new to us, is Calum’s Road in D by Donald Shaw, an accordionist with the band Capercaille, in honor of one Calum MacLeod of Raasay, who built a two-mile road to his croft by himself by hand, after the local council refused to supply him with one. It took him ten years to complete it. You can read about Calum’s Road in a book by that name, written by Roger Hutchinson.

The second tune is a great driving strathspey by James Scott Skinner, The Laird o’ Drumblair in A (SRS 2.1 & 29.14), composed for his friend and benefactor William F. McHardy ofDrumblair, who gave Skinner use of a rent-free cottage for many years to support his art.  Skinner also rendered the same melodic motif as a reel called  Angus Campbell (SRS 2.1). Mari gave us a taste of this classic back in her January 2017 workshop.

The reel The Marquis of Tullybardine (SRS 34.20) was also presented (briefly) by Mari in her April 2022 workshop. It is attributed to John Crerar in “The Scottish Violinist” (Skinner), and to A.W. Doig in Köhler's “Violin Repository”. Francis O’Neill has it as Maids of Tulla in his “Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems.” [Source Tunearch.org wiki]