September Tunes

I hope the summer has been a good one for you, and that you have taken care of your instruments.

This month we have grab-bag, assortment, variety etc. of tunes for you, ranging in dates from the 19th to the 21st century, in keys from B flat to D, and coming from Germany to New York, including airs, marches, hornpipes and a reel.

You can listen to the tunes by clicking on the titles.

The first tune this month is a D major bagpipe tune, an anthem/processional march - Highland Cathedral, composed in 1982 by two Germans, Michael Korb and Ulrich Roever for a Highland games in Berlin.

Read more about it here.

The tune was chosen by pop singer and actress Madonna as her wedding march in 2001.

Also listen to Andre Rieu’s orchestral version here.

The Saint Columba Church of Scotland in Glasgow held services in Gaelic until 2021.

The next tune, also in D major, The Bonnie Lass of Headlake, is a marching air composed by Gordon MacQuarrie, perhaps in honor of fiddler Winnie Chafe, a native of Headlake, Cape Breton.

The melody was picked up by Irish musicians in the 1960's and played as a hornpipe. You can find that arrangement in the concert music.

Whatever the pace is, the way you play the tune can make all the difference.

Next we’re off to the races with two traditional clogs or hornpipes in flat keys:

Saratoga in F, named for the race course town in New York,

and Good for the Tongue, a rather difficult tune in B flat. The title perhaps hints that it was first composed for a trumpet or keyed bugle.

The last September tune, My Otis Tomas Mandolin , is a driving reel in C major composed by the late Jerry Holland (1955-2009).

Otis Tomas is a composer and luthier from Rhode Island who settled in Goose Cove, Cape Breton.

Local fiddlers Brenda Stubbert, Dougie MacDonald and Paul Cranford play Otis Tomas fiddles.

Visit his website to learn about the ancient giant sugar maple that provides the wood for his creations:

https://www.fiddletree.com/books/index.html