OK here's one for all you Sassenachs.

For years musically innovative bands in grades one and two have been plundering the folk music repertior of the whole of europe. We have Breton, Bulgarian, Asturian, and Catalan tunes (to name a few) widely accepted in the pipe band world now, but I'm not aware of any English folk music that's crossed over. Two questions arise. 1. Can anyone thnk of a reason why English tiunes haven't really become incorporated into the GHB repertoir? 2. Does anyone know any good English folk tunes that would work in a pipe band but aren't being used at present?

PS Craig, I hope the use of the word "Sassenach" doesn't breach the website's racism rules :blink:

"Sassenachs"........you mean those who come from the Scottish Crown Colony of Englandshire ? whistling

oooops......time to get the kevlar on !

Your not far wrong there HK., most of the government are Scottish (Tony Blair born in Ednburgh) ,so when Labour Or Scottish party got in Devolution for Scotland . `O` is Wings an English tune? , Scottish folk tunes have more GO in them some with tales of past battles , some more relaxing and some funny ones. The Corries are a good example.

Hey hang on we're not taking the blame for Blair. He was born and raised in England, although his father's Scottish. The English have to take at least half the blame for that one.

As for devoltion, you can have it too. All you have to do is spend 30+ years campaigning, have a rigged referrendum go against you, and have a minority administration ride roughshod over the democratic process for a decade or so, then a mini Holyrood can be yours.

Finally, technically anyone from south of the Highland line is a Sassenach. It means lowlander.

Stick to the musical part of the topic.

its a pity you cant play lindisfarne on the bagpipes

Christchurch is a traditional English folk tune which goes very well on pipes.

i can think of one reason why english tunes are converted onto the pipes, my rendition of god save the queen!

God save the King/Queen would be a British tune and not just English albeit the national anthem it was not intended as such.The words and music were written by Dr. Henry Carey in 1740 but a Birgitte Pedersen from Denmark says nobody knows who wrote it. However it was arranged by a Dr. Arne to be sung to these words on Sept. 28th 1745 at the Drury Lane Theartre in London under the title A Song For Two Voices. It was not chosen to be the National Anthem it just happened

Chris
I found an interesting website containing, amongst other thing, a load of old English hornpipes (http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/index/wwabc.html), which is what prompted this. The musical style of most of them feels slightly corny (more Morris dancers than Highland dancers) to my ear, but i was half thinking of trying to rearrange one or two for the pipes and I was curious to know if anyone else had thought along similar lines. I guess someone has going by the tune you posted.

Suzi - I'd break my pipes before I'd play God Save the Monarch, and not just because of that 3rd verse about putting down rebellious Scots.

One of my brothers is a member of the Chester City Morris team and is also one of the musicians who play for them. He was also a member of our folk group for a while so I've had a fair exposure to morris tunes over the years. We have quite a collection of english morris and country dance tunes here and I went through them a couple of years back looking for ideas for new pipe tunes. There was the odd one here and there, like Christchurch, which caught my fancy but generally I found it hard going.

I found in the end that I get the best results when I try to start with an original idea, something I've not heard before, maybe just a few notes to start with and build it up from there. That seems to work best for me.

Like this one..

(There are four parts to it but I'm not sure about the other 2)

Neil,


The bit about Rebelious Scots was not in when written. I would not play it either as I like the more traditional type of tune , there`ll always be an England can be played but don`t destroy your pipes over it .

God Save the Monarch doesn't realy fit the 9 note of the pipes, but the Welsh national anthem works pretty well.
I was once in a lock-in with a bunch of Welsh guys who were on a rugby tour in St.Andrews. One of their props was a brilliant tenor who could sing Land of My Fathers along with my pipes, and he was louder than me.

There must be English tunes that would work similarly.

Here's a challenge to local bands (for local people?)
I dare someone, band, soloist, trio or miniband, to play a traditional English folk tune in a RSPBA sanctioned competion in 2005 or 2006. A bottle of good (Scottish) single malt whisky for anyone who wins the competition playing an English tune.

your on............

U can play the Blaydon races on the bagpipes!!!!

A tune which does go nicely enough on pipes (with a little alteration in the 2nd part) is 'The Leaving of Liverpool'. Did the West Midland Fire Service P/B not play it as part of their competition set last year?