A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland’s Printed Music, 1880–1951
A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland’s Printed Music, 1880–1951

Author: Karen E. McAulay

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-30

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1040216501

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Late Victorian Scotland had a flourishing music publishing trade, evidenced by the survival of a plethora of vocal scores and dance tune books; and whether informing us what people actually sang and played at home, danced to, or enjoyed in choirs, or reminding us of the impact of emigration from Britain for both emigrants and their families left behind, examining this neglected repertoire provides an insight into Scottish musical culture and is a valuable addition to the broader social history of Scotland. The decline of the music trade by the mid-twentieth century is attributable to various factors, some external, but others due to the conservative and perhaps somewhat parochial nature of the publishers’ output. What survives bears witness to the importance of domestic and amateur music-making in ordinary lives between 1880 and 1950. Much of the music is now little more than a historical artefact. Nonetheless, Karen E. McAulay shows that the nature of the music, the song and fiddle tune books’ contents, the paratext around the collections, its packaging, marketing and dissemination all document the social history of an era whose everyday music has often been dismissed as not significant or, indeed, properly ‘old’ enough to merit consideration. The book will be valuable for academics as well as folk musicians and those interested in the social and musical history of Scotland and the British Isles.

A New Most Excellent Dancing Master
A New Most Excellent Dancing Master

Author: Joseph Lowe

Publisher: Pendragon Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9780945193302

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In the mid-nineteenth century Joseph Lowe, dancing master of Edinburgh, taught at Queen Victoria's Court, in autumn at Balmoral and Christmas time at Windsor. The Journal is an account of these visits - of Queen Victoria practicing her Scotch steps for the Reel, of Princess Alice who danced a fetching Spanish solo, of Prince Alfred who was talented on the violin, of the Princess who turned her foot inwards while dancing, of the spirited Lady-in-Waiting who begged for extra lessons, of the children's chest expander exercises, and of how many trout Mr. Lowe caught when he took the Prince of Wales fishing. Concerts are held, balls last far into the night; the musical and dance life of the court is glimpsed through a myriad of Lowe's comments (always discreet), and a cheerful family life is portrayed. After the Prince Consort's untimely death, Mr. Lowe no longer attends the court. Archives at Windsor Castle reveal that two of his daughters continued to teach there for a decade but no journal of the period has been traced to the family collection which contains the original Lowe manuscript.

The Glengarry Collection, Volume 1
The Glengarry Collection, Volume 1

Author: Aonghas Grant

Publisher: Mel Bay Publications

Published: 2010-10-20

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 1619115018

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The Glengarry Collection contains 164 Slow Airs, Marches, Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs and Hornpipes with Stories, History and Photographs. It focuses on the coreof Aonghas' music: Highland fiddling, with its links to pipe tunes andGaelic songs. Some of these tunes have never been published before, while others are available only in out-of-print books or in pipe settings, and the collection also includes a number of tunes composed by Aonghas himself, andtunes composed in honor of Aonghas. The tunes are fully chorded in a style appropriate to Aonghas' band experience. All these are richly illustrated by transcriptions of Aonghas' bowings, grace-notes, stories, and photos of scenes and people from Aonghas' varied life careers, including old family photos. Finally, there is an accompanying online videos of Aonghas' impromptu and passionateperformances of 61 of the tunes in the collection. Inlcudes access to online video

Cape Breton & Prince Edward Island Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo
Cape Breton & Prince Edward Island Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo

Author: Ken Perlman

Publisher: Mel Bay Publications

Published: 2024-03-08

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1513477102

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The island of Cape Breton & its close neighbor, Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada are home to two of the oldest, strongest, and most vibrant fiddling traditions in North America. Cape Breton gave rise to a professional Celtic-based fiddling scene to rival anything coming out of Scotland & Ireland. Prince Edward Island’s traditional fiddlers developed lively, idiosyncratic styles every bit as musically compelling as anything you’ll hear on archival recordings of iconic American old-time fiddlers from the Appalachians. This book features 136 tunes from these two distinct but related fiddling traditions, collected by the author directly from master fiddlers, and arranged note-for-note for clawhammer banjo with as much flavor and nuance as possible. These settings of reels, hornpipes, jigs, marches, strathspeys, airs, and other fiddle tunes are all eminently playable and fully benefit from the author’s half-century of experience playing banjo, arranging for banjo, writing banjo instruction books, and researching fiddle-music traditions. Here’s what you’ll find in this volume. 136 fiddle tunes arranged for clawhammer banjo in clear tablature Over 40 musical examples & exercises Instruction on basic and advanced techniques Fingering diagrams & detailed fingering suggestions A systematic approach to playing up-the-neck A thorough treatment of playing triplets, grace notes, and other characteristic ornaments in clawhammer Guides on how to approach playing various kinds of fiddle tunes A framework for understanding the modes encountered in fiddle music Historical notes on the tunes and musical traditions Biographical information on source fiddlers 169 audio illustrations available online Note: Most audio illustrations for the tunes in this book are drawn directly from the author’s CDs, Devil in the Kitchen, Frails & Frolics, Island Boy, and Northern Banjo.