Mountains, Meetings and Tunes

I suppose you could say we had the inaugural meet of the College Climbing Club (CCC)

on Saturday when Himalayan veteran Willie Park led Stuart Cassells of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers (above) and myself up Stob Ban in the Mamores. Willie disputes it was the inaugural claiming his trip to Everest base camp last year (for CoP funds) as the first outing. Either way it was a great day out during which we sorted out the problems of the piping and other worlds. Stuart was telling me he has some important gigs coming up with his band and that they are working on a new show. A big tour of Germany is in the offing and they are starring at the 'T in the Park' rock concert in the summer. The CCC is open to all CoP members, PT subscribers, CoP Students and staff. Check the Fast News for the next meet. Just turn up with the right gear. If you're interested stick your name at the end of this blog along with your email address or send an email to the CoP and we'll put you on the CCC list.

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Willie was telling me that I've got something wrong in the PT (so what's new?). Apparently Andreas Hambsch will not be the first German to play in a Grade 1 band if he decides to take up the offer of joining Shotts. Willie says that honour belongs to Nils Michael who played with Clan Gregor. Well apologies Nils and let us know more about it if you are so minded.

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Confirmation his week that Scotland's Culture Minister Mike Russell (left) will be visiting the CoP on May 26. It'll be the first ministerial visit we've had to the new premises and we are all looking forward to welcoming Mr Russell and explaining the work we do for the national music. We'll have some good piping on hand from Strathclyde Police, who have agreed to supply a mini band, and from some of our young students. Given the police's attendance I've also asked Commander Anne McGuire, the woman at the centre of the controversy surrounding the future of the band, to come along too. I hope she does. I've also invited MSP Stuart McMillan who has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the band. Stuart tells me he has had a very productive meeting with Ms McGuire and she confessed to knowing very little about piping or bands. I hope to present the 'Save Strathclyde Police Pipe Band' petition to Mr Russell. We are only 60 or so names short of the 3,000 target. 

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Thanks to Len Durham for the comment posted re the Africa blog (see below). Len now lives in Jersey as far as I'm aware. Another springbok in the Channel Isles is Nicholas Taitz who I mentioned in an earlier posting.

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Have spent some of the holiday weekend bulling up on the 'Cave of Gold' for the CD School. How can a tune with such a romantic name have such a routine melodic pattern? You need to really work to get anything out of it. Some would describe it as a piobaireachd player's tune. By that I mean it is a tune which is not immediately attractive, especially to the uninitiated. The setting in GF Ross's long out of print book (1929) has F gracenotes in the dithis singling but I think these are misprints. They are certainly not marked as semi-quaver gracenotes which would have us playing them a la 'His Father's Lament'. 

I don't know how much credence we can give to Ross's asseveration that the tune is a Donald Mor MacCrimmon composition of 1610. I find it hard to believe that the man responsible for the great Macleod/MacDonald trilogy is capable of such a straighforward peice. Still, it is an interesting, Gesto orientated, book. I remember getting my copy along with Ross's 'Some Piobaireachd Studies' (1926) in Jack Ironside's 'Scottish Shopper' when over in Seattle in 1980. Many things I could mention about that trip but, as ever, my lips are sealed.