The Big Music (58 page)
Authors: Kirsty Gunn
To conclude: The basic structure of the music consists of an air with variations upon its theme. The ground – or Urlar – is the basic theme and is normally played slowly, containing within it all the major ideas of the music.
The ground is then followed by variations: the Taorluath, the Crunluath and the Crunluath A Mach – each with its own doublings and variations, and each
movement
also more complex and more difficult to play than the one that went before. By the final variation the composer’s ingenuity and the piper’s capability have been tested to the very limit.
The tune then ends, to quote the definition at the beginning of ‘The Big Music’, in a ‘return to the Urlar’s opening simplicity. Then the piper will play those same notes with which the composition began, walking away over the hill as the sound of the music fades from the air into silence and stillness takes up its watch again upon the empty page.’
1
These first opening bars of the music’s theme indicate the opening ‘remarks’ of the music laid out at the beginning of the Urlar of ‘The Big Music’ and also in the Taorluath section where John MacKay lies in his bed through the last hours of his life. The socalled ‘breathing’ sequence is clearly indicated in the repetition of these four bars.
2
NB: For those who would like to hear the full version of ‘Lament for Himself’, it is possible to download it from a website that is being created for ‘The Big Music’.
3
The same section of music can be scanned exactly to the words for the Lullaby for Katherine Anna that appear in the Urlar movement of ‘The Big Music’.
| ailte | end, finish, i.e. ‘Ailte vhor Alech’ is ‘End of the Road’, one of the names given to The Grey House of Rogart |
| a mach | out, showing of itself, as in Crunluath A Mach; means to show the workings of a crown movement |
| beallach | pass, denoting height; i.e. ‘Beallach Nam Drumochta’ is the Summit or Pass of Drumochta |
| ben | behind or back; common usage |
| bothan | or bothy; a little hut or rough-built dwelling place |
| breve | long sustained note (double the weighting of the more commonly used semibreve); musical term |
| cailleach | old woman; witch |
| canntaireachd | the singing and notation of piobaireachd using vocables |
| chanter | the pipe of a bagpipe; traditionally made of ebony with a silver trim |
| ceilidh | a Highland party of music and dance |
| ceol beag | little music; strathspeys, reels etc. |
| ceol mor | big music; piobaireachd |
| cumha | lament; form of piobaireachd composed for funerals, death in battle etc. |
| crunluath | crown; the third movement of a piobaireach |
| crunluath a mach | a crown that shows itself in all its glory; the final variation of a piobaireachd |
| dithis | two or a pair; doubling of a note; musical term; doubling theme and single note repeated or played in pairs (also known as siubhal singling) |
| drone | the steady bass-note of the Highland bagpipe; i.e. bass drone, tenor drone etc. |
| dubh | dark or black; i.e. ‘Dubh Burn’ is Black Water or Dark River |
| failte | welcome or salute; form of piobaireachd composed for gatherings |
| gesundkunstwerk | the overall artwork; a piece of art that is all-encompassing, creates an overall experience of music, sound, image etc. that is a world unto itself |
| glas | particular fingering and tuning to create a ‘joining’ effect in the music |
| havering | one way or another; to be uncertain |
| leumluath | a variation incorporated within the Taorluath movement of a piobaireachd; also sometimes known as the ‘Stag’s Leap’ to indicate the branching out of the tune into a new direction |
| leitmotif | recurring musical idea; used principally in relation to Wagner’s music |
| og | younger; or latter; used as differentiation in family naming, i.e. Patrick ‘Og’ MacCrimmon was the youngest son of Patrick MacCrimmon (by contrast, ‘Mor’ often used to denote the elder or oldest in a family) |
| piobaireachd | the classical musical composition played on the great Highland bagpipe |
| port | musical term relating, initially, to harp piobaireachd |
| port tionail | music composed for gatherings |
| rubato | with feeling, vibration; musical term |
| semibreve | long sustained note of four beats; musical term |
| siubhal | a passing or traversing; i.e. of one set of musical notes passing from one to the other |
| sligheach | secret, sly; hidden |
| smirr | to rub over or blend; i.e. to smirr a tune is to fail to articulate individual notes; musical term as well as general use |
| slochd | summit; peak |
| strath | a long valley beween two hills; often with a river running through the centre and broadening out towards the sea |
| taorluath | the second movement or variation of a piobaireachd |
| thrawn | stubborn |
| urlar | ground; the first movement of a piobaireachd |
Music: Piobaireachd/primary
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The College of Piping: Glasgow, 1969
MacKay, Angus.
A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland Pipe Music,
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Pipers in the Isle of Skye
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Gilonis, Harry.
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