The Traditional and National Music of Scotland

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, first edition, 1966. Cloth, 8vo, 26 cm,. xvii, 294 pp, 16 plates. From the blurb: "This is the first book on the traditional and national music of Scotland in all its aspects to be published for over a hundred years. It covers all facets of the subject including such little known types of Gaelic song as waulking, rowing, reaping, milking, quern-grinding and churning songs ; and the fascinating 'fairy songs' often reputed to have been composed by 'the Little People' themselves. It also deals with the bagpipes and their music, including the esoteric and little-known subject of pibroch (pìobaireachd), the Ceòl Mór or 'Great Music' of the pipes ; the elusive pibroch-songs associated with it, and the curious pìobaireachd notation by vocable syllables known as canntaireachd. It gives a comprehensive review of the fiddle composers and their music, and of the Clàrsach and its revival, with an example only recently come to light of the all-but-extinct Scottish harp music. A chapter is devoted to the music of Orkney and Shetland; for though the music is of Scandinavian provenance, the Islands themselves have formed part of the kingdom of Scotland for just over five hundred years. The book contains close on a hundred and fifty music examples, of which a great many, including some rare tunes of the 'Ossianic' or 'Heroic' ballads are of the author's own collecting, and are here published for the first time." Contents include: Preface; Introduction: Traditional and National Music Defined; I. The Native Idiom; II. Gaelic and Lowland Scots Song; III. the Gaelic Labour Songs; IV. The Vocal Music of Lowland Scotland; V. The Bagpipes; VI. The Music of the Pipes; VII. The Fiddle; VIII. The Harp; IX. The Music of Orkney and Shetland; X. The Gaelic Long Tunes for the Psalms; XI. Conclusion: the Reader's Part; Index. Vertical crease to spine, otherwise Good in used and creased dustwrapper.