SCOTTISH MUSIC.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 13, 6 May 1876, Page 2

SCOTTISH MUSIC.

. [FROM EtfHARMONIA.] . For " Aulcl Lang Syne." This is M burden of a very old ditty, happily caujjS by Burns, and made the subject of a s|| which is not' merely Scotch, but beloll to the common kindred of our rJ| Where is it not sung, and who can fail™ be fimpresscd by the exquisite toucliljj nature in tlie words, and the spirit of ffi melody ] After the terrible siege of JePf labad, the few British soldiers who afj vived returned, bearing with them || Oriental tyrant who had caused them suffering and misery. On reaching M iirst military station they were welcoii|| as those whom their friends never M pected to see again. An entertaining! Ava-s given to them, at which their prisora was present. After their repast, befa| parting, this song of Home was sural Every Scotchman, Englishman, and Iri|| man, carried away by their eiitlmsiassj sprang from their seats, and standing op foot on their chairs, the other on t|f table, all joined hands and united }| singing this song in true Scottish sty® Among the number none was more enthi siastic and uproarious than the Rajal The words were unknoAvn to him, but tra power of the melody and the spirit of t'l singers, made him for the time forget hi sorrows and his altered circumstance? - , 1

Never was there a more striking instancy of the magic power of this song. Tjjij melody is an old Strathspey, pentatonid) and a lino example of how, by changiii the time and expression, dance music tl comes transformed into song. Mnii Scottish music bears this double charactn —the contrast being often very strikiiji Who, for instance, would expect that oiJ of the most spirited dances in Scotlaiilj '-'The Ruffian's Rant," could be trajii formed into one of the most pathetic songs " Roy's Wife o' Aldivaloch." f3

" Ye Bank and Braes o' Fonnie Dooii| jSTo song written by the Bard of the Dfoji is more widely associated with his naS and memory than this simple lyric. T| heroine was a beautiful maiden of Carrie! in Ayrshire, whose lover proved false i her. The sad touched the chords c the poet's heart, and called forth these ef quisifcely delicate verses. The tune "TJjj Caledonian's Hunt," is singularly fitted! bi-'ng out the deep pathos of the words ;| is so well known as one of the characteristif songs of Scotland, and perhaps no son| exists which is more universally sung, noa tally in Scotland, but over the who; world. "The Pibroch o' Doiiiiil Dliii or Black Donald," otherwise"•ClamialJii Cheile," "the Gathering of the Clans," ii one of the oldest and most noted pibrochspf the Highlands. v l s

It was the summons of the chmstfi battle, and Sir 'Walter Scott says it is known to have been played at the siege'oi Inverlochy Castle, in the eleventh century, by black Donald of the Isles. WherevcJ Highlanders have since been led to battle; its thrilling strains have urged -iliem-oni The full power of the tune can only be heard on the large bagpipe, but if .played or sung with proper spirit;, few tunes can surpass it in heart-stirring true spirit was caught by Scott YsuhiJie' wrote for it words in every v, r ay worthy p| the tune, and no one who heard Wilso| sing this song can ever foi-get it. As Cart lyle says of "Scots wha hae "—"Todtt justice to the singing of this song requires t:e voice of a volcano." These two songs' rank side by side in Scotland's national music ; and were the old Pibroch as well known as " Tutti Taiti," it would not be! less pojndar. The Pibroch consists of; many parts or variations. Scott's wordf are adapted to the first three, but the first part ought to bo repeated to give' propeij balance to the melody. It should be svfflgi grandly and with vigour. The melody] contains all the notes of the scale, and is, perhaps the most perfect example of the] Mode of the First of the scale to be found! in Celtic music, in which a tune truly ita the mode of the Tonic i: rarely to be metj with. v