There you go, Mr.AUSDAG, asking questions again!
There is a tradition of variations of the thought-out variety, but you have to go at it from the Historical Aspect, to find some of the material (at the Home Yardage Store?). What follows is “By -The-Yard”! Stop reading now, or your eyes will glaze over! Editors usualy write: M.E.G.O. for this stuff.
When my group “Sheila na Gig” was playing for “The Treasures of Irish Art” touring exhibit, at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, 1978 (with such objects d’art as: The Book of Kells, Trinity College Harp, Ardagh Chalice, Tara Broach, St. Patrick’s Bell Shrine, etc. etc.) We researched the instruments, costumes, and tried to find the “ancient music " of Ireland. We found precious little in the way of “printed” Irish music of any “Early” or “Ancient” Music, our objective was the 1500s time period.
Early Irish Music extracted by theory from Ogam script on Standing Stones ( in reality, mostly “Kilroy Was Here” inscriptions), was rejected, by me, as not music. The " 'ap Huy” (son of Hugh) manuscript of Welsh Harp tablature, might be technical, (read dull) exercises, as interpreted by Arnold Dolmetch. Getting a little better, is “William Ballet’s Lute Book”, from behind the English “Pale” (sharpened log fence) of Dublin, in Lute tablature, with some Irish tunes, but mostly English and Continental tunes. Other English sources, such as Fitzwilliam’s Virginal Book (Dover Publications New York, in 2 volumnes) contains four Irish gems (my favorite title: “the Irish Dumpe”, is a dance tune).
The group had better luck with the Scots “Oral Tradition” the “ancient song” Duan nan Ceardaich, on the Folkways LP “Songs and Pipes of the Hebrides” (Fe 4430) our singer, Jim Duran, found that the tune to this Ossianic chant, fit the rhythm of the words in the opening part of the Duanaire Finn, the"Poem Book of Finn", a book, published in France, by Irish gentleman soldiers (“Wild Geese”) in the 1700s. I am telling you all this, as a warm up to my “Early Layer of Musical Practice in the British Isles” lecture.
I started out on Scots GHB where there’s plenty of examples “Old and New” of Scots “ceol beg” with 2 part tunes (A and B), expanded to 4 parts (A,B,C, and D), for examples of these Variations, sometimes at their most extreme, consult (for instance): “The Scots Guards / standard settings of pipe music” 11th edition, Paterson Publications, London (1965). I like to deconstruct these 4 part tunes, back to what I think is the “oridginal” 2 parts, which drives Scots pipers crazy. Then there’s my Northumbrian Small Pipe Music filled with variations, some from manuscripts noted down in the mid 1600s with 6 bar lines, but alot of them from the 1700s (see Vicker’s Tunes- Dragonfly publications). The earliest Scots printed music, started out in 1733, with the publication of William Thomson’s “Orpheus Caledonius” (reprinted 1962 Folklore Associates). Now I’m going to get to the meaty part of this: The recently discovered, Scots Lowland Pipe / Northumbrian Half-long music of the William Dixon manuscript ( also 1733) reprinted by Matt Seattle (Matt actualy started out life with one “T”). Matt has given this Dixon ms. the title of: “The Master Piper, or the Nine Notes That Shook the World”. (1996, Dragonfly) Here are Tunes with as many as 14 variations, 40 tunes in all. Reading this music, you get an idea of how much TIME 18th century people had on their hands (no radio, no T.V., no Xbox even!). The problem is making the variations sound musical! Also Note: If you start at a slow enough tempo, you may get through the faster sections, toward the end of each tune.
Moving to Geoghan’s “Tutor for the New or Pastoral Bagpipe” (1746) and the recently discovered,“Advocate’s Library Pastoral Pipe ms.”(see Mr. Ross Anderson’s postings, here on C&F) you find the same kind of variations that are in the style of the Northumbrian music I just mentioned.
Printed Irish music gets a start with “O’Carolan’s Compositions” by John and William Neale (circa 1721). The real title is unknown, as the title page was torn off. True Irish pipe music, really comes on with O’Farrell’s “Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes” (1804), and his “Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes”, circa 1805-1810 ( both reprinted by Pat Sky). The variations found here are STILL in the style of the Scots and English tune collections, previously noted. Now on to George Petrie’s "Ancient Music of Ireland "(1855) and the music of the piper Paddy Coneely, no variations printed there, with one exception, “The Battle of Augrim” a programatic, descriptive piece. Please see
Jimmy O’ Brien-Moran’s analysis on the Sean Reid Society vol.2 CD-Rom. In my opinion, the Irish style of “Airs and Variations”, sharing the same, “written-down”,composed, non-spontaneous variations (as found in other parts of the Isles, that tradition has continued on to our times) did diminish greatly in Irish printed sources, after the Famine (1847). Now, most of us study transcriptions of (seemingly) IMPROVISED VARIATIONS, off of recordings, after the "live"performance, and marvel at the tunes these pipers “turn on their heads”, inverted arpeggios, big jumps, rubato, contours subtley changed, but still recognizable as the original tune… and the gracings! I think they RIVAL the Bulgarian Gaida, and the SCOTS GHB traditions, for complicated styles of grace notes.
In conclusion, I suspect that a certain amount of “cooking up” of variations, goes on with the modern “Great” Irish pipers, but due to the tremendous prejudice against the “dot readers”, nobody is admiting anything, to anybody.
“You have to pay your dues”, mostly it’s TIME PRACTICING! At the same time, apply the intellect, and avail yourself of every method possible, for understanding “THE MUSIC” S.F.
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aweful.
