Perhaps I still don’t understand; I thought you were suggesting that slow airs might have some sort of influence on the performance of pibroch.
As far as Big Davy’s comment, in my experience this is not the case. I compete in piobaireach and slow air and you could never do as he suggests in competition. Things sometimes do work the other way though, and pipers will take a part of a pibroch urlar and work it into, for instance, a pipe band medley, or some other performance piece.
Airs not connected to words but played slowly are still slow airs as far as I’m concerned and I am well aware of the sean nos tradition and play many sean nos airs as listening pieces as most musicians do, hopefully well informed by listening to singers for phrasing and such.
So what would one call an air with a slow pace? An aria with a tempo between Larghissimo and Adagio?
FWIW, here is information on Amazing Grace:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace
To claim it as truly American just isn’t correct. I’m unable to trace the origin of the tune “New Britain” which is the music that accompanies John Newton’s lyrics. I’d also like to know what tune the hymn was originally sung to.
Airs in general are not tied to ITM. I agree with dunnp…if you play an air slow, it’s appropriate to call it a slow air. I’d also argue that I’ve heard Appalachian and Ozark slow airs - the descendants of the Scotts and Irish settlers brought their music, changed it, and created an American ballad tradition (the style is very similar to Sean Nos from which it descended). Fiddlers have long played these ballads as airs…in a slow manner, with many Scottish and Irish bits of ornamentation. I cannot imagine these not being considered slow airs.
Eric
An aria is a vocal part, so maybe not 
You could always call it an Adagio and be safe. 
Here’s a funny thing. The medley our pipe band competes with has a slow air, in addition to reels, jigs, strathspeys and a march. At one point in time when we were learning the tunes and putting them together, the “slow” air had a faster tempo than any of the other tunes. Our tempo for the air is 100 bpm, which is on the quick side, but within the range typical for pipe bands to play slow airs.
Oops! :Slaps forehead:
As for the "truly (US) American" tunes, it would be hard to make a defining line of what is and is not "American". My Bruce and Emmit's tune book has a practice drill that was a popular British drinking tune that had not been given Key's lyrics yet. Does that make "The Star Spangled Banner" not a "truly American tune"?Good question. I’d personally say the tune is British but the song is American, and I’d say for Amazing Grace the tune may be American (depending on where New Britain came from) but the song/hymn is English. However, that’s just my interpretation.
Really, most songs/tunes are like my Nissan…world composites.
Eric
We are really a mutt when it comes to traditions.
I put a lot more stock in what’s on the Library of Congress website than what’s on wikipedia. 
The origin of the tune NEW BRITAIN (hymn tunes are typically given in all caps for reasons that escape me) is exactly what I was writing about upthread. It is from the pen of William Walker. It’s based on HARMONY GROVE, the tune collected and arranged by Clayton and Carrell, (and/or GALLAHER from the Columbian Harmony assembled by non-musicians Spillman and Shaw – it could be Carrell took the tune from Columbian). He changed two bars of music, changed the time signature (from 3/2 to 3/4), and wrote new harmonies. All these guys (Walker, Clayton, and Carrell) were editors and publishers, not collectors. There was some tune somewhere (most likely Virginia) that preceded HARMONY GROVE, but there is no evidence of it. We don’t know how much Carrell and Clayton changed it before they published it.
There is absolutely no evidence to support the position that the origins of HARMONY GROVE are anywhere outside of the South (Virginia/Kentucky). The tune we have today, the way we have it, clearly originates in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Were it not for William Walker, I think it’s safe to say we would not know this melody. His changes to the melody (not least of which re-setting it in 3/4) make it what it is, and his pairing of it with the hymn Amazing Grace created something timeless.
Ah, thanks for reminding me of your earlier post. I had read it, but after reading through 5 pages of replies you can lose track of these things.
The wikipedia page really doesn’t contradict the Library of Congress page, though, does it?
The tune as you have shown is clearly American. I love both the tune as an air and the lyrics, too - the whole thing is timeless. However the lyrics are clearly British.
I guess it becomes a hybrid hymn, but neither side can claim it as truly their own.
Eric
LoC does a better job of presenting the evidence. It would be nice if they had facsimiles of the Columbian Harmony too, but they’re here (2/3 of the way down):
http://www.robertkelleyphd.com/ShapeNoteMusic/intro.htm
My biggest criticism of the wiki page is that it understates Walker’s roll. Without him, AG as we know it just doesn’t exist. You’d probably be able to find it in hymn books, but no one would know it, and it would have never made the transition to bagpipes. It’s not just pairing the words and music, but his changes to the music as an arranger to make them really set off the words. Without those musical changes, the pairing it’s nearly as strong.
I guess it becomes a hybrid hymn, but neither side can claim it as truly their own.
English words, American air
Being a piper, I don’t have much use for words anyway; it’s all about the tune. 
I’ve now read every single bit of the stuff on the Library of Congress website about Amazing Grace. I simply don’t agree with you. Harmony Grove is the same tune and is known to have antecedents that are imported - quite possibly from Scotland, but who’s to say? The so-called “change” from 3/2 to 3/4 makes not one jot of difference. It’s the same rhythm and the same tune. There are very minor changes to the notes, but, interestingly (at least to me) the earlier tune seems just as closely related to the modern version as Walker’s version does. Neither of them are quite the same as the tune that is now commonly sung. The LoC doesn’t claim Walker wrote the tune, just that he put it together with the words.
Anyway, clearly we can read the same words different ways. To me, the LoC articles support my assertion that the tune is of British origin. To you, those same words support your assertion that it’s “truly American”. Meh. Either way, it’s a gorgeous hymn. Tune and words.
By the way, is it me, or am I experiencing deja vu here? I’m sure we’ve been down this road before …
… oh, and next time you watch the film “Amazing Grace” pay close attention to the second fiddle player in the string quartet. Especially his superb acting skills. 
I guess we’ll just disagree then. When I play the three tunes, as written, I hear important differences.
For all the alleged possible antecedents, I’ve yet to see one cited.
But I’m not seeing anything their pages that indicates hints at any origin of the tune prior to it’s publication in Columbian. Did I miss something? If you have some evidence for a British origin of the tune, please share it.
Right now it seems like this is more of a question of origin rather than belonging. For tunes does it depend on a jus soli or a Jus sanguinis idea of nationality? To me it’s like pizza, Naples might have invented it, but we co-opted it.
Yes, I recall a detailed thread on AG that I was involved in.
Now this is interesting. And it cites some further sources for us. I haven’t tracked down those other sources. I might. At some point.
All this article does for me, however, is to continue to flag up the uncertainties surrounding the origins of the tune. I don’t think anybody knows for sure.
I’ve never been to the States. What’s pizza like there? Is it like pizza in Naples? 'Cos pizza in Naples is out of this world. 
Was that you? For years now my wife and I have debated whether or not that guy was really playing or just faking it. He was though, no question, a superb actor. 
I love that film, and am a huge Ioan Gruffudd fan. How cool to get to play onscreen in a film!
Eric
Did it have tomatoes? It’s one of those new world fruits. Don’t think we started making the things until the 40s, but now frozen pizzas and pizza chains are ubiquitous. Oh, and it’s usually quantity over quality over here.