It might be interesting for ITM people to hear how people in the Highland piping world like to take traditional tunes and muck with them to come up with something different.
First, here’s the winner of the 2008 World Pipe Band Championship in Glasgow, Simon Fraser University from BC Canada.
At 1:59 you’ll hear their arrangement of The Atholl Highlanders. All the little syncopations and variations that ITM musicians can do extemporaneously must be though out in advance and taught to all the pipers and drummers. Note that the drum score follows every little twist and turn that the pipers do to a “t”.
At 3:08 their arrangement of Braes of Locheil, a Gaelic air. Usually pipers play it in the pentatonic A mode but here it’s in B.
Then at 4:56 they go into McLeod’s Reel (Mrs MacLeod of Raasay as it’s called in Scotland).
Note that the tune starts in A but then modulated to B minor so that Braes of Locheil can be played at the same time as a counterpoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t20Tju4QrN0&feature=related
Now here’s the Los Angeles Scottish playing at the WPBC in 2007. Their opening tune is a clever reworking of The Atholl Highlanders in 4/4 time, with lots of syncopation.
Later in the medley while playing a reel they’ll switch from 4/4 time to 3/4 time in the same tune, in effect turning a reel into a waltz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qxvJ28W-7k
Now here is Shotts and Dykehead, usually the leading Scottish band, playing at the 2008 WPBC.
To me this medley is distinguished by some very attractive tunes.
Their opening march Tommy MacDonald of Barguillean is lovely, as is the first jig McKenna’s Ceilidh.
The first strathspey following the slow air is great as well.
Some controversy came from their tenor-drummers having lengths of aquarium tubing/hose going from the drums to their mouths so that by changing the air pressure within the drum they can get a whole range of notes like the bodhran or timpani.
Also odd was having all the pipers turn about to face the audience at the end, which I think was never done before at the WPBC. It obviously makes it much more difficult to play together when nobody can see the conductor (the Pipe Major).