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On the Naming of the ‘ Strathspey ’: Toponymic Evidence from Early Fiddle Collections

On the Naming of the ‘ Strathspey ’: Toponymic Evidence from Early Fiddle Collections. Musica Scotica : Aberdeen Will Lamb 27 April 2014. The strathspey appeared when Anglo and Gaelic culture came into their closest historical contact

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On the Naming of the ‘ Strathspey ’: Toponymic Evidence from Early Fiddle Collections

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  1. On the Naming of the ‘Strathspey’:Toponymic Evidence from Early Fiddle Collections MusicaScotica: Aberdeen Will Lamb 27 April 2014

  2. The strathspey appeared when Anglo and Gaelic culture came into their closest historical contact We can see this when we map the placenames of Scottish music collections

  3. Many Faces of the Strathspey • Arhythmic ‘meme’ permeating Scottish musical culture, esp Gaelic song • A type of instrumental dance music, or ‘tune type’ • A slow form of ‘listening’ music • A type of dance

  4. Strathspeys and Reels: Modern Definitions • Strathspey: slow pointed tune in common time (4/4) with dotted notes and ‘Scots snaps’ • Reel: fast round tune in alla breve (‘cut time’: 2/2) with smooth, regular quavers

  5. Timeline: first ‘strathspeys’ ✔ 1757 First anonymous strathspeys (Bremner) 1710 ‘MacPherson’s Testament’ (Sinkler) 1745 ‘A new strathspey reel’ (Oswald) 1780 Cumming’s Collection 1700 Culloden 1750 1780 c 1697-1716 First ‘Scots snaps’ in ‘Schots Air’ (Dutch ms: Rimmer) 1747 Prince Charles sings ‘a strathspey-reel’ 1759 First notated waulking song (Oswald)

  6. Angus Cumming’s collections 1780 A Collection of Strathspey, or Old Highland Reels 1782 A Collection of Strathspeys, or Old Highland Reels

  7. Francis Peacock (1723-1807) said that the strathspey was found across the Highland region. • Patrick MacDonald (1784): prints strathspeys from N Highlands, Perthshire and Hebrides

  8. Cumming’s preface (1780) That species of musical composition called a Reel, and particularly the Strathspey Reel, is the catch, the brisk and lively song, of the natives of Caledonia

  9. St Kilda c1780 ‘At the conclusion of the fishing season, when the winter store of this little commonwealth is safely deposited in a house, called Tigh-a-bharra, its whole members resort thither, as being the most spacious room in their dominions, and hold a solemn assembly. There they sing with gratitude and joy one of their best reel-airs…’ (Ramsay)

  10. ’S ann an Ìle (strathspey) Hugh Duncan, Islay Strathspey followed by reel: normal speed

  11. A Chur nan Gobhar às a’ Chreig (Reel) Hugh Duncan, Islay Strathspey at normal tempo followed by 3rd part of reel, stretched to the same tempo

  12. Pretty Marion: Pipe Reel Rona Lightfoot, South Uist Strathspey (end of Moneymusk) in normal tempo followed by 3rd part of reel (Pretty Marion), stretched to same tempo

  13. Griogal Cridhe: Lullaby Jessie MacKenzie, Lewis Normal Speed

  14. Griogal Cridhe cont Sped up to strathspey tempo

  15. In both the playing and singing of reels and slower work songs one finds an underlying ‘strathspey’ feel, when performed by Gaelic speakers The ‘strathspey’ seems to be an underlying rhythmic matrix for Gaelic song associated with movement

  16. Why was it called the ‘strathspey’? • The strathspey first entered the written record in the 1740s • At this time, the Spey valley region was on the border between Anglo and Gaelic society • The rhythm was noticed by violin playing nobility, or musicians employed by them • The strathspey - as we know it today - is likely to be a product of intercultural contact: a culture graft

  17. Place-names in Scottish Fiddle Collections (Gore) Ex. ‘Lord Kinnaird’; ‘The Duchess of Argyll’; ‘Castle Grant’

  18. Place-names in Tune Collections 1700-1749

  19. Place-names 1700-1749: Counties indicated 0 points in Hebrides, Rosshire, Sutherlandshire or Caithness 1 point each in Inverness-shire and Argyllshire

  20. Violin or fiddle Manuscript evidence 1616-1750(data from Keith Sanger) Viol 1701 ? Data comes mainly from Highland estates (so covers less spread) Almost all references before 1744 are within ‘intercultural zone’ Indicates instrumental culture was linguistically-divided 1744 1747

  21. Place-names in Tune Collections 1750-1783 • Intercultural zone much bigger • Many areas of the Gaidhealtachd still ‘off the map’ • Ross-shire • Sutherland • The Hebrides (except Mull and Skye)

  22. Around the world, instrumental dance music traditions are recognised as generally evolving from earlier dance song traditions (Sachs 1937: 181) “In all probability, the first songs to be instrumentalised are those for which the words have been forgotten” (ibid.) Sachs, Curt. 1937. World History of the Dance. New York: W W Norton.

  23. Importance of Place-names • Provide us with evidence of intercultural contact • Show that the Spey valley area was accessible to Anglo musical society • Shows the absence of such contact in large swathes of the Highlands • The moniker - the ‘strathspey’ swallowed up earlier airs featuring the meme

  24. Summary The underlying rhythm of the strathspey is so ubiquitous in Gaelic songs connected to motion, that it must have developed as part of that tradition As a ‘tune type’, it is a culture graft: a product of contact between Anglo and Gaelic society We must be attentive to the hybrid nature of this musical form

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