Na Píobairí Uilleann

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8 5 13 20121206 13 low C such as “The Sandhills”, “Blue Eyes” and “Hidden Pearls”. Bill Ochs sent me a lovely ver- sion of “The Cornhill” with low “C”s, which he transcribed from the McNamara Family’s album Leitrim’s Hidden Treasure. There are many reels in keys other than D that make use of low C such as another of the “Paddy Fahey’s” (starts with CBGF), “Paddy Cronin’s” and “The Boston Boys”, all in C, “The Yellow Tinker” and “The Girl who Broke my Heart” in G, and “Ballinasloe Fair” in A minor. In G minor there are tunes such as “O’Dowd’s Favorite” and “Thompson’s Reel”. In other tune forms, we can hear the C in “The Glen Cottage Polka” in G minor and the horn- pipe “The Sea Captain” in D is a “C-farer”. Just how comfortably some of these tunes would sit on the pipes I will leave to others more competent than I to judge. The very first book of bagpipe music ever pub- lished, The Compleat Tutor for the Pastoral or New Bagpipe by John Geoghegan (1743) has a few interesting tunes that go down to low C. There is a version of “The Battle of Aughrim” (sub-titled “The Football March”), a polka- type tune called “Blind Paddy’s Fancy”, a jig, possibly indicating Geoghegan’s place of ori- gin, called “The Humours of Westmeath” and about eight more. Other early collections of pastoral pipe repertoire that have come to light in recent years (thanks to Hugh Cheape and Ross Anderson) contain tunes with low “C”s. The Advocates’ manuscript (1765) has a ver- sion of the old tune “Corn Riggs” plus eight others and the Sutherland manuscript (1785) has three more. 5 It might come as a surprise to remember that some of these settings with low C, or even the tunes themselves, have not been played on pipes for approximately one hundred and fifty years. To finish, let’s go back to the beginning. It is often said that some of the earliest music played on pipes in Ireland were clan marches. One of the finest that has survived into our age is known as “The March of the King of Laois”. True, it is already sometimes played on uil- leann pipes, but without the low “C”s that it seems were present in the earliest version and, I think, add to the tune. Low C would give the option the playing of other marches like “Brian Boru’s March” and “O’Neill’s March” in D with drones and regulators harmonizing with the tonic. This is not to say that drones sound- ing the tonic, rather than the seventh or the fourth (as when tunes are played in E and A minor) is necessarily better, but is simply to note the possibility of expanded options. As mentioned earlier, these tunes are not meant to form a definitive or comprehensive list; they are just a few random kernels for sowing fur- ther thought on using low C in uilleann piping. I’d be very interested in any tunes others might know of, or come across, and have started a webpage to collect them at www.foot- joint.com/low-c-tunes , where the lost note can be found. Duncan Gillis Ottawa Hornpipes@gmail.com NOTES 1 Gillis, Duncan. “A Foot-Joint for the Uilleann Chanter”. An Píobaire 7.5 (2011): 25-28 2 Herbert Hughes and Joseph Campbell, Eds. Songs of Uladh (Belfast: William Mullan & Sons, 1904). 3 Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, Between the Jigs and the Reels: Donegal Fiddle Playing Tradition (Manorhamilton: Drumlin Publications, 1994). 4 Francis O’Neill, Irish Minstrels and Musicians (Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1913) Chap- ter XXII. 5 Geoghegan’s Tutor, the Advocates’, Suther- land and MacKie manuscripts of music for the pastoral pipe can all be viewed on Ross Ander- son’s website: Ross Anderson, Ross’s Music Page. Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Viewed 25 Jan. 2012. URL: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/music/index. html

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