About the only thing the various commentators agree on is that this tune was written by PM James Robertson (1886 – 1961), from Banffshire, up in the northeast of Scotland. He was a piper with the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. As to the date of composing the tune, some accounts have it as 1915 when James was a POW in… Read more →
Category: Tune
Tune Origins – Highland Cathedral
Who would have guessed that Highland Cathedral was written by two German gentlemen? Ulrich Roever, and Michael Korb, a composer and arranger. They composed the tune as an anthem for the pipes in Germany in 1982. It took root quickly within the Piping community and was the anthem of the Royal Hong Kong Police until the hand-over of Hong Kong… Read more →
Tune Origins – The Barren Rocks of Aden
The Barren Rocks of Aden is a march tune and is one of the first tunes our pipers learn to play on the pipes. It that has a strong association with the Gordon Highlanders Regiment because you can play it for the dance called ‘The Gay Gordons’. We play it as part of a set along with The Brown Haired Maiden… Read more →
Tune Origins – Scots Wha Hae
This used to be considered Scotland’s national anthem; now several songs are in contention for that honour. It is the first tune that many people learning the bagpipes play, as it features in the College of Piping Tutor Book 1. Robert Burns called this stirring song ‘Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn’, using the ancient tune ‘Hey Tutti Taitie’. He imagined… Read more →
Tune Origins – Teribus
I’d never heard of the tune ‘Teribus’. It sounds like Latin and I like the picture this conjures up of some guys snuck up against the north side of Hadrian’s Wall hearing the Romans on the other side playing the tune on their pipes, and nicking it from them. However plausible that may be – 🤔 – the word is… Read more →
(Wha Saw) the 42nd
We love playing this tune, it makes up a set with The High Road to Gairloch. There is a trap early on as the start matches Scotland The Brave, so those pipers not paying attention can slip into a different tune altogether! The first two verses of this song are about soldiers of the 42nd Highland Regiment, the Black Watch,… Read more →