The Dudelsack (a podcast about bagpipe music new and old with Dr. Key)

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Though not a household name to the average piper, Roderick Campbell’s contribution to the catalog of great pipe tunes is outstanding. For those who today treasure his tunes, his best and perhaps most beloved are the stately 2/4 marches “The Royal Scottish Pipers Society” and “The Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band,” the bold 6/8 marches “The Laird of Auchernach” and “The Banks of the Skiach” (SKEE-ach), he classic strathspeys “Tulloch Castle” and “Loch Loskin,” and the stunning reels “Malcolm Johnston”, “Alexander Wood”, and “Cecily Ross.”

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Given his talent as a performer, composer, and teacher, William Lawrie’s (1881 - 1916) premature death in 1916 at 35 years old remains one of piping’s greatest untimely losses. William Lawrie’s primary legacy is the few compositional gems that he gave the piping world. Due to his premature death, his output was small – only about 21 tunes with some debatably attributed; however, nearly all of his works are of high quality and demonstrate great promise as a composer. He had a gift for tuneful and inventive melody and wrote both insightfully idiomatic as well as creatively forward-thinking music for the bagpipes. Despite his small output, some of his compositions are still widely played and well-known among bagpipers today; such famous tunes include the 9/8 retreat march The Battle of the Somme (popular as the tune to accompany the highland dance ‘The Lilt”), the competition 2/4 march Captain Carswell, and the competition 4-parted strathspey Inveraray Castle.

Peter Roderick MacLeod (1879-1965) is one of the most iconic bagpiper-composers of the early 20th century, laying a foundation of style upon which many bagpipe composers would build to the present. In addition to the exceeding quality of many of his tunes, he was a relatively prolific composer, his oeuvre estimated to be well over 200 tunes, many of which are currently lost and/or unpublished. This collection of 50 tunes is those that are in published volumes from the 20th century, the largest collection of which is The Bicentennial Collection Volume 2 published in the United States; about 60 tunes are printed therein. There are perhaps still many tunes by Peter MacLeod Sr. to yet be explored. Enjoy this compilation of many of his most iconic and lesser played works.