Tunes

Chicago Games

Tunes, we call them tunes. Sometimes it sounds like it is pronounced "choons", but tunes they are. A bagpiper without tunes is a sad creature indeed, forlornly thumbing through the Green Book looking for something exciting to get the fingers dancing and the pipes skirling.

A wise piping teacher once said (last week when he set my ass straight) that breadth of tune knowledge is far more valuable than knowing a few tunes backward and forward. I need to learn more tunes, of different idioms (marches, slow airs, hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, reels, and piobaireachd), to become a better piper. I'll create three lists of tunes here: those I know and can play well, those I can play passably while hiding in a band, those that I'm working on, those I want to learn (yes, that's four lists, counting can be difficult at times).

Piobaireachd

Tunes I know and play well (well for ME at my level as opposed to objectively good):

• Scots Wha' Hae
• Amazing Grace
• I See Mull
• Skye Boat Song
• Green Hills of Tyrol
• Brown Haired Maiden
• Mhairi's Wedding
• Prince Charles Welcome to Lochaber
• The Company's Lament (Urlar and 1st Variation)
• Will Ye No Come Back Again

Davidson Scottish Arts Academy

Tunes I can play while hiding in a band:

• Going Home
• Wings
• Rowan Tree
• Bonnie Galloway
• Scotland the Brave
• Bide Awa (Johnnie Scobie)
• When the Battle's O'er
• Balmoral
• Murdo's Wedding

Tunes I am working on:

• Captain Norman Orr Ewing
• Spogan
• The Judge's Dilemma
• Black Stream
• O'er the Bows to Ballindalloch
• Aspen Bank
• Malts on the Optics
• The Stone Frigate
• Donald MacLean's Farewell to Oban
• Dorrator Bridge
• Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree
• Dr. Ross' 50th Welcome to the Argyllshire Gathering
• Castle Dangerous
• The Company's Lament (remaining Variations)
• Lament for the Rowan Tree
• Jean Mauchline
• Oft in a Stilly Night
• Rocking the Baby
• Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes
• Gravel Road
• High Road to Gairloch
• Wearing of the Green
• Minstrel Boy
• Boys of County Cork

Three seasons of solo competition

Tunes I want to learn:

• Mist Covered Mountains
• My Home
• Flower of Scotland
• Flowers of the Forest
• Captain Colin Campbell
• Sleepy Maggie
• Piper's Wedding
• The Lochaber Gathering
• Lochaber No More
• The Thief of Lochaber
• Dumbarton's Drums
• The Mason's Apron
• Lament for the Children
• Afternoon at the Green Monster
• The Rose of Kelvingrove
• Farewell to the Creeks
• Steam Train to Mallaig
• Battle of the Somme
• Heights of Dargai
• Hector the Hero
• Highland Cathedral 
• The Gael
• The Dark Isle