Background to the Campbell Canntaireachd

Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland Branch, 2014

This research started as an ambition by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA) branch in Northern Ireland to investigate two important aspects of the branch and the associated Scottish highland bagpipe tradition in Northern Ireland. First, the RSPBA seeks to develop knowledge on the history of the branch from its inception post second World War, through the difficult and complex period in Northern Ireland known as ‘The Troubles’, to the ‘post-conflict’ peace agreement period in the twenty first century. Second, the organisation hopes to develop an ethnographic overview of the present day living tradition of highland bagpipe performances linked or associated to the branch in Northern Ireland. This document deals primarily with the first of these objectives. However, early into the research we realised that uncovering the dates and details of organisation formations would only provide a limited picture of those early years of the RSPBA in Northern Ireland.

Monash University, 2022

This thesis investigates the concept of musical style as it pertains to the tradition of the uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes). In discussing and understanding their practice and that of others, uilleann pipers draw on the concept of style in a variety of ways which range from taxonomic classification to impressionistic description. Many of these appear vague, if not contradictory, to those unfamiliar with the tradition. While there is substantial overlap between the concept of style in uilleann piping and the broader field of Irish traditional music, the practice and community of uilleann piping presents some intriguing points of difference. This research investigates these correspondences and tensions and their role in shaping practice and discourse amongst uilleann pipers. The thesis is centred around five case studies of prominent contemporary uilleann pipers, derived from semi-structured ethnographic interviews and musical analysis of selections from their recorded output. It also draws on relevant theories from a wide variety of literature from the fields of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, and cultural studies to contextualise and further examine these findings. While their musical practices cover a wide range of approaches to the instrument, the way in which these pipers speak about and understand musical style establish a nuanced and sophisticated discourse around the concept. The understanding of musical style which emerges is one which cannot be confined to a purely sonic or musicological realm. Rather, it exists between musicians, instruments, communities, identities, geographies, and histories. In doing so, musical style facilitates negotiation between these seemingly disparate realities and expression of otherwise intangible affects and experiences. It allows uilleann pipers to assert individual agency against constraining external forces, while simultaneously situating them as a part of a broader context which provides meaning to their actions.

Чатхан: История и современность. Материалы IV Международного Симпозиума 1-4 июля 2010 г. Абакан, Хакасское Книжное Издательство,, 2010

The subject of this article is the Dutch folklorist Henk Arends (1922 - 1994) and the sound recordings that he made of Northumbrian Smallpipes players in the mid-1960s. It gives a biography of Henk Arends and an inventarisation of his Northumbrian Smallpipes recordings and the names of the players that he recorded.

Journal of American Folklore, 2008

Presentation to Bagpipe Society May 2005 and exploring the historical record and tracing the modern revival of Cornish Bagpipes.

2008

The aim of the Maynooth Musicology: Postgraduate Journal is twofold: it compiles a selection of articles written by postgraduate students in our department each year. It also affords up to three of our postgraduate students the valuable experience of editing their first journal, drawing on our joint professional work. This volume contains thirteen essays by postgraduate students reflecting current areas of specialism in the music department. Irish musical studies are addressed in articles by Adele Commins, Jennifer O’Connor and Lisa Parker; Schubert studies are represented by Adam Cullen; nineteenth- and twentieth-century song studies are represented by Paul Higgins, Aisling Kenny and Meng Ren and Late European Romanticism by Jennifer Lee and Emer Nestor. Gender is addressed by Jennifer Halton and essays within the area of electro-acoustic music and music technology are contributed by Brian Bridges, Brian Carty and Barbara Dignam.