Five Tunes from the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra

Many islanders were looking forward to the April 3rd concert at the Confederation Centre of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra during their 40th Anniversary tour. Of course, this concert and so many other musical events had to be canceled given the virus situation. To get some idea of what we missed, do enjoy the YouTube video: Scottish Fiddle Orchestra celebrating Tartan Day 2020.

The SFO sent us several tunes from their repertoire of at least six hundred that they wanted to try with island fiddlers during their visit. I thought it might be fun for us to try five of them at home while we hope that the SFO can perform on the island and jam with us next year. The two jigs, New Rigged Ship and Mary Bain’s Wedding, are a part of a set of five which includes three many of us are familiar with: Teviot Bridge, Stool of Repentance and Hundred Pipers. Ceud Mile Failte (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes) was written by J.M. Mason, founder and for many years director of the Orchestra. The last two are tunes by James Scott Skinner which I have not run into before: Scott Skinner’s Compliments to Dr. McDonald and Davie Work. The SFO puts the familiar Laird of Drumblair between those two tunes in their set. Hope you have fun trying these out at home and that it won’t be too terribly long before we can all safely play together again!