> You've probably got all the relevant currently available Scottish > stuff, but maybe have a look at the related Northumbrian piping > tradition, which stll keeps the variation flame burning, as does > the Border piping tradition, but with even fewer exponents.
I'd suggest something entirely different: piano music. A mandolin can do chords, and there were a good many variation sets from the late 18th and early 19th centuries that exploited both hands of the keyboard (or did equivalent things with the harp). Two that come to mind are Mackintosh's variations on "Lord Kelly's Strathspey" and Mrs Robertson of Ladykirk's set on "Follow her over the border". These will NOT work "out of the box", but should suggest ways of mixing chordal and melodic textures in a way that's more mandolinistic than a straight performance of a fiddle, flute or pipe set. As far as I know none of these early variation sets was ever reprinted and most only exist as music sheets. Whose catalogue entries don't usually even mention that they *are* variation sets. Yes there *is* still work to do after Gore's index... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack> * food intolerance data & recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music. ----> off-list mail to "j-c" rather than "scots-l" at this site, please <---- Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
