Friday, December 7, 2007

MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart's Lament

One of the things that I do with my free time is play the Great Highland Bagpipe. I’m currently working on a classical tune, piobaireachd in bagpipe parlance, called MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart's Lament (No. 1). It’s a wonderfully haunting piece and infinitely complex. Like all piobaireachds, it starts off with a basic theme known as a 'ground' or urlar, and then progresses through several variations of the ground, with each becoming more complex than the last. The piper speeds up and slows down at will adding expression to the tune. In the end, the tune returns to the ground, completing the circle.

Ed Neigh plays the tune in the player below.

1 comment:

Piper Pehkonen said...

Hi Eric,

I found your blog by way of a link to mine from Piping Girl, on whose blog you had left a comment. Such is the viral world of these media.

I just wanted to say that, although it was piping that connected me to you, I enjoyed reading your experiences around the world. I realize what a sheltered life I do lead, although events across the World touch us all.
I have left my comment attached to this post, because it would seem that this is one of things we have in common, but I am really responding to your blog in its entirety. I notice that you are interested in piobaireachd and thought it was interesting that you describe it as "haunting". That is exactly how I would describe many of the pictures of Iraqi children on your site.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and you may care to look at my scrambled writing on piping and life - but considerably more piping than life!

Best regards,
Marc
http://piperpride.com