The Laird o' Drumblair
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Laird o' Drumblair" is a Scottish strathspey or schottische in A Major<br> (Alburger, Bain, Brody, Cranford, Emmerson, Phillips, Skinner) or G Major (McCutcheon).<br> It is played in standard or AEae (recommended by Skinner in 1904) fiddle tunings.<br> The parts are played AB (Alburger, Hardie, Hunter, Johnson, Skinner), AA'B (Emmerson),<br> AABB (Bain, Brody, Cranford, Phillips) or AA'BB' (Perlman).<br> The mansion of Drumblair lies in the Parish of Forgue, on the north-western borders<br> of Aberdeenshire in the North West of Scotland.<br> The tune was composed by J. Scott Skinner (1843–1927) for his friend and benefactor<br> William F. McHardy of Drumblair, who gave Skinner use of a rent-free cottage for many<br> years to support his art. In his autobiography My Life and Adventures, Skinner wrote<br> that McHardy, the Laird, was so impressed with the composition that for the remaining<br> 15 years of his life he sent Skinner a thank-you check at Christmas-time. McHardy<br> could apparently well afford to be magnanimous, for he had made a fortune of over<br> 100,000 pounds in South America with engineering enterprises before returning to<br> live at Forgue near Huntly. The tune is considered one of the finest and most famous<br> of Skinner's 600 compositions and appears in his Harp and Claymore collection.<br> It was one of the tunes included by him later in his career in the<br> 1921 concert set "Warblings From the Hills".<br> Skinner, writing in his autobiography My Life and Adventures described his inspiration<br> for the tune:<br> "Suddenly [one night] a tune, 'pat' and complete, flashed into my head in his honour.<br> I jumped out of bed [looking for music manuscript paper]...but a search produced<br> nothing better than a piece of soap paper and on this I promptly dashed off<br> 'The Laird o' Drumblair.' And the tune was dispatched as it had been written."<br> "Ye're no' gaun tae send that awfy-like paper tae the Laird," protested his wife,<br> "He'll jist licht his pipe wi' it!" It was sent anyway.<br> Skinner also rendered the same melodic motif as a reel called "Angus Campbell".<br> It was printed in Alburger's Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music (1982),<br> Bain's 50 Fiddle Solos (1989),<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Cranford's Winston Fitzgerald: A Collection of Fiddle Tunes (1997),<br> Emmerson's Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String (1971),<br> Hardie's Caledonian Companion (1992),<br> Hunter's Fiddle Music of Scotland (1988),<br> S. Johnson's A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection (2003),<br> Perlman's The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island (1996),<br> Phillips' Fiddle Case Tunebook: British Isles (1989),<br> Skinner's The Scottish Violinist (1900) and<br> Harp and Claymore (1904).<br> It was recorded by James Morrison (fiddle) & Tom Carmody (accordion) (78 RPM) (1935<br> 2nd tune in medley called "Bed of Roses"),<br> The Bothy Band on 1975 (fiddler Tommy Peoples renders it as a strathspey, then a reel).<br> Silly Wizard on Golden, Golden (1985),<br> John McCutcheon on How Can I Keep From Singing (1975),<br> Jean Carignan on Jean Carignan (appears as third tune of "J. Scott Skinner Medley"),<br> Boys of the Lough on Lochaber No More (1976) and<br> J. Scott Skinner on The Strathspey King (1975 rerelease).<br>
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