The Garb of Old Gaul
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Garb of Old Gaul", also known as "In the Garb of Old Gaul", "Captain Reed's March",<br> "The Highland March by Capt. Reid" (Bremner) or "3rd Regt. of Guards March" is a<br> Scottish and English; March in 4/4 time, played in C Major (Kerr) or B Flat Major<br> (Balmoral, Köhler). The parts are played AABB.<br> It is a British military march of the Revolutionary War period and the most famous<br> composition of John Reid, who died in 1806. Reid, ultimately to become a general,<br> began his career as a commissioned ensign in Loudon's Highlanders at the age of fourteen.<br> As an officer he fought the Jacobites and later served in France. He turned up in North<br> America with the 42nd Regiment (Black Watch) in 1755, where he took part in the capture of<br> Montreal. At one point Reid had an extensive estate near Lake Champlain in New York. <br> Reid was also an accomplished player on the German flute and a composer of some pieces of<br> merit. He composed a set of minuets and marches, published between 1770 and 1780, of which<br> "The Garb of Old Gaul" is one, although the music for it was first published by Robert<br> Bremner around 1756 under the title "The Highland March by Capt. Reid". Reid said the<br> original words to "Garb" were written in Gaelic by a soldier of the Black Watch, although<br> the ones usually associated with the tune were written (first published in 1765) by General<br> Sir Harry Erskine of Alva in Sterlingshire. By 1769 the Black Watch was playing the air as<br> their slow march (60-70bpm) and it was sometimes called "The Highland March" or "The 42nd<br> Regiment's March". Upon his death in 1806 the University of Edinburgh was the recipient of<br> Reid's estate to establish a Chair of Music, with a concert to be held on his birthday at<br> which some of his compositions would be played in order that the audience would become<br> acquainted with the type of music in vogue during his lifetime. The Reid Memorial concert<br> is still held each January 13th, with "The Garb of Old Gaul" among the pieces played.<br> The melody still serves as the slow march of all Scottish battalions in the British army.<br> Some soldiers have believed that 'Old Gaul' was some ancient regimental hero immortalised<br> in music but the name actually refers to Gaul that was a province of the Roman Empire<br> corresponding to Eastern France and Western Germany. Its natives were reported to have<br> worn a mantle or cloak belted round the body in the style of the 'Feile Mor', the belted<br> (Highland) plaid. Hence the kilt is the 'Garb of Old Gaul'.<br> It was printed in Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 3 (c. 1880's), Köhlers’ Violin Repository,<br> Book 1 (1881-1885), J. Kenyon Lees' Balmoral Reel Book (1910), Manson's Hamilton's<br> Universal Tune Book, vol. 1 (1853) and Moon's Musick of the Fifes and Drums, Vol 2:<br> Slow Marches (1977).<br>
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