The Highland Cathedral

[NickH]

Message for OleMik:

Many woodwind and brass instruments are 'transposing'. That is, the sound they make is different from the notes written down. In this case, the sound will be a semitone higher than written.

You'll notice at the start of the score are the words 'Bagpipes in Eb'. That means that this arrangement has been written for pipes with a natural scale of Eb - so it needs no key signature. It's all about making life simpler for the piper who thus has no sharps or flats to deal with.

If you want to play from this music on pipes that are not in Eb, you'll need to transpose the accompaniment to suit. The D note of the melody as written sounds as an Eb and is thus the Tonic or Key note and should sound two octaves higher than the first note in the bass line. I've played this accompaniment and feel that some of the chords don't suit the melody very well, so you might want to continue your search!

[tittualex]

Hi all,

This is a lovely piece . watch the tune being played by bagpipe along with the brass band........

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=oieFS785QPk


Alex.

[OleMik]

Hi Nick - thanks for helping - but I still don't get it.

I am aware of transposing instruments, and I have often played with trumpets and saxes - but I am still puzzled.

(In the following, I'm referring to the score posted earlier in this thread:
http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=311&d=1179903147)

If the bagpipe is in Eb, a C in the score (not a D) would sound like an Eb. But the sounding Eb in the melody (the key note/tonic) is written out as a D - why?
Also, if the key note is written as a D, aren't they missing two sharps? If you play the melody line as written on a piano, the melody comes out in D-minor - and the melody certainly sounds better in major.

In other words - it seems to me, that all the notes are written "one too high"? I'm not saying there's an error in the score, I'm just puzzled

I agree with you on the chords, by the way, but that's another story.

Best regards
Ole

[Harveyling]

Just a thought - when Highland Cathedral first came out I was a Pipe-Major in the south of England. I have now retired and live in Spain. Strangely enough I was going through some old tapes yesterday and came across a recording I made at the time of an organ accompaniment played on the Liverpool Cathedral organ. Maybe, if this of interest, you can contact me and I will send an .mp3 to you. I often play my electronic pipes with this accompaniment in the background.

regards


Harveyling

[jmcpher1]

Hi, I am new to this forum and was interested in this thread as Highland Cathedral is one of my favourites. I first came accross it in 1992 at the Edinburgh Military Tatoo were I was taking part as a dancer. At the finale it was stirring to look up into the night sky with rain pouring down on top of you with fire-works going off to the strains of this marvelous tune.

There is a score arrangement of it in a volume entitled "New Songs of Scotland" Volume one by Ben Kelly (Ardness Publications) ISBN 0-9519294-0-2. Also in the new edition of the Church Hymnary (Canterbury Press) 4th Edition there is a hymn arrangement set to this tune (See No. 336 - Christ is our light! the bright and morning star).

Regards

James.

[Bagpiper Mom]

Hi Nick - thanks for helping - but I still don't get it.

I am aware of transposing instruments, and I have often played with trumpets and saxes - but I am still puzzled.

(In the following, I'm referring to the score posted earlier in this thread:
http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=311&d=1179903147)

If the bagpipe is in Eb, a C in the score (not a D) would sound like an Eb. But the sounding Eb in the melody (the key note/tonic) is written out as a D - why?
Also, if the key note is written as a D, aren't they missing two sharps? If you play the melody line as written on a piano, the melody comes out in D-minor - and the melody certainly sounds better in major.

In other words - it seems to me, that all the notes are written "one too high"? I'm not saying there's an error in the score, I'm just puzzled

I agree with you on the chords, by the way, but that's another story.

Best regards
Ole

As the name implies, I'm a bagpiper's mom but not a bagpiper. When the "wee one" started playing in 5th grade, we went to a tattoo with a lot of bands from the greater New York metro area and heard Highland Cathedral for the first time. It was presented with 3 brass bands and 4 Fire and Police Dept bands. Naturally, he wanted to add it to his repertoire. Now that he's 20 and not 12 anymore, he's back to practicing the pipes to play at his older sister's wedding.

As far as trying to "use" the bagpipe sheet music to develop a score for another instrument, you're almost better off just searching out a score of the song for the instrument you intend to play it on. The music director at my son's Grade 7 to 12 school -- who was eager to make use of the newly arriving little piper kid upon his enrollment after a couple years of instruction (and membership in a pipe band) -- found that transposition from bagpipe sheet music to conventional instruments was utterly impossible. After a lot of frustration in trying to figure out pipe notation, he used to just have my son play the relevant song on the bagpipe, he would match the melody line by ear on piano or the school's pipe organ, and then he would proceed from that point to develop the score for other instruments in bagpipes-with-organ or bagpipes-with-brass-choir arrangements. We also had some success in seeking out better-known songs for which police/fire bands had pre-scored arrangements. The only difficulty was with the lesser known bagpipe tunes which sometimes caught the school music director's fancy.

Another point is that when bagpipers are playing with other bagpipers in purely pipes and drums corps, my son's bagpipe instructor (and Pipe Major) mentioned that the tuning is more toward an F# whereas if they are playing with other instruments, they have to alter the reeds toward an Eb. This situation set off a bit of a commotion for us during the height of the son's musical morphing (grades 7, 8, and 9) as he would have his reeds "flattened" for after-school practices 4 days per week when he played with other instruments, but then show up for his Tuesday night session with the bagpipe band needing considerable re-tuning to be on pitch with them. That would be good for getting yelled at the next day when he returned to the school practice and was off-pitch for those instruments. Final straw was when the music director at the school went and used Krazy Glue to "fix" the reeds in the position HE wanted them in, and they couldn't be dislodged! The following Tuesday I went into the Pipe Master's shop (he taught, sold equipment and ran a band) and just bought another better-quality bagpipe for use with ONLY the piping band.

A final point is that the number of "notes" which are true notes for the bagpipes are somewhat limited vis-a-vis other more traditional instruments and an approximation of notes that one might find on regular instruments is achieved, on bagpipes, by grace notes or trills.

http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/finger_positions.shtml

That's yet another reason to try to work out the melody of a tune for a non-pipe instrument in a way suited to the instrument, because in the various arrangements my son played over the years with his school's musicians, they would play a true anchoring note or chord consistent with the tune while his bagpiping used the multi-noted fast-fingered "approximation" that bagpipes must perform so that the listener "hears" what (for another instrument) might be just one note.

[OleMik]

[...]
-- found that transposition from bagpipe sheet music to conventional instruments was utterly impossible. After a lot of frustration in trying to figure out pipe notation, he used to just have my son play the relevant song on the bagpipe, he would match the melody line by ear on piano or the school's pipe organ
[...]

OMG - that sounds weird.
But thank you very much for your response, Piper Mom. I suppose I should start attending bagpipe classes if I want to learn the notation.
I think I will just go by ear instead :-)

Best regards

[wljmrbill]

Great peice with a cool sound.I like the 2nd arrangement better.. Be great for wedding Professionial..and also a recessionial for a funeral....pretty much the same anyway..right? LOL. !!!!

[Athersleyram]

The resident organist of Blackpool Tower Ballroom, Phil Kelsall has brought out a new CD with the above recording on it. I am trying to get it myself. If I can get it I will post the details on site.

[Athersleyram]

Available from organ1st trading at www.organ.co.uk. Phil Kelsall GRCD130 2009 release at the WurliTzer of the Assembly Hall, Worthing

[Albert Ward]

Hi from South Africa,

Oh I just love the church organ and any music written for it, from hymns right down to the great master works. I don't play the church organ myself - wish I could - but this is really an awesome instrument. I was looking for the sheet music for Highland Cathedral, but it seems a bit scarce. I was at a local music store the other day and what a surprise to find two cd's with some wonderful organ music on it. As you all know to find cd's with recordings of this awesome instrument is quite a mission. One of the pieces is a recording of Highland Cathedral amongst others! The artists is South African and the recordings was made at well known churches in South Africa. Here is a contact address for them.

www.select.co.za

The title of the cd's is Heavenly organ 1 and 2.
The cd no. are SELBCD 732 and SELBCD 793

I don't know if they will ship this items to oversea destinations but this I know, the copies is selling fast. We pay about R89.95 a cd which give you about $9.00 a cd.

In the meantime, if any one can help with a copy of the sheet music - it will be great.

[FinnViking]

Sheet music of Highland Cathedral and other bagpipe tunes can be found here:

http://www.ohscatalog.org/jamwethigcat.html

[Quicksix]

Greetings, everyone!
I was wondering if any of you have had the chance to hear or play a piece for organ and bagpipes called The Highland Cathedral. It is my favorite piece of classical music but sadly is not very well known and the only good recording that I have located of it is currently "out of print". It is so beautiful and I'm wondering really how famous it is among other organists. The only good recording I know of is owned by our state's radio station, so I have to content myself with that. Looking foward to your anwers! Bill

Hi there. If you go to: http://www.mp3.com/artist/royal-scot...=download;play and play that, you'll here Highland Cathedral the way it was meant to be played. Unfortunately with no organ. This is an amazing album if you like the pipes and drums.