The Scottish Music Maker

[nigelgatherer]

Many years ago I discovered a book in the Music Room in Edinburgh's Central Library called "The Scottish Music Maker". Published in 1957, it was compiled by J Murdoch Henderson and consists of 84 tunes composed by James Scott Skinner, arranged in sets and hand-written by Henderson himself (although the originals would have been reproduced for printing). Back then I scanned the whole book and got it bound so I could have my own copy; not an easy job, because the pages are larger than A4.

Earlier this year I was trawling through charity shops and found an original copy of the book for £2.50. I couldn't believe it, and I knew it was a rare find because in all my years of looking through junk shops for music, I've NEVER seen another copy. I tried to stay calm, handed over my money and left the shop before anyone could say it was a mistake.

I mentioned the book to Jack Campin in the pub the other night, and he asked for a copy. Since I now have an original, I've clipped the wire binding on my copied version and scanned it. Those of you wishing a copy can download it from

The Scottish Music Maker

Let me know what you think.

[John Kelly]

What a great resource, Nigel. Thanks so much for making it available. Going for a quiet browse now!

[Jack Campin]

Strange collection in some ways. Henderson's script is brilliantly clear if you read it close up on a desk but it isn't designed for a music stand with fiddle in hand. And he spends most of the intro saying how he's dumbed the tunes down. You can see why nobody took a chance on a large print run or a reprint.

But a lot of thought went into it. Well worth playing through.

[nigelgatherer]

The original is 12.5 inches high (32cm), so it is much clearer. My scan ain't perfect, but hopefully it's better than nothing.

I was interested to see that tune No.39, "Our Highland Queen" has been changed from 4/4 in Harp & Claymore to 6/8 in this book.

[Alison]

Thanks for this, Nigel. I can see how I'm going to spend time over Christmas. But quite a challenge and perhaps not 100% suitable for a whistle!

[Alcluith]

Having looked though the pages there are several pieces I would love to hear. 
My challenge will be to try to change to dots into tabs for the mandolin, as Alison said something for over the Christmas period.

Alcluith

[nigelgatherer]

If there are specific pieces, Alcluith, ask me, because I'll have already transcribed some of them.

[Alcluith]

Nigel

The two in particular are INVERURIE and Mrs McHardy both have memories for us of our time living in Aberdeenshire and we were friends with a couple John and Margaret MacHardy, who lived at the cottage right beside the Bullers of Buchan. When we were coming back down to Glasgow Margaret wrote a little poem for us and I still have it. So maybe learning Mrs MacHardy would be a novel way of repaying them.

cheers

Alcluith

[Jack Campin]

I might ABC-ify it - it's really not fun to read at A4 size.

Nigel, is that what you're using?

I think ABC is usable as a starting point for creating tabs, for them as likes that sort of thing?

[John Kelly]

Sounds like a good idea, Jack. I have discovered that I can import into ABC into MuseScore using a plug-in that is provided, and from this get a standard notation score and a pdf file, and a midi or MP3 to listen to the tune. I have found I am using ABC much less since going to MuseScore, but there are so many ABC resources available out there that it is a very viable tool.