Folk who speak in Strathspeys
April 2006
Hector MacAndrew: Yehudi Menuhin called him, “One of the most beloved of men, for he speaks with the voice of his people”.
by Paul Anderson
In the North-East we have one of the finest fiddle traditions not just in the British Isles, but – and here I’m going to stick my neck out – in the world. The names of William Marshall, Peter Milne, James Scott Skinner, and John Murdoch Henderson loom large, and more recently, Hector MacAndrew, Bill Hardie, J.F. Dickie and Bert Murray, not just as virtuoso performers, but as composers of the highest quality.
Our indigenous fiddle music reflects not only the rugged beauty of our countryside, but also the voice and character of the people. I have long thought that the traditional music of an area reflects the dialect of the people. On the West Coast, for example, the fiddle music has a laid back and lilting feel as does the spoken word, while here in the North-East the music and speech are more heavily accented.
I recently had a discussion on this subject with an American fiddler called Debbie Billmers who was staying in Tarland over the festive period. After an intensive two weeks listening to the locals talking her comment was: “North-East people talk in Strathspeys”.
The Strathspey is a uniquely Scottish dance and music form, and it’s here in the North-East that it found its highest artistic expression. The slow Strathspey in particular is the toughest nut for any fiddler to crack, requiring exquisite bow control, subtlety of expression and phrasing, and loads of power and character. Because it is so demanding, very few players even attempt it.
If you work at it, however, your time is well spent; there’s no other type of tune in which the character of the North-East can be heard so clearly.
For many years our indigenous fiddle music has been considered in some quarters as little more than ‘teuchter’ music with little or no artistic value. To this day I come across young players who don’t tell their school violin tutors that they play Scottish fiddle music, in case they’ll get into trouble.
Frank Robb, the conductor of the Angus Strathspey & Reel Society, told me recently that they’re struggling for players, as for quite some time there have been no young players coming into the ranks. The reason for this is that the local school tutors tell their pupils not to play Scottish fiddle music, as it will ruin their playing. This attitude is born out of ignorance.
I could quote many examples of how wrong these people are, but I’ll stick to just a couple to illustrate my point. Claire Telford from Banchory Devenick, a successful traditional player is now teaching at the Yehudi Menhuin School of Excellence. My own fiddle tutor, Douglas Lawrence, a Scottish champion and the most acclaimed pupil of Hector MacAndrew, played with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for over 20 years.
Classical and traditional playing complement each other, and there’s no better example of this than the meeting of Yehudi Menhuin and Hector MacAndrew. These men, both masters of their very different styles, had a genuine respect for each other. Many readers will remember their meeting in the BBC programme Mr Menhuin’s welcome to Blair Castle.
Menhuin said of MacAndrew: “Blair Castle was one of the most moving experiences of my life. What he knew could only be learned from people with a great musical tradition and I have a kind of reverence, almost awe, for someone who represents a tradition as exciting as that.”I wish all violin tutors were as enlightened about our indigenous music.
However, I don’t want to give the impression that it’s all doom and gloom.There are more youngsters playing traditional fiddle in Scotland than ever before, and fiddle groups all over the North-East have healthy junior sections – the Banchory Strathspey & Reel Society, for instance, has over 50 junior members.
Concern about our traditional music is not a new thing. In 1760 the Rev. John Skinner, unimpressed by the fashion for imported music and dance, penned these immortal lines in Tullochgorum:
What needs there be sae great a fraise,
Wi dringin’ dull Italian lays.
I wadna gie’s our ain Strathspeys
For half a hunner score o’ them.
They’re dowf and dowie at the best,
Wi a’ their variorum;
They’re dowf and dowie at the best,
Their allegros and a’ the rest;
They canna please the Scottish taste
Compared wi Tullochgorum.
James Scott Skinner, that icon of Scottish fiddling – who was not adverse to performing a wee bit of Paganini at his concerts – was so concerned by the public taste for operetta, light classical and music hall that he took to wearing the kilt at all times and swore “to keep the music of auld Scotland alive”.
He was more successful than he could ever have dreamed, as 30,000 mourners lined Aberdeen’s streets for his funeral, and many of his 600+ compositions are regularly played all over the world.
A similar emotion to that felt by Skinner brought me to my current post as AHRC Fellow in the Creative & Performing Arts at the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen. I’ve been concerned for some time at the gradual watering down of our traditional fiddle music; much of that which is presented by the media has little of the character which marks it out as ‘Scottish’.
I recently saw the tribute programme to Hector MacAndrew which was aired after his sad passing in 1980. It should be essential viewing for all fiddlers and used as a teaching aid, as I’ve never seen an example of Scottish fiddling on film which so clearly and beautifully shows what we Scottish fiddlers should be aiming for. We have in the North-East a valuable, unbroken tradition of fiddle playing which, if it’s not nurtured, could easily be forgotten, which would be a great loss for future generations.
I’m not suggesting that we should only play our own tunes, but I would like to encourage our local fiddlers to appreciate and master our own North-East style. It’s easy to overlook what’s on your doorstep and be dazzled by exotic fiddling from overseas. But I guarantee that when fiddlers from all over the world descend on Aberdeen for the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (26-30 July), those players will want to hear the famous North-East style in its ‘ain kail yaird’.
With events all over the city and Aberdeenshire you’ll be able to hear music from all around the North Atlantic rim. Centre stage, taking its place alongside the other great traditions, will be the fiddle music of the North-East of Scotland.
‘_Vive la difference!_’ I think Skinner would have approved.
Tarland musician PAUL ANDERSON began playing on a fiddle found under his grandparents’ bed and ended up winning the Glenfiddich Scottish Fiddle Championship. His research at the Elphinstone Institute aims to re-connect local musicians with the unique fiddle style of the North-East.
This is an article from the April 2006 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, see our subscription details.