My Favorite Tunes (1)

The following is an account of a favorite tune of mine (Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute) but I would have to say that it is too impossible to pick one tune as the favorite – there is so much life, history, music, grace and genius in the collection of Piobaireachd I would have say that every tune that I play in the moment becomes my “favorite”.

Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute

I was introduced to this amazing tune in the early 80’s while teaching at Coeur d’ Alene Piping School put on by the unstoppable energy of Colonel MacEwing.

Andrew Wright was my teacher of Piobaireachd for over 45 years – there wasn’t a tune he didn’t know. Each morning prior to class, all the instructors would get together and go through one or two tunes with Andrew – we would just suggest a tune and he would get started on it. I remember vividly feeling something very special from the first moment I heard the ground – perhaps it was the “tri-tonal” or “devil’s interval” that caught my attention – whatever it was, I knew this was special.

He spoke of Lady Margaret – how beautiful of a woman she was (Joan Collins beautiful was the quote) – and that there was a portrait of her hanging in the drawing room of Amador Castle on Skye and going there would be a good thing to do. He told us of her devotion and interest in the occult and was a practitioner of medicines and magic along with her sister Flora – a mighty woman in her own life. Lady Margaret was a woman of mystery and both she and her sister were responsible for saving hundreds of lives of women and children and getting them out of Scotland to save them from the Inquisition (witch hunts). After learning about her and the mystery that shrouded her life and her activities seemed to ramp up my interest in learning the tune and giving it the respect and honor it deserves.

The ground is absolutely and hauntingly beautiful and it requires a certain skill set to time the beats just right in order to express it correctly. It is followed by the variations, taorluaths and crunluaths. I love the note combinations and the musical storyline that is created in the playing. It is also vital that the pipe is “perfect” in order to play this tune.

The most interesting part of the tune is that on the day I got the tune is that the weather outside was 80 degrees and total, brilliant sunshine, which is usual for Coeur d’Alene for that time of year. We played through the tune – spent time on the variations and how to time them and he mentioned the crunluath a machs that occur in a few places and this added to the allure of the tune. The group went through another tune and at a point, Andrew asked us what tune we would like to finish with. One of the instructors asked to do Lady Margaret one more time and away we went. By the end of the ground, we heard the loudest cracks thunder and lightning and saw torrential rain pounding outside. We all looked at one another with a sense of wonder and just couldn’t fathom how a thunderstorm could have possibly erupted – there was only one explanation. It was indeed because we played the tune..
Andrew looked out the window and said “more mystery from Lady Margaret”. Henceforth, my favorite tune or at least, one of them.