Lord Seaforth strathspey

I learned this lovely strathspey from the duet of Claire Mann’s fiddle and Simon Thoumire’s concertina.

The bar 5 of the second part is tricky especially on the whistle and flute, but it add spice to the tune. Without it, the whole tune would sound like a variation of "Comin’ Thro’ the Rye."

Hope it will appeal to some strathspey lovers in this site.

How fast is this generally played? I tried it as an Air at about 80 to 100 bpm and it’s lovely but … where is the tempo supposed to be?

(Send more Strathspey’s!)

I don’t think it is a commonly heard tune and not sure how fast people play it. But Claire Mann and Simon Thoumire play it at around 240 bpm. The sound file here is too fast, but that tricky part doesn’t sound nice when played too slowly, I think.

Scott Skinner recommended 96 for Strathspey reels,
but Scottish country dancers generally like their strathspeys at 64-70 these days.

Nice tune

This makes a nice highland fling and fits the dance well. For that use, on the Irish side of things, it goes nicely at around 145 beats per minute…and that is definitely swung… 😉

Yamadasan, I’m suspecting that your 240 bpm is doubling the beat for a 4/4 tune, so I’m suspecting you really meant 120 bpm, otherwise it would mean a lot of RSI if folks were mad enough to try it that highly fried… For the future, the count is based on the 4 beats to the bar rather than the usual 8 notes. This is also why most metronomes work below 240 bpm…

I do realize the previous contributions are for 2003…

This is a good playful range for this tune if taken as a highland. Musicians playing for dance, individually and ceili bands, sometimes played between such differences, taking it slow and making tempo changes to tease the dancers. 120 bpm, as I suspect was what Hiro meant, is a nice relaxed tempo for a highland.

Must have been about the first trad tune I ever heard, on a Jimmy Shand EP my family had in the mid-Sixties!

X: 2
T: Lord Seaforth
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: strathspey
K: Gmaj
|: A |\
G>ED>E G>AB<d | c>AB<G E2 E>A |
G>ED>E G>AB<e | d>BA<B G3 :|
g |\
(3efg d>g B>gd>B | c<AB>G E2 E>g |
e<gd>g B<gd>B | c<Ad<B G2 G>g |
(3efg d2 c>aB>g | c<AB<G E3 A |
G>ED>E G>A B2 | g>Bd<B G3 |]

X: 1
T: Lord Seaforth’s Reel
R: reel (originally strathspey)
B: RSCDS __-__
Z: 2007 converted to reel by John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu>
M: C
L: 1/8
K: G
B | "G"GDDE "Em"GABG | "Am"cA"(G)"BG "C"~E2EA | "G"GDDE "Em"GABe | "D7"dBAB "G"G2-G :|
g | "C"eg"G"dg BgdB | "Am"cA"(G)"BG "C"~E2Eg | "C"eg"G"dg BgdB | "D7"cAdB "G"G2-G ||
g | "C"eg"G"db "Am"ca"G"Bg | "Am"cA"(G)"BG "C"~E2"D7"EA | "G"GDDE "Em"GABe | "D7"dBAB "G"G2-G |]

A reel version of "Lord Seaforth" was already added to this page: https://thesession.org/tunes/1650

alright, I didn’t check the comment section. I’ll fix it.

As played at sessions in Austin.

A transposition in to A major

Bobby Gardiner plays this as a Polka which is preceded by Cashman’s Polka.

Here is an exciting reel version played by a band called "Chicago reel", found here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qV0INB-5Dg&list=PLiuRt_avJZ3ZIsNWOB0kHJ4FeSFuabbMA&index=168

play video

From the playing of Seamus Begley & Tim Edey.

Interesting that in the Highland pipe tradition there’s no tune called Lord Seaforth.

There is an old traditional reel called Lady Seaforth which appears in the Seaforth Highlanders Collection (1901) but it’s only marginally similar. I’ve not found a Strathspey version of Lady Seaforth.

This is the reel Lady Seaforth, a traditional Highland pipe reel, which appears in the Seaforth Highlanders collection (1901, revised 1936) which was subsequently incorporated into the Queens Own Highlanders (Camerons and Seaforths) collection (1961).

It has the feature seen in many old Highland reels where the 2nd part has second ending with a downward-stepping phrase such as afge fdec or similar.

There’s a four-part (strathspey) setting of your tune in the Skye Collection under the name "Lady Mackenzie of Seaforth" and it has been found elsewhere as "Lady MacBeth" and "Miss Montgomery". However, it’s not the same tune as "Lord Seaforth," so it belongs on its own page, don’t you think?

I was taught to play this strathspey at a slower pace. (Not at dance speed). I personally prefer it that way. Lovely tune!