Arniston Castle strathspey

Meticulously transcribed from a recording I have of a mixed instrument (strings, reeds, & winds) group of Scottish musicians…

And who would they be, “c” ? Half a tune, [ 2 parts out of 4 ] and in the “wrong” key ?

The ‘other’ key is the historic ‘A’, for which there are numerous collections featuring this, and I was just going through around ten, all in ‘A’. But, the above musicians did not play it in ‘A’. They played it exactly as I’ve given it. As to dropping names, Simon Thoumire was in the mix… I was intending, despite the cries of a few, to add that other key, but lifted carefully out of those historic transcriptions… However, what’s stopping you from entering it as you play it, or those you’ve known play it, assuming from your comment that’d be a take in ‘A’? I’d love to see such a useful and very welcomed addition and I’d much rather that than more criticism. Also, most historic transcriptions give it as two parts, including it’s earliest notation, with only two out of maybe a dozen giving it as more than two parts…

Sigh! With caring for an injured wife (a fall on a run), a wonky heart, a torn rotator cuff, and strep throat, not forgetting the awful side effects of more pills ~ an antibiotic, and a damaged delivery I’m trying to return for a hoped for exchange (a Christmas gift for my wife) ~ my patience is rather thin… 😛

According to a bagpipe tutorial, it WAS originally in 2 parts, later “presumably extended to four”.
See: https://www.bagpipe-tutorials.com/arniston-castle.html
And it seems that Arniston Castle and Arniston House are one and the same place (just for anoraks like me that like historical backgrounds to tunes!) See: https://www.arnistonhouse.com

The only other time I have heard Arniston mentioned was in the context of the “Eight Hours a Day” (aka Midlothian Miners’) Song about the Midlothian coalmines, but not the same tune as this strathspey

According to a bagpipe tutorial, it WAS originally in 2 parts, later “presumably extended to four”.
See: https://www.bagpipe-tutorials.com/arniston-castle.html
And it seems that Arniston Castle and Arniston House are one and the same place (just for anoraks like me that like historical backgrounds to tunes!) See: https://www.arnistonhouse.com

The only other time I have heard Arniston mentioned was in the context of the “Eight Hours a Day” (aka Midlothian Miners’) Song about the Midlothian coalmines, but not the same tune as this strathspey.

Sorry to hear about all your problems, Ceolachan. Gotta few o ma ain tae!

Bless you Trish, and thanks for useful comment. I hope you have the strengths inside and out and around you to help you through your own trials and tribulations. The most that rises out of mine is the want to swear or curse, including at inanimate objects and those things I sometimes feel powerless to change, and sometimes wanting to identify what a thing is by its crassest of terminology ~ ****, ****, *.*., etc… Though sometimes I just want to scream. Music does help settle me some. 😉

Not the history, not yet, as I’d always intended, here’s another transcription, this time in A and 4 parts, from the playing of “The Glencraig Scottish Dance Band”. You can here a take of their way with this on their recording:

“The Reel Party: ”Are ye askin’?“”
https://thesession.org/recordings/4490
Track 7 - For the dance “The Foursome Reel”
“Arniston Castle” - Strathspey / “The Walrus” - reel

On their CD recording “The Reel Party: ”Are ye askin’?“” they play it ABCD-CD…

These two transcriptions are pulled out of half a dozen historic collections, with some minor compromises, and a little attempt to also show some few variations:

1860 - “The Caledonian Repository of Music for the Great Highland Bagpipe” - Alexander Glen

1869 - “Ross’s Collection: Pipe Music”

1876 - “David Glen’s Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music”

1876 - David Glen’s Tutor for the Highland Bagpipe"

1884 - “Robert M’Kinnon’s Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music”

1899 - “A Collection of Pipe Music” - James Bett

There are many fantastic resources online and this is one of the best for music for the Highland Bagpipe:

Ceol Sean: The World’s Largest On-line Collection of Bagpipe Music
http://www.ceolsean.net/
http://www.ceolsean.net/content/mindex.html

I had transposed the A to D and then cut and pasted the wrong one, now corrected. The D transposition will follow for comparison’s sake, and as a option. Besides, I prefer this one lower down and D has a nice bit of grumble about it, including from any who might suffer a bit from puristitis. I’ll also add an A version of the first transcription, again for comparison, and ‘choice’… It’s a lovely little tune whatever key you take in. As to sense, to mine it swings best as a 2-part dance tune…

X: 2 transposed down from A to D…

X: 1 transposed from D to A, as promised…

Wow! What a lot of info! Thanks, Ceolochan. I had previously found the Ceol Sean site while looking for another tune: a great resource.