The Rose Amang The Heather strathspey

I know this tune as “The Lad with the Plaidie”. There is another tune “Rose among the heather”-also a strathspey which I’ve played in the same set.

Buddy McMaster has a great version of this with 5 parts.

It’s on a great recording “Birlin’ Fiddlers” by Jennifer Wrigley, Alan Henderson, Julian Legge, and Sandy Wright. Jocklet, it should be “among,” not “amang.”

Yamadasan, “amang” and “among” mean exactly the same thing, but “amang” is the Scottish dialect spelling.

Is it called Da Rose aman’ da Hedar in Shetland?

I transcribed this from a Ceolbeag album,and on the sleeve it says “Amang”,which is,as Dow pointed out,Lallands for “among”.

As I say, this tune is well known as “The Lad wi’ the Plaidie” but I do know that it is also known as “The Rose Among/Amang the heather” and I’ve heard recordings with the that title too. I don’t know what the original title was, though.

There is another tune called “Rose Among the heather” as I mentioned which I had to learn for the same set. This is the ABC here.

X:1
T: The Rose Among the Heather
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Strathspey
K:Dmaj

|:(F/A>) A>F/ (G/B>) B>G/|(F/A>) D>F/ E3 G|(F/A>) A>F/ (G>B/) (d>B/)|1 (A/F> G>E/ D2 D2:|2 (A/F> G>E/ D2 D A|
|:(d>e/) (d>B/) (A/f>) d>B/|(A/F>) d>f/ e3 d|1 (f>g/) (f>e/) (d/B>) d>B/|(A/d>) e>c/ d2 d A:|2 (f>e/) (d>B/) (A/F>) d>B/|(A/F>) G>E/ D2 D2||

There is also a Scottish 6/8 tune called The Rose among the Heather. I thinks its a jig but its so long since I’ve played it that it might be a quickstep or even a pipe march . I didn’t appreciate the difference first time round.

Noel Jackson
Angels of the North

Submitted on April 26th 2003 by gian marco.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1616

slainte beat me to the association. I’m just a bit slow lately on the uptake… 😏

The ‘highland fling’ version of the tune linked to above is this minus the third part, C-part, though in some cases parts of the third part can be picked up as a second ending for the B-part, such as the last two or four measures. Here is an example, using the original notation given here:

Damn! ~ something odd is happening with my keyboard… There, that has been cured. This has happened a few times while I was entering information, also affecting cut-and-paste in odd ways. Now to see if I can get this to work ~

R: strathspey / highland fling
K: D Major
|: f>gf>e d>ed>B | A>FA<d c<e e2 |
f>gf>e d>ed>B | c<de>a f<d d2 :|
D2 (3FED F<AA>d | B>AB>d c<e e2 |
(3DDD F>D F<A (3AAA | c<de>a f<d d2 |
(3fdf a>f e2 (3gfe | (3dcd f>d c>d (3edc |
B>c (3dcB A<df>a | g>fe<a f<d d2 ||

R: strathspey / highland fling
K: D Major
|: f2 f>e d2 d>B | A>FA<d c<e e2 |
f3 e d3 B | c<de>a f<d d2 :|
|: D2 (3FED F2 A>d | B2 (3Bcd c<e e2 |
1 (3DDD F>D F>A (3AAd | c<de>a f<d d2 :|
2 B2 (3dcB A<d (3fga | g>fe>a f<d d2 ||

Am Faighir Muileach ( transcribed ABAC )
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on April 13th 2005 by George Seto.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4402

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on December 18th 2007 by breqwas.
~ /tunes/8051

X: 5
T: Laddie With The Pladdie
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: D Major
|: d>e |\
f>gf>e d>ed>B | A>FA>d c<e e2 |
f>gf>e d>ed>c |[1 c>de>a f<d :|[2 c>de>a f<d d2 ||
A2 (3FED F<AA>d | B>AB>d c<e e2 |
A2 (3FED F<AA>d | c>de>a f<d d2 :|
f2 (3agf e2 (3gfe | d2 (3fed c2 (3edc |
B2 (3dcB A>df>a |[1 g>fe>d c<a a2 :|[2 g>fe>a f<d |]

It’s not a reel, it’s a schottishe ~ and I have no idea how the 3rd part should sound. AbcNavigator plays that in some weird way. 😏

# Posted on December 18th 2007 by breqwas

I was intrigued to learn, when asking to be reminded of the name of this particular tune, from a fairly authoritative and knowledgeable source, that it should be:

“Roes” rather than “Rose”, among/amang the heather.

So a species of deer rather than a flower is inferred apparently.

Indeed the former, roe deer, are far more likely to be spotted among the heather than the latter (Roe is also a term used to describe the part of a fish’s anatomy which contains the eggs and shares the same spelling as the ).

Although it may seem trivial, I think it’s a worthy point worth sharing. Hope you agree : )

Musing a little and thinking about ceolachan’s points above; that this tune can and is used for a schottishe, a scots country dance, danced with a partner (requiring some deft foot work) and a fling, with a little rearranging of the parts, which is a dance performed solo.

In the latter style of dancing the foot work of the dancer is meant at times to emulate that of a deer, sure footedness and when the arms are raised together, the raised arms mimic the antlers of the stag (boy deer). Deer and their behavior are deeply ingrained in the scots, our myth & legends and although many “Highland dances” were standardised/modernised in the late 1900’s early 20th century, elements such as the mimicking of the deer, their “flight of foot” in particular, are very traditional aspects, don’t let the tartan and the kirk fool you!

Dancing a schottishe also requires some delicate foot work and the association of this tune with the roe deer makes perfect sense in this context. Thinking of how roe deer move in open ground brings a whole new meaning to this tune for me, especially the delicate descending canter of the third part. Magnificent!

The 5 part version

X: 1
T: The Laddie with the Pladdie
S: “Jerry Holland’s Collection of Fiddle Tunes”
C: Credited as “Scottish”,
R: Strathspey
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: D
e | f>gf>e d>ed>B | A>FA>d c<ee2 | f>gf>e d>ed>B |[1 c>de>g f<dd :|[2 A>ce>g f<ddf ||
A<D F/E/D F<AA>d | B>A B/c/d c<ee<f | A<D F/E/D F<AA>d | c>de>g f<dd2 :|
F<AD>A F/G/A d>G | F<AD>F G<EE>G | F/G/A D>A F/G/A d>F | G/F/E A>G F<D D2 :|
a>fd>f g>fe>d | g>e f/e/d c<e (3efg | a>fd>f g>fe>d | (3fga (3efg f<dd2 :|
f2(3agf e2(3gfe | d2(3fed c2(3edc | B>c(3dcB A>df>a | g>fe>d c<aa>g |
(3fef (3agf (3ede (3gfe | (3dcd (3fed (3cBc (3edc | B>c (3dcB A>df>a | g>fe>a f<dd2 ||

Yep, Solidmahog, it’s “Roes amang the Heather” - but it refers to a particular horticulturalist who used caviar as a fertiliser for his prize ericas.

Much as the idea of roe deer is a very good one, I have my doubts (for one thing, roe deer are more often seen in woodland, or on the edges of woodland rather than up with the red deer in the hills - but that is moot). The concept of a ‘rose among heather’ (rose being a quine) is not peculiar to Scotland. Indeed, Goethe’s poem “Heidenröslein”, with its line “Röslein auf der Heiden” (which could be translated as “rose on the heather” and often is, though “heath” is probably closer - and there is the connotation with “heathen”) inspired many - including Schubert.
I would place my money on “rose”, rather than “roes” - the plural is usually “roe”, anyway.

Noel,

The 6/8 version of Rose Among the Heather that I know is a jig in D

X:1
T:The Rose Among the Heather
L:1/8
R: Jig
M:6/8
I:linebreak $
K:D
|: F3 EFE | DFA BAF | dcd ede | fdB AFE |$ FGF EFE | DFA BAF | AdB AFE | FDD D3 ::$ fdd Add |
faa agf | g3 fed | Bee ede |$ fdd Add | faa agf | b3 afe | fdd d3 :|

Watch Buddy MacMaster play it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2beJky_KM

play video

The version that Solidmahog posted from the Jerry Holland collection also seems to be pretty close to the version that Buddy MacMaster plays after Niel Gow’s in the video here in the comments.