My Home waltz

It was the regimental slow march of the 2/7th Ghurkas in the late ’50’s

The version played at our session in East Rochester -- I’m not sure where the sheet music was copped from, but here’s the ABC:
X:1
T:My Home
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:G
dc|“G”B3 AG2|“G7”G2B2d2|“C”g2f2e2|“D7”d4c2|
“G”B3 AB2|“Em”G3 AB2|“Am”c3 Bc2|“D7”A4 dc|
“G”B3 AG2|“G7”G2 B2 d2|“C”g2f2e2|“D7”d4 c2|
“G”B3 GB2|“F”A3 =FA2|“C”G3 AG2|“G”G4D2||
“G”G3 AB2|B3 AB2|d3 cB2|B4d2|
“Am”c3 Bc2|“D7”A2B2c2|“G”d3 BG2|“G7”G4 Bd|
“C”e3 ce2|“Am”g3 fe2|“G”d2c2B2|“C”g4c2|
“G”B3 GB2|“F”A3 =FA2|“C”G3 AG2|“G”G4z2||

https://youtu.be/I-gGjFYH0NE

play video

Bagpipe versions. Does the tune come from the Highland Pipes tradition?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI98QKQTkSs

play video

A transcription from that video:
X: 1
T: My Home
R: Slow March
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Amix
|:e3/4d1/4|c3/2B/c A3/2c/e|a3/2g/f e2d|c3/2B/c A2B3/4c1/4| d3/2c/d B2e3/4d1/4 |
c3/2B/c A3/2c/e|a3/2g/f e2d|c3/2A/c B3/2G/B|A3A2:|
|:e|A3/2B/c c3/2B/c |e3/2d/c c2e|d3/2c/d B2c3/4d1/4 |e3/2c/A A2c1/4e3/4|
f3/d/f a3/g/f|e3/d/c a2d|c3/2A/c B3/2G/B|A3A2:|

Another bagpipe video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7cyerSohU

play video

This tune is played in old time sessions in the states in A (3 sharps) in standard tuning and cross tuned AEae. The B part is a lot different, though, and known as My Own Home Waltz.

“Does the tune come from the Highland Pipes tradition?”

I don’t think so, janglecrow. The tune was published in 6/8 in the Patrick McDonald collection of 1784 under the title of “Posadh peathar In bhain” (and is still known as a jig called “John Bain’s Sister’s Wedding”). The melody in 3/4 became a popular Gaelic song, “Mo Dhachaid” (“My Home” or “My Ain Hoose”) written by Malcolm Macfarlane.

Ah that’s interesting Nigel. I had come to believe it was adapted from a “chunk” of Dvorak’s New World Symphony as there’s a bit of that which sounds really quite similar. But your Patrick McDonald reference way proceeds that. The influence perhaps then was the other way around and maybe has more in common with the many other classical raids on folk tradition. I have played this a lot as a real audience grabbing slow air on the pipes but never in a session setting with others or as a jig though. Just goes to show a decent musical hook will lend itself to many forms I guess.

As I press post I realise I have crossed my wires. I’m mixing “Going Home” with “My Home”. Doh! “My Home” was set for pipes for the funeral of one of the early 20th Century English kings I believe. George 5 perhaps?

Malcolm Macfarlane’s song “Mo Dhachaidh” can be dated to 1893 or earlier. In 1893, Macfarlane submitted the lyrics to The Celtic Monthly’s Gaelic Prize Competition and won the Gaelic Poem prize of 1£ 1s. The examiners, Duncan Reid and Henry Whyte, refer to it as “his song entitled Mo Dhachaidh”, indicating the poem had been set to music. Their report and the lyrics were published in The Celtic Monthly, 1893, p.102.

There was no information on the melody, original or adapted. Other that the ending phrase of each part (with the flat 7th note) there is not much similarity to my ear between “My Home” and the jig “John Bain’s Sister’s Wedding” published in Merry Melodies (which is in Aeolian mode.) Since “posadh” translates to marriage and “peathar” to sister, I presume the jig in Merry Melodies and the 6/8 tune “Posadh peathar In bhain” in the the Patrick McDonald collection are the same piece.

Played at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, said to be one of her favourite tunes.