Morag Haig-Thomas strathspey

This tune was composed by the late Scottish fiddler Donald Riddell. Old Blind Dogs play it on their CD “Gab O’ Mey” in a set with Lochanside and it is also featured on a tribute CD titled “A Highland Fiddler” by Duncan Chisholm / Iain MacFarlane / Bruce MacGregor (which interestingly also features two members of OBD - Jonny Hardie and Rory Campbell).

I’ve sometimes seen this tune described as a “slow march” by some. So, I thought I’d check for myself.

In Donald Riddell’s Clunes Collection, it is definitely listed as a strathspey,
So that’s the way it will stay! 🙂

Incidentally, Morag Haig-Thomas is a fine player in her own right and a leading member of The Inverness Fiddlers.

Some of the more “dotty/snappy” marches are difficult to distinguish from strathspeys, or do I mean vice versa?
Good tune, anyway!

On “A Highland Fiddler” Rory Campbell and Jonny Hardie take it at quite a gentle pace (in F, and very nicely harmonised). Perhaps that’s why some people describe it as a slow march.
On “The Gab o Mey” Old Blind Dogs (which, at that time, featured Rory Campbell) also play it in F but at a slightly faster pace - more strathspey like.