The Road To The North (march) on The Session

Two settings

X: 1
T: The Road To The North
R: march

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
ag|f2 d2 cdec|d6 AB|=c4 cBcd|B2 G2 A2 ag|
f2 d2 cdec|d2 A2 FGAF|Dagf e2 dc|d6 ag|
f2 d2 cdec|d6 AB|=c4 cBcd|B2 G2 A2 FG|
A2 d2 =cAGF|G6 FG|Aagf e2 dc|d6||
|:FG|A2 d2 d2 cd|e6 d2|AB=cd B2 G2|A6 FG|
A2 d2 d2 cd|e2 dc d2 AB|=c2 g2 fed^c|d6:|

X: 2
T: The Road To The North
R: march

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
FG|A2 F2 EFGE|F6 EF|G4 EDCE|G2 B,2 D2 FG|
A2 F2 EFGE|F2 D2 A,2 FD|A,DEF G2 FG|A6 FG|
A2 F2 EFGE|F6 EF|G4 EDCE|G2 B,2 D2 A,2|
D2 F2 ECB,A,|B,2 D2 G,4|A,DEF G2 FG|A6||
|:A,2|D2 F2 F2 EF|G2 BA GEDF|EDCA, B,2 D2|D4 E4|
D2 F2 F2 EF|G2 FE DEFG|E2 C2 DEFE|D6:|

Seven comments

The Road to the North

By Alistair Anderson, a brilliant English box player from up north. He also wrote a second part to go with it, a sort of counter-harmony thing, but I don’t really know it. I don’t really think it’s a reel, cos it shouldn’t be played fast at all, but I don’t know what else to call it.

Road to the North

Its generally played as a bricsk march up here - including by Alastair.

TGreat tune.
Alastair and everyone else up here play it as a brisk march.

Two picky points -
Alastair is generally regarded as the worlds best English Concertina player - up here box would imply melodeon.

English ?-Alastair has been in the forefront of Northumbrian music for several decades. Whilst it is technically correct to call him English, it doesn’t really hit the nail on the head.

Noel
Angels of the North

Noel
Angels of the North

My favorite recordings of this tune include Kathryn Tickell (Debatable Lands) and Andrew Davidson (Sharing a good tune).

Brilliant tune.

The Road To The North - Features on the “Steel Skies” album

In the 80s Alistair Anderson composed a suite of tunes called “Steel Skies”, played in concerts and on an album by himself and three friends (instruments used were English concertina, Northumbrian pipes, fiddles, whistle, and maybe flute and mandolin though I can’t be positive about the last two). The parts were carefully arranged. It was a pleasant, fresh piece of music. The Road To The North was one of its strongest tunes.

Alistair followed this up with at least one other suite of this kind, probably more. People requested him to publish the sheet-music for “Skies” - maybe he did. He may have a website giving details of the availability of his albums or sheet music.

Good points well made, Noelbats. I stand corrected.

Steel skies

Yes, Steel Skies is still in print and some of the arrangements have the orchestral parts.
The 3/2 tune “Dog Leap Stairs” is another popular one in the collection.

2nd Voice

The second voice for this tune, as played the second time around on Kathryn Tickell’s “Debatable Lands”.

Have fun!

X: 1
T: The Road To The North (2nd Voice)
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
FG|A2 F2 EFGE|F6 EF|G4 EDCE|G2 B,2 D2 FG|
A2 F2 EFGE|F2 D2 A,2 FD|A,DEF G2 FG|A6 FG|
A2 F2 EFGE|F6 EF|G4 EDCE|G2 B,2 D2 A,2|
|D2 F2 ECB,A,|B,2 D2 G,4|A,DEF G2 FG|A6 ||
|:A,2|D2 F2 F2 EF|G2 BA GEDF|EDCA, B,2 D2|D4 E4|
D2 F2 F2 EF|G2 FE DEFG|E2 C2 DEFE|D6 :|

The Road To The North march