Customer Reviews

Pipers: A Guide to the Players and Music of the Highland Bagpipe

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This book is an education for anyone interested in traditional music. It is packed with information on pipers but it what I particularly like is how much it explains - how pipers learn the instrument, how they teach and how the music has been passed down, sometimes well, sometimes not. There are accounts of the great pipers of the last 250 years with over 40 photographs, including the earliest known photo of a piper taken by Octavius Hill in 1847. The sections on composition in the light music (which began, the writer says, as a 'cheerful hotch potch' of songs and fiddle tunes picked up and richly developed by pipers) and also how piobaireachd is composed are a relevation. Donaldson also explains 'canntaireachd' and 'oral tradition' and gives the first sensible account I have seen of where the pipe band came from.

The writer is a piper and a composer and his love of the music comes across but in a way which is accessible for the non piper. It demystifies much and brings the highland bagpipes back into the arena of traditional music. This book is a great read and an essential starting point for any enqury into traditional music.

Reliable information on the Highland Bagpipe is hard to come by. This unique and fascinating instrument, with its wonderful scale and five centuries of classical music has become buried underneath popular misconceptions based on pipe bands playing out of tune versions of simple melodies. Donaldson does a sterling job of providing much valuable information, but his perception of the flawed (according to him) performance of the Piobaireachd Society in the 20th century in attempting to preserve and standardise the music is a definite distraction. One is left with the feeling that he has remained on the outskirts of the piping world - an observer who is not quite one of the inner group. He has an obsession with the faults of Archibald Campbell, the editor of most of the Society's publications, which obscures the truth that , in piobaireachd music, the printed score is nothing but a rough guide. The music needs a competent teacher to bring it to life.
The book is probably too technical for non- pipers, and too trivial for experienced players.

It is not a terrible book, it does contain some information. But much of that book is spent on an battle that by now is of little relevance (the early years of the Piobaireachd Society and their edits) and the presentation is outdated to the extent of being plain false (all the comments about availability of alternative texts).

The big turnoff is the negativity throughout (not humerous, even if that is the intention) and dubious opinions. With the presentation and writing style, it is hard to pick out facts. I much prefer the more objective and much clearer presentation in Cannon's book. I reread Cannon's book and enjoyed it; but here it was a chore to make it through once. The two books do not cover exactly the same ground, Donaldson's book has some additional detail on tunes and specific players. Here is a sentence to give you an idea of what additional detail you get and whether this is what you want: "After MacPhee's death in December 1880, MacColl continued his lessons with Pipe-Major Ronald MacKenzie (died March 1911, a Skyeman, ex-pipe-major, Black Watch; prize pipe, Invernes, 1873 and gold medal, 1875 - not to be confused with the other Ronald MacKenzie, 1842-1916, pipe-major of the 78th and nephew of John Bin) with whom he worked as a pipe for Neil M. MacDonald, grandson of Niel MacLeod of Gesto, at Dunach a little south of Oban".

I found this book quite good. It is certainly more informative about the music than Cheape's book (the Book of the Bagpipe), and is certainly a good follow-up to Cannon's book (the Highland Bagpipe and It's Music), going deeper into the tunes and the people behind them. Cannon's book is also excellent in my impression, though a bit harder to read than 'Pipers'. Certianly Donaldson has his own point of view, which can be humerous at times since there are plenty of things about the piping tradition he doesn't like (e.g., the incessent "Amazing Grace"). I guess I agree with him on that one. But his other 'opinions' seem well supported by the evidence he provides, and in fact, hard not to believe, given the history of traditions in general. Piobaireachd is not the first to suffer under the hope of idle money. If judges are staring into books while pipers are playing tunes, then one has to wonder what's more important, a possibly bottle-necked tradition, or the sound of the music!

Back to the book...if you're a piper and appreciate piping history (especially recent history), this is an excellent book. If you're not a piper, then this book is probably too esoteric to be interesting.

Read the first page of this book and you know you are in for a treat. Opinionated and funny, Donaldson (who clearly loves piping) rips through various topics in a commanding style based upon his own primary research. Donaldson is not afraid of deflating various piping myths and gives a concise explanation of the unfortunate fate of the "Big Music" over the past hundred years. Unlike the short, painfully dry "pamphlet" style piping books now available, this was a real breath of fresh air.

I was looking forward to reading this book but was somewhat dissapointed. There is lots of
interesting information but the author much too often for my taste, inserts his prejudices and bias' of others in the piping world's history, making fun of them and what they did, how they lived, what they wrote, how they played their music etc. It almost seemed as if the author was envious or resentful of their accomplishments. So much of this that it overshadowed the interesting parts. Too much of an agenda not enough substance.