Compiled by Pete Stewart
4, Elcho Street, Peebles, EH45 8LQ,
Scotland
"Does more than any previous tune book to search for and find the core of the English bagpipe tradition" (William Marshall)
US$ 20, Euro 20
Pete Stewart has been playing traditional dance music for over thirty
years and has been piping for fifteen of them. The fruits of his playing
and researching English piping are contained in this long awaited collection.
The book combines literary descriptions, pictorial and sculptural representations
and an historical commentary with 70 tunes from across 8 centuries, many
unavailable in print elsewhere, to present a vivid picture of a more or
less forgotten aspect of English musical life, as well as offering a unique
repertoire to today’s players.
This publication is an important contribution to the reclamation of piping
traditions and should be in every piper’s instrument case.
“Bagpipes were a feature of the English scene for many centuries and
Pete Stewart has done a grand job of collecting, editing and playing the
music of this neglected tradition.”
(Roderick Cannon, author of ‘The Highland Bagpipe and its Music” and “A
Bibliography of Bagpipe Music”)
"..one of the best, most plausible contributions yet to the enigma of what our English piping forbears actually played"
William Marshall, editor, Chanter, Journal of the Bagpipe Society, Summer, 2002
And therwithal he broghte us out of towne"
Geoffrey Chaucer, c.1390
"..for its music, the historical information, and the illustrations,
it is a book I am delighted to have in my collection"
Jock Agnew, editor, Common Stock, Journal of the Lowland and Border
Pipers' Society, June 2002
In the current edition of Robin With the Bagpipe, on page 28 I said that The Duke of York's Short Troop was not included in 'the Sussex Tune Book'. Thanks to Barry Callaghan for pointing out that, of course, it was.