The “unintelligible jargon” just referred to is perhaps the most curious thing in all the history of pipe music. The words are not a fair description, for it was intelligible enough to the initiated, but from the point of view of others, no other phrase is suitable. It was, in short, a system whereby known and fixed sounds in the shape of syllables represented sounds in the shape of notes of music known to the teacher, but unknown to the pupil, in such a way that when the pupil, after being taught, heard a number of the syllables repeated by word of mouth, he could at once reproduce their prototypes as a bit of pipe music. There were no signs about it whatever, no noting of the syllables—that is in the early stages of the system—and it is difficult for us who can hardly imagine music without conjuring up a book before the mind’s eye, to grasp the idea. The transmission of music by a system of language signs is peculiar to the pipes, and no full parallel to Canntaireachd, as it has been called, is to be found in any other country. By this “unintelligible jargon” of syllables the hereditary pipers trained their pupils, without the aid of any scales or other notations, and in this form the tunes were chanted all over the Highlands. To this day many pipers will give the syllabic wordings of tunes, and several of the more expert can play the pipes direct from such a notation. The different teachers of piping—they were always clan pipers—had different systems, but all were based on the principle of arbitrary and known sounds, representing certain notes, and a succession of these, of course, a tune. The system of the Mac Crimmons, hereditary pipers to Mac Leod of Dunvegan, and the most famous teachers and players, became most popular, as they had by far the largest number of pupils, and a reference to it will serve to illustrate the subject.
CAPTAIN NEIL MAC LEOD OF GESTO
(From a Photograph in the possession of Dr. Keith N. Mac Donald, Edinburgh.)
Some time or other—the date cannot be fixed—the system was committed to paper, and in 1828 Captain Neil Mac Leod of Gesto published a book, giving the notation in actual type. It is perhaps the most remarkable book that has ever been issued in connection with any musical instrument. Though to the ordinary reader it is absolute nonsense, so late as 1880, Duncan Ross, the Duke of Argyll’s piper, who learned his art orally in Ross-shire from the chanting of John Mac Kenzie, Lord Breadalbane’s piper, himself a pupil of the Mac Crimmons, could read and play from it at sight, and as he is still alive can, I suppose, do so to this day. In the same year, Ross, the Queen’s piper, chanted a tune in articulate words, and, when compared with the Mac Crimmon language, the notes were found to be identical in length and rhythm, although the words were different. It was the same tune expressed by a different set of words, and the experiment proved that the old pipers did not teach in a haphazard style, but according to fixed rules. The Mac Crimmons, in particular, wrote down their tunes, and Captain Mac Leod himself took down from the dictation of John Mac Crimmon, one of the latest of the race, a collection of airs, as verbally taught at the “college” at Dunvegan, which he incorporated in the “Gesto” book. After this it is not so difficult to believe that a piper, when he heard the instrument, could imagine it was a language, and know what the player meant him to understand. When education came, and the notation was printed, it was seen that it was a system scientifically constructed, and one from which an expert could read music at sight, just as a pianist can play from the staff, although he has never seen the piece before. At least three different systems existed in the Highlands seventy years ago, and Donald Cameron, Seaforth’s famous piper, and the acknowledged successor of the Mac Crimmons, though practically an illiterate man, could read ordinary music, and also had a system of his own.
The “Gesto” Book contains twenty pibrochs, and is now very rare. It was reprinted some years ago by Messrs. J. & R. Glen, Edinburgh. Captain Mac Leod had a large manuscript collection of Mac Crimmon pibrochs, as noted by the pipers themselves, part of which was very old, and part more modern. Of these he only published a few as an experiment. The verse given at the head of this chapter is part of the tune Gilliechroist, the first line being interpreted:—
“Yonder I see a great smoke.”
The tune afterwards proceeds with “variations,” which complicate the wording considerably, and make it appear even more unintelligible. Here again is the urlar or groundwork of “The Prince’s Salute” in the notation of the Mac Crimmons:—
“hi o dro hi ri, hi an an in ha ra,
hi o dro ha chin, ha chin hi a chin,
hi o dro hi ri, hi an an in ha ra,