October Tunes - 2025
A classic MSR (March Strathspey Reels) Set in A (mostly). {Hint: to open links in a new tab, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking}
The march, a moderate quickstep, is followed by a slow and deliberate strathspey. The two reels have different characteristics - one reminds me of a Scotch measure, while the other has the feel of a hornpipe.
The 74th Highland Regiment’s tartan was based on the Black Watch, with a white stripe added.
The 74th Highlanders’ Quickstep (A mixolydian) appears in Kerr's collections as well as the Gunn Collection. The regiment was first raised in 1777 to fight in America and was disbanded in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris. It was re-formed in 1787, fought in India, and later became part of the Highland Light Infantry (the 71st).
Crowhillock (A Major). This strathspey was composed by Archibald Duff, who published his first Collection in 1794. Duff was born in Montrose, but later moved to Aberdeen to assume the music/dancing master practice of the famous Francis Peacock. Crowhillock is in Kindardineshire, Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland.
Place-names of West Aberdeenshire (1899), by James Macdonald, Donald Mackinnon and Sir Charles Edward Troup, gives that Crow Hillock was "Part of Braeside Wood, on which are very old Scotch firs, where there has been a rookery 'for ages past' ". [Yes, I know those aren’t Scotch firs!]
Middies Brae (A major) was composed by Ian Duncan (1927-2011) from Keith. An accordionist turned double bassist, Ian formed the North East Accordion and Fiddle Club in 1971. This tune reflects the time he spent in Shetland with his friend Ronnie Cooper, and is the lead tune for the RSCD (Royal Scottish Country Dance) Book 43 reel, ‘A Castle in the Air’.
Morpeth Rant, a popular dance tune in D major, rounds out the set. For more information click here.
Nods of acknowledgment are owed to Elke Baker who used the march and strathspey in the 2025 Virginia Scottish Games concert by the Potomac Valley Scottish fiddle Club; and to Susie Petrov who used these reels in the recent Boston Branch RSCDS Workshops (September 27, 2025).
