Annotation:Tulloch Gorum (1)

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TULLOCHGORUM/TULACH GORM [1] (The Blue-Green Hill). AKA - "Corn Bunting (The)," "Blue Hill (The)," "Green Hill (The)." Scottish, English; Rant or Strathspey. England, Northumberland. G Mixolydian (most versions): G Major (Campbell, Johnson, Köhler, Peacock, Plain Brown): F Mixolydian (Johnson). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Hunter): AB (Carlin/Gow, Cole, Gow, Hardie, Johnson/Emmerson, Skinner, Surenne): AAB (Athole, Emmerson, Honeyman, S Johnson, Kerr, Köhler, Skinner): AA'B (Carlin/Master, Howe): AABB (Alburger, Bremner, Kennedy): ABC (Plain Brown): AABBCCDD (Peacock). The title (with its various spellings) means "Blue Green Hill/Knoll" in Gaelic, and port-a-beul words have been set to “Tulach Gorm.” The tune and song appear to be quite old; music historian Francis Collinson finds that a tune in the Rowallan lute manuscript (c. 1612-1628) called “Ouir the Deck Davy” has a “distinct resemblance” to “Tullochgorum.” biography:J. Scott Skinner (1904) notes: “’Tullochgorum’ is stated by some authorities to have originally borne the title of ‘Corn Bunting’. By others it is thought to be derived from the tune of an old Scottish song…’Jockie’s fou and Jenny fain’…” The earliest record of this tune in more or less modern form is as a rant entitled "Reel of Tullochgorum" David Young's Duke of Perth MS (AKA the Drummond Castle MS) of 1734; it is also found in the James Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768); these early versions show little of the later strathspey rhythm, at least as noted, and appear as rants. However, in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (2nd part, p. 16) it is set as a strathspey.

The Reel of Tullochgorum, by Walter Gelkie (1795-1837)

Tullochgorm is also the name of a Scottish dance of twelve steps, and was one of several taught by Cape Breton fiddler Donald "the Tailor" Beaton of South West Margaree (who was an itinerant tailor). Lore surrounding the dance says that the movements are supposed to relate to the small hills or knolls that lookouts stood upon, looking for the foes of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Supposedly they performed the dance while on duty, so as not to look suspicious. One dance teacher (Fearchar MacMeil of Barra) said the Green Knoll was where Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald said farewell. There is no evidence to suppose that any of this is actually true; rather it smacks of Highland romanticism.

As with many popular old Scottish dance tunes various sets of port a beul (mouth music) words have been set to the melody. One version begins:

Brochan tìoradh Anna Tholm,
Brochan tìorach, tìoradh, tìoradh,
Brochan tìoradh Anna Tholm,
Brochan mòr is greim ann,
Dh'ith thu ìm sa Ghlinne Mhòr
Dh'ith thu ìm, muc us ìm,
Sud 'us ìm sa Ghlinne mhòr
Dh'ith thu siud mun d'fhalbh thu.
[Anna Holm's porridge of kiln-dried grain,
Porridge of kiln-dried grain, porridge of kiln-dried grain,
Anna Holm's porridge of kiln-dried grain,
Big porridge you can get your teeth into,
You ate some butter in the Big Glen,
You ate some butter, pig and butter,
That and butter in the Big Glen
You ate that before you went away.]

"Tullochgorum" was one of the tunes Niel Gow played for Robert Burns in October, 1787, when Burns visited the fiddler at his home in Dunkeld (see also "Loch Erroch side," "Lament for Abercairney"). In fact, it is one of the most famous tunes in the repertoire, and must be mastered by every serious strathspey player, according to Hunter (1979); Niel Gow and J. Scott Skinner "built their reputations on the performance of it." Skinner wrote a set of six famous variations on the tune, though those printed in the McGlashan Collection may be the earliest. Words were set to it in 1776 by the Rev. John Skinner (1721-1807), pastor of the Episcopal Chapel at Langside near Peterhead, which begin:

Come gie's a sang, Montgomery cried,
And lay your disputes a' aside,
What signifies't for folks to chide,
For what was done before them.
Let Whig and Tory a' agree,
Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory,
Whig and Tory a' agree,
To drop their Whigmigmoruin;
Let Whig and Tory a' agree,
To spend the night in mirth and glee,
And cheerfu' sing alang wi' me,
The reel o' Tullochgorum.

The third verse literally sings the praise of the tune:

There needsna be sae great a phrase,
Wi' dringing dull Italian lays,
I wadna' gi'e our ain Strathspeys,
For half a hundred score o' 'em.
They're douff and dowie at the best
Douff and dowie, douff and dowie,
They're douff and dowie at the best
Wi' a' the variorum:
They're douff and dowie at the best,
Their allegros and a' the rest,
They canna please a Highland taste,
Compar'd wi' Tullochgorum. ... [Graham The Songs of Scotland, 1887]

Burns called "Tullochgorum" the "first of songs!" Hunter (1979) remarks that Rev. Skinner came to the defense of Scottish folk music at a time when fashion ran to the Italian musical influence among the middle and upper classes of Scotland. Robert Burns, in his "Amang the trees", and Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), in his "Daft Days", also joined his fight. "Daft Days" (in Scotland the 'daft days' are the Christmas New Years holiday period) includes the following excerpt:

Fiddlers! your pins in temper fix
And roset weel your fiddlesticks;
But banish vile Italian tricks
Frae out your quorum;
Nor fortes wi' pianos mix
Gie's Tullochgorum.

Nigel Gatherer found the following passage in an old book called The Fiddle in Scotland (n.d.) by Alexander G. Murdoch, from an account by Peter Stewart, who accompanied Niel Gow during the Burns visit:

Arriving at Dunkeld, [Burns]...put up at the principal inn...[He] was fortunate in making the acquaintance of Dr Stewart, an enthusiastic amateur violin player. At the dinner table he quoted to his guests the well-known local ditty-

Dunkeld it is a little toon,
An' lies intil a howe;
An' if ye want a fiddler loon,
Spier ye for Niel Gow.

Burns expressed much delight at the proposal...a visit was at once agreed to.

The greeting was a cordial one on both sides, and the meeting of Burns and Gow - both geniuses of the first order in their respective lines - was mutually worthy of each other. The magician of the bow gave them a selection of north-country airs mostly of his own spirited composition. The first tune was "Loch Erroch Side" which greatly delighted the poet, who long afterwards wrote for the same melody his touching lyric "Oh, stay, sweet warbling woodlark, stay!" At Burns's request, Niel next gave them his pathetic "Lament for Abercairney" and afterwards one of the best-known compositions in the Highlands, "McIntosh's Lament". "Tullochgorum" was also duly honoured, after which the whole party adjourned to the little old-fashioned inn at Inver, where there was a famous deoch, or parting friendly drink.

The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Mary MacDonald, who learned her setting from fiddler Sarah (Mrs. John Angus) MacArthur of Mabou Coal Mines, Cape Breton [Dunlay & Greenberg]; a c. 1847 music manuscript by Ellis Knowles, a musician from Radcliffe, Lancashire, England [Plain Brown]; Robert Petrie’s 4 Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jiggs and Country Dances (Edinburgh, 1805) [S. Johnson].

Printed sources : - Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1), 1782; No. 85, p. 30. Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 15, p. 36. Bremner (A Collection of Scots Reels), 1757; p. 16 (appears as “Tulloch Gorm”). Joshua Campbell (A Collection of New Reels & Highland Strathspeys), Glasgow, 1789; p. 12. Carlin (Master Collection of Dance Music for the Violin), 1984; No. 137, p. 84. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 226. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 3. Doyle (Plain Brown Tune Book), 1997; p. 40. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1966; p. 89. Emmerson (Rantin’ Pipe and Tremblin’ String), 1971; No. 58, p. 149. Gow (The First Collection of Neil Gow’s Reels), 1784 (revised 1801); p.16. Gow (Beauties of Niel Gow), 1819; p. 27. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; p. 109. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 31. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 122. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 86. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum vol. III), 1790; No. 289, pp. 298-299. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 10: Airs and Melodies of Scotland’s Past), 1992 (revised 2001); p. 19. S. Johnson (A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection), 2003; p. 20. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 193, p. 45. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; Set 15, No. 1, p. 10. Laybourn (Köhler’s Violin Repository, Book One), 1881; p. 23. McGlashan (Collection of Strathspey Reels, vol. 3), 1786; p. 4. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 87. Peacock (Peacock’s Tunes), c. 1805; No. 38, p. 17. Petrie (Fourth Collection of Strathspey, Reels, Jiggs and Country Dances), 1805; p. 5. William Ross (Ross’s Collection of Pipe Music), 1869; No. 199, pp. 125-126. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 25. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist, with six variations), p. 26 27. Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; pp. 68-69 (includes variation sets). Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 158. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; pp. 6-7.

Recorded sources : - Celtic CX 24, Alexander MacLean - “Piano Stylings of the Cape Breton Scott.” CLM 1000, Carl MacKenzie - “Tullochgorum” (1979). Topic 12TS280, J. Scott Skinner – “The Strathpspey King” (originally recorded in 1905). Topic 12TS354, Mary MacDonald - “Cape Breton Scottish Fiddle” (1978). NQD-5447, Doug MacPhee - “Cape Breton Master of the Keyboard.”

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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