Annotation:Hills of Alva (The)
Tune properties and standard notation
HILLS OF ALVA, THE. Scottish, Retreat March (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. A very popular pipe band march. The Hills of Alva are in Clackmannanshire. The tune was composed by Tom "Tam" Muirhead (1900-1979), who was not a piper but rather a dance-band accordion player born at Meadowfield Row, Longriggend, Lanarkshire. He was a miner, then a railway employee, who happened to live nearby to pipe band members who became friends, and who picked up the march (composed around 1970) from his repertoire.
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See also listing at:
Hear Tom Muirhead's own recording of the march [1]