Soundyngs is a blog of short-format articles and reviews, together with signposting to completed open-access digital research sources. It aims to stimulate research into the history of Scottish music, broadly defined as music that has made a contribution in past times to cultural life within Scotland. We have three goals:
- to assist with the dissemination of historically orientated research into Scottish music both within and beyond the borders of Scotland;
- to facilitate networking between those interested in the history of Scottish music;
- to signpost online resources which may emerge from such research activity.
Research in this field is often curated in ways that do not allow for a comprehensive overview of the diverse musics of Scotland to be apparent. Projects usually divide into period studies, or instrumental specialisms, or sit on one side or another of an imagined art/folk music dichotomy. Our aim is to ensure that our working definition of what comprises “Scottish” is drawn as widely as possible, to include both indigenous musical sounds, musicians and behaviours, and also external influences on Scottish music that nevertheless impacted in any culturally significant fashion. Contributions should take an historical perspective and must discuss music either as a noun or a verb: other than that, we aim to provide summaries, surveys, and signposts, and to suggest possible connections between existing conversations. Our model in this respect is John Purser’s magesterial ‘Scotland’s Music’, which from its first edition in 1992 adopted a generous inclusivity in surveying the unique interactions between different kinds of musicking activity in Scottish contexts.
We welcome:
- short articles (150-500 words) summarising emerging research projects into Scottish music history or which raise research questions in ways that encourage productive conversations about possible research directions
- reviews of published works and webpages that form research outputs from historical research into Scottish music
- signposting suggestions for good-quality online resources on historic Scottish music that may be useful for those teaching or researching these topics
If you have not yet clocked it you might be interested in my brief article on the great C18 Scottish collector Patrick McDonald:
https://tradsong.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mcdonaldb.pdf
I am a Sassenach but I greatly admire your Scottish musical and poetic heritage, and tomorrow I shall be celebrating Burns Night together with the entire Scottish nation.
Best regards and all good wishes to you and your enterprise,
Lewis Jones.
Hi Lewis – would you like to write this up as a short post for us to consider? Have a look at the ‘Write for Us’ section and get in touch. Patrick McDonald’s Collection of Highland Vocal Airs is a nicely produced anthology.
Just discovered this resource… excellent prospect for future interest. Thanks 🙏
Hi Ellen – thanks! It’s early days but hoping we can add over time as people draw our attention to interesting resources and new research. The profile is short, newsy, signposts. If you have research news to tell us, see ‘Writing for Us’ and get in touch!
For those interested in Patrick MacDonald’s song collecting, I’d also recommend Karen McAulay’s book ‘Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish Song Collecting from the Enlightenment to the Romantic Era’ (2013) – her first chapter (pp.11-30) on preserving Highland heritage discusses brothers Joseph and Patrick MacDonald’s song collecting, and Patrick’s subsequent publication of the “Highland Vocal Airs”. (Joseph, who left Scotland for India, also wrote a book about bagpiping, which appeared posthumously in 1803.) MacAulay positions this activity in the context of contemporary European Romantic interest in simple rural life, and discusses the collection’s careful consideration of transcription questions e.g. regularising rhythm.