Page of handwritten music in a manuscript book of Highland bagpipe music

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Page of handwritten music for the Highland bagpipe. The tunes include parts of six reels, Caledonian Canal, The Duke of Edinburgh, the Miller of Drone, The Rusty Gun, Maid of Harris and the Back of the Change House. The tunes are written in Piper Finnie's manuscript book of music for the Highland bagpipes and also includes music for marches, strathspeys, reels and jigs, as well as Regimental Marches and Duty Calls.

The book is inscribed 'PIPER A. FINNIE / BLACK WATCH / SITAPUR / INDIA'. According to regimental records, the First Battalion Black Watch was stationed at Sitapur in India between 1898 and 1902 and, after a period at Kemptee near Bombay, they returned to Edinburgh in 1903.

The tunes commemorate popular officers of the Black Watch. The collection is a good example of a standard repertoire of a nineteenth century professional piper and reflects the discipline of writing down and standardising Highland bagpipe music before printed music became generally available.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-579-827-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: The Bagpipe Collection
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  K.2002.1337 (3)
• Date: 1898 - 1902 (date of use)
  
• Material: Paper, ink and fabric tape
  Manuscript book
  
• Dimensions: 310 mm L x 275 mm W x 35 mm Depth
  
• What: Manuscript book
  
• Subject:
• Who: 1st Battalion Black Watch (associated battalion)
  Piper A. Finnie (owner)
  
• Where: India, Kemptee (place of use)
  India, Sitapur (place of use)
  Scotland, Edinburgh (possible place of use)
  
• Event:
• Description: Inscribed book of handwritten Highland bagpipe music repaired with fabric tape.
  
• References:
  • Cheape, Hugh,. Piper Finnie's Manuscript Book. Scottish Book Collector, Vol. 1, No. 10, 1989, pp. 21 - 24. 
• Translations:
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