One of my hero’s and one that got me into piping was Gordon Duncan. I’d been brought up in Army style piping and tunes and it was all very regimented and stiff. The wildest the piping world got in the old days was playing Amazing Grace or Mull of Kintyre on Top of the Pops!
Gordon had it all. Amazing dexterity and musicality coupled with the desire to push the boundaries of an instrument that only had 9 notes! When he finished it had 2 more! He could have been a medal winner but he turned away from solo competition and concentrated on bringing The Vale of Atholl pipe band from grade 4 to Grade 1 in just 7 years.
He composed over 100 tunes, many of which are now in the repertoires of many bands. One would have thought that as a man who literally had the world at his fingertips he would never have taken his own life at the age of 41.
For obvious reasons his story resonates with me but thankfully I’m still here to play the pipes and hopefully do justice to some of his extremely difficult yet musical tunes.
One of his most beautiful tunes is one of the simplest, but if played right soars above the written page. It’s called The Sleeping song.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwTiRDjBGSc
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