The Bagpipe Society

Review: Footed upon the Sod - Steve Saxton

Steve Saxton is a keen folk musician based in Manchester, now 73, took up the whistle at 47. During lockdown he took on the task of preparing a new edition of his local Chorlton Session tunebook. It seems that hunting for more 3/2s to include in the book has turned into a separate project! Steve also helps run and plays in a ceilidh band and says he has thought about taking up the pipes, but not yet done so!

I’ll write out some of what it says on the back cover of the book.

This book has three objectives:

To introduce and explain 3/2 hornpipes to those less familiar with them, and so facilitate their playing

To gather together tunes currently scattered, or only available online, into spiral-bound book format, transposed if necessary into session-friendly keys

To bring together and showcase some of the many modern (since ca 1975) examples, and point readers to available recordings Layout of the book:

Section A: Introduction, explanation, 10 pages of relatively simple & easy tunes

Section B: 23 pages of easy tunes in the Scottish & Northern bagpipe tradition, some sets with variations

Section C: 28 pages of all sorts of tunes, including theatre music by Purcell and other composers, and many tunes from various collections of social dance music between ca 1670 & 1770

Section D: 16 pages of modern (post 1975) compositions, in a few cases together with older tunes that inspired them.

It goes on to say the aim is to compliment other books rather than compete with them, and that tunes have been transposed into session friendly keys and edited to narrow the range to accommodate a wider range of instruments. After section D there are eight pages of notes to point readers to original versions and, where available, recordings.

I would say this is an excellent introduction to the 3/2 hornpipe and it hits all the aims it lays out. It clearly explains how the tunes work, and how musicians might like to approach, play or alter them rhythmically.

It goes on to talk about the subdivision of bars: I didn’t know there where 216 possible rhythms for just one bar! (But you don’t have to know this really!) There is the occasional tune included in 6/4 and there are some tunes in the collection written as 3/2, which in my mind should be 6/4, but Steve does address this in his notes too. The tunes themselves are drawn from a wide variety of sources and the bibliography refers to about 40 names and sources, some of which will probably be familiar.

The book is easy to open, read and use giving easy access to the 301 tunes. Some tunes are organised in sets for playing at sessions. The tunes are mostly in pub-session friendly keys with either one sharp or two sharp key signatures. However, the range of the tunes can be one octave and a sixth – low D to high A. The pitching of tunes is not primarily done with a drone (Bagpipe) in mind but they are great for whistles, fiddles, melodeons etc. although not always great for the pipes. However, there are still plenty that we can play without too much trouble.

Section B has “23 pages of easy tunes in the Scottish & Northern bagpipe tradition”. This is interesting because quite a lot of the tunes would be hard to play on the pipes without some sort of note tweaking or transposition. As an English Border piper this is something that I find myself doing a lot anyway! If you are reading the book and don’t want to do any transposition you will need both your D & G pipes handy! These pipes will need to play an octave and a fourth, and you will still have to make the occasional note adjustment. This kind of tells me it is not a book especially written for pipers, but the book does include pipe music – which is not the same thing! I would agree the tunes are in the Scottish & Northern bagpipe tradition, but at some point a fiddle has got hold of them! Still, there are plenty that we can play and enjoy in this section.

In the latter sections of the book, it is great to see the all the Purcell theatre music and then the new compositions, continuing and revitalising the tradition. It is fun to play through this music and it is no mean feat in drawing it together and gaining permissions.

I think there are a few duplications in the book for instance Three Rusty Swords and Wee William Grey, and The Dalkeith Baggpipe Tune and For the Love of Jean – For the Love of Jean being a later and more elaborate version. Does this matter? They are different. The book does say it doesn’t claim be an authority on the correct form of any tune and it is up to the player to find the version and way that they want to play a tune and make it their own. Check the references out, follow some links and go on a journey!

I find the inclusion of three Swedish Polskas a bit of an anomaly. Yes, they are on three time, as is most Swedish music. Some Swedish music does have a Baroque feel to it, which the 3/2 hornpipe can have and both traditions were developing through this period (1600 to 1750). Most of the older tunes in this collection are from the mid 1600’s to mid late 1700’s. Interestingly Polskas are still very much connected to dance tradition whereas 3/2 hornpipes are not.

On the whole I think this is an excellent book and really worth having and enjoying. Steve has done a mammoth job creating it. It is not a bagpipe book, but it does exactly what it sets out to do – it is an Introduction to and celebration of the Anglo-Scottish Triple Hornpipe. It does contain a lot of great tunes, some familiar and some not. There is plenty of pipe music in it to make it worth getting

and at the same time support some charitable ends! Well done Steve for getting this together.

Here is a tune for the G pipes from the first section, Section A.

And one for the D pipes from Section C:

Footed upon the Sod is paid for by the purchaser making a suggested £15 donation to a charity with a heritage, environmental, musical bent or by donation directly to Four Point Ramble Association. I did not previously know anything about the Four Point Ramble Association but, in brief, it says it exists to support charities through the use of slow travel writing and early music performance.

You can find out more about the organisation on their Facebook page or at http://www.fourpointsramble.org.uk/. Copies are available via the Four Points Ramble Association's Facebook page, or email saxton_s@yahoo.co.uk.