Haste to the wedding: the musical interlude

Amongst the hasty planning of our wedding, it occurred to us (well to Clare) that I could provide a musical interlude on the tin whistle that I’ve been learning to play over the last 18 months or so. I was initially a bit hesitant about this (can we say reluctant…).

While I feel my playing has come a long way, it also started from a rather low level. A few piano lessons as a child ended with the realization that I “was never going to be Mozart” and there had been no development of my musical talents in the intervening decades. Still, the prospect of having a DIY element to our low-key ceremony was fun (and certainly more minimalist than hiring a piper), so I set about thinking what tunes I could possibly play.

Rattlin’ bog

The first tune that sprang to mind was actually the first tune I learnt on the whistle - I was thinking that if I can play anything in the wind and rain, and potentially overwhelming emotion of the moment, then it would be this one!

Rattlin’ bog is an Irish folk song with some silly lyrics about a ‘rare’ and ‘rattlin’ bog, which mean something like great or splendid in the context of this song. Although we would be sticking to an instrumental version, it still seemed appropriate given the Scottish highlands can be quite boggy.

The lyrics go something like:

Ro Ho the rattlin’ bog, bog down in the valley-O,
Rare bog the rattlin’ bog, bog down in the valley-O,
And in the bog there was a tree, rare tree a rattlin’ tree
Tree in the bog and the bog down in the valley-O!

Ro Ho the rattlin’ bog, bog down in the valley-O,
Rare bog the rattlin’ bog, bog down in the valley-O,
And in the tree there was a hole, a rare hole a rattlin’ hole
Hole in the tree and the tree in the bog and the bog down in the valley-O!

and on it continues through a cumulative sequence of holes, nests, birds, feathers etc. depending on taste…

As you can see above, we were very lucky with the weather for the day of the wedding and I was indeed able to play. However, to be ready for any eventuality I did also prepare some recordings in our ‘Hertfordshire recording studio’.

(The other tune that’s included in this recording is The Kerry Polka)

Haste to the wedding

I then started looking for another tune to learn in the 6 weeks remaining. I was thinking that it would be appropriate if this could have some association with Scotland (but maybe ‘Scotland the Brave’ was too obvious) or maybe some link to weddings. Scouring the internet for traditional ‘Scottish’ tunes I came across a list of traditional dance tunes that didn’t seem dissimilar to those I’d been learning already. Obviously the title ‘haste to the wedding’ jumped out at me and when I saw that it was a jig, I realised that I had better get learning it.

I have since discovered, courtesy of Wikipedia that ‘haste to the wedding’ probably dates from the 1700s (which I believe is fairly old as these tunes go) and does have an association with weddings. It was apparently ‘played by a marching band to the thousands waiting outside the chapel for the Queen’s arrival’ at the wedding of Queen Victoria.

Loch Lomond

With about 2 weeks to go, Clare got me a surprise present of a book, ‘30 Scottish Folk Songs for the Tin Whistle’. Maybe I could play something from that… Flicking through it, I saw ‘Loch Lomond’ and thought that might be appropriate. The first verse starts out about the “Bonnie banks and bonnie braes, where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond”, so far so good, though maybe the sun part was optimistic. Unfortunately, it then takes a turn for the worse with “Where me and my true love will never meet again, On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond” - maybe not quite right sentiment for a wedding after all.

We’d overlooked the fact that, as we’d learnt at various folk festivals and concerts, a disproportionate amount of folk songs have themes of ‘death and decay’ or ‘love gone wrong’ or both. According to Wikipedia, even in the apparently more upbeat lyrics “O ye’ll tak’ the high road, and I’ll tak’ the low road, And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye” the ‘low road’ actually represents death!

The last verse mentioned “’Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen, On the steep, steep sides of Ben Lomond”. That was ringing in my ears later in the holiday we turned around halfway up Ben Lomond having started our ascent too late in the day (it was more of a mountain and less of a stroll than we had expected).

When safely back home, I did go on to learn to play Loch Lomond, and here is a recording with both low and high whistles.

Of the 30 songs in the book, I count about 11 that feature death and decay, three that focus on love gone wrong and seven that span both themes; I hope to learn some more of them in due course.

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Credits

Pictures from Sarah are marked as copyright of Fotomaki Photography, and are used with permission. All other photos are our own.