I think I was lucky to have played while I was still just starting out as a musician, with both Bartley O’Donnell in Senan’s Haggart, and Peter Daffy with whom I formed the Funky String Band.

I still consider Bartley to be one of the best tune writers I have come across and there is something distinct about his sense of melody that I identify with very strongly.

Peter always championed original and new music. When I was starting out he not only encouraged me to write and keep writing, but also gave me a platform with the Funky String Band for my tunes to get played and recorded.

After I joined Shooglenifty, this was taken to a whole new level. Being immersed in the traditional melody form with all the music in Edinburgh, it has been a fun discipline to write in.

A few years back though, our banjo player Garry suggested I have a go at arranging some of the melodies I had written at the time for more than just a folk setting. I had never even considered it but converted one tune into a (still not quite finished…) piece for orchestra. After that I had a go at a piece for string orchestra and one for string quartet and then began a large work for three duos.

This suite was a contribution to the Ten Titles Project and after two years of gestation it got recorded in October 2009. I initially wrote it for two violins, two mandolin and two percussion. My idea was to limit myself to four melodic/harmonic instruments – all of which played in exactly the same range. For the recording though Khaled Arman suggested instead of a mandolin he could play the Afghani Rubab – a suggestion for which I will be eternally grateful!

It was the first big composition project I have tried but I certainly hope it won’t be the last, I had a ball!

Tunes, Tunes, Tunes

My “tunes” can be found on the following albums and a selection are notated below. For more dots, just drop me a line and I’d be delighted to forward the music…

Shooglenifty

The Arms Dealer’s Daughter

Glenuig Hall, Carboni’s Farewell, The Patient Man, The New Rat #6, Missed The Bypass, The Reid St. Sofa, Scraping the Barrel, Malcolm’s Possum, Take The Tunnel, Tune For Bartley

Troots

McConnell’s Rant(w/Quee), Excess Baggage, She’s a Keeper, The Lead Break, The Trim Controller, Charlie and the Professor, The Tap Inn, The Dazzler, 32 Bars of Filth, The Patient Nurses, Wattle Grove, Another Bucket of Eels, Jane’s Dance

Murmichan

The Road to Bled, The Dancing Goose, The Green Nose, Ham in the Boiler Room, First To Sleep, The Fulmar, The Vague Rant, Sandals and Boots

Funky String Band

Funky String Band

Carboni’s Farewell, Slipping Up the Stairs (actually an early incarnation of Glenuig Hall), Shepherd’s Lullaby, Boundary Rider, Lake Minnows at Dawn

Mongrel Unleashed

Tommy’s Shades, Beetroot Juice, The Old Schoolhouse, Sarah Hoy’s

And You May Find Yourself

Belle of Benbecula, Candle in the Bushel, The Sad Eye

Kate Burke and Ruth Hazelton

Swapping Seasons

The Set Trap, The Gilded Lily