Author Topic: A small, pedantic issue with pipers  (Read 2366 times)

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Offline Sir Gordon of Ramsay

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A small, pedantic issue with pipers
« on: January 26, 2014, 11:26:01 am »
I love the pipers and I think the variety of pipe music is wonderful, however, I would just like to point out that I have serious, serious doubts that the British Army would allow "Skye Boat Song," as this song was a Jacobite tune. Though I am personally a fan of the song itself, to hear it being played for proper British troops on the battlefield is rather silly in my humble opinion.

Offline Sir Gordon of Ramsay

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Re: A small, pedantic issue with pipers
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2014, 11:45:40 am »
I'm surprised this topic never generated interest......

I'm loathe to lock it, but I'll let it die whatever death it dies and not make another comment.


Offline Von_Clausewitz

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Re: A small, pedantic issue with pipers
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2014, 12:44:30 am »
EDIT: Read my second post for the answer
« Last Edit: October 22, 2014, 12:27:50 am by Von_Clausewitz »

Offline Von_Clausewitz

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Re: A small, pedantic issue with pipers
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2014, 12:20:51 am »
Turns out Skye Boat Song cannot be traced back to a source earlier than the 1880s according to Dr. William Donaldson (author of The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society, I contacted him about the matter) and the tune (most likely all of the tunes) in the game is therefore historically inaccurate and most definitely wasn't played during the Napoleonic Wars. History on the pipers during the Napoleonic Wars is very scarce, let alone trying to find something about the music they played. I suggest you read The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society and David Murray's excellent book on the Music of the Scottish Regiments, if you'd want to find out more about the music being played in/before/after the Napoleonic Wars by pipers. Then again, these books are a bit technical and might be unappealing to people who don't play the pipes. If you're really interested you might wanna check them out.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2014, 07:17:07 pm by Von_Clausewitz »