The Cheering Keys of Lockdown

A huge number of musicians have been keeping us, and themselves, going by entertaining us online during lockdown, in the form of podcasts, online live sessions, and intricately recorded sessions shared on social media. There have been far too many to name them all, but below Caroline Brockbank (as pictured above) gives us some of the highlights.

Tunes in the Hoose is an online community created to keep Scottish musicians playing together at a time when opportunities are uncertain; their strapline is ‘Inclusion when in isolation for the Scottish Music Family’. Their output over the lockdown period has been phenomenal, producing over 300 recordings, often several in one day, which have been shared online. One of the unexpected benefits of lockdown, and enforced distancing, is the discovery that it is as easy to collaborate with someone from the other side of the globe as it is with someone in the next street. Tunes In The Hoose features a wealth of diverse musical talent, with some amazing combinations from all over the world. Each collaborative recording is led and begun by one musician, then the rest of the virtual band joins in, usually after an introduction of eight bars or so. Some musicians appear only occasionally, others many times in different line-ups, sometimes playing different instruments in various recordings.

Eightsome Reel highlight

It would be impossible to list them all but an undisputed highlight on 31 May – an Eightsome Reel set led by Peter Wood – with an incredible 42 musicians from around the world, blended together by the magic of technology. www.facebook.com/TunesInTheHoose/ videos/542397279783568

Another favourite of mine from 7 June featured a much smaller line-up led by James Corbett, with a set of Shetland reels. www.facebook.com/106911464278847/ videos/559480378100884

Dance Scottish at Home musicians

Most members must have enjoyed the comprehensive Dance Scottish At Home newsletters, eagerly welcomed to our inboxes every Friday. Along with them have appeared the excellent At Home podcasts, with recordings, interviews, and quizzes, all brought together and presented by Ian Muir of the Craigellachie band. Again, everyone will have their favourites, but especially interesting was Issue 4 on 17 April when Ian explained some of the technicalities of how collaborations such as Tunes In The Hoose are put together. We enjoyed tracks from Luke Brady’s Album Of The Week which was one of my own favourites among the Society recordings: the often-overlooked music for Book 7 played by David Cunningham. soundcloud.com/rscds/rscds-at-homepodcast-week-four/s-bX1AqdiFshr On 12 June Pat Houghton entertained us with the story behind the dance The Ullapool Ferry. We were introduced to a cracking album of the week, chosen by Marian Anderson and Max Ketchin, in the form of Gordon Pattullo’s Ceilidh at The Castle, and heard tracks recorded especially for the podcast by the superlative Gordon Shand. This episode also included discussion of an article by Peter Knapman of The Dean Bridge of Edinburgh, and gave listeners the opportunity to hear a very special version of the original tune, played by Nicola Benedetti and Phil Cunningham. soundcloud.com/rscds/rscds-at-homepodcast-week-twelve/s-sJtJHIrmjAo

Facebook entertainers

In addition, Scottish music enthusiasts have been able to tune in to many live broadcasts on Facebook and similar platforms, from a wealth of talented musicians. Discussing and playing their favourite tunes, some, such as Bill Ewan, Susan and Shona MacFadyen, Scott Band, Ewan Galloway, Ian Robertson and Matthew Maclennan are familiar to RSCDS dancers, but we have also been able to enjoy the music of those who are better known to the ceilidh scene, or as performers, or both. And how many of us knew that Bill Ewan is Margo Priestley’s cousin? Here is Bill playing a set of strathspeys which are highly evocative of Summer School. www.facebook.com/bill.ewan/ videos/3730103867005345 The fiddler, Pete Clark, has been entertaining us with his tunes from the shed, every session an inspiration. And finally, special recognition must go to those musicians who have accompanied teachers during the online classes. For example Graham Berry, who played for the very first online RSCDS Zoom class led by Angela Young. Others, such as Phill Jones, with Zsofia Jozsef, have created informal ‘kitchen ceilidhs’ for those at home to participate as much they are able and the furniture permits.

So a big thank you to all our musicians, who have not only kept up our spirits in uncertain times, but also perhaps inspired some of us to rescue longneglected fiddles or accordions from the spare room, and dust them off for an overdue revival?

Bill Ewan