I love hornpipes and this is one of my favourites. It may have been composed by the famous 19th century fiddler, James Hill (1811 – 1853). Hill was born in Scotland but moved to Tyneside at quite a young age (in his early teenage years probably) and became established as a fine fiddle player and composer of tunes, especially hornpipes. His compositions included The High Level Bridge, Beeswing and The Hawk but there are a number of tunes like The Wonder which may be his work or perhaps were just in his repertoire and wrongly attributed to him as composer.
James Hill’s tunes are often complex and demanding and I found this one no exception.
The Herd on the Hill on the other hand is very definitely a piper’s tune and was written by the man often called ‘The Prince of Pipers’, Tom Clough (1881 – 1964). Tom came from an illustrious family of pipers and learned from his father Henry and also from a noted 19th century piper called Thomas Todd. He was acknowledged as the foremost piper of his generation and gave lessons to a young Billy Pigg amongst others.
The commonly known version of this tune has an F sharp in the B part but a piping friend of mine (a member of the Northumbrian Pipers Society) told me that Tom Clough originally wrote it as an F natural. Not only that, but there was also a C part in addition to the well known A and B parts. He was kind enough to play it for me on his pipes and I liked it very much so that’s how I play it now.
My friend also informed me that the original tune was written by Tom Clough on the back of a piece of wallpaper which was now lodged in the Morpeth Bagpipes Museum. A visit to the museum is on my bucket list. (Well, you may laugh, but it would be cheaper than visiting the Taj Mahal.)
James Hill’s tunes are often complex and demanding and I found this one no exception.
The Herd on the Hill on the other hand is very definitely a piper’s tune and was written by the man often called ‘The Prince of Pipers’, Tom Clough (1881 – 1964). Tom came from an illustrious family of pipers and learned from his father Henry and also from a noted 19th century piper called Thomas Todd. He was acknowledged as the foremost piper of his generation and gave lessons to a young Billy Pigg amongst others.
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| Henry & Tom Clough |
The commonly known version of this tune has an F sharp in the B part but a piping friend of mine (a member of the Northumbrian Pipers Society) told me that Tom Clough originally wrote it as an F natural. Not only that, but there was also a C part in addition to the well known A and B parts. He was kind enough to play it for me on his pipes and I liked it very much so that’s how I play it now.
My friend also informed me that the original tune was written by Tom Clough on the back of a piece of wallpaper which was now lodged in the Morpeth Bagpipes Museum. A visit to the museum is on my bucket list. (Well, you may laugh, but it would be cheaper than visiting the Taj Mahal.)