Scottish Studies (E-Journal)
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Good Man’s Croft
No full textThe ‘croft’ of the title is a piece of cultivable land which is left untilled in order to devote it to a supernatural being, one name for whom is the ‘good man’. The practice is documented in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through official and kirk records concerned with stamping out the practice and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through accounts which see it as an interesting survival from the past. The setting aside of the piece of land had a definite purpose and was designed to keep the livestock, especially cattle, healthy. The croft could be an old one, or it could be freshly established, and there is one detailed description of how a croft could be made by placing stones at the four corners and charming them.The ‘croft’ of the title is a piece of cultivable land which is left untilled in order to devote it to a supernatural being, one name for whom is the ‘good man’. The practice is documented in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through official and kirk records concerned with stamping out the practice and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through accounts which see it as an interesting survival from the past. The setting aside of the piece of land had a definite purpose and was designed to keep the livestock, especially cattle, healthy. The croft could be an old one, or it could be freshly established, and there is one detailed description of how a croft could be made by placing stones at the four corners and charming them
Reeling in the Strathspey: The Origins of Scotland’s National Music
No full textAccording to the conventionally held view, the strathspey or \u27strathspey reel\u27 was an eighteenth century innovation instigated by fiddlers of the Speyside region, such as the Browns of Kincardine and the Cummings of Grantown. However, the basic rhythmic characteristics inherent to the strathspey – a series of long and short notes, organised within two or four strong beats per bar – are found in Gaelic songs thought to be much older. Using a range of data from early fiddle collections and transcriptions of twentieth century audio recordings, this paper explores the musical and semantic connections between the strathspey and Gaelic song, suggesting an alternative developmental path for Scotland’s national music
Learning and Remembering Gaelic Stories: Brian Stewart
No full textQuestions about how Gaelic storytellers have learned, remembered and performed their tales are key to understanding the Gaelic narrative tradition. This article examines the experience of Brian Stewart, a Scottish Gaelic storyteller, and the techniques he reported using for learning, remembering and telling traditional Gaelic stories. Mr Stewart learned his stories – native heroic or international wonder tales – from his grandmother Susie Stewart and his uncle Alasdair Stewart (also known as ‘Alilidh Dall’). Strategies considered include taking an interest in stories; repeatedly listening to tales being told by a more experienced tradition bearer; practicing in front of, and being corrected by, another storyteller; consciously reviewing and rehearsing tales; visualizing stories; and retaining a faithful memory of formulaic language or runs. The difference between learning a story and learning a song is also discussed. It is suggested that studying these strategies can contribute to a better understanding of the Stewarts’ storytelling ethos
