The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society 1750-1950

He shows that through their parsimony and lack of understanding, they transformed a living, breathing tradition into a stagnant and, apart from the geniuses at the top of the profession, lifeless form of slow moving, uninspiring music.

This book is sure to echo down the generations of piping to come, and in two hundred years will be seen as just as great an accomplishment as MacDonald's Compleat Theory is now. His sheer size of source material is astonishing, and there is no page without copious footnotes referring to sources. This book is a clarion call to pipers to heed the calls of their forebears, and take up the music they cast aside at the whim of the powerful institutions of the 19th century. It should be compulsory reading for any with even the most basic interest in piping and, in particular, the evolution of the piobaireachd in the last two hundred and fifty years. It is worth five times the money.


Probably the finest history of Highland Piping yet published   October 15, 2000
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The depth of Donaldson's information is stunning. Many sources are made available for the first time. A great book on piping and the traditional music process as well as the Piobaireachd Society's misguided attempt to "preserve" piobaireachd.