First of all – apologies for the lateness of these blogs! I have been a busy bee these past couple of months! A holiday to Rome, starting my dissertation at University and the Aberdeen TMSA branch have had some brilliant concerts – Cookney and the Doric Concert in Midmar, so I had my committee member duties to carry out there.
Anyway, on to the interesting information! Geordie and I spent one of our evenings singing through Drumdelgie – a great bothy ballad. Geordie really plays around with phrasing in this which helps put the story across to the listener. I did struggle with this and tune initially but with plenty of practise I am getting to grips with it now!
In our next meeting, Geordie taught me all about the Auld Grey Beard! A funny traditional ballad about a young girl whose mother tries to get her to court an old man. The girl, however, is having none of it! She tells her mother if he is that good – you kiss him yourself! I love this song because it is refreshing to learn a traditional ballad that isn’t about murder or heartbreak!
Last Friday (25th Oct) I competed at the Bothy Ballad competition in Turriff but unfortunately I wasn’t placed on this occasion (Well Done Hector Riddell) It was not a disappointing night as there were fantastic songs being sung throughout and in particular Geordie’s rendition of Drumdelgie nae mare – so that is what we will work on next time.