Annotation:Father John MacMillan of Barra
X: 1 T:Father John MacMillan of Barra M:2/4 L:1/16 Q:1/4=80 Z:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/mirror/terra.es/personal8/niltoni/e-f.abc R:march K:AMix % lydian/major/mixolydian pentatonic, A-final DG-gap A>B|c2B<A A2c<e |f2e<c e3f|e2c<A A2f>e |c2B<A B2 A>B|c2B<A A2c<e |f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2:| c<e|f2e<e e2f<a |f2e<c e3f|e2c<A A2f>e |c2B<A B2 [1 c<e|f2e<e e2f<a |f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2:| [2 A>B|c2B<A c<ec<A|f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2|| A>B|c<Ac<e c2A>c |f2e<c e3f|a>fe<f c2f>e |c2B<A B2 A>B|c<Ac<e c2A>c |f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2:| % major/mixolydian hexatonic, A-final G-gap c<e|f2e>f a>fe<f|f2A>c e3f|f2e>f a>fe<f|c2B<A B2 c<e|f2e>f a>fe<f|f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2 c<e|f2e>f a>fe<f|f2A>c e3f|f2e>f e>fa>e|c>de>c B2 A>B|c2B<A c<ec<A|f2e<c e3f|e2c<A B2c>B |A4 A2|]
FATHER JOHN MACMILLAN OF BARRA. Scottish, Pipe March (2/4 time) or Highland Schottische. A Major. Standard or AEae ('high bass') tunings (fiddle). AABB'CCDD'. A popular pipe tune in the Scottish Highlands. Composed by Norman MacDonald (1898-), Glasgow, and named for bagpipe composer Duncan Johnstone's uncle, Fr. John MacMillan (1880-1951). MacMillan was visiting Johnstone's mother, a neighbor of MacDonald's, when the later played them a new and unnamed tune he had written; the cleric was so taken with it that MacDonald christened it in his honor. However MacDonald had some misgivings about the religious part of the title, fearing some pipers would be reticent to play it, and when first printed in MacLeod's collection of 1954 it appeared without the word 'Father' in the title. It was added back for subsequent publications.
Paul Stewart Cranford (2015) notes that the march "arrived in Cape Breton's aural tradition in the '90's via visiting Scottish musicians including the Moores of Dunkeld."
