An arrangement by Timothy Cummings, for three or more Scottish-style pipes, of Armenian composer Komitas' 'Shushiki of Vagharshapat', here recorded using the Blair Digital chanter to create a sonic realm that is surprisingly Breton in effect—yet different!  The complete track, sheet music, and full write-up (background, supporting links, recording notes, and additional commentary) are all available now to subscribers to Cummings' Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/birchenmusic  (The sheet music will be available for purchase to the general public at a later date.)

(Hear the original piano piece on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J75jcXf-01I )

Shushiki Of Vagharshapat - arranged for Highland pipes (Breton 'Do' chanters)

A track from 'The Piper in the Holler'. This is Timothy Cummings' first solo album, devoted to the old melodies and flavors of Appalachia. Perhaps the first of its kind, this album spotlights tunes and hymns from the Southeastern U.S., a region closely linked to Scotland, the rest of the UK, and Ireland. Cummings performs these on Scottish smallpipes, Border pipes, Highland pipes, and whistles, and enjoys backing by Pete Sutherland (clawhammer banjo, song, etc.), Caleb Elder (fiddle, viola), and other special guests. This is a piping album to be sure, but one with strong Southern flavoring; a genuinely American expression. Available with much better sound quality on CD and vinyl from www.birchenmusic.com . (Vinyl purchase includes a free digital download option.)

Red Fox > Stony Point

Natchez > Ducks On The Mill Pond

Wayfaring Stranger > British Field March

Sandy Boys

An arrangement of a favorite old-cowboy-song-turned-shape-note-hymn for voice and Scottish smallpipes.  Arranged by Timothy Cummings and recorded for 'The Piper in the Holler' [2012] album by Hollis Easter* (vox) and Cummings (Scottish smallpipes in D).  The sheet music for this arrangement, and more than 30 other songs, can be found in the printed collection 'How Can I Keep From Singing?' [2013] from Birchen Music & Publishing [www.birchenmusic.com].  *For more information about Hollis Easter, please visit www.holliseaster.com

The Dying Californian

Selections from the soundtrack for the film adaptation of Matthew McVarish's play 'To Kill a Kelpie' (directed by Edward M. Smith). Original music composed by Timothy Cummings and performed by Cummings (pipes & whistles) and Dominique Dodge (harp). For more information about the film, please see www.tokillakelpie.com For more information about Timothy Cummings, please visit www.timothycummings.com

To Kill a Kelpie: 5 - Drunk

To Kill a Kelpie: 1 - Opening Theme

An arrangement for voice and smallpipes by Laura MacKenzie* (2010, MN, U.S.A.). Music: trad. Scotland; words: Robert Burns (1759-1796, Scotland). MacKenzie accompanies herself with Scottish smallpipes (in C) for this recording.  The sheet music for this arrangement, and more than 30 other songs, can be found in the printed collection 'How Can I Keep From Singing?' (2013) from Birchen Music & Publishing [www.birchenmusic.com].  *For more information about Laura MacKenzie please visit www.lauramackenzie.com

My Heart Is Sair

An arrangement for voice and smallpipes by Judy Barker (Fife, Scotland), from her CD 'Chanters Weave' (2008)*. Music: orig. 'Creag Ghuanach' (trad. Scotland); words: Hugh S. Robertson (1938, Scotland). Barker accompanies herself with Scottish smallpipes (in A) for this recording. The sheet music for this arrangement, and more than 30 other songs, can be found in the printed collection 'How Can I Keep From Singing?' (2013) from Birchen Music & Publishing [www.birchenmusic.com]. *For more information about Judy's album, please visit www.myspace.com/chantersweave and www.lbps.net.

Mingulay Boat Song

An arrangement for voice and smallpipes by Rose Diamond (VT, U.S.A.), from her album 'The Flower of August' (2010, Epact Music)*. Music: Augusta Rose Diamond (2006); words: William Wordsworth (1812, England). Diamond is accompanied by Pete Sutherland (guitar) and Timothy Cummings (whistles, shuttle pipes [in A]) for this recording. The sheet music for this arrangement, and more than 30 other songs, can be found in the printed collection 'How Can I Keep From Singing?' (2013) from Birchen Music & Publishing [www.birchenmusic.com]. *For more information about Rose Diamond and her albums, please visit rosediamondarts.com

Song For The Spinning Wheel

An arrangement of the old Scots song for voice and various bagpipes and whistles.  This arrangement is by Iain MacHarg and Dan Houghton*, and is a more involved version of the arrangement that appears in the printed collection 'How Can I Keep From Singing?' [2013] from Birchen Music & Publishing [www.birchenmusic.com]. *For more information about Iain MacHarg and Dan Houghton, please visit the Vermont Institute of Celtic Arts website: http://www.vtcelticarts.org/ 

I Hae A Wife o' My Ain

[© 2016 Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings]

A set of two 5/4 waltzes composed by Timothy Cummings and Jeremiah McLane.  The first tune, 'Port William' (Cummings) is partially based on the Scottish pibroch known as 'The Old Woman's Lullaby'.  It is named for the fictional town that features in many of Wendell Berry's writings.  The second tune, 'Apple Knoll' (McLane), is named for a picturesque hilltop orchard in Vermont.  This recording features on McLane and Cummings' album, The Wind Among the Reeds (2016).

Jeremiah McLane and Timothy Cummings are a high-powered, Vermont-based duo who share music deeply rooted in the traditional dance repertoire of Northern Europe and North America. Wielding an accordion and bagpipes (and often whistles and piano), they create a beguiling blend which utterly subverts the common stereotypes of their Old World instruments. McLane & Cummings —affectionately nicknamed "Wheezer & Squeezer"— draw from a broad repertoire that includes bourrées from Central France, gavottes from Brittany in Northwestern France, dance tunes from the Scottish Border region, and original compositions reflecting North American influences. This rare, captivating duo commands both feet and spirits to dance!

www.wheezerandsqueezer.com

Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings: 5/4 Waltzes - Port William & Apple Knoll (Wind Among the Reeds)

[arranged by, and this recording © 2016 Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings]

The danse Plinn is a Breton dance involving repetitive, energetic, two-footed hopping, and is a traditional form  thought to have been used by villagers to tamp down the dirt floors of newly erected homes long ago.  These tunes, with titles unknown, come to us from a variety of sources, including Storvan's An Deiziou Kaer (1996). The closing melody, originally a rond de Loudéac, was learned from le couple de sonneurs Pierre Catrou and Corentin Dauneau.  This recording features on McLane and Cummings' album, The Wind Among the Reeds (2016).

Jeremiah McLane and Timothy Cummings are a high-powered, Vermont-based duo who share music deeply rooted in the traditional dance repertoire of Northern Europe and North America. Wielding an accordion and bagpipes (and often whistles and piano), they create a beguiling blend which utterly subverts the common stereotypes of their Old World instruments. McLane & Cummings —affectionately nicknamed "Wheezer & Squeezer"— draw from a broad repertoire that includes bourrées from Central France, gavottes from Brittany in Northwestern France, dance tunes from the Scottish Border region, and original compositions reflecting North American influences. This rare, captivating duo commands both feet and spirits to dance!

www.wheezerandsqueezer.com


Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings: Danses Plinn (from The Wind Among the Reeds, 2016)

[arranged by, and this recording © 2016 Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings]

Jean Blanchard recorded the first bourrée, 'Montagnarde de Saint-Sauve' on his Musiques pour Cornemuses album (1988), having sourced the tune from Jean-Baptiste Bouillet's album Auvergnat (1853).  The word montagnarde refers both to a type of bourrée and also translates to "mountain girl".  The second bourrée was composed by Olivier Durif and sourced from his and Pierre Champeval's album, Dans les rochers du Viallaneix (2012).  Michel Péchadre (1891-1982), a clog maker, fiddler, and composer of the third melody, 'Calarem, calarem pas', was from Artense, in central France.   This recording features on McLane and Cummings' album, The Wind Among the Reeds (2016).

Jeremiah McLane and Timothy Cummings are a high-powered, Vermont-based duo who share music deeply rooted in the traditional dance repertoire of Northern Europe and North America. Wielding an accordion and bagpipes (and often whistles and piano), they create a beguiling blend which utterly subverts the common stereotypes of their Old World instruments. McLane & Cummings —affectionately nicknamed "Wheezer & Squeezer"— draw from a broad repertoire that includes bourrées from Central France, gavottes from Brittany in Northwestern France, dance tunes from the Scottish Border region, and original compositions reflecting North American influences. This rare, captivating duo commands both feet and spirits to dance!

www.wheezerandsqueezer.com



Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings: Bourrées 3 temps (from The Wind Among the Reeds, 2016)

[arranged by, and this recording © 2016 Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings]

Lord Lovat's Welcome to Castle Downie (trad. Lowland/Borders) | Cambrian Place (trad./arr.C.Matthews) | Jack's Gone a-Shearin' (trad. Lowland/Borders)

The first of these "triple-time" hornpipes was arranged by Irish/English/American fiddler Robert Ryan.  The second tune existed in obscurity as a fragment of an old slip jig before the Welsh flutist/piper Ceri Matthews named it and "cobbled" it into the 3/2 hornpipe setting it now occupies so beautifully.  (We decided this tune was strong enough to händel a brief countermelody.)  Both of these tunes originally came to us from Robert, via Dominique Dodge, who both tend to play them in reverse order.  The final tune was published in Matt Seattle's The Border Bagpipe Book (1993).  We took the liberty of swapping the second and third parts from what appears in print.This recording features on McLane and Cummings' album, The Wind Among the Reeds (2016).

Jeremiah McLane and Timothy Cummings are a high-powered, Vermont-based duo who share music deeply rooted in the traditional dance repertoire of Northern Europe and North America. Wielding an accordion and bagpipes (and often whistles and piano), they create a beguiling blend which utterly subverts the common stereotypes of their Old World instruments. McLane & Cummings —affectionately nicknamed "Wheezer & Squeezer"— draw from a broad repertoire that includes bourrées from Central France, gavottes from Brittany in Northwestern France, dance tunes from the Scottish Border region, and original compositions reflecting North American influences. This rare, captivating duo commands both feet and spirits to dance!

www.wheezerandsqueezer.com

The Wind Among The Reeds

Jeremiah McLane & Timothy Cummings: Border hornpipes (from The Wind Among the Reeds, 2016)

An arrangement of Béla Bartók's 'Magyar tánc' (Hungarian dance) for six Scottish smallpipes, arranged and performed by Timothy Cummings.  Bartók originally scored 'Magyar tánc' for two pianos, and published it in his 'Mikrokozmosz' collection, vol. III (c.1935).  The audio track, sheet music, and extensive written commentary are available now to subscribers to Cummings' Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/birchenmusic  (The sheet music will be available for purchase to the general public at a later date.)

[single]

Magyar tánc (Hungarian Dance) - arranged for Scottish smallpipes (A chanters)

Featured recordings and demos of Timothy Cummings and Birchen Music & Publishing.

Birchen Music

Popular tracks