TUNES FOR EVERY OCCASION
The music on this website can be played online and is also downloadable. The manuscript music can be downloaded as a printable pdf. All these tunes are original, and have creative commons licences. They can be freely used with attribution to Neil Whitehead, piper, New Zealand.
These tunes are all on Soundcloud.
To play a track, click on its red play button OR choose the "play in browser" option (if it appears). If you want to download a track, Soundcloud will require you to set up a free account if you don't aleady have one. Click on the small Soundcloud logo, top right (which will become orange). This will take you to the track on SoundCloud. Underneath the waveform find the ...More button and choose "download file". The track will download to your computer's designated downloads folder.
To download a track's manuscript music click on the manuscript music. If you have a pdf reader your device will open the manuscript file. You can either save the pdf or download it using tools in your pdf reader.
In the Book of Daniel it is recorded that King Nebuchadnezzar – in the 6th Century BC - erected a golden statue to himself. He assembled an orchestra which contained among other instruments the ancestor of the Bagpipe.
When the orchestra played, the assembled multitude was commanded to bow down and worship the King’s image. Some Hebrews found this idolatrous and refused to participate. Thus, the first known mention of bagpipes has idolatrous connotations and part of my composing for the pipes is an attempt at the redemption of this unfortunate instrument. I set out to write a suitable piece, but it needed to reflect something of the original Babylonian setting. I thought it better to ascribe the head of gold to Jesus Christ, by calling the tune 36 Carat Gold. This is an impossibly high purity - because gold cannot exceed 24 carats - and puts the piece into the transcendent.
The style of the piece is intended to reflect something of the likely original music, which would be relatively primitive compared with pipe music today. Such music is found in some simple contemporary ethnic bagpipes, and the trill theme in the current piece has been based on a primitive Rajasthan (India) bagpipe. Although this may sound simple, the current piece is much harder than it sounds, and finding the correct modern notation was quite difficult and quite different from a Scottish piece.
Captain James Cook - famous 18th century British cartographer and navigator - had two pipers on board for his third voyage to the Pacific and Southern Oceans. Cook made his crew exercise to the Sailor’s Hornpipe. This tune starts out like the traditional tune but then progressively strongly departs from it.
Composed for a young man with a VERY large Afro haircut who was learning the bagpipes. The piece describes the impossible task of fitting his hair under the Piper's Bonnet!! It will have to perch on top.
I was called upon to compose a 90th birthday piece for a Scottish lady's birthday. She was unknown to me but it made no difference: 90 is a milestone.
(Sun Sparkles)
"Kora" is a Maori word for sparkling or glistening. The repetition of the word intensifies the effect. "Ra" means sun. The tune is meant to depict sunlight sparkling on water
A jig written spontaneously to commemorate the wedding of a local Maori man who sold us our new TV. We discovered he had Scottish roots. He was surprised and pleased. His new wife was delighted.
A march commemorating a respected local physician and cardiologist - my father
A hornpipe commemorating Mrs E M Whitehead, a kind, doughty and active Scottish woman - my mother.
An irregular jig named after a folk music duo, called Twisty Willow, in Waipu, New Zealand. The tune twists around itself like the stems of the Tortured Willow or Corkscrew Willow tree.
The Land Golden and Forever is found in a New Earth. The tune is meant to represent something of great value that endures
Composed in memory of Malcolm James Hyland. The form is a traditional ¾ retreat – a kind of military regrouping. Life goes on with the occasional low note…..
I found this tune, Remembrance, by Pipe Major Richard Anderson when I was unexpectedly asked to play at an Anderson funeral in New Zealand. I made the discovery that the Anderson Clan was based very close to my own clan headquarters near the Scottish border.
A name given to God by Muslims Jews and Christians
A march dedicated to a long-term friend, Dr Donald Fraser, of Strathclyde, Scotland
This is derived from another tune called The Hag at the Spinning Wheel. What better name then than Daughter of the Hag?
A pipe tune composed to celebrate the fourth reunion of the Feilding Agricultural High School Upper Sixth class of 1968
Written for the owner of a Bed and Breakfast on the "wild" West Coast of NZ where we stayed briefly. She called her place the Readers' Retreat. She was delighted to have her own original tune.
For Briar’s 75th birthday –A bright reel commemorating at least 27000 sunrises.
An arrangement and alteration of Handel's famous piece from the Messiah
These cousins live in Omarama - well-known in NZ for its gliding championships.
In memory of a 31 year old nephew who died tragically.
For the funeral of Rev Peter Armstrong, of Magnetic Island, Townsville, who was attracted to the greatest magnet of all.
Heaven is spicy
On the occasion of Peter Marshall's 21st birthday.
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A tune composed for a friend at the launch of her book about beautiful blue pearls emerging from life's hardships
A well known Irving Piper lives near Gretna Green in Scotland
For a remarkable woman with the Scottish surname Stewart
Composed for a housewarming for our Irish neighbour, Penny
To celebrate my wife, Briar’s 75th birthday. This tune has exactly 75 notes, which forces a 5/4 time signature.
A humorous piece that stops abruptly when the ornament falls to the floor and breaks! Ornament has a double meaning of course.
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