The Scottish Highlands - "Outlander", Bagpipes and Bonnie Prince Charlie
Scottish Highlands - Culture and Music
I have decided to research the Scottish Highlanders and their culture and music. The reason I chose the Highlands is because my favorite show of all time is “Outlander”. If you haven’t seen it, you are missing out! Here’s a summary of what the show is about:
“After serving as a British Army nurse in World War II, Claire Randall is enjoying a second honeymoon in Scotland with husband Frank, an MI6 officer looking forward to a new career as an Oxford historian. Suddenly, Claire is transported to 1743 and into a mysterious world where her freedom and life are threatened. To survive, she marries Jamie Fraser, a strapping Scots warrior with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. A passionate relationship ensues, and Claire is caught between two vastly different men in two inharmonious lives. `Outlander' is adapted from the best-selling books by Diana Gabaldon.”
The story is amazing and it throws you into the world of the Scottish Highlands with the best written characters, beautiful scenery and passionate love. If that hasn’t convinced you, I assure you Jaime Fraser will be your new TV crush…trust me. You can watch it on Netflix! Here’s the trailer for the first season below:
If that doesn’t get you excited to learn about the Scottish Highlands I don’t know what will! Let's dive into the culture and music of the Scottish Highlands!
Scottish Highlanders - History and Culture
Highlanders are descendants of Celts who settled in the northern mainland and islands of Scotland, which is part of Great Britain. See the map below:
The Highlands are an alluring but rough territory of rocky mountains and relentless winters. The terrain helped provide independence and isolation from Great Britain. In the early 1700’s, the Scottish Highland society was built upon a tribal clan system. The clan chief was related to the clan members by blood. The chief provided land for the clan members and in return they gave him compliance, military services and rent for their land.
Scotland went through many changes in the mid 1700’s, which caused thousands of Highlanders to emigrate to the Americas, mainly North Carolina. Many of the Highland clans supported the uprising of Charles Edward Sturart, whose grandfather was formerly King James II of England. “Bonnie Prince Charlie” - as they called him - attempted to take the English throne from King George II. The Highland Army of the Bonnie Prince was defeated at Culloden Moor in 1746. The aftermath included: the English taking weapons from the Highlanders, banning clan members to serve their chief in military services, putting clansmen under jurisdiction of the law, forbidding Highlanders to wear native plaids or tartans, and forcing them to go to school in English rather than their native Gaelic language.
Years later, Scotland culture is still alive and present. Some popular Scottish traditions include:
The Highland Games
Scotland’s Iconic Tartan Kilt
The Bagpipes and Scottish Music
Scottish Highland Instruments
There are many iconic Scottish instruments. The most popular one that everyone can always identify Scottish music with is the bagpipes. Although you automatically think “Scottish” when you hear the bagpipes, they are historically an English instrument. However, the Scottish weaponized the bagpipes in a way. Bagpipes overtook the trumpet as the military weapon of choice, and the out-of-tune bagpipe put the fear of God in their enemies. In 1745 following the Jacobite Rising, the bagpipe was outlawed by the Crown trying to get rid of Scottish Clan culture. However, the bagpipe survived and once the ban was lifted, they came back in full force.
Other popular Scottish Highland instruments include the Fiddle, the Bodhran, the Harp, the Accordion, and the Stock-And-Horn.
Scottish Highland Historical Music and Artists
I’d like to delve into some examples of older Scottish music used in “Outlander”! The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture writes “The music of Scotland has both a strong oral and literary tradition that has been handed down through the generations and heavily mythologized from the late 18th century.” An example of the oral musical tradition of Scotland were the bards who would tell stories through song. They would travel around playing at local festivals and clan castles, accompanying themselves typically with harps. Here’s an example of a bard from “Outlander” who sings a story about “The Woman of Balnain” at a Clan gathering:
Scottish Dance Music was also widely popular in the 16th Century. The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture also writes “The reel is mentioned as a particular form of dance music. It is quite widely accepted that the dance form of the reel was invented in Scotland before it spread widely to Ireland, England, and then across the world. This form of tune type is a fast dance tune played in the split common time signature (2|2) and is very commonly heard in both Scottish and Irish traditional music.” Highlanders loved fun, upbeat music to dance to at clan gatherings.
Here is an example of a reel called “The Eightsome Reel” played by The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.
Modern Scottish Highlander Music and Artists
Modern Scottish music carries on similar characteristics of its historical nature. Where many of the Scots emigrated to North Carolina, it's popular in modern day to hold Scottish Festivals in America where the surviving clans still congregate. Similar to the bards of the 16th century, modern Scottish musicians will play the guitar and sing tunes of stories. Here’s an example of Roger from “Outlander” singing at a Scottish Festival in the 1970’s:
The Proclaimers, a modern Scottish band, carry on the authentic Scottish sound in their music today:
Thank you so much for reading and learning about the culture and music of the Scottish Highlands! I hope you enjoyed it - and I also hope you’re influenced to watch “Outlander" now.
Works Cited
“The Complete Guide to Scottish Highland Culture - the Clan Buchanan.” The Clan Buchanan, https://www.theclanbuchanan.com/highland.
Farrant, Dan. “11 Traditional Scottish Musical Instruments You Should Know.” Hello Music Theory: Learn Music Theory Online, 21 Apr. 2022, https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/scottish-instruments/.
“The Highland Clans of Scotland.” Historic UK, https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Highland-Clans/.
“The Highland Scots.” NCpedia, https://www.ncpedia.org/highland-scots#:~:text=Highlanders%20are%20descendants%20of%20Celts,to%20the%20North%20Carolina%20colony.
info@undiscoveredscotland.co.uk, Undiscovered Scotland: “Undiscovered Scotland.” Scotfax: Traditional Scottish Music on Undiscovered Scotland, https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usscotfax/recreation/tradmusic.html.
“Music of Scotland.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Scotland.
Romer, Megan. “Contemporary Traditional Scottish Music You Should Hear.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 3 Feb. 2019, https://www.liveabout.com/contemporary-traditional-scottish-music-3552970.
“Scottish Bands and Artists.” Scotland, https://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/culture/music/scottish-bands-and-artists.
“Scottish Music and Festivals.” Scotland, https://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/culture/music/traditional-music.
Sturman, Janet L. “Scotland: History, Culture, and Geography of Music .” The Sage International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, SAGE Reference, Los Angeles, 2019.
After seeing those flaming bagpipes on the last day, I wanted to hear about where that instrument came from and I was so pleased to hear about Scottish music and different parts of traditional and contemporary music. I would love to visit Scotland some day!
ReplyDeleteScottish people are so silly. I love bagpipes though and sometimes I forget that scottish arent just british people haha. I like that they have a lot of festivals though.
ReplyDeleteHahahha, you made me laugh
DeleteScottish music is so much fun to play, and I love the bagpipes. When I was four, I went to the Greenville Highland Games with my family. That year I saw a harpist playing and knew I wanted to learn the instrument. My sister loves the bagpipes and says she wants to learn the bagpipes one day. Several of my favorite Scottish songs to play on harp is "Loch Lomand," "Sky Boat Song" (about Bonny Prince Charlie), and "Caledonia."
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see more people becoming interested in the music of other cultures through tv shows, especially when it sparks them to do their own research! I adore Scottish music and appreciated your inclusion of Scottish history. Something you might find interesting about the bagpipes is that they often use the Scottish Gapped Scale which sounds vaguely similar to the Pentatonic Scale. This is because when they play in the key of A major, they don't have C# and so instead avoid that note. Thanks for sharing this culture!
ReplyDeleteHi Emma, it is great to see you sharing this culture and the music, I think Scottish have very beautiful and special landscape based on the geographical location. I like they way you showed the history as well as the geographical reason of some of their early cultures. There music is also popular in china, because of their traditional closet outlook is so special and easy to recognise.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
I am someone who immediately thinks of bagpipes when I think of Irish music so it really surprised me that the harp is a famous instrument in this country. I guess because the bagpipes are so loud it's hard for me to associate Irish music with something as soft and pretty as the harp.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very well-done blog! Your content was really interesting to read and brought a smile to my face!
ReplyDelete