Sample Scores and Recordings

It should go without saying that my original work as presented on these pages is all copyright. If you want to make use of any of it for purposes other than auditioning/playing it back or learning the tunes for yourself, please have the courtesy to discuss it with me first.

Sibelius Scores

These scores were all composed by me and produced using Sibelius score-writing software. You can look at them and play them back on your own computer (Windows/Mac with suitable soundcard/MIDI equipment), but you’ll need the Scorch plug-in from Sibelius first. It might also be worth pointing out that the quality of the sounds you hear depends largely on your General MIDI equipment — it all sounds like music on my Yamaha SW1000XG (or did when I still used it), but more like a tinny, cheap radio on some other soundcards.

Cradle Song
A piece for my twin nephews Thomas and James, born August 1996. Two low whistles and piano (for an MP3 excerpt, see below). The grace notes attempt to capture the spirit, rather than the letter, of the whistle ornamentation, which is never exactly the same twice in performance.
Puss in Boots (a pantomime for Kinlochleven Primary School, Christmas 2000)

Opening Chorus (A Cat with Clout). The Miller has been scared to death by the Ogre, and his ‘catty’ legacy to his youngest son Mac looks worthless beside the valuable mill and donkey (!) left to the older boys. Things, however, are rarely what they seem, and Mac quickly discovers that there’s something special about his cat (The Coolest Cat in Town). Even the fearsome, prisoner-eating Ogre’s castle (Ogre!) holds no terrors for Puss in Boots and, to cut a long story short, Puss helps Mac to defeat the Ogre, claim his castle, impress the King and marry the lovely Princess Rose. Some light relief is provided along the way by the Dame (the late Miller’s washerwoman wife) and the Ogre’s two incompetent henchmen, who teach the audience to sing a surpassingly silly song (Notes in Boats). Everything comes up roses (?!) in a whirling waltz of a finale (Whitewash Waltz), and that’s that!

As with 1997’s ‘Snow White’, just my original songs are published here.
Animations
A steely and percussive piano piece from my student days (second year composition), structured round a fine old psalm tune from the Scottish Psalter of 1615.
Snow White and the Nine Dwarfs (a pantomime for Kinlochleven Primary School, Christmas 1997)

Opening Chorus (Just a Tall Tale). Snow White’s mother (the Queen) has died, and the new (beautiful but wicked) Queen is more interested in herself (Mirror Song 1). As Snow White grows up, she becomes even prettier than her stepmother (Mirror Song 2). The wicked Queen calls for her four Ghastly Gamekeepers (Ghastly Gamekeepers’ Song) to ‘lose’ Snow White in the woods. Alone, Snow White sings a very sad song (Lost in the Woods). After sleeping for a while, she finds the Dwarfs’ cottage (Dwarf Song, with some chorus/audience participation). Back home, the Queen learns that Snow White is still around (Mirror Song 3), and sets out to sort things herself. Twice she ‘kills’ Snow White, only for her to be resurrected by the Dwarfs (2 x Mirror Song 3) but, the third time, she appears to have succeeded (Mirror Song 1). The Ghastly Gamekeepers teach the audience a song (Purple Sponge Song) and hold a singing competition (well, this happens in pantomimes!). Finally, a handsome prince comes riding by, resurrects Snow White for good with a kiss, and everyone lives happily ever after (The Happy Ending).

Yes, there really were nine dwarfs! The singing parts (in order of appearance) were the Wicked Queen, the Mirror, Snow White, the four Ghastly Gamekeepers and the Nine Dwarfs (who all wore ‘See You Jimmy’ hats and whose names were chosen by the children). The songs are my work, but the script (not published here) was written by the primary staff.

All enquiries about these pieces or quotations for typesetting to music@petestack.com.

Other Sheet Music

Some other bits and pieces in PDF and/or ABC formats rather than Scorch, with demo recordings (not necessarily studio tracks!) where I had them or could cook them up fairly quickly. A new subheading or page division here at 6 October 2014, so expect to see more old/new stuff (of which this is just a selection) in time.

Lang Nichts an Cauld Wind (PDF)
A slow reel for Scottish smallpipes, written after Ian Kinnear’s Glen Esk course of November 2013 and dedicated to Ian and guest tutor Colin Melville. The title is basically a double pun, with the long, cold November nights mirrored by the instruments played (‘cauld wind pipes’) and hours of playing (let’s just say we didn’t get much beauty sleep!), and the tune came second equal in the 2014 LPBS new compositions competition. There’s also an MP3 demo made at the time of writing... good enough to give the basic tempo and feel, but still very much the work of a beginner piper when I’d only been learning for 20 months and it shows!
Sadie Cameron’s Waltz (PDF and ABC)
A waltz composed in June 1992 for the retiral of Mrs Sadie Cameron as Kinlochleven Primary Head Teacher. Originally written for accordion as just Sadie’s Waltz, then revived on whistle and flute (with a hastily cobbled-together demo) for a 2012 Chiff & Fipple discussion, renamed after unearthing other tunes of the same name and simultaneously reworked for Scottish smallpipes (sorry, no demo of that because I was still very new to piping at the time and haven’t got round to making one since). Somewhat nonplussed to discover 20 years too late that two phrases are identical in outline to another tune I didn’t know (Tom Anderson’s Jacqueline’s Waltz) and can’t see what I can do short of suppressing my tune entirely to mitigate this unfortunate coincidence, but then you’ve only got so many ways to arrange a limited range of notes and Anderson’s own lovely Da Slockit Light is just as similar to Charlie Hunter’s The Hills of Lorne (not sure which came first in this case!) and so on...

X:1
T:Sadie's Waltz (original)
C:Peter Duggan
H:Composed June 1992 for the retiral of Mrs Sadie Cameron as Kinlochleven Primary Head Teacher.
M:3/4
R:Waltz
L:1/8
K:D
D>E|"D"F>A, (3DEF E>D|"G"B,4 D>E|"D"F>A, (3DEF E>D|"A7"E2- (3EFE D>E|
"D"F>A, (3DEF E>D|"Gm"_B,>G- G>C D>E|"D"F2- (3FGF "A7"E2|1 "D"D4:||2 "D"D2- D>C D>E|
||:"D"F2- (3FGF E>F|"Em"G2- (3GAG F>G|"F#m"(3ABA F2 "F#7"E2|"Bm"D3 E "D7"(3FED|
"G"B3 D (3GAB|"D"(3ABA F2 E2|"E7"(3DED C2 D2|"A7"E3 C D>E|
"D"F2- (3FGF E>F|"Em"G2- (3GAG F>G|"F#m"(3ABA F2 "D"D2|"G"d3 C "(Bb7)"D>E|
"D"F>A, (3DEF E>D|"Gm"_B,>G- G>C D>E|"D"F2- (3FGF "A7"E2|1 "D"D2- D>C D>E:||2 "D"D4|]
The Boat that Sailed Backwards and An Tilleadh gu Colla (ABC)

(Trying a set of my old tunes in a new format, as discussed at http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84556&start=0.)

X:1
T:The Boat that Sailed Backwards
C:Peter Duggan
F:https://www.petestack.com/music/audio/boatback.mp3
H:Composed November 1992.
I:https://www.petestack.com/music/petestuff.html#recordings
M:9/8
R:Slip Jig
L:1/8
K:G
"D7"D2e dAB cAF|"G"D2G GBG FGA|"D7"D2e dAB cde|"Bm"fed "Em"cBA "A"GFE|
"D7"D2e dAB cAF|"G"D2G GBG FGA|"D7"Dfe dAB cBA|"G"GAG FGA G3|
"Em"B2a gef gfe|"B7"f2B f2g agf|"Em"e2a gef gfe|"B7"f2B- Bfg agf|
"C"e2a gef gfe|"G"def gdB GFE|"D7"Dfe dAB cBA|"G"GAG FGA G3|]

X:2
T:An Tilleadh gu Colla
C:Peter Duggan
F:https://www.petestack.com/music/audio/tilleadh.mp3
H:Composed October 1991, revised March 1992.
I:https://www.petestack.com/music/petestuff.html#recordings
M:C|
R:Reel
L:1/8
K:G
B2A|:"G"GDB,D "D7"A,CB,A,|"G"G,2 "D7"(3A,B,C "G"B,G,B,D|"Em"GG,"D"FG, "C"EG,"G"DG,|"Am"CB,"A7"A,G, "D7"A,B2c|
"G"dBGB "C"cGEG|"G"BGDG "F"AC(3=FGA|"G"DADG "D7"DFDA|1 "G"G/2G/2GAF GB2A:|2 "G"G/2G/2GAF GABc|
"G"dBGB "C"cGEG|"G"BGDc- "C"cGEG|"G"BAGA "A7"FAEA|"D7"Dd2c BAGF|
"G"GABG "C"cGEG|"G"BGDG "F"AC(3=FGA|"G"DADG "D7"DFDA|"G"G/2G/2GAF GABc|
"G"dBGB "C"cGEG|"G"BGDc- "C"cGEG|"G"BAGA "A7"FAEA|"D7"D/2D/2DFD ADdc|
"G"BGDB, "D7"A,CB,A,|"G"G,A,B,G, "Cm"CA,B,C|"G"DADG "D7"DFDA|"G"G/2G/2GAF G|]

All enquiries about these tunes to music@petestack.com.

Studio Recordings

Some lo-fi MP3 excerpts (nothing complete!) from my few professionally-recorded solo tracks. All composed and performed by me, recorded during the 1990s by Nick Turner at Watercolour Music, and compressed to 64 or 96kbps for this site.

Cradle Song (excerpt 0'38", stereo, 64kbps, 306K)
A piece for my twin nephews Thomas and James, born August 1996. Two low whistles and piano (for a Sibelius Score, see above).
The Boat that Sailed Backwards (excerpt 0'29", stereo, 64kbps, 234K)
A 9/8, or slip, jig commemorating an incident with my first Drascombe at Craobh Haven. Keyless wooden flute and piano.
An Tilleadh gu Colla (the Return to Coll) (excerpt 0'40", stereo, 64kbps, 320K)
A kind of reel, bubbling over with the excitement I felt on returning to our childhood paradise of Coll after an absence of ten years. Low whistle and piano.
Miss Isla Graham (excerpt 1'13", stereo, 64kbps, 579K)
A slow air for Isla (born January 1991), recorded here on guitar (which is joined by low whistle and keyboard for the different second half of the tune on the complete version).
Rowan (excerpt 0'59", stereo, 96kbps, 695K)
A lively guitar solo dedicated to Nick Turner’s younger son, born November 1995. For some reason it’s suffered more than the other tracks through the conversion from .wav to .mp3, so I’ve had to compromise at 96kbps to achieve some kind of listenable quality at a palatable file size. For the guitarists out there, both ‘Rowan’ and ‘Miss Isla Graham’ make use of the open G (DGDGBD) tuning although I’ve no idea how ‘Rowan’ appears to have ended up in Ab when I can’t ever remember playing it with a capo!

All enquiries about these recordings to Nick Turner at Watercolour Music.

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