#1: Water of Leith
Head over to 'Scotland Project' for more information.
#2: Across the Ocean, Far Away
“This particular piece is about a longing for a place. For me, the composer, it is about Scotland. But for the players, think of that certain place for yourself. In the beginning, it almost feels bittersweet, there are times of sweet memories but then those memories remind you that you are not there. There is drama, tension, and so many emotions that eventually you start to sink in those feelings. This is signified by the middle section. Then we bring it back to the beginning but this time there is more hope and a sense that ‘yes, I will get back there one day’.”
This piece was started by the rollercoaster of emotions I experienced since arriving back from the UK in February this year. The ocean has a special place in my heart, so I used it as a metaphor for my emotions. I didn't have direct musical influence, as it came directly from my own experience, but it does have a certain Celtic feel to it, which is influenced by all the Celtic music I have been listening to. In my own time, I already listen to a lot of piano and string pieces. I wanted to challenge myself with this piece as I haven't written very technical pieces for the piano yet, and now that I have a good understanding of them, I applied as much as I could.
The first part of the piece I had figured out was the middle section and I went from there. There were certain things I couldn't explain, so I wrote them as they were in my head. For example, 'take your time, play emotively, however you may feel' and 'let it linger to nothing'. These problems were fixed by finding a more condensed way to say that and giving a tempo marking at the beginning. I wanted to play around with techniques on the cello too, but the direction I gave originally, which was tremolos, didn't work, so I scratched that since vibrato happened automatically. There were some problems with chords and their playability, so to resolve this, I revoiced them, while sitting at a piano, and also played around with 7th chords which, I feel, added to the final sound of the product. I changed the chord in bar 12, in the transition to the next section, from an Am to an E7. Some other changes I made were removing 8va/8vb lines and changing the clefs instead. I also revisited the theme found in the A section at the end of the piece, to make it feel more complete. There were a lot of issues with the format of the score which were overcome by help from Alice and YouTube videos. I had to go over double stops and writing for multiple voicings.
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Below is a TikTok that plays parts of the piece.​
#3: The Skye Boat Song Arrangement
This Scottish folk song is a Jacobite song about how Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped British soldiers, disguised as an Irish woman. It has been said, it was adapted from an early Gaelic folk song called ‘Cuachan nan Craobh’. This song became more famous from the show ‘Outlander’ in which Bear McCreary adapted it further by changing the lyrics to a woman's point of view and adding a B section. This is the version I have written an arrangement on.
When Alice told us about this arrangement, 'Skye Boat Song' was the very first folk song that popped up in my head. After travelling to Scotland and conveniently being a little obsessed with the show 'Outlander', it was a very easy decision. At this point, I was already learning an arrangement of this piece on the piano and so notating the melody and structure was the easy part for me. I had ideas for specific basslines, echoes and plenty of pauses in my head, as I thought of how I would approach the song. The ensemble, Vitamin String Quartet, played a part in the style of the plucked strings, to keep the beat, in the B section.
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At the beginning of the piece, it starts with the most popular passage of the folk song. To make it sound more full, I added in double stops for the viola as it carries the melody, in this particular part. To make the format more neat and readable, I added in clef changes where the notes became too high. The first A section is played in the middle range of each instrument and the violin takes the melody. I tried to match the instruments to compliment the overall sound. In the B section, there is a slight style change, as the violin moves to plucking the strings on the beat and the other instruments have a chance to play some repeats. I like the contrast of the sound as the melody passes onto the double bass. The cello then has some leading notes into the repeat again. In the last part of the song, the A section is now played an octave higher and at a loud dynamic which then contrasts with a slowed down, supposedly quiet end to the song. The triplet beats come in and then a grand ending with an up bow.
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Below is a TikTok that plays the piece in full.​
#4: Beyond the Beauty
#5: cath larach
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#6: Road to Skye
Head over to 'Scotland Project' for more information.