Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

The Little Cascade

reel

Key signature: Edorian

Submitted on January 23rd 2003 by Robinson.

This tune has been added to 76 tunebooks.

Also known as Little Cascade.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

About Time 2 by Wendy Stuart
Cascade by Capercaillie
CastleBayMusic.com by Paul MacNeil And Tracey Dares
Close To Home by Donald Black And Malcolm Jones
Delighted With Harps by Sileas
Edinburgh Hogmany Party Mix by Keltik Elektrik
Fire On ! by Blazin' Fiddles
Fonnsheen by Fiona Davidson
Out For The Night by Battlefield Band
Out Of The Blue by Anna Murray
The Little Cascade by Ben The Hoose

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

X: 1
T: Little Cascade, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Edor
|Beeg geBg|geeB gBeg|Beeg geBg|fdAe fagf|
!Beeg geBg|geeB gBeg|Beeg geBg|fagf fe eg|
!|:fBgf egbg|fBag gffg|fBgf egBg|fagf fe eg:|
!|G2 Be Bege| g2 fg egBe | G2 ce cege | fdAd fagf |
!|G2 Be Bege| g2 fg egBe | G2 Be geBg | fagf fe ef|
!|:gefg efge | fdef defd | gefg efge | fage fe ef:|
!|:Begf e2 fd | Bedf edBA | Begf e2 fd | Bedf fe eg :|
!|GdBe df e2 | gfge Bega | GdBe df e2 | Bedf feeg |
!|GdBe df e2 | gfge Bega | gfge eded | Bedf feeg ||

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Little Cascade

A long but really nice tune. Originally scottish I guess.
Third part is really nice when this low G is stressed.
Ronan le Bars (Breton piper) plays it at the uillean pipe in Dan Ar Braz's "Keltic Heritage" .

# Posted on January 23rd 2003 by Robinson

Little cascade

Quite right, Robinson. It was composed by George "G.S." McLennan, a piper from Aberdeen, whose "greatest hit" was the much-maligned " Jig Of Slurs". You would think that the title refers to a small waterfall, and in fact I have on video ex-Battlefield Band member Iain McDonald playing in such a setting for a TV programme on piping from a few years back. Unfortunately, the story goes that "G.S." composed it in a German prisoner of war camp in the first world war when he couldn't get to sleep because of a dripping tap ! True. Seems nobody told the programme's producer.
This tune has been recorded many times , and seems to also go well on the harp/clarsach, judging by the number of times it apears on Scottish clarsach recordings.( Billy Jackson, "Sileas", and Wendy Stewart, to name but 3).
A great tune, and doesn't it go well on the uillean pipes too.

# Posted on January 23rd 2003 by Kenny

It's funny how the most annoying things can inspire the most beautiful tunes. I was listening to Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham yesterday on BBC Radio 2, live form the celtic connections festival. They played a slow air, written by Phil Cunningham, called 'The Gentle Light that Wakes Me'. The inspiration behind it was a hotel in St. Sebastian(?) where he had trouble closing the curtains. Every morning at sunrise he would be rudely awakened by a shaft of sunlight coming through the gap in the curtains.

# Posted on January 23rd 2003 by granama

I love this tune.The c sharp in bar 3 line 4 sounds a litte strange (though nice?), is it meant to be a c natural?

# Posted on January 24th 2003 by Christopher Reynolds

I agree with you Chris... actually I would play a B

# Posted on January 24th 2003 by Robinson

In the version I have (Ceol na Fidhle - Highland Tunes for the Fiddle, vol. 4) both those C#s are in fact B.... although a C-nat could sound nice there. But it's a bagpipe tune - and a good one.

# Posted on January 24th 2003 by granama

There are a few small "mistakes" in this version. I have the original as written by the great man and I'll try and post it soon.
JC's has the tune but not in an un-graced form.
PP

# Posted on January 27th 2003 by Pied Piper

Little Cascade

This wonderful little tune is not in the dorian mode. If you adjust the key signature to G Major, then it is in the aeolian. Probably most aolian mode tunes are in the key of D Major, so if you were to transpose The Little Cascade to D you would see quite clearly how it relates with other aolian mode tunes, The Musical Priest and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen being the most obvious examples.

# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Gords

Tune story

I hadn't heard the version of the story that Kenny tells before. I don't believe G.S. was ever a POW.

The most common version is that told by G.S. half-brother, D.R., which says that their father pointed out the sound of the dripping tap during a lesson and it later inspired the tune.

Another version told by a fellow officer from the Gordon Highlanders, G.S.' regiment, is that it was the dripping tap in their barracks that inspired the tune after returning from a night on the town.

# Posted on December 24th 2007 by malcombpiper

A bit of snap

Here's the tune with the dots and cuts as would have originally been played. It really brings out the dripping effect. I have set line 4 in a counter rhythmic style that is popular to play. It can also played in keeping with the rest of the tune. Harpers like to throw arpeggios into that part.

# Posted on December 24th 2007 by malcombpiper

Key

make that E Dorian instead of A Mixolydian.

# Posted on December 28th 2007 by malcombpiper