Lindsay Davidson
Encyclopedia
Lindsay Davidson was taught the Great Highland bagpipe
s by Pipe Major James Inglis of Wallacestone and District Pipe Band from aged nine. He was the last person Inglis taught before his death. Later instructors included Bert Barron MBE
, P/M John Matheson, BEM and John Graham. Bands included Boghall and Bathgate and Torphichen and Bathgate (during their highly successful period 1986-1989).
Lindsay was the first person in the world to study for a music degree specifically and exclusively as a piper (1994 Edinburgh University). He later was awarded a postgraduate diploma (1996) in the double specialisation of composition and computer sound synthesis and his PhD
(2007) in composition (Napier University
, Edinburgh
). He also holds a PGCE (general teaching qualification) from the University of Sunderland.
Whilst never a particularly dedicated competitor, Lindsay between band and solo competitions has won many of the major prizes in Scotland
. Lindsay effectively ceased to compete when he started his studies and later his teaching career. Now he lives in Poland
, and is engaged in a wide range professional music activities.
For a period of five years Lindsay ran a school of piping (The Davidson School of Piping) and a bagpipes supply service, The Complete Piping Service http://www.stanford.edu/~wrinnes/BagpipeFAQ/resources.html#Contents. These he closed down when he started to spend more time in Poland
. The school handed over the majority of its students to pipe band
s which it had established.
Lindsay is one of a very few professional pipers in the world and shares his base between Scotland
and Poland
, where he regularly performs with his harp
ist wife, Irena. He is employed as a Court Composer to the Baron of Ardgowan and also to the Barony of Fulwood and Dirleton and holds honorary positions as Clan Piper (Clan Davidson
) and was Town Piper to his home town of Linlithgow
, Scotland for nine years.
Many articles about Lindsay Davidson have appeared in a wide range of special interest and mass media publications and broadcast services across the globe such as the BBC
, ABC http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/brkfast/stories/s853099.htm, The Guardian
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030427/ai_n12582853, Piping Today magazine, The Scots Magazine
, The Sunday Herald http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2003_May_27/ai_102766112/pg_2, The Scotsman
.
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/ScotLit/biogs/hubbard.htm, concerning the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921 and in particular the part played in trying to prevent this by Charles William Kerr
, and three other operas. He has also composed a symphony ‘From Beyond’ using manntaireachd and a chamber symphony, likewise using manntaireachd.
and has also been to Venezuela
http://tiempolibre.eluniversal.com/2005/11/26/tlage_index.shtml. As a trio with harp and soprano (Katarzyna Wiwer-Monita) they form ‘Celtic Triangle’ and have a mixture of music from traditional, to contemporary compositions by Lindsay. He leads a traditional music group, The Reivers, comprising bagpipes
, harp
, violin
and percussion, and again they have a mixture of traditional and new music.
A major part of Lindsay’s work is performing with ‘classical’ ensembles ranging from string quartet
to orchestras. He has played with some of the most prestigious orchestras in Europe, such as Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio http://www.polskieradio.pl/amadeus/solo_en.asp led by Agnieszka Duczmal http://www.polmic.pl/iopis.php?lang=pl&id=213&pf=instytucje&cf=%C2%A0&nf=orkiestry%20i%20zespo%C5%82y, and Leopolis Chamber Orchestra of Lviv http://www.mrozek.pl/ang/ork.htmhttp://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/news/apr02.html, where he was a resident soloist.
Lindsay performs on Highland Bagpipes, Scottish smallpipes
and Border pipes
during his concerts.
and the New French Method of rhythm. The method is based upon separating the mechanical aspects of playing music from the emotional, learning each area in isolation, programming technique exactly as a computer and then reuniting the aspects. Musicianship is taught alongside these technical processes and links are constantly made during lessons to show how to achieve specific effects.
This method was conceived and broadly established by Lindsay; weekly meetings with his colleagues, particularly Richard Kean http://www.richardkean.com/, were used to refine, expand and strengthen the method. Currently Lindsay is expanding his ‘teach yourself’ method and site, a free project aimed at giving as many people as possible access to piping.
Six pipe band
s were created in central Scotland (for example Barnton Pipe Band http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/directory/e1264) by the school, and several were assisted in USA and Australia
. Affiliate branches of the school were opened in USA and Australia and ceased operating when the school itself was wound down.
Lindsay has given and continues to give workshops in various parts of the world, from USA to Japan, Australia and even Ukraine
. He is also 'Musician in Residence' for the British International School in Cracow British International School of Cracow
(BISC http://www.bisc.krakow.pl/.
Great Highland Bagpipe
The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
s by Pipe Major James Inglis of Wallacestone and District Pipe Band from aged nine. He was the last person Inglis taught before his death. Later instructors included Bert Barron MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, P/M John Matheson, BEM and John Graham. Bands included Boghall and Bathgate and Torphichen and Bathgate (during their highly successful period 1986-1989).
Lindsay was the first person in the world to study for a music degree specifically and exclusively as a piper (1994 Edinburgh University). He later was awarded a postgraduate diploma (1996) in the double specialisation of composition and computer sound synthesis and his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(2007) in composition (Napier University
Napier University
Edinburgh Napier is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland with over 17,000 students, including nearly 5,000 international students, from more than 100 nations worldwide.-History:...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
). He also holds a PGCE (general teaching qualification) from the University of Sunderland.
Whilst never a particularly dedicated competitor, Lindsay between band and solo competitions has won many of the major prizes in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Lindsay effectively ceased to compete when he started his studies and later his teaching career. Now he lives in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and is engaged in a wide range professional music activities.
For a period of five years Lindsay ran a school of piping (The Davidson School of Piping) and a bagpipes supply service, The Complete Piping Service http://www.stanford.edu/~wrinnes/BagpipeFAQ/resources.html#Contents. These he closed down when he started to spend more time in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The school handed over the majority of its students to pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
s which it had established.
Lindsay is one of a very few professional pipers in the world and shares his base between Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, where he regularly performs with his harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
ist wife, Irena. He is employed as a Court Composer to the Baron of Ardgowan and also to the Barony of Fulwood and Dirleton and holds honorary positions as Clan Piper (Clan Davidson
Clan Davidson
Clan Davidson is a Highland Scottish clan. The clan was also part of the Chattan Confederation.-History:When the power of the Comyns began to wane in Badenoch, David Dubh of Invernahaven, Chief of Davidsons, having married the daughter of Angus, 6th of MacKintosh, sought the protection of William,...
) and was Town Piper to his home town of Linlithgow
Linlithgow
Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....
, Scotland for nine years.
Many articles about Lindsay Davidson have appeared in a wide range of special interest and mass media publications and broadcast services across the globe such as the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, ABC http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/brkfast/stories/s853099.htm, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030427/ai_n12582853, Piping Today magazine, The Scots Magazine
The Scots Magazine
The Scots Magazine is a magazine containing articles on subjects of Scottish interest. It is the oldest magazine in the world still in publication although there have been several gaps in its publication history...
, The Sunday Herald http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2003_May_27/ai_102766112/pg_2, The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
.
Composing
As a composer Lindsay has specialised in uniting the bagpipe and orchestral traditions. His PhD thesis (2007) concerned creation of a new technique of composing of ‘classical’ music, manntaireachd, which unites pibroch and orchestral music. He has written the world’s first ‘bagpipe opera’, Tulsahttp://www.pcusa.org/oga/perspectives/archive/may03.htm, to a libretto in Scots by Dr Tom HubbardTom Hubbard
Tom Hubbard was the first librarian of the Scottish Poetry Library and is the author, editor or co-editor of over thirty academic and literary works...
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/ScotLit/biogs/hubbard.htm, concerning the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921 and in particular the part played in trying to prevent this by Charles William Kerr
Charles William Kerr
Charles William Kerr was a Moderator of the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church in the United States, as well as the longtime pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the second largest Presbyterian church in the United States...
, and three other operas. He has also composed a symphony ‘From Beyond’ using manntaireachd and a chamber symphony, likewise using manntaireachd.
Major Pieces
A partial catalogue can be found on the Scottish Music Centre website http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/home.php?terms=lindsay+davidson&submit=go&action=list&scope=catalogue§ion_id=337.- Borderpipe Concerto – the first of its kind, uses both traditional and original material
- Marimba Concerto http://www.culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/wy_in_koncert_marimba_davidson_bydgoszcz - premiered by Ryszard Haba of Kraków, Poland, 2006
- Tulsa (librettoLibrettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
Dr. Tom Hubbard, concert suite for trio http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/corpus/search/document.php?documentid=727) commissioned by the Baron of Ardgowan - The Ballad of Annie Kerr (libretto Dr Tom Hubbard) commissioned by the Baron of Ardgowan
- Fulwood Sorrow and Hope dedicated to Camilo Agasi-Pereira of Fulwood and Dirleton, the Baron of Fulwood and Dirleton
- The New Deliverance (libretto S. I. Witkiewicz)
- Cockroaches (libretto S. I. Witkiewicz)
- Symphony Number 1 ‘From Beyond’ commissioned by the Baron of Ardgowan
- Chamber Symphony Number 1 – dedicated to Stephen and Michael Kerr
- Solo Bagpipe Music (in the region of 800 pieces) including several collections
Performing
As a duet with his wife, Irena, Lindsay performs at classical music festivals across EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and has also been to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
http://tiempolibre.eluniversal.com/2005/11/26/tlage_index.shtml. As a trio with harp and soprano (Katarzyna Wiwer-Monita) they form ‘Celtic Triangle’ and have a mixture of music from traditional, to contemporary compositions by Lindsay. He leads a traditional music group, The Reivers, comprising bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
, harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and percussion, and again they have a mixture of traditional and new music.
A major part of Lindsay’s work is performing with ‘classical’ ensembles ranging from string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
to orchestras. He has played with some of the most prestigious orchestras in Europe, such as Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio http://www.polskieradio.pl/amadeus/solo_en.asp led by Agnieszka Duczmal http://www.polmic.pl/iopis.php?lang=pl&id=213&pf=instytucje&cf=%C2%A0&nf=orkiestry%20i%20zespo%C5%82y, and Leopolis Chamber Orchestra of Lviv http://www.mrozek.pl/ang/ork.htmhttp://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/news/apr02.html, where he was a resident soloist.
Lindsay performs on Highland Bagpipes, Scottish smallpipes
Scottish smallpipes
The Scottish smallpipe, in its modern form, is a bellows-blown bagpipe developed by Colin Ross and others, to be playable according to the Great Highland Bagpipe fingering system. There are surviving examples of similar historical instruments such as the mouth-blown Montgomery smallpipes in E,...
and Border pipes
Border pipes
The border pipes are a type of bagpipe related to the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe. It is perhaps confusable with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument...
during his concerts.
Recordings
- Philharmonic Bagpipes – bagpipes and string orchestra
- Celtic Triangle – bagpipes, harp and soprano
- Teribus – The Irony Board - bagpipe duet with Richard Kean, now unavailable
- Dances of the World Volume 1 and Volume 2 choir and string orchestra Leopolis (guest performer)
- Blown (guest performer with Richard Kean http://www.richardkean.com/discography.htm)
- Another Way - published by Castello Group, Poland 2009. Cracovie Ensemble (string quartet)
Teaching
In 1996 a group of piping teachers in Edinburgh, Scotland decided to form a school, originally to be called the Edinburgh School of Piping. However, the name was taken and so they elected to call it after their leader and originator of a their new method, Lindsay Davidson http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/directory/e5503. This method was derived from piano and conducting teaching, and contains elements based upon the Kodaly MethodKodály Method
The Kodály Method, also referred to as the Kodály Concept, is an approach to music education developed in Hungary during the mid-twentieth century by Zoltán Kodály...
and the New French Method of rhythm. The method is based upon separating the mechanical aspects of playing music from the emotional, learning each area in isolation, programming technique exactly as a computer and then reuniting the aspects. Musicianship is taught alongside these technical processes and links are constantly made during lessons to show how to achieve specific effects.
This method was conceived and broadly established by Lindsay; weekly meetings with his colleagues, particularly Richard Kean http://www.richardkean.com/, were used to refine, expand and strengthen the method. Currently Lindsay is expanding his ‘teach yourself’ method and site, a free project aimed at giving as many people as possible access to piping.
Six pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
s were created in central Scotland (for example Barnton Pipe Band http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/directory/e1264) by the school, and several were assisted in USA and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Affiliate branches of the school were opened in USA and Australia and ceased operating when the school itself was wound down.
Lindsay has given and continues to give workshops in various parts of the world, from USA to Japan, Australia and even Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. He is also 'Musician in Residence' for the British International School in Cracow British International School of Cracow
British International School of Cracow
The British International School of Cracow is a co-educational private school in Cracow, Poland. It was founded on 1 September 1995 to provide expatriate children with a British education...
(BISC http://www.bisc.krakow.pl/.