COWAL Fiddle Workshop was honoured to welcome traditional musician and teacher Nigel Gatherer to Dunoon on what was probably the wettest Saturday of the summer.
Nigel, who lives in Crieff, plays the mandolin, whistles and ukulele and runs workshops all over the country. As well as being an accomplished musician, Nigel is a ‘people person’ who has a great talent for bringing people of mixed abilities together to make great music.
He has the unique gift of making participants relax, pointing out that if you can only manage to play a couple of notes, it doesn’t matter. It’s the taking part, sharing ideas and having fun that’s important.
Nigel usually chooses a theme for his workshops and on July 5, Saturday’s theme was Dunoon. There are many excellent tunes written about Dunoon and the local area, none more famous than those written by Dunoon piper, John McLellan DCM which Nigel included in the day’s repertoire. John McLellan’s life and tunes will be celebrated in an exhibition in the Burgh Hall throughout August.
Nigel’s ear for music results in some wonderful arrangements, making the most of the different sounds of the instruments involved. Who would think that such a simple tune as ‘The Lochs and Kyles of Cowal’, written by Tighnabruaich man, Jimmy Lamb, one of the founding members of Cowal Fiddle Workshop, could evoke such rich and beautiful moods? By way of contrast, the song of protest by Jim McLean ‘We Dinna Want Polaris’ and the more upbeat tune ‘The Holy Loch Hornpipe’ by local musician, John Kelly, reminded us of the years when the US Navy came to town. For composers, Dunoon and its surroundings provide rich pickings!
The afternoon ended with an arrangement of the tune ‘Bonnie Dunoon’ by John McLellan. For those of us who live here, it was an appropriate final tune, but it has to be said, that it was a bit of a stretch of the imagination for some of the first time visitors looking out the rain-streaked windows.
