The London Scottish Polka

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bigbilly1
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:47 pm
Location: Australia

The London Scottish Polka

Post by bigbilly1 » Wed Mar 13, 2019 12:07 pm

Hi Guys, Heard a tune called "The London Scottish Polka" Would any off you guys have a copy of that Music in BWW or PDF Thanks, Bill

george
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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:07 am
Location: NV, USA
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Re: The London Scottish Polka

Post by george » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:44 pm

Sent

george
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:07 am
Location: NV, USA
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Re: The London Scottish Polka

Post by george » Thu Mar 14, 2019 12:27 am

The tune is by Pipe Major Rev. Dr. Kenneth B. Bice CD D.D. KGSJ

He has a web site and the tunes are available for download after joining (free)

https://www.thepipingpadre.ca

thepipingpadre
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:54 pm
Location: Uxbridge, Ontario Canada

Re: The London Scottish Polka

Post by thepipingpadre » Thu Mar 14, 2019 12:34 pm

George contacted me yesterday regarding The London Scottish Polka tune that Bill was looking for as I composed a tune by that title. The title refers to The London Scottish Regiment. George had indicated there was a request for a copy of the tune which I provided him my web site where I have a number of my compositions posted for visitors or members (free membership) can listen to or download a copy of the sheet music and BWW file source in PDF format and those downloading the BWW source in PDF format can copy the content and past it to the BWW program for use. Some formatting of the music is often required to break up the lines tying notes together as for some reason copying and pasting the source code does not seem to format back to the original.

I asked George how he heard of the tune I composed and mentioned it was a request by someone here on The Viper Piper site. After thinking about it, I wondered if there was another tune called The London Scottish Polka out there either written for the bagpipes or accordion for a dance.

So after doing a google search I found another tune with the same title with the exception is seemed to have a "-" between London and Scottish in some cases. That aside, the other tune titled The London-Scottish Polka was composed by Dr. Bruce Thompson of the UK. It is a different tune but is indeed a Polka style tune. Dr. Bruce Thompson is a retired UK Doctor, Piper and Composer. He was born in India to Scottish parents and came to live in Peterhead near Edinburgh.

Since Dr. Thompson tune has been publish on a CD titled "The Sma' Glen" I was wondering if this was the tune Bill was interested in getting a copy of. Though my own tune was published in a printed book but only a limited number of pipers have a copy (including the Pipe Major of The London Scottish Pipes and Drums), and has been published on line through my web site www.thepipingpadre.ca which George has included in his response to this initial post by Bill, I am not certain how many people actual play the tune or would have heard the tune being played. To my knowledge it is not on any musical CD.

So, Bill here is a link to Amazon (that is where Dr. Thompson's two CD's of music are published) and you can listen to the tune there to see if that is the version you are looking for. I am not sure that version is available on line in printed or BWW format but it appears based on Dr. Thompson's web site that he does have two CD's and two books available.

Here is the link to AMAZON to listen to Dr. Thompson's tune:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... PD2L45ERWU

Here is link to Dr. Thompson's web site so you can read a bit more about Dr. Thompson and some of his other compositions. Dr. Thompson is an accomplished composer.

http://www.brucethomson.info/

Often there may be more than one tune composed by different composers that have the same title and it can be confusing. When I compose tunes I sometimes had a tune title in mind to begin with such as with the case of this tune. I often check to see if the title is already used and usually come up with another title. I suppose I may not have done so in this case. I had one tune I composed which I was going to title "Queen of the Hebrides" which refers to the Isle of Islay in Argyll, Scotland. That is where my great grandparents are from. I found that there was a song titled "The Queen of the Hebrides" so, I titled the waltz I composed as "Waltzing Across Islay". I suppose if fit a bit better as it was a waltz.

I am going to re-title "The London Scottish Polka" as "The London Scottish Regimental Polka" so that there will be less confusion as to which tune someone is looking for, unless someone looking for my tune short forms the title to The London Scottish Polka" anyway.

I hope this helps you Bill in your search to the correct "The London Scottish Polka". By the way

Rev. Dr. Kenneth B. Bice CD D.D. KGSJ (Uxbridge, Ontario CANADA) a.k.a. "The Piping Padre".

bigbilly1
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:47 pm
Location: Australia

Re: The London Scottish Polka

Post by bigbilly1 » Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:58 am

Rev. Dr. Kenneth B.Bice, Thank you for your letter, And your right it was the other version of "London Scottish Polka" by Dr Thomson that I had heard, but your's is also eccellent, I'm glad George sent me that and told me about your site, I have listened to most off your music and I like every one, The 6_8s are a piper's dream every single one is perfect so please keep on writing more fantastic music and thank you for sharing with other pipers. Bill Australia

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