CHAPTER 4: Dulcimers in the British Isles since 1800 > Dulcimers in Scotland
The second generation - emigrants
Apart from the American Scots already mentioned on record, there are Scots players reported in Nova Scotia and elsewhere in America and Canada, including Bill McArthur, who played in Michigan with a melodion, and who died in c.1960.
The only dulcimer-player which this study discovered in the entire Southern Hemisphere is a Scot living in New Zealand, David Cloughley.
He plays in a style he learnt from his uncle and grandfather, and made the instrument he plays. It has separate bridges and a variable treble-course interval like that mentioned by the writers in the early years of this century and characteristic of East Anglia.
Among his 'family' pieces are variations on Bluebells of Scotland (c.f. the tutors, and Jimmy Cooper), Stirling Castle and Harvest Home (c.f. William McNally's recording); he plays with his daughter on the violin, a combination he says was common in Scotland.
My thanks to Dr. Geoffrey Samuel, University of Otago, for writing to me about Mr. Cloughley.
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This was written in 1976: now, in 2002, I have heard from Gillian Alcock that a number of Scots arrived in Australia with their instruments, although the Scottish influence is stronger in New Zealand.The dulcimer in Australia |
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