Master piper, John MacFadyen, plays "A Flame of Wrath for Squinting Patrick"

[@DetroitIrish]

Thanks for posting. I know only one piobaireachd, McIntosh's Banner, that I learned it from John MacFadyen who used to come to teach a weeklong piobaireacht summer camp at Trudy Campbell's farm near Wallaceburg, Ontario. It was a great adventure and an opportunity to learn piobaireacht from a master, one-on-one. Early in the week after lessons, the great MacFadyen handed his pipes to me, saying "go down that dirt road and give them a good, long blow". I headed a long way down the farm's dirt road to get out of sight and sound, bursting with youthful pride that I had been chosen for such an honor. Panic replaced pride as I struck up the pipes. The master's pipes which were excruciatingly hard to blow. I daren't touch the reed so I checked the bag for leaks. With nothing obviously "wrong", it simply took everything in me to play, but I wasn't going to complain or let anyone know of this condition which continued over days. As I handed his pipes back on the final day, he popped out the chanter, removed the reed and popped it into a small tin box with a HUGE grin. He said "good lad" and inserted a more vintage looking reed into the chanter and proceeded to play for the students with apparent ease. The following week, he gave a recital in Detroit's St. Andrew's Hall which is one of the greatest piping performances I have ever heard. I like to believe that on that night, he performed using the "Reed of Wrath" I had played in for him the week before. He was a great teacher and piper imprinting a deeper understanding of piobaireachd and piping which I will never forget.

[@jazzman1626]

I used to enjoy listening to John MacFadyen and Ian MacFadyen among others around 1970 on the radio program “Chanter” hasted by Seumas MacNeill. @1:55 on the right of the photo is Seaton Gordon. I have 3 of his books “Highland Days” “Highland Summer” and “The Charm of Skye”. He was a piping judge of piobaireachd too.

[@agandy7]

Very cool to hear this tune played like this. Record-warp/speed/pitch or not, I’m happier this made it to KZbin to be preserved. Thanks UM.

[@dunaber]

Thanks, Alex. It really is a remarkable all-out performance!

[@beaubuffington]

Great stuff, Michael Grey! I don't think I ever heard a recording of MacFadyen....do you have any of Duncan Johnstone?

[@dunaber]

Sorry to say, I do not!

[@ejpowers]

Anyone have sheet music?

[@lawrencelundt3773]

Excellent! If I am not mistaken, the 78th Fraser Highlanders slowed down the runs a bit compared to this excellent rendition?

[@dunaber]

Quite possibly!

[@lawrencelundt3773]

@@dunaber just to be clear, that was not a criticism just an observation. Flame of wrath was an amazing musical effort!

[@michaelkazmierskidunn7189]

So the record is playing at the ridiculously wrong speed and the warping bothers the HECK out of me!! It gives the false impression he's an unsteady blower. I wish I could help you remaster all these recordings before you upload them, seriously. I HATE warping records and it just doesn't do the pipes justice if they're warped. Obviously it's nothing that MacFadyen did at all.

[@dunaber]

Sorry to bother you! I don't think anyone listening to this would imagine for a second this man didn't have full mastery of his pipes. Yes, the pitch is higher than he would have played at the time, and so, yes, fair to say it is bumped up in tempo. That said, this isn't far off what Bill Livingstone plays and he studied this tune with John MacF - as I did with Bill. Breathe.

[@michaelkazmierskidunn7189]

@@dunaber Like i said it isn't anything he did at all. It's the record itself. But I love his interpretation (of course after correcting the ridiculous WARPING with Audacity with a custom plug-in I developed with one of the program coders).

[@michaelkazmierskidunn7189]

@@kareemfakh LOL, it's not THAT fast. LOL. Only by a factor of 6 percent faster than the original speed. No set of pipes was ever in perfect B-natural back in the vinyl era. At .75 percent it would make the pipes pitch at F-sharp.