Monthly Meeting - Here’s to a bright New Year and a Fond Farewell to the Old
Tuesday 11 January 2022
Anne Artis welcomed members and guests, this year we are lucky to have small groups on zoom, rather than individuals and we are looking forward to better 2022. She hoped everyone had a nice Christmas in spite of our having to cancel our Ruskie night out, Helen confirmed the refunds have been processed. Anne confirmed that her gloves won second prize at the Federation meeting in November, and Ruskie won the syllabus competition! She highlighted the next Federation Quiz on Monday 7 March hosted by Cumbernauld Institute, and the Triennial Show on Saturday 19 March in Bridge of Allan – let us know if you’d like to participate in either event or have an entry for the show. Our February meeting will also be on Zoom, however we are hoping to get together in March and return to having competitions ourselves, and hostesses for a Ruskie tea! Elizabeth Farr reminded the group of the raffle for the Triennial show and these books will also be on sale in March.
Anne was then delighted to introduce the multi talented Bryony MacGregor and her sister Alison from Biggar – they both ‘farmed out’ their children for the evening so we could hear the music and songs uninterrupted! She started with her favourite Ann Andersons Waltz which had members humming along and set toes tapping before going onto a Shetland medley of familiar tunes then Bryony sang for us Ae Fond Kiss to get us in the ‘Burns Mood’ (with Anne reminding us to go on mute if we were singing along!)
Bryony and Alison come from a very musical family in Orkney and their dad plays accordion and hosts the ‘Dashing White Farmer’ on the radio, and middle sister Jennifer also plays the fiddle (and when she started at age 8, Bryony started to pester to learn too at the age of 6!). The Orkney Traditional Music Festival was a great route to learning and getting involved in the community, including the summer school and the Strathspey and Reel Society in the winter months run by the amazing Jean Leonard. The girls took the opportunity to travel with their music as children, being set loose to busk in Europe and make some extra pocket money - they shared some of the tunes with us which they played at that time and are now ingrained in their memories. Another memorable family event was Alison’s wedding where Bryony sang in the cathedral – and they willingly shared this song with us too. The Orange Blossom Special, on the other hand, was then played as a special request (who can say ‘no’ the their mother in law?!)
The girls shared songs which had been written by their mum and uncle which had been recorded on an album in 2015 – Velvet Sky is a favourite and can be seen on YouTube with lots of wedding pictures as it celebrates marriage for all the romantics amongst us. Bryony then took up her guitar (is there no end to this girl’s talent!) sharing a beautiful but melancholy song as she encouraged us to have a dram and settle in by our fires!
Bryony shared with us how lucky they felt to grow up in a time of no phones or social media but with the opportunity to learn tunes off by heart, by ear, and can still play without using any sheet music – this method seems to stick so much better especially for tricky tunes in difficult keys which take lots of practice to get right! Bryony also shared a preview of her next recording, another song by her mum written to celebrate the anniversary of the Blackie Society, and the importance of knowledge passed down over generations.
Bryony and Alison shared stories of their own families musical talents (or not, for Alison’s husband!) and their hopes for the future generations before closing out with a final set of tunes to round out a storming musical evening! They have promised to join us again, in person, when we can get together.
