Devised with the help of my wife Kristin, 12 October, 2014. Modified 14th
October, 2014. This dance came from listening to an old record by Jim Macleod,
called “Lassie come and dance with me.” Track 6 of side 2 is called “The Road
to Mod” and has this intriguing medley with bow chords. So I guess at some
time there must have b een a danc e for this m edley. In spite of many enquiries, I
could not find the dance so to ok on the challenge to devise a dance to this music.
I chose a demonstration dance, and one the emphasised “big figures” and some
highland ste ps over complexity. The waltz was particularly challenging as we
have few standard desc riptions, and this particular Gaelic waltz is quite lyrical,
meaning finding figures sympathetic to the tune was tricky. Kristin help ed a
lot here. After comments by Glenna and Iain Matcham, I mo dified this on the
14th Octob er.
A Mo d is a traditional Scottish Gaelic festival of arts, including the Royal
National Mo d. A mo d includes comp etition for p o etry, music, choral events,
and many other asp ects of traditional Scottish culture. Macleo d was a wonderful
pip er and p erhaps he was talking of the national mo d piping comp etition when
naming this collection of tunes.
(On the record cover: “The Gaelic Mo d held annually in Scotland is the last
surviving remnant of the great Clan gathe rings, but apart from the comp etitive
asp ect of the Mo d the so cial spirit (in every sense) is in great abundance.”)
Clearly the recommended music is “The Road to Mo d”, from “La ssie Come and
Dance with Me” by Jim Macleo d and his Band. (Phillips, LP 6382 072, and
Fontana / T L 5353 (1966)).
Since this is more or less unobtainable, on my home page is an mp3 of the
recording. (At least while the record is not re-released.)
The tunes are 32 bars of the following: (Reel/March) Bratach Bana, (Waltz)
Morag of Dunvegan, (Schottis che) Larach do Thacaidean (Moulin Dhu-Black
Mill), (Reel) After the B attle . All are traditional. Thanks to Peter Elmes, Iain
Boyd and Michael Laidlaw for helping find the names of the tunes