The Doggerland Suite

The Doggerland Suite is comprised of ten tunes selected by Dr. John W. Turner from the thousands of tunes in a traditional Scottish style that he has composed from the 1970's to the present.    Orchestrated by talented multi-instrumentalist/composer Micajah Bullard, with supplemental arrangements by Becca Longhenry and Turner, the work includes laments, strathspeys, reels, a march, and a tune in the style of a tweed waulking song.    

Notes

Lament for Doggerland -  Pronounced "Daa-gr-luhnd", Doggerland was a region of Northwest Europe, approximately 18,000 square miles in area (roughly twice the size of the state of Maryland) where Mesolithic people lived for several millennia until rising sea levels buried the land under the North Sea.  The name, Doggerland was given to the area by University of Exeter archaeologist, Bryony Coles in the 1990's, after the Dogger Bank, a section of seabed in the North Sea, that was itself named after the 17th century "Dogger" fishing boats that sailed those waters.   Artifacts continue to be discovered that date back to 9,000 years ago and flesh out the story of a Stone Age hunter-gatherer society, who occupied a large part of what is now called Scotland, that is now underwater.

The Muckle Spate (1829) -   The Muckle Spate (Great Flood) of 3 August 1829 had catastrophic effects for much of the Strathspey region, in the northeast of Scotland.    It demolished bridges, and even moved standing stones that had been in place for thousands of years, many miles downriver.

Dugald Dalgetty -  Sir Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket, Scottish soldier of fortune, was a character created by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel,  A Legend of Montrose.

Beloe's Birds - W.L. Beloe was a prolific violin maker in 19th century Scotland, who considered himself a Renaissance man, and was described by one contemporary as being especially good at "blowing his own horn."    According to biographer of Scottish violin makers, Wm. C. Honeyman, "He (Beloe) was also a first class taxidermist, and used to relate that he would have taken the first prize for a case of stuffed birds, at a great exhibition, had it not been 'so well done that the judges mistook it for a case of living birds.'   Altogether, Beloe was an extraordinary man, who, from the poorest circumstances, rose well up in all his professions, though, perhaps, not so far up as he imagined." (Scottish Violin Makers, William C. Honeyman, 1919, pp. 20-21.)

How Could a Gnat, Live Like That? -  Written in 2017 after having observed a gnat somewhat drunkenly fly out of the microwave after I heated up some tea.

The Piper o' Auchtermuchty - Auchtermuchty, a village in the auld Kingdom of Fife, has always been a favourite haunt of mine.    The name literally means "upper pig enclosure".

Lament for the Victims of Covid-19 - Long the purview of traditional fiddlers, the pandemic that was fatal to so many, produced in me a natural musical response to express sorry at the great loss of life world-wide, to the disease.

Listening to Life - A strathspey, that came to me while walking through a wood, listening to the squirrels, birds, and bubbling burn(stream).

Angus Stewart of Portree, 1803 - Another Strathspey, written to honour a dear friend's several-times-great-grandfather.

The James in Spate - Subtitled "A Reel for J.S. Turner", and written in 2004 to honour our son, Jonathan, who was at the time, a whitewater rafting guide on the James River.

My wife, Dr. Moira Turner, used it as the signature tune for a dance she devised, also dedicated to our son, titled "Whitewater on the James".