General Overviews of Scottish-Baroque Music

• Music and Society in Lowland Scotland in the Eighteenth Century by David Johnson

• Scottish Fiddle Music in the Eighteenth Century by David Johnson (contains tunes)

Surveys of Scottish Music History

• Scotland’s Music by John Purser. Note the later edition (published 2007, ISBN 1845961609; not the one published in 1992, ISBN 1851584269) (non-extortionate prices sometimes pop up on eBay or eBay.co.uk)

• Rantin’ Pipe and Tremblin’ String by George Emmerson

• The Traditional and National Music of Scotland by Francis Collinson

Composer-Specific Material

• “Sources for the Chamber Music of William McGibbon” by Elizabeth Ford

• Niel Gow’s Inver by Helen Jackson

• The Life and Times of William Marshall by Moyra Cowrie

Biography Collections

• “Scottish Fiddlers and their Music” by Mary Anne Alburger

• “Musical Scotland Past and Present, Being a Dictionary of Scottish Musicians” by David Baptie

• “Violin Making in Scotland” by David Rattray (eBay and eBay.co.uk also recommended)

• “Scottish Violin Makers Past and Present” by William Honeyman (non-extortionate prices may be found by contacting Fiddletree)

Indices and Music Sources

• HMS.scot by David McGuinness et al.

• The Scottish Music Index by Charles Gore. Also available as a dead tree (try eBay too)

• IMSLP

• Most libraries will send scans or photocopies upon request; refer to HMS.scot or the Scottish Music Index to figure out which library to contact

Musicology

Scottish Musical Signatures

• “Scotch Snaps: The Big Picture”, a documentary by Philip Tagg

• “Bass Culture in Scottish Musical Traditions” by Barnaby Brown

• “Unravelling the Birl: Using Basic Computer Technology to Understand Traditional Fiddle Decorations” by Stuart Eydmann (PDF here)

• “Harmonic Proportion” by Matt Seattle; taken from The Master Piper (see below)

Taxonomy Issues

• The Invention of ‘Folk Music’ and ‘Art Music’ by Matthew Gelbart

• “‘File Under Celtic’: The Uses and Misuses of a Musical Myth, 1882-1999” by Michael D. Nicholsen

Strathspey Origins

• “Reeling in the Strathspey: The Origins of Scotland’s National Music” by William Lamb

• “The Origins of the Strathspey: A Rebuttal” by Michael Newton

• “A Response to Newton’s ‘The Origins of the Strathspey: A Rebuttal” by William Lamb

• “Grafting Culture: On the Development and Diffusion of the Strathspey in Scottish Music” by William Lamb

• “Strathspeys, Reels, and Strathspey Reels: Clarifiying Dance Music in Lowland Scotland 1750-1833” by Timothy S. Macdonald

Instrument-Specific

• The Master Piper: Nine Notes that Shook the World by Matt Seattle, regarding the William Dixon MS and early border piping

• Out of the Flames, an essay collection on the William Dixon MS (of major interest to non-pipers)

• The Flute in Musical Life in Eighteenth-Century Scotland by Elizabeth Ford

• Much useful information on the guitar (cittern) compiled by Rob MacKillop

• A Guide to Bowing by James Scott Skinner (post-Baroque Scottish), and its review by Stuart Eydmann

• The Strathspey, Reel, and Hornpipe Tutor by William Honeyman (post-Baroque Scottish, but contains interesting semi-historical information)

• A Manual for the Learning of Traditional Scottish Fiddling: Design, Development, and Effectiveness by Melinda Crawford Perttu (modern Scottish)

Philosophy of Baroque Musicking

• The End of Early Music by Bruce Haynes

• The Weapons of Rhetoric by Judy Tarling

• Text & Act by Richard Taruskin

• The Notation is Not the Music by Barthold Kuijken

Playing the Baroque Violin

• Baroque String Playing for Ingenious Learners by Judy Tarling

• Before the Chinrest: A Violinist’s Guide to the Mysteries of Pre-Chinrest Technique and Style by Stanley Ritchie

• The Art of Playing on the Violin by Francesco Geminiani (note: Geminiani was Robert Bremner’s private teacher)

Non-Scottish Period Treatises

• On Playing the Flute by Johann Joachim Quantz (PDF here)

• A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing by Leopold Mozart (original facsimiles in German here)

• On Performance Practice by Georg Muffat

Period Scottish Treatises

• “Some Thoughts on the Performance of Concert Music” by Robert Bremner

• “A Dissertation on the Scottish Music” by William Tytler

• A Compleat Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe by Joseph MacDonald

Blogs of Note

• ScottishFiddleMusic.com by Ronnie Gibson

• Fillocks, Fiddlers, and Others of that Band by Aaron McGregor

• The Fiddle in the Scottish Folk Music Revival by Stuart Eydmann

• A Scottish Musical Miscellany by Stuart Eydmann

• Concerto Caledonia’s Blog by David McGuinness

• John Purser’s Blog

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Disclaimer: I don’t stand behind every word in all of these sources (critical commentary will probably come at some point), but they nevertheless stand as important sources in the current Scottish-Baroque music scene.

Contact me with suggestions for any edits or additions!