Kids, These Days

In my brain, I have a file labled, "Fiddle Marches." I am, of course, convinced that these have a different flavour entirely from pipe marches. Not better, not worse, but just imbued with  their own distinctive appeal. One could build a case for this difference, I am sure, on fiddles having more than nine notes to choose from; that certainly allows some wider intervals than a piper can hope for, and plenty of composers take advantage of it. Another thing that stands out about fiddle marches, though, is just that there just don't appear to be so many of them when you compare their numbers with the jigs, reels, strathspeys, hornpipes, and even slow airs there are to choose from, so when you hear a good march, composed for the instrument, it tends to stand out. Or so it seems to me. One of my favourites of the type is John McCusker's "Wee Michael's March." I went to find a video of it and, to cast a bit of doubt on most everything I just said, it fits on the pipes, too. Here it is in a nice set from some young folks in the Fèis Ros program.