Fraser McGlynn
The family had had enough from Iain and the box had to go. While the children were at school Mrs McGlynn had a tea chest of rubbish ready for collection at the front door. Perched on top was the 2-row melodeon, bellows held together with Elastoplast, spoons at the bass end and “Made in Saxony” emblazoned on the end. However, Fraser, the youngest of five, came home early from school and rescued it, started practising and today is one of Scotland’s leading exponents of the 3-row British Chromatic accordion. He admits he learns something new about the box each day.
With an Irish father and mother from Tarbert, Argyll, he is Celtic on both sides, which could account for his natural musical ability, but in common with the majority of West Coast musicians he had no formal musical tuition. He actually played the two rows separately.
At fifteen, his brother Iain bought him a new 3-row from Forbes in Dundee with 48 bass. Frustrated but keen to learn, he wrote and asked them for a tutor. Forbes replied that there were none in existence for this instrument, adding that it would be nigh on impossible to produce one. Undaunted, Fraser persevered, by now he was playing the 3 vertical rows separately, working on the knowledge of the mouth organ and using the sook/blaw principle.
Fate took a hand, and one day a certain Donald MacKay called and explained some of the intricacies of the 3-row e.g. that it was possible to use a combination of the three rows and thus form scales. That opened up a whole new world to Fraser.
Written music remained a mystery to him, but he was determined to learn. A medical student home on holiday – Donald Smith – was a medium. Fraser played a well known tune to him, say the “Glendaruel Highlanders” and asked Donald to write down exactly what he had played. Fraser then, in reverse, learnt what he had been playing by writing the names of the notes on the buttons. Thus, with total dedication and hours of practice he taught himself the melody line. Coupled with this he found that the 48 bass was not enough. He had no idea what basses he was playing, but he knew he needed more. Again by deduction and being an excellent mathematician, he discovered what chords he was playing and as he says- “if that’s teaching yourself to read music, then I did.” He then bought his next box with 72 bass.
On leaving school he became a painter and decorator. As his reputation spread, so the band had to go further afield. His employer had a lot of island work and they were very understanding when Fraser had an engagement to fulfil.
However, once they did get him to an island, say Islay or Jura, they often “Shanghai’ed” him for 3 or 4 weeks at a time and he would have to cancel engagements. It was most unsatisfactory both ways, so he left and joined the Post Office in Tarbert as a postman. But again with early starts for mail deliveries and late home-comings from dances this job had to go, so the only solution was in 1972 that Fraser went self-employed as a painter and decorator. This lasted for 10 years until he joined the Argyll and Clyde Health Board as Entertainments Officer, based in Lochgilphead. It was the ideal job for him, but more of that later.
Returning to his post-school days, Fraser played a lot in hospital and at concerts. It was during this time that he learnt a lot about handing people and audiences. I suggested that he might also have learnt how to abuse them (always in the best possible taste) but he said he learn that at Milngavie.
Life was full for him at this time. An excellent footballer, table-tennis player and athlete, he had also reached marksman standard with the school cadet force.
When not playing for dances he went to them to dance and to meet and listen to the top band-leaders during the fifties, which was the ‘golden era’ for dance bands. He was friendly with the late Andrew Rankine before he was twenty.
He formed his own band at eighteen. Jim Flaherty, now living in Falkirk, came to Tarbert as the “Co-op” baker and was a first class pianist. Another Tarbert man, Norman Smith, had bought a double bas but had no idea how to play it. However, Fraser marked the fingerboard with tape, named the notes and after some practice Norman became the band’s bass player. It also explains why Fraser is such a good bass player himself.
Jim Flaherty produced tapes of what he said the band should sound like i.e. the one he had previously played in. Fraser was not impressed. What it did do was to boost their ego and convince them that they were a lot better than they gave themselves credit for. It dispelled the inferiority complex that was prevalent on the West Coast at that time when big city bands / band-leaders were mentioned. The band line-up was Fraser on lead accordion, Duncan MacLean second box, Davie Scott on fiddle, Jim Flaherty on piano, Norman Smith bass and Jackie MacLeod drums. Donald Smith, when on holiday, augmented the band.
1959 was Lochgilphead’s Centenary year as a burgh and the B.B.C.’s “On Tour” came as part of the celebrations. There were audition for local talent which Fraser won and as a prize was asked to play at the Concert at night.
Ian MacFadyen was producer and invited him and his band for an audition at the B.B.C. in Glasgow. It was a complete disaster and they failed. Afterwards, he was handed a ‘crit’ sheet detailing all the shortcomings from the ‘Beebs’ point of view, mentioning things like ‘intonation’ and other obscure musical terms. With the bands limited knowledge Fraser asked “what the hell is intonation?” He was determined to find out and carefully scrutinised the whole sheet, analysing it phrase by phrase.
He discovered that both lead instruments had to play exactly the same notes and that the left hand on the piano and the bass fiddle had to correspond. To many of the modern day “whizz kids” or even the average young player reading this, it may seem bizarre but remember that anything and everything the band knew had been self taught. The six piece band lasted for 15 years with only one or two changes in personnel.
In 1964, Jim Flaherty announced that he was leaving the band due to a change of job. Fraser thought that a pianist of his calibre would be impossible to replace. They decided to disband the whole show and that their last booking would be the “At Home” at Skipness, when the Laird opened up the “Big Hoose” and entertained the Estate workers. It was to be on a Wednesday and would be minus the piano.
A farewell session was arranged at Jim’s house and a tape made of which all members received a copy, and that was that. During that session Duncan MacLean casually mentioned that there was a good pianist further up the loch, who played with Jock MacKenzie from Ardfern. Would it be alright for Duncan to approach him? The outcome was that the pianist said he would be delighted to play on the Wednesday night. Fraser thought this fine, because once the “At Home” was over, the band would be finished and he had grandiose ideas of going away on his own and playing solo on concert platforms or wherever fate took him.
Wednesday arrived, the dance started and after one set Fraser recognised the talent of the man. He approached his afterwards with a view to joining the band on a more permanent basis and the young pianist said he would be delighted to take up the offer and so started a 26 year association with Duncan MacKay, which has developed into a close friendship. The band received a “stay of execution” but not before Duncan had fulfilled all the engagements he had agreed to play with Jock MacKenzie. A man of integrity is Duncan or as Fraser describes him – “a man of honour”. Once again, the band was on the road and bookings came from far and wide.
Towards the end of 1966, Norman Smith moved from the area but left his bass with Fraser. Around this time a Tarbert based rock group, Rab and the Clansmen, had just returned from the U.S.A and their bass guitarist was Sandy Black, who was invited to join the band. Once again Fraser had to go through the rigmarole of marking the bass and teaching Sandy from scratch, but he was a more than able pupil. Together with Duncan MacKay, he rates them as the two most naturally talented musicians he knows. He feels that when they play from music their natural ability is stifled.
The band was now really swinging and in 1968 they went for their second audition. James Hunter was the Producer and the whole band, and in particular Fraser, were now more worldly wise regarding the band scene. The audition went well and they were asked which place would be most suitable for a broadcast should they pass. Glasgow was the choice.
About three months later, a letter arrived from the ‘Beeb’ saying that they had passed the audition and were offered a “trial broadcast”. This went out on 8th November, 1968. Prior to this, another broadcast had been recorded and kept “in the can”. In January, 1969 the band were invited to Aberdeen to do a live broadcast and this went well. Proof was that James Hunter, of whom Fraser speaks highly, congratulated them on an excellent performance.
Immediately after the programme, Fraser was called to the phone to speak to a certain Sandy MacArthur. He had simply phoned to say that he thought the broadcast was great and that he would expand on this when they met in person. All very mysterious.
At the 1969 Perth Festival, Fraser and the band were guests at the Evening Concert in the City Halls and on going off stage, Sandy MacArthur introduced himself and then the story unfolded.
Sandy was in the B.B.C. studio in Aberdeen the morning that Fraser was scheduled to do his live broadcast. James Hunter and he did not see eye to eye, because Sandy was always accused of being unprepared for recording sessions. Anyway, Sandy asked him what he had arranged for that Saturday night and was merely told “Tune in tonight, I’ve a band coming from Argyll to do a live broadcast”.
Sandy was a commercial traveller at that time and drove hundreds of miles a week. He more or less told James Hunter that it would be a folly to do such a thing, but Sandy was politely shown the door and told that he should not attempt to tell a B.B.C. Producer how to do his job. He went home to Elgin and laid off to Evelyn about the forthcoming music disaster. Needless to say, the result was a resounding success, hence Sandy’s phone call. It also demonstrated the faith that James Hunter had in Fraser’s band.
COMPETITION SCENE
He first competed at the Perth Festival in 1959. It was all a big game, the crack was good, entries were taken on the day and it was not too serious. He enjoyed every minute of it and met Bill Wilkie. They have been good friends ever since.
Fraser came third in the Traditional Scottish Section. He won in 1962 and again in 1966 and over this period he was third once and runner-up twice. The only reason he competed in 1966 was to prove to himself that the first time hadn’t been pure luck. I asked him what he played in 1966 and Cathie, his wife, told me the full story.
Friday night prior to Perth was always kept clear of booking so that they were all fresh on the Saturday. Having decided to enter, he chose his three tunes for the march, strathspey and reel. Cathie was getting her coat on to go to work and was at the door ready to leave when Fraser asked her to listen to his “set”. She asked him if he was competing the next day and on receiving a reply in the affirmative she said “That’s a waste of time – you’ll never win playing tunes like that”.
The bold boy was quite piqued at this and asked her to pick a better set. “No problem”, she said, just play me a selection of marches”. When he played one that she really liked that was the choice. Similarly with the strathspeys and the reels. The titles were unknown to her, but it was what she liked and the final set was “The Cameron Highlanders”, “The Devil in the Kitchen” and “The Blackberry Bush”. With these Fraser won for a second time.
THE TRIO IS BORN
The Trio as we now know it was formed in the early ‘80s for a number of reasons. One, was economy. It is possible to transport three people plus gear in one car. Second, was that on a number of occasions he would be booked to play a five piece band, but only turn up with four due to personnel letting him down. This he felt was being dishonest. Geographically, he was at a disadvantage with his nearest venue being 50 miles away, while trips to the Borders or the Aberdeen area became expeditions and involved two cars.
Having no permanent bass player, he was getting Alastair MacLeod from Tobermory to do broadcasts, and was joining the “rentaband” crowd which he had always spoken against. He may be many things, but he is not “two faced”. As a result he had an electronic bass fitted to his box, but Duncan MacKay must have been psychic, because at the same time he produced an electric piano plus amp. Thus the trio was born and continues to the present day.
I put it to Fraser that this was now an accepted sound by the “punters”. He carefully side-stepped this and went on to say that he always plays to suit himself, be it a concert, dance or broadcast. If anyone compliments him on his sound or what he plays, he accepts the praise and adulation and enjoys it. On the contrary, if they don’t like it -too bad.
He is a founder member of the Dalriada Accordion and Fiddle Club in Lochgilphead. Personally speaking, it is one of the best run Clubs in the country that I have visited. I recall one occasion when he announced that a lady would give selections on the mouth organ. She was in a chair and not very mobile, hence could not reach the stage. Down went Fraser into the audience, and knelt beside her with the ‘mike’ while she played. The applause for her effort was deafening and the best therapy she could have wished for.
There is another instance in the hospital where a patient spoke for the first time in twenty years, thanks to Fraser’s patience, devotion and care. A great family man, he has to wash and dry the dishes like the rest of us. The McGlynn household for a warm welcome and hospitality is par excellence.
I went on to ask some specific questions, one being “who is your favourite composer?” Donald MacLeod was the first answer because of the type of tunes he composed e.g. in G he composed tunes that were not instantly recognisable as pipe tunes and could easily be played by the world’s finest orchestras.
While Fraser is recognised for his unique playing in the pipe idiom he enjoys all music. He loves playing jazz, he is not a Country Dance fan and finds it almost boring to play at one. He prefers being a free agent, as in the village hall dance scene. To his regret he never met “Wee Donald”, but he knew the late A. G. Kenneth very well. A fine gentleman, true and honest to himself and the musical scene, he composed some very difficult tunes but great to play.
Another favourite is P/M Willie Lawrie of WW1 fame, but he likes all composers and is not addicted to one. He has no illusions about his own composing skills because he reckons there are too many good ones around.
Players he greatly admires are Alistair Hunter and Paddy Neary. Apart from the fact that they are excellent musicians, they are fine people in their own right and that is the “icing on the cake”.
On the younger scene there is an awful lot of talent going about but Fraser aye looks at the person first – “The man’s the gowd for a’ that”.
Competitions, such as Perth, he thinks are necessary, but not one every week in the summer as we have at present. Nevertheless, if competitors want to have butterflies and their stomachs in knots, then go on stage to play, then be slated by one man and marked down in one man’s opinion, then that is their business. He attaches no importance to winning as it could be that the winner can only play those three tunes well.
I gave him five seconds to name a favourite tune “John MacDonald of Glencoe” and “Raasay House” with that all time classic “The Highland Wedding”. Then “Blue Danube”, “The Black and White Rag” and “Tico Tico”. His taste is universal and includes Chopin, Mozart and Willie Lawrie from Kinlochleven.
His relationship with Robbie Shepherd is a love/hate one, but secretly he has a great admiration for him. The way he sees the current scene progressing is that in fifteen years everyone is going to have the same cloned sound.
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to pose the dreaded question about the East/West Coast sound which Robbie had once asked Fraser to explain. The answer he gave to the Dunecht Loon was “listen to me speaking, then yourself. You are speaking a different dialect from me, and you are therefore playing a different dialect from me – that’s the difference”. But the big problem is that many cannot hear the difference. There are too many players today who tend towards copying of styles and the copying of tunes – a vulture approach e.g. they wait on the next L.P. or broadcast of someone who is a recognised worker at the game i.e. one who takes time to put sets together from original manuscripts or collections of music or who takes a new approach to certain tunes. The vulture waits until he has heard six or seven broadcasts, then couples with tunes from L.P.’s he picks the best and there he has a programme for a broadcast. All the tunes have been named and researched by the ‘worker’.
However, if it has been played wrongly then everyone plays it in error and after two or three times the cumulative effect can be an unrecognisable tune. A prime example id “John MacMillan of Barra”. How many people take the time to refer to the original pipe setting and in the first part second bar, find that the third note is a D and not a C sharp as is commonly played. In essence it is cheating and complete anathema to Fraser. Similarly, with a ghost band or rent-a-band where all that is changing is the name. This is a contributory factor to the cloned sound he predicts will come.
As already said, Fraser’s family are important to him and give him every support. Kevin is in the band, and Ryan the youngest son has taken up the piano accordion and is making great progress. I heard him play and he started with the easy tunes like “Jean’s Reel” and the “High Level Hornpipe”. His dad is so pleased that he has finally discovered that there are more things in life than drums, golf and girls.
Fraser Jnr is a brilliant pianist having passed Grade 8 by the age of 15. Again father admits that it was possibly listening to him play the classics, along with Scott Joplin etc that made his realise that there is so much more than the Scottish scene. Given time he feels there should be more classical music played on the 3-row because there is so much more to be had from the instrument. It is not the ability alone which many have, but the thought process beforehand which is required to plan your route around the instrument. Fraser admits to having honed it, but it is still nowhere near perfection.
For a man of his ability who has been on the scene for well over thirty years, his career as an adjudicator has been short.
In March he will be judging the Pipe Section at Musselburgh. To date he has only judged twice, once at Ayr and once at Brampton. On the latter occasion he had been asked down to play for the Friday and Saturday night dance, so Saturday was free. He was asked to judge the march, strathspey and reel. To his horror they all played a march finishing with a chord, then into a Strathspey, chord and then the reel. In true McGlynn style he slated them, picked a winner and was never asked back.
My final question was – how would you like to be remembered in fifty years time? Instantly he replied “that was a nice fellow”. Having spent many pleasant hours in his company I know that this will hold true.
We have also spent many happy hours on various golf courses where, I believe, one’s character is truly revealed.
To me any many more who have had the privilege of knowing him, Fraser McGlynn will always be - “The original Highland Gentleman”.
With an Irish father and mother from Tarbert, Argyll, he is Celtic on both sides, which could account for his natural musical ability, but in common with the majority of West Coast musicians he had no formal musical tuition. He actually played the two rows separately.
At fifteen, his brother Iain bought him a new 3-row from Forbes in Dundee with 48 bass. Frustrated but keen to learn, he wrote and asked them for a tutor. Forbes replied that there were none in existence for this instrument, adding that it would be nigh on impossible to produce one. Undaunted, Fraser persevered, by now he was playing the 3 vertical rows separately, working on the knowledge of the mouth organ and using the sook/blaw principle.
Fate took a hand, and one day a certain Donald MacKay called and explained some of the intricacies of the 3-row e.g. that it was possible to use a combination of the three rows and thus form scales. That opened up a whole new world to Fraser.
Written music remained a mystery to him, but he was determined to learn. A medical student home on holiday – Donald Smith – was a medium. Fraser played a well known tune to him, say the “Glendaruel Highlanders” and asked Donald to write down exactly what he had played. Fraser then, in reverse, learnt what he had been playing by writing the names of the notes on the buttons. Thus, with total dedication and hours of practice he taught himself the melody line. Coupled with this he found that the 48 bass was not enough. He had no idea what basses he was playing, but he knew he needed more. Again by deduction and being an excellent mathematician, he discovered what chords he was playing and as he says- “if that’s teaching yourself to read music, then I did.” He then bought his next box with 72 bass.
On leaving school he became a painter and decorator. As his reputation spread, so the band had to go further afield. His employer had a lot of island work and they were very understanding when Fraser had an engagement to fulfil.
However, once they did get him to an island, say Islay or Jura, they often “Shanghai’ed” him for 3 or 4 weeks at a time and he would have to cancel engagements. It was most unsatisfactory both ways, so he left and joined the Post Office in Tarbert as a postman. But again with early starts for mail deliveries and late home-comings from dances this job had to go, so the only solution was in 1972 that Fraser went self-employed as a painter and decorator. This lasted for 10 years until he joined the Argyll and Clyde Health Board as Entertainments Officer, based in Lochgilphead. It was the ideal job for him, but more of that later.
Returning to his post-school days, Fraser played a lot in hospital and at concerts. It was during this time that he learnt a lot about handing people and audiences. I suggested that he might also have learnt how to abuse them (always in the best possible taste) but he said he learn that at Milngavie.
Life was full for him at this time. An excellent footballer, table-tennis player and athlete, he had also reached marksman standard with the school cadet force.
When not playing for dances he went to them to dance and to meet and listen to the top band-leaders during the fifties, which was the ‘golden era’ for dance bands. He was friendly with the late Andrew Rankine before he was twenty.
He formed his own band at eighteen. Jim Flaherty, now living in Falkirk, came to Tarbert as the “Co-op” baker and was a first class pianist. Another Tarbert man, Norman Smith, had bought a double bas but had no idea how to play it. However, Fraser marked the fingerboard with tape, named the notes and after some practice Norman became the band’s bass player. It also explains why Fraser is such a good bass player himself.
Jim Flaherty produced tapes of what he said the band should sound like i.e. the one he had previously played in. Fraser was not impressed. What it did do was to boost their ego and convince them that they were a lot better than they gave themselves credit for. It dispelled the inferiority complex that was prevalent on the West Coast at that time when big city bands / band-leaders were mentioned. The band line-up was Fraser on lead accordion, Duncan MacLean second box, Davie Scott on fiddle, Jim Flaherty on piano, Norman Smith bass and Jackie MacLeod drums. Donald Smith, when on holiday, augmented the band.
1959 was Lochgilphead’s Centenary year as a burgh and the B.B.C.’s “On Tour” came as part of the celebrations. There were audition for local talent which Fraser won and as a prize was asked to play at the Concert at night.
Ian MacFadyen was producer and invited him and his band for an audition at the B.B.C. in Glasgow. It was a complete disaster and they failed. Afterwards, he was handed a ‘crit’ sheet detailing all the shortcomings from the ‘Beebs’ point of view, mentioning things like ‘intonation’ and other obscure musical terms. With the bands limited knowledge Fraser asked “what the hell is intonation?” He was determined to find out and carefully scrutinised the whole sheet, analysing it phrase by phrase.
He discovered that both lead instruments had to play exactly the same notes and that the left hand on the piano and the bass fiddle had to correspond. To many of the modern day “whizz kids” or even the average young player reading this, it may seem bizarre but remember that anything and everything the band knew had been self taught. The six piece band lasted for 15 years with only one or two changes in personnel.
In 1964, Jim Flaherty announced that he was leaving the band due to a change of job. Fraser thought that a pianist of his calibre would be impossible to replace. They decided to disband the whole show and that their last booking would be the “At Home” at Skipness, when the Laird opened up the “Big Hoose” and entertained the Estate workers. It was to be on a Wednesday and would be minus the piano.
A farewell session was arranged at Jim’s house and a tape made of which all members received a copy, and that was that. During that session Duncan MacLean casually mentioned that there was a good pianist further up the loch, who played with Jock MacKenzie from Ardfern. Would it be alright for Duncan to approach him? The outcome was that the pianist said he would be delighted to play on the Wednesday night. Fraser thought this fine, because once the “At Home” was over, the band would be finished and he had grandiose ideas of going away on his own and playing solo on concert platforms or wherever fate took him.
Wednesday arrived, the dance started and after one set Fraser recognised the talent of the man. He approached his afterwards with a view to joining the band on a more permanent basis and the young pianist said he would be delighted to take up the offer and so started a 26 year association with Duncan MacKay, which has developed into a close friendship. The band received a “stay of execution” but not before Duncan had fulfilled all the engagements he had agreed to play with Jock MacKenzie. A man of integrity is Duncan or as Fraser describes him – “a man of honour”. Once again, the band was on the road and bookings came from far and wide.
Towards the end of 1966, Norman Smith moved from the area but left his bass with Fraser. Around this time a Tarbert based rock group, Rab and the Clansmen, had just returned from the U.S.A and their bass guitarist was Sandy Black, who was invited to join the band. Once again Fraser had to go through the rigmarole of marking the bass and teaching Sandy from scratch, but he was a more than able pupil. Together with Duncan MacKay, he rates them as the two most naturally talented musicians he knows. He feels that when they play from music their natural ability is stifled.
The band was now really swinging and in 1968 they went for their second audition. James Hunter was the Producer and the whole band, and in particular Fraser, were now more worldly wise regarding the band scene. The audition went well and they were asked which place would be most suitable for a broadcast should they pass. Glasgow was the choice.
About three months later, a letter arrived from the ‘Beeb’ saying that they had passed the audition and were offered a “trial broadcast”. This went out on 8th November, 1968. Prior to this, another broadcast had been recorded and kept “in the can”. In January, 1969 the band were invited to Aberdeen to do a live broadcast and this went well. Proof was that James Hunter, of whom Fraser speaks highly, congratulated them on an excellent performance.
Immediately after the programme, Fraser was called to the phone to speak to a certain Sandy MacArthur. He had simply phoned to say that he thought the broadcast was great and that he would expand on this when they met in person. All very mysterious.
At the 1969 Perth Festival, Fraser and the band were guests at the Evening Concert in the City Halls and on going off stage, Sandy MacArthur introduced himself and then the story unfolded.
Sandy was in the B.B.C. studio in Aberdeen the morning that Fraser was scheduled to do his live broadcast. James Hunter and he did not see eye to eye, because Sandy was always accused of being unprepared for recording sessions. Anyway, Sandy asked him what he had arranged for that Saturday night and was merely told “Tune in tonight, I’ve a band coming from Argyll to do a live broadcast”.
Sandy was a commercial traveller at that time and drove hundreds of miles a week. He more or less told James Hunter that it would be a folly to do such a thing, but Sandy was politely shown the door and told that he should not attempt to tell a B.B.C. Producer how to do his job. He went home to Elgin and laid off to Evelyn about the forthcoming music disaster. Needless to say, the result was a resounding success, hence Sandy’s phone call. It also demonstrated the faith that James Hunter had in Fraser’s band.
COMPETITION SCENE
He first competed at the Perth Festival in 1959. It was all a big game, the crack was good, entries were taken on the day and it was not too serious. He enjoyed every minute of it and met Bill Wilkie. They have been good friends ever since.
Fraser came third in the Traditional Scottish Section. He won in 1962 and again in 1966 and over this period he was third once and runner-up twice. The only reason he competed in 1966 was to prove to himself that the first time hadn’t been pure luck. I asked him what he played in 1966 and Cathie, his wife, told me the full story.
Friday night prior to Perth was always kept clear of booking so that they were all fresh on the Saturday. Having decided to enter, he chose his three tunes for the march, strathspey and reel. Cathie was getting her coat on to go to work and was at the door ready to leave when Fraser asked her to listen to his “set”. She asked him if he was competing the next day and on receiving a reply in the affirmative she said “That’s a waste of time – you’ll never win playing tunes like that”.
The bold boy was quite piqued at this and asked her to pick a better set. “No problem”, she said, just play me a selection of marches”. When he played one that she really liked that was the choice. Similarly with the strathspeys and the reels. The titles were unknown to her, but it was what she liked and the final set was “The Cameron Highlanders”, “The Devil in the Kitchen” and “The Blackberry Bush”. With these Fraser won for a second time.
THE TRIO IS BORN
The Trio as we now know it was formed in the early ‘80s for a number of reasons. One, was economy. It is possible to transport three people plus gear in one car. Second, was that on a number of occasions he would be booked to play a five piece band, but only turn up with four due to personnel letting him down. This he felt was being dishonest. Geographically, he was at a disadvantage with his nearest venue being 50 miles away, while trips to the Borders or the Aberdeen area became expeditions and involved two cars.
Having no permanent bass player, he was getting Alastair MacLeod from Tobermory to do broadcasts, and was joining the “rentaband” crowd which he had always spoken against. He may be many things, but he is not “two faced”. As a result he had an electronic bass fitted to his box, but Duncan MacKay must have been psychic, because at the same time he produced an electric piano plus amp. Thus the trio was born and continues to the present day.
I put it to Fraser that this was now an accepted sound by the “punters”. He carefully side-stepped this and went on to say that he always plays to suit himself, be it a concert, dance or broadcast. If anyone compliments him on his sound or what he plays, he accepts the praise and adulation and enjoys it. On the contrary, if they don’t like it -too bad.
He is a founder member of the Dalriada Accordion and Fiddle Club in Lochgilphead. Personally speaking, it is one of the best run Clubs in the country that I have visited. I recall one occasion when he announced that a lady would give selections on the mouth organ. She was in a chair and not very mobile, hence could not reach the stage. Down went Fraser into the audience, and knelt beside her with the ‘mike’ while she played. The applause for her effort was deafening and the best therapy she could have wished for.
There is another instance in the hospital where a patient spoke for the first time in twenty years, thanks to Fraser’s patience, devotion and care. A great family man, he has to wash and dry the dishes like the rest of us. The McGlynn household for a warm welcome and hospitality is par excellence.
I went on to ask some specific questions, one being “who is your favourite composer?” Donald MacLeod was the first answer because of the type of tunes he composed e.g. in G he composed tunes that were not instantly recognisable as pipe tunes and could easily be played by the world’s finest orchestras.
While Fraser is recognised for his unique playing in the pipe idiom he enjoys all music. He loves playing jazz, he is not a Country Dance fan and finds it almost boring to play at one. He prefers being a free agent, as in the village hall dance scene. To his regret he never met “Wee Donald”, but he knew the late A. G. Kenneth very well. A fine gentleman, true and honest to himself and the musical scene, he composed some very difficult tunes but great to play.
Another favourite is P/M Willie Lawrie of WW1 fame, but he likes all composers and is not addicted to one. He has no illusions about his own composing skills because he reckons there are too many good ones around.
Players he greatly admires are Alistair Hunter and Paddy Neary. Apart from the fact that they are excellent musicians, they are fine people in their own right and that is the “icing on the cake”.
On the younger scene there is an awful lot of talent going about but Fraser aye looks at the person first – “The man’s the gowd for a’ that”.
Competitions, such as Perth, he thinks are necessary, but not one every week in the summer as we have at present. Nevertheless, if competitors want to have butterflies and their stomachs in knots, then go on stage to play, then be slated by one man and marked down in one man’s opinion, then that is their business. He attaches no importance to winning as it could be that the winner can only play those three tunes well.
I gave him five seconds to name a favourite tune “John MacDonald of Glencoe” and “Raasay House” with that all time classic “The Highland Wedding”. Then “Blue Danube”, “The Black and White Rag” and “Tico Tico”. His taste is universal and includes Chopin, Mozart and Willie Lawrie from Kinlochleven.
His relationship with Robbie Shepherd is a love/hate one, but secretly he has a great admiration for him. The way he sees the current scene progressing is that in fifteen years everyone is going to have the same cloned sound.
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to pose the dreaded question about the East/West Coast sound which Robbie had once asked Fraser to explain. The answer he gave to the Dunecht Loon was “listen to me speaking, then yourself. You are speaking a different dialect from me, and you are therefore playing a different dialect from me – that’s the difference”. But the big problem is that many cannot hear the difference. There are too many players today who tend towards copying of styles and the copying of tunes – a vulture approach e.g. they wait on the next L.P. or broadcast of someone who is a recognised worker at the game i.e. one who takes time to put sets together from original manuscripts or collections of music or who takes a new approach to certain tunes. The vulture waits until he has heard six or seven broadcasts, then couples with tunes from L.P.’s he picks the best and there he has a programme for a broadcast. All the tunes have been named and researched by the ‘worker’.
However, if it has been played wrongly then everyone plays it in error and after two or three times the cumulative effect can be an unrecognisable tune. A prime example id “John MacMillan of Barra”. How many people take the time to refer to the original pipe setting and in the first part second bar, find that the third note is a D and not a C sharp as is commonly played. In essence it is cheating and complete anathema to Fraser. Similarly, with a ghost band or rent-a-band where all that is changing is the name. This is a contributory factor to the cloned sound he predicts will come.
As already said, Fraser’s family are important to him and give him every support. Kevin is in the band, and Ryan the youngest son has taken up the piano accordion and is making great progress. I heard him play and he started with the easy tunes like “Jean’s Reel” and the “High Level Hornpipe”. His dad is so pleased that he has finally discovered that there are more things in life than drums, golf and girls.
Fraser Jnr is a brilliant pianist having passed Grade 8 by the age of 15. Again father admits that it was possibly listening to him play the classics, along with Scott Joplin etc that made his realise that there is so much more than the Scottish scene. Given time he feels there should be more classical music played on the 3-row because there is so much more to be had from the instrument. It is not the ability alone which many have, but the thought process beforehand which is required to plan your route around the instrument. Fraser admits to having honed it, but it is still nowhere near perfection.
For a man of his ability who has been on the scene for well over thirty years, his career as an adjudicator has been short.
In March he will be judging the Pipe Section at Musselburgh. To date he has only judged twice, once at Ayr and once at Brampton. On the latter occasion he had been asked down to play for the Friday and Saturday night dance, so Saturday was free. He was asked to judge the march, strathspey and reel. To his horror they all played a march finishing with a chord, then into a Strathspey, chord and then the reel. In true McGlynn style he slated them, picked a winner and was never asked back.
My final question was – how would you like to be remembered in fifty years time? Instantly he replied “that was a nice fellow”. Having spent many pleasant hours in his company I know that this will hold true.
We have also spent many happy hours on various golf courses where, I believe, one’s character is truly revealed.
To me any many more who have had the privilege of knowing him, Fraser McGlynn will always be - “The original Highland Gentleman”.