Music of the Clan
William Cumming, Piper to the Laird of Grant,
Portrait by Richard Waitt (1714)
Certainly the best known musician of the Clan Grant was William Cumming, the Laird’s Piper, who was immortalized in the famous portrait by Richard Waitt. William was just one in a long line of the Cummings family in Glenbeg who served as musicians to the Chiefs of Grant. Members of this family compiled ‘collections’ of pipe and fiddle tunes – many from the district of Strathspey – which they published in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Some of the best known pipe and fiddle tunes associated with the Clan Grant are the following:
- Braeriach
- The Braes of Castle Grant
- Burning of the Black Mill
- Captain Grant
- Craigellachie, the Grant’s Gathering
- Easter Elchies
- The Haughs of Cromdale
- Rothiemurchus Rant
- Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk’s Reel
- Reel of Tulloch
- Tullochgorum
[More information on the Cummings family of musicians and other historical notes on the music associated with the Clan Grant – including a comprehensive list of pipe and fiddle tunes – can be viewed at “A History of the Clan Grant...Music and Art” under the heading “For Members Only.”]