Ways to Sing a Scots Song

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Gadie burn, from Wikimedia. Stanley Howe / Upstream Gadie Burn

Silver and Gold Leng Medal Memories, Update No.5

Whilst I had intended to conduct perhaps 50 interviews in connection with my Leng Medal Memories research, I haven’t amassed quite that many – but the interviews have generally been nearer to 30 minutes than the 15 minutes that I innocently projected, so I’ve probably got easily as many recorded minutes as I initially aimed for!

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been editing my interview transcriptions, and correcting any auto-correct infelicities. (Teams and TurboScribe both struggle a little with Scottish place-names and song titles.) One of my interviewees sang, ‘O Gin I were Whar’ Gadie Rins’ in the late 1960s. I knew the name of the song, but I couldn’t put a tune to it, so I Googled it. (As you do!) Spellings vary – as you’ll see.

Well, I found Kenneth McKellar singing it with a small classical chamber ensemble. (Lovely bassoon part, I must say.) The YouTube version was a 1995 Lismore remastered recording. I haven’t tried to establish the original date, though I believe it was recorded for the BBC in the late 1950s or early 1960s. But this setting was so delicate and precise that it was hard to imagine a youngster of eleven or twelve singing it quite like this. Quite apart from the fact that the Leng Medal competition has always been unaccompanied!

My next dip into YouTube found tutor Irene Ross talking about it and then singing it, with a ukelele, for Feis Rois followers. This is livelier and more authentic, but perhaps just a wee bit more ‘folky’ than might have been performed at a music competition by children of my own generation. But I could be wrong!

However, if the folk sound is what you’re looking for, then that interpretation is itself quite sedate compared to an invigorating 1999 recording by the Old Blind Dogs! Actually, I love this – one of my great frustrations in life is that I’ve been so embedded in the more classical side of music-making that I can only enjoy listening to this and would have huge difficulty trying to sing or play in anything like this idiom. I’d love to – but I can’t!

Oh well, I have to get back to these transcriptions, so I’ll stop here for now. Energised, you might say!

Image: Stanley Howe / Upstream Gadie Burn, from Wikimedia.

‘I do Remember all the Crowd Standing Up’: Leng Medal Memories Update No.4

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

After a couple of months of online and a few in-person interviews, I’m at the stage now where I’m going through all my recorded interviews and transcriptions, reminding myself of highlights and key details.

This one just leapt out at me:-

‘The one thing I do remember is all the crowd standing up, after I had sung – and cheering and clapping and stuff, and that was the beginning of it, you know.’

Isn’t that glorious? I’m sure the Sir John Leng Trust will be delighted to read such heartwarming witness to Sir John’s inspired endowment. (I’ll keep the rest of that particular interview for later – I want to leave plenty of material for what I shall be writing in due course. I have a lot of data to draw upon.)

I aim to bring the interviewing to an end by the end of June; after that, I have some annual leave booked, and then I need to start writing! An article or two, a book chapter – and maybe organise a wee event or two.

This has turned out to be absolutely the most enjoyable, affirming piece of research. I’ve decided I love oral history, and conducting interviews is nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be!

(Incidentally – although my interviewing will mostly finish by the end of June, if anyone was literally bursting to share their own Leng Medal memories with me after that, then do get in touch. Even if an interview wasn’t feasible, I still might be able to draw upon memories shared by email.)

The Leng Gold Medal Prize Book

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Three Scottish song books awarded as Leng Gold medal prizes - Morven, Scottish Orpheus and Songs of Scotland

Just a quick post today – I realised that I do actually possess all three of the Scottish song books that have been awarded to Leng Gold medallists over the years. They make a pleasing display!

Mozart Allan’s Morven was awarded for many years. First published in 1890, it lived on for an incredibly long time, and is still valued by those who own it. I have spoken with winners a little younger than myself, who still have their copy of this book. (I have a hunch that Mozart Allan’s sister Euphemia may have had a hand in this publication. (See my recent RMA Research Chronicle article for more on this!*)

The next book prize was a Paterson book, J. Michael Diack’s Scottish Orpheus Collection, which actually goes back to 1922. (There had in fact been an earlier edition, resulting in Diack’s book being called the New Scottish Orpheus in some imprints.)

And lastly came Royal Scottish Academy of Music graduate Wilma Paterson and artist/author Alasdair Gray’s collaboration, their lavish Songs of Scotland (Mainstream Publishing, 1996), which is certainly amongst the most artistically pleasing modern collections that I’ve seen. Early winners of this one got a signed copy.

New Page about the Leng Medal Memories project

I’ve just made a new ‘Leng Medal Memories‘ page for this website – do take a look.

What Does This Book Remember?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Muirland Willie, a song in a pupil's edition of Book 3 of Nelson's Scots Song Books.

This isn’t really a scholarly post – just a reflection.

One of my informants remembers singing ‘Muirland Willie’ as their Silver Medal entry, and I was chuffed to find it in my Nelson’s Scots Song Book, Book 3 (‘words edition’). And yes, the ‘words edition’ does contain the melody line as well – just not the piano part.

Title page, Book 3 (pupil’s edition)

The book had reached me third hand – or was it fourth? How many hands has it passed through since someone stamped ‘Rockwell Primary School, November 1952’ on the title page? This tells me it was bought by a Dundee school the year it was first published. It must have lived in a class collection for some years, at some point ending up in a private home, and finally being sold to a friend of a friend, who generously got it on my behalf.

It’s a little bit battered, so it obviously got well-used. One page bears a carefully drawn treble clef – pretty accurate but not yet fluent – someone had been learning how to write music, evidently! Meanwhile, the back inside cover has a scrawled ‘THE END’! Was there a sigh of relief, or was it just an irresistibly blank page demanding to be scrawled on?

If Books Could Talk

I wonder how many Leng medal competitors used this copy? If books could talk, this one would surely recall feelings not only of excitement, enjoyment and pride, but also occasionally fear, nerves and perhaps embarrassment – all emotions that my interviewees have shared with me.

It would remember teachers who are still remembered half a century later; not to mention head teachers and deputy heads whose own musicality ensured that they gave music its proper place in the schools that they led.

The principal teacher of music at that time […] was a redoubtable lady and she made sure everybody knew everything …1

But I’d better put my little book away and get back to my interview transcriptions now!

  1. Secondary school pupil commenting on Leng medal singing classes ↩︎

On this Day in 1953: the Practicalities of Compiling a Scots Song Book

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Nelsons's Scots Song Book no.4 - contents page in pupil's book, and the teacher's book cover

At some point, I’ll be making a list of the songs that juvenile Leng Scots Song Medal competitors recall singing as their competition entries. It’ll be interesting to compare them against the lists I’ve compiled in connection with a number of Scottish song books. Some kids (a few) chose a song that was entirely their own selection. Most seem to have been offered and taught a short selection of songs, from which they then made their choice.

What goes into a published song book like the four Nelson’s Scots Song Books, though? It was a combination of the compilers’ choice and, occasionally, printer’s practicality.

73 Years Ago …

On this day, 4 June 1953, the then editor of the fourth song book had received the initial proofs from Aird and Coghill the printer, and wrote to James Easson (the Dundonian Music Supervisor collaborating with Herbert Wiseman), to say that they needed two more songs to fill five more pages. Pure practicality! Moreover, the editor was leaving for a new job soon, and was keen to get the publication as far advanced as possible before they left.

Reading the correspondence, it looks as though, in response, Easson supplied ‘Ae fond kiss’ (which ended up occupying three pages) and ‘Maggie Lauder’.

Job done? No. The printers said that ‘Maggie Lauder’ had been supplied incomplete. Moreover, another song, ‘As I came over the Cairney Mount’ was too short. Neither ‘Maggie’ nor ‘Cairney Mount’ appeared in the finished publication. It looks as though an abbreviated ‘I wish I were where Helen Lies’ (occupying one page) was supplied instead. (Three and one do not equal five, but it’s of no consequence now!) But it all goes to show how much to-ing and fro-ing took place before a book is published in its final form.

And has either song even been used as a medallist’s performed entry? I don’t know. I haven’t interviewed that many people! But I’ll be going through my transcripts, so who knows?

Silver and Gold Leng Medal Memories, Update no.3. Posh Scots and Everyday Scots – the ‘Scottish Cringe’

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Merson - Head of a boy singing (Creative Commons licence)

It’s time for another update on the research that the Royal  Conservatoire of Scotland has awarded me an Athenaeum Award to conduct.

By the end of tomorrow I’ll have interviewed some 25 or so Leng medallists who were awarded their silver and gold medals between the 1960s and 1990s. They went to a wide range of schools, though one or two schools have featured more than once. And they sang a wide range of songs. Some were nervous, some excited. Some knew they could sing – others were surprised to win – and all were overjoyed to be winners. I’ve been shown a lot of medals, proudly kept through the decades.

Interestingly, social media has been very helpful in augmenting my research findings. On Facebook, I’ve found folk in groups like Dundee Pals enjoy answering quick questions, and their answers are often highly informative. When I asked how many people had three or more family members with medals, the number of replies was quite remarkable!

The ‘Scottish Cringe’?

It wasn’t until last weekend when I conducted a face-to-face interview in Dundee, that someone mentioned ‘the Scottish cringe’. I guessed what that meant, and when it was explained to me, it was rather as I had guessed. It refers to the inferiority complex that many in Scotland have, having grown up in a Scotland that felt it was always subordinate to England, and looked down on by many politicians south of the border. I did look up where the phrase originated, but I only made a hasty search, so I’ll hold my tongue until I am sure of my facts. An article in Glasgow University Magazine last year provides useful context:-

Didi Marina Salonia, Death to “Scottish Cringe” (28 April 2025)

In the context of my research into the Leng medal competitions, it occasionally led to pupils being encouraged to sing their songs in a refined, sanitised kind of accent – not exactly English, but certainly toned-down Scots. I’m sensing that this happened more amongst older medallists, and hopefully children now are encouraged to use their own natural accent – as they’d speak – rather than trying to put on something uncomfortably clipped and unnatural. Again, Facebook has been very helpful here – 38 comments in reply to my question! I’m bowled over.

“I was talking to a friend about the Leng medals yesterday and an interesting thing came up. Who was encouraged to sing their Scots song in their natural everyday accent? Did anyone get told to sing it ‘nicely’ in a posh concert-platform accent?!”

For the rest of this month, I’ll be going through my recordings and transcriptions, looking for interesting threads and making sure I have tabulated schools, songs and the names of long-remembered teachers! I’m also going to look at some archival material, which excites me considerably. Hopefully I could find further evidence of Mr Easson (and perhaps Mr Wiseman), the compilers of the Nelson Scots Song Books, around the time the books were published – and introduced into Dundee schools.

Excess Annual Leave Balance

I am taking annual leave in July. (If I don’t, I lose it, and that would never do.)

I won’t be capable of NOT blogging for a whole month, apart from which I do like to think that if someone comes back here after a couple of weeks away, there will always be something new for them to find. What it will be, I cannot yet say! (Additionally, as you’ll have noticed, I have a couple of research side-interests, so who knows what my month’s vacation might lead me to, if I feel the urge to investigate sudden bright ideas?)

Image: Head of a Boy Singing, by Merson (Creative Commons)

A Blue Ribbon – I Stand Corrected

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’m English, although I’ve lived in Scotland most of my adult life – and I live in Glasgow,  not Dundee.  I’ve never entered the Leng Scots Song competitions.  However,  I do own a Leng silver medal – I got it on eBay, because I wanted one to illustrate postings about my Leng Medal research project. I put it on a bonnie red tartan ribbon and felt quite pleased with myself. 

My faux pas – the decidedly wrong ribbon!

But there’s a wee problem! I learnt this week that silver medals came on a narrow blue ribbon. My red tartan gave me away as a rookie. Suitably embarrassed, I rooted around in my ribbons bag and found something more suitable.


And – breathe! That’s better.

(If today’s blog post is the first you’ve heard of my research project, then you can find out more about it here, and you can get in touch with me here. It’s not too late!)


(Cover pic: Nelson books to the left, Leng books to the right.)

Silver and Gold Leng Medal Memories, Update no.2. Uplifting Conversations

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
A Silver Leng Medal for Scots song singing

After some years researching the history of printed Scottish music and Scottish music publishing, I’m currently using oral history (talking to people about their memories) to find out what they recall about Dundee’s Leng Medal Scots Song Competitions. Did participation lead to a lifetime of music and song? Or stage fright?!  What do people remember?

I began the Athenaeum  Award funded project a couple of months ago. I posted the first update a month ago. It feels like time I posted another one, so here goes!

You’d be surprised how many people remember their music teachers. You’d also be surprised how many people have kept their Leng medals! For gold medal winners, Mozart Allan’s Morven Scottish song book was a prize for a number of years,  certainly into the 1970s. From the late 1990s, the prize changed to Wilma Paterson and Alasdair Gray’s lavish Songs of Scotland, published in 1996.

Are there any gold medallists out there from the 1980s or 1990s? What was your prize book? Have you still got it?

What I find so enjoyable about this project, is how uplifting these conversations are! Participants talk with such enthusiasm and affection about singing in school – not just in the Leng Medal competitions – and about other musical activities that enriched their childhood. Sir John Leng would be astonished at the impact his endowment has had.  I wish he could be a fly on the wall!

I haven’t nearly finished my interviews yet – as a part-time researcher, I’m just slowly and steadily making progress. Indeed, I’m heading to Dundee tomorrow for some face-to-face meetings. And then on Thursday, I’ll see about sending out some more meeting invites.

(If today’s posting is the first you’ve heard of my research project, then you can find out more about it here, and you can get in touch with me here. It’s not too late!)

Pear-Shaped. When it’s Nobody’s Fault, but the Tech doesn’t seem to Work

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
A pear still on the tree. Pixabay image

So, here we have a situation! Thoroughly Modern Millie (that’s me) has embraced Microsoft Bookings and Microsoft Forms, and the people I’m hoping to interview for my research project can book a time to chat with me online via Teams. (Or, indeed, in person in Dundee – at a few agreed times when I’ll actually be there!) I did several test-runs of the booking/meeting process with my patient and willing friends, and it all seemed to work smoothly. I particularly wanted to test it with people who didn’t have Microsoft Teams and would have to start from scratch. After the test-runs, it was “All Systems Go”, and I started on the interviews. I’m having a great time listening to people’s Leng Medal memories, though I do still have a lot more folk I’m hoping to speak to!

But if a scheduled Teams meeting doesn’t happen – by which I mean, I click on the link on my calendar at the appointed time, but the other person doesn’t check in – then that suggests that there’s a problem.

A Teams call isn’t a phone-call. The other person’s phone won’t ring, or buzz, at the meeting time. It’s more like Skype, Zoom or Google-meet. They will have got an email with a link to click. Clicking on that link should eventually take them to a Teams screen showing me waiting at my laptop.

My Brainwave (or was it?!)

For me, the frustrating thing is not knowing exactly what people are seeing when they click on that link! It’s hard to offer words of advice, when I don’t know what they’re encountering. I wondered if I could arrange a Teams meeting between myself on my work laptop, and myself on my mobile phone, which I could screenshot to demonstrate how it works. So … I emailed myself (the potential interviewee) a link to a Microsoft Bookings page. This is the email subject heading:-

And this is what my Researcher self said to my At-Home self. I soon began to feel as though I had a split personality:-

So, my At-Home self clicks on the blue Book a meeting – and this comes up. I have to pick a date and time, then click Next:-

At this point, the potential interviewee will have to verify their email – they will receive a verification code that they need to input. And then they’ll be guided through installing the Teams app. If they already have a Microsoft account, they can use that, or they can join as a Guest:-

Now my At-Home self receives a hyperlink for joining the meeting at the chosen time. (There’s also a meeting ID and passcode beneath these.)

How to Attend a Teams Meeting if you haven’t got Teams on your Device

1. On your Mobile Phone

If you’re using a mobile phone, and you haven’t already got Teams, you’ll be invited to download the app, using Google’s PlayStore or Apple’s App Store.

Here, I stopped the experiment, because my phone wanted me to log into my work Microsoft account, and plainly I couldn’t converse with myself from one and the same account!

2. Attending a Teams Meeting on a Computer

I turned to my own personal laptop. Clicking on the Join your Teams meeting link offered the choice of ‘Continue on this browser’ or ‘Join on the Teams app’, followed by, ‘Don’t have the app? Download it now.’ My personal laptop is old – it would only let me continue on the browser. (Shall we just say that operating two laptops side-by-side makes for a completely impossible interview, but I was able to open the meeting on both laptops, so in theory I was conversing with ‘myself’ …. )

The Teams app

I’m assuming that the Teams app would then take you to your appointment. Anyway, you’ll need to click to ‘Join’ the meeting at your chosen time. No bells will ring, no lights will flash. On my work laptop, a reminder comes up, and I can click on that to get into the meeting. Or I can access it via my Outlook calendar.

If it all goes Pear-Shaped

Well, we still have emails! And I’m also arranging some face-to-face interviews in Dundee. One way or another, I’m sure we can find a way to share those precious Leng Medal memories. Because every interview has given me fresh insights and some lovely stories stretching way back into people’s childhoods.

Pear Image by Hans Benn from Pixabay

Silver & Gold Leng Medal Memories, Update no.1

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
A classroom in Wandsworth, London, 1906 - the year that John Leng died

I’ve heard from many kind people who remember their involvement with the Leng Medal song competitions in Dundee, and now I’m starting to organise myself to speak to (or chat online, or email) everyone who has been in touch and expressed a willingness to share their memories with me.  If you’re one of those people, and you’ve expressed a preference to share your memories via one form of communication or another, I have noted this for future reference. You’ll be hearing from me soon! But if this blog post is the first you’ve heard of my research project, then you can find out more about it here, and you can get in touch with me here. It’s not too late!)

I hoped to hear from a lot of folk, and I certainly did!  So I’m contacting a few people at a time, to make it easier to organise my time.  If I can, I plan to focus on a decade or so at a time – though this idea may end up being rather loosely interpreted!

I’ve just started emailing people who indicated that they could chat online, inviting them to select a day and time.  I’ve allocated half an hour, so that we don’t feel rushed.  But if anyone fears their memories won’t take that long to share – there’s no need to worry – any anecdotes, however wee, will help fill out the story!

Microsoft Bookings

I very carefully set up my Microsoft Bookings page, and so far as I could tell, I did everything correctly. However, when I shared the link, I suspect I ticked a box that should not have been ticked. Anyway, I’ve unticked the box and shared the link again. I only confess this in case anyone received an email from me but couldn’t make the link work! I’ve re-sent the email and hopefully all is now well. Every day’s a school day, as they say.

‘Two notes’

One person has revealed that they sang two notes before the teacher told them to sit back down!

I think I may have mentioned before – I work part-time, so progress will be slow but steady! I’m very much looking forward to hearing more about this remarkably long-lived and successful competition!

Karen McAulay

Faded old sepia photo of solemn children (Edwardian?) in a classroom
The ghosts of children long, long past – provenance unknown

Confession: these photos are from my own ephemera collection. They have absolutely no connection with Dundee, but just serve as a reminder of the days when Sir John Leng’s competition was initiated. The photo at the top of this blog was taken in Wandsworth in 1906, the year of Leng’s death. These little tots probably weren’t being taught Scots songs by their elegant teacher. On the other hand, the children at the foot of this blog post look exactly the age that early Leng Prize competitors must have been! This postcard comes with no caption whatsoever.

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