Music

Clan MacDougall Music

Sheet Music for Bagpipe Tunes

  • Clan MacDougall Society Jig: – Downloadable MP3 audio file (925kb) courtesy of Benne de Jong – pipemaster of the MacDowell Pipe Band (Hoogkerk, Netherlands)
  • Beal an Righ: The Kings Taxes, a piobaireachd composed by the Chief’s hereditary piper Ronald bhan McDougall
  • Caisteal Dhunolla: Castle Dunollie march.
  • Cumha Chaiptein MacDhughaill: Lament for Captain MacDougall (for our 24th Chief’s eldest son Alexander killed in the peninsula campaign at Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain in 1812).
  • Failte Iain Cheir: Salute to Iain Chiar (22nd chief of the MacDougalls).
  • Failte Chlan Dughaill: Salute to Clan Dougall.
  • Moladh Moraig: The praise of Marian (an old march with a new meaning).
  • Latha Dhunabharti: Lament Dunaverty (lament for the MacDougall dead at Dunaverty).
  • Brosnachahd-Catha Chlann Dughaill: Clan Dougall’s incitement to battle.
  • Maid of Lorn: (composed for our 30th Chief on her twenty-first birthday)

Clan MacDowall Music and Poems

Bagpipe Tunes

We asked the Fergus Macdowall, Chief of MacDowall, if there were any pipe tunes for Clan MacDowall. He said there weren’t however he, as Chief, has adopted the Galloway Hills pipe tune.

Another pipe tune for the Galloway area is Bonnie Galloway.

There was also The MacDowell Pipe Band, located in Hoogkerk, Groningen, Netherlands that was disbanded in 2017. The pipe band commemorated Professor William Makdowel (1590-1666) of Stodrig.

The book The MacDowalls states Pipe Major Benne de Jong composed a march tune titled “Professor MacDowell“, however we have not yet found a recorded copy.

A Canadian piper named Mitchell McDowell has a website with samples of tunes he plays as well as a few tunes he has composed himself. If you’d like some of the more popular tunes played by a MacDowall you can find some here.

Clan MacDowall Poems and Ballads

The Robert Burn’s poem “Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon” is about Peggy Kennedy who was to be engaged to Captain Maxwell but had an affair with McDouall of Logan. It is sung by both women and men although it is said that it was written from the point of view of a woman and the words are changed when a man sings it.

Jai McDowall is one of the more popular modern MacDowall musicians today. Here he is performing Flowers of Scotland:

The ballad “Willies Gane Tae Melville Castle” is said to be about William Macdowall II and his exploits while seeking a wife.