Sheet Music: The Heights of Dargai

TitleThe Heights of Dargai
Alternate titlesThe Hills of Dargai
ComposerTraditional Scottish
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyA major
RangeA4–A5
Time signature9/8
Tempo92 BPM
Performance time1:05
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (46 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (518 kB)
Date added2012-05-12
Last updated2012-05-12
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.1 (rarely downloaded)
Categories
Celtic Music, Traditional/Folk

Performances

There are no recordings for this tune yet. Submit yours!

Saturday 12 May 2012

Tune of the Day: The Heights of Dargai

Traditional Scottish pipe tune

The heights of Dargai are a promontory in India, the site in 1897 of a charge by massed Highlanders. A famous military anecdote has it that one of the Scots pipers continued to play to inspire his comrades, though shot through both legs.

According to some sources, the tune was composed as a retreat march by piper James Wallace. It is interesting to note that a “retreat march” is not necessarily a march-time tune which would be marched to. Instead, it was often played as part of the evening ritual in military camps as day duties gave way to night ones. It was not linked to the military maneuver of retreating from battle, but was linked to the idea of refuge and safety in the camp.