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Hector MacAndrew was born at "The Cottages", Fyvie Castle,
Aberdeenshire, in 1903. His father, Peter, was a fiddler and a piper. Peter was
born in Moulin in Perthshire and in the early 1890s moved up to Fyvie Castle
where he was gardener and piper to Lord Leith. This Perthshire connection links
the family back to Niel Gow (see teacher tree).
Hector had two brothers: his older brother was an accomplished piper who was
taught by his father and also played cello. His other brother played the bass
fiddle (or double bass). In addition to teaching Hector fiddle, his father also
taught him the pipes. Pat MacAndrew said about Hector: "My father actually
could play the pipes but he suffered from nose-bleeds. Every time he blew the
pipes his nose would bleed." Nevertheless, he was able to transfer what he had
learned on the pipes onto the fiddle. Pat noted: "He was acknowledged as
probably one of the best players of pipe music on the fiddle," and said that a
lot of the top pipers in Scotland came to their home to hear his father play
just after the Second World War.
As well as learning Scottish music from his father, Hector was taught violin for three to four years by a Mr Alexander from Edinburgh, and in fact moved down to Linlithgow to be near him. The teaching came about as a result of a gardening connection. Pat MacAndrew said that Mr Alexander was director of a firm of seedsmen in Edinburgh and that he
used to go round the various ... gardens in the country. And he was in the garden at Fyvie Castle one day with my grandfather, and he heard this violin being played from the nearby cottage. And he said: "Who's that?" He [Pat's grandfather] says, "Oh that's my son playing, Hector." And he was very impressed. And that's how it started.
Hector composed over ninety fiddle tunes himself and these will be published in March 2002 under the title of "The MacAndrew Collection", edited by Duncan Veitch (Champion Recordings and Publishing, Scotland Ltd). A CD of the same title will also be available. The tunes cover a wide range of genres including slow strathspeys, pipe reels and pipe marches.
Hector's favourite composer was William Marshall from Fochabers. Pat said:
He thought … Marshall's music was superior to Gow's … because Marshall didn't compose for, you know, the poorer players. He composed a lot in flats, which the majority of people ... don't play in, and I think that's why. Marshall's got some wonderful slow airs. His favourite strathspey was Marshall's "Craigellachie Brig", 'cause he thought that was the most inventive strathspey that's ever been composed.
(Go to William Marshall - Publications for further information on this tune).
His father was very interested in Marshall and made a recording in Gordon Castle, Fochabers, (where Marshall had been butler) as well as visiting the composer's grave in Bellie churchyard. He was also interested in the Tarland composer, Peter Milne, and felt that he had not received the credit he deserved as a composer. Hector's father knew Milne, and Milne sent some manuscript music to him.
Amongst Hector's favourite tunes which he played frequently were "Lament for Abercairney" by Niel Gow and Marshall's "Chapel Keithack". Pat felt that his father liked playing North-East material particularly, especially if the Gow tradition from Perthshire is included in the definition of North-East. Indeed, Pat said that his father "really wanted to keep the Gow tradition going". Hector also played some tunes by James Scott Skinner, whom he met briefly, such as "The Miller o' Hirn" and "The Baker", but felt that Skinner's slow airs were in general better than his reels, which sometimes exhibited considerable likenesses to each other. Pat MacAndrew takes a similar view.
Hector had a passion for Scottish music. During wartime when he was going out in a convoy through the Bay of Biscay, he heard the pipe band of one of the Highland Regiments who practised every morning. Hector was deeply moved by this, and longed to return to Scotland. Pat said: "And he confessed, he used to go down below and he was physically sick, he was so upset. And there and then he made up his mind that if got through this lot he was going to do something to keep traditional music alive, which he certainly did."
Find out more about Pat MacAndrew: Pat MacAndrew homepage - Learning the fiddle
About the author - Acknowledgements - Banchory homepage - Bibliography - Celtic and Scottish Studies homepage - Conclusion - Homepage
Published by the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh
© University of Edinburgh 2001
Last modified Wednesday, 26-Aug-2009 13:32:18 BST by Katherine Campbell