Set Tunes Series 2026: “The Munros’ Salute”

We continue our exclusive 2026 Set Tunes Series by Willie Donaldson with “The Munros’ Salute.”

Dr. Donaldson says about the tune: “Another tune whose modern popularity seems to stem from its being set for the great annual public competitions. It was first published in Angus MacKay’s collection, and its appearance there probably militated against too frequent occurrence in the nineteenth-century manuscripts, since most serious pipers probably had access to MacKay either directly or through transcriptions.”

As with all of the nearly 200 piobaireachds in our Set Tunes Series, which began in 2001, Dr. Donaldson provides all known published settings of “The Munros’ Salute,” along with an audio file of his interpretation of the piece.

The author of the seminal work, The Highland Pipe & Scottish Society, Willie Donaldson explores manuscripts inaccessible to most pipers, comparing and contrasting every published setting of these great tunes in the Set Tunes Series.

What began a quarter-century ago quickly became and remains the greatest free collective piobaireachd resource for pipers worldwide.

Willie Donaldson received more than eight years of ongoing instruction in ceol mor from the great Robert Bell Nicol of Balmoral, Scotland, and we are grateful to him for his work with us over the last 26 years, and for his prodigious lifetime of service to pipers and the art.

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for each new installment in Dr. William Donaldson’s Set Tunes Series.