Set Tunes Series 2026: “Young George’s Salute”

The final piece in our exclusive 2026 Set Tunes Series by Willie Donaldson is “Young George’s Salute,” also known as “Campbell of Cawdor’s Salute,” “Cawdor’s Salute,” and “Young King George III’s Salute.”

Willie Donaldson writes: “This is a severely pentatonic tune, low G, A, B, D, E, gapped at the third interval of the scale. The way the theme is varied between the various different settings shows how a regular tonally straightforward tune could be developed through singlings, doublings, treblings and such, and variety of expression achieved, and illustrates how the various master players would treat a common theme.”

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 “Young George’s Salute,” along with an audio file of his interpretation.

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 a wrap-up with Dr. William Donaldson’s on the entire Set Tunes Series, coming soon.