Scots Song Course with Christine Kydd.
Fee £38 (approx $76)*

*When you purchase this course we will email you a secure link to the teaching with a user name and a password. This will happen within 24 hours of your purchase. if you have any questions please contact us.

Hi there- thanks for your interest in the Scots Song Ayepod! Scots song culture includes a wide spectrum of song, covering such a length and breadth of material that almost defies definition, but any attempt to define Scots Song, would surely include songs called ballads, bothy ballads, lyric songs, children’s songs and rhymes, dandling songs (songs for the child sitting on your knee), diddling (singing a tune), historical songs, songs for working to, occupational songs, songs of custom, comic song, music hall, love songs, songs from broadsides and chapbooks, art songs, bawdy (“rude”) songs , sacred songs, poems set to music, and more recent songs in traditional style, contemporary songs including protest songs.

Here, I’ve tried to give you a cross section of songs suitable for you, the “intermediate” singer- some examples chosen to illustrate the kinds of songs in Scots Tradition, some cultural and historical context, as well as giving you some great- fun- to- sing songs!

Listen to a FREE sample of Christine singing Hey Donal.

There are two options to view the files:

1. In our viewer (clicking on the link starts the video right away as a pop up)
2. Download the (very small) file that will trigger the file to play in your chosen desktop program eg Window Media Player or Winamp (click on the links to download these programs). Once you have downloaded this file double click on it and it will open in your default player. Using this method you can resize the video to any size you want.

Lesson 1: Brisk Young Lad

Lesson 2: Gallawa Hills

Lesson 3: Tail Toddle (Robert Burns)

Lesson 4: Fine Floo’rs in the Valley (trans: fine flowers)

Lesson 5: Siller Tassie

Lesson 6: The Wild Geese

Biography: Christine Kydd is one of Scotland's great singers. A renowned interpreter and champion of the Scots song tradition, she has performed and recorded with many others to produce some of Scotland's finest and often award-winning harmony vocal sounds. But at the heart of her musical life has always been the art of the solo singer, her powerful performances have supported the likes of Capercaillie, Christy Moore and the Tannahill Weavers.

Collaborations with the finest of musicians have included with master fiddler Alasdair Fraser, Andy Thorburn, Jack Evans, Norman Chalmers, Frankie Armstrong, Wendy Weatherby, Corrina Hewat, and as soloist and ensemble member in the award-winning concerts 'My Ain Countrie' and 'Burns and a' That', as well as other contributions to a great many festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival, and work in USA, Canada, Russia and Europe.

Albums with Janet Russell and with Chantan, as well as her solo work, have received great critical acclaim, and her harmony and creative work are well respected. She currently works with Calluna, featuring Anna Wendy Stevenson, Charlotte Peterson and Rebecca Knorr, and in a duo with the original vocalist with Ceolbeg, Barbara Dymock.

If you have lost your password to get into the secure area please click here

For our online teaching to work you will have to have Windows Media Player installed on your computer. This comes with Windows. If you are a Mac user you can download it here. You will also need a fast internet connection (adsl, broadband), and speakers connected to your computer so you can hear it (these can take the form of computer speakers (connected from your sound card) or headphones). These lessons are not downloaded to your computer - they are streamed from our internet servers. If you have any questions please contact us.