15/08/2024
Immeasurable good for future generations of those interested in the traditions he recorded.
***OTD***
Dr Peter Cooke was born on this day in 1930. He was one of Britain's leading ethnomusicologists and folk music researchers, with a long and productive career covering not only the music of Scotland, but also of eastern Africa.
Peter was born into a musical family in Cardiff and, with encouragement from his parents and teachers, he began taking piano lessons and would go on to choose an education in music teaching, entering Cardiff University in 1949.
Upon graduation, Peter taught music in a number of secondary schools and thereafter began training teachers in musical instruction. An opportunity to carry on with this work in Uganda saw him leave the UK in 1964, and it was then that his interest in ethnomusicology and folk music took off in earnest, both through meeting experienced researchers on their own field trips to Africa, and in considering how he himself should incorporate an understanding of local music into his teaching.
Peter came to Scotland in 1968 to work at Moray House teacher training college in Edinburgh, pursuing a distance learning master's degree at the University of Wales at the same time. It was at this time that he came under the influence of Danish scholar Thorkild Knudsen (1925-2007), who was associate professor at the School of Scottish Studies, with a remit for developing ethnomusicological practice and fieldwork.
Peter accompanied Knudsen on fieldwork trips and learned a great deal from him in terms of philosophy and methodology. It was unsurprising then that Peter ended up taking over Knudsen's role at the School when the latter moved back to Denmark in 1969.
In his role as the lead music researcher at the School of Scottish Studies, Peter focussed on deploying the best available technology to record musicians and singers in Scotland. Having identified geographical areas which had received comparatively little attention from researchers, he would as a result go on to do a great deal of work in Shetland. His fieldwork there from 1970-1980 would form the basis of his doctoral thesis on the Shetland fiddle tradition.
Peter also devoted significant effort to the study of ceòl mòr/pìobaireachd (the classical music of the Highland bagpipe) looking especially at the issues of notation, technique and style. Particularly noteworthy among his contributors was George Moss of Strathglass (1903-1990).
The Travellers and their traditions were of particular interest to Peter, and the celebrated tradition bearer Betsy Whyte of Montrose (1919-1988) was chief among these. Peter brought Betsy to the attention of the wider public and fellow researchers, including his student Linda Williamson. It was with Peter's editorial assistance that Betsy was able to publish her two autobiographical books, 'Yellow on the Broom' (1979) and 'Red Rowans and Wild Honey' (1990).
Peter took early retirement in 1989, although he remained at the University of Edinburgh as a Fellow for a further five years, carrying out research at a more relaxed pace. In 1994, upon Peter's decision to retire more permanently to the West Midlands, a special conference was held in his honour in Edinburgh, with participants reflecting on themes prominent in Peter's own fields of interest.
Settling in Sutton Coalfield, Peter remained very active in his local musical community, as well as maintaining the many relationships he had made in his long career. One of his last projects was the creation of a website (https://www.sssa.llc.ed.ac.uk/whalsay/about-whalsay/) dedicated to the song traditions of Whalsay, an island in the Shetland archipelago. Peter passed away in 2020 at the age of 90.
Here's a recording made in 1974 by Peter on behalf of the School of Scottish Studies, in which Robert (Bobby) Peterson plays a reel he composed himself and named 'Kebister Head' after a headland visible from his home in Breiwick on the Shetland mainland. Bobby (1916-1998) was a crofter and noted fiddler.
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https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/80295?l=en
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Photo of Peter Cooke © School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh.
