I learned the first tune from Aonghas Grant at the Stirling University summer schools in the early 1980s.  Archibald MacDonnell supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745 and "His name it was Archibald MacDonnell, from Keppoch he came, at Culloden he fell" fits the first line of the tune quite nicely.

I learned the second tune from Marie Fielding at the Riverside Music Project about 30 years later.  It was published as a reel in the Skye collection in 1887, but Marie suggested that we experiment with different tempos.  My research suggests that Captain MacDuff might have been in the Royal Navy in 1745.

I learned this, in that key, from Aonghas Grant at a summer school at Stirling University.  It also works well on the fiddle one string higher.

This set was introduced to the Stirling session by Charlotte MacDonald.

To keep accompanying guitarists on their toes I usually play the last tune once in G and then once in A.

A fine pair of tunes introduced to the Stirling session by one of the regulars, Douglas Todd.

This is the Shiftin Bobbins' eightsome reel set.

This is the first tune I learned by ear, from a cassette of Monty Python live at Drury Lane that has somehow survived a lot of playing.

I went to the Orkney Folk festival in 2019 and heard lots and lots of fast and furious fiddle tunes.  For some reason, the only tune that stuck with me was this first slow air.

I lived for a few years in Letham in Fife, and occasionally went to the old time dance in the village hall there.  The music was usually provided by Jimmy Shand Junior's band, and his dad occasionally sat in.  Over 25 years later the first tune here popped into my head - the only tune I have learned from dancing not by playing!  The BBC Radio Scotland program Take the Floor may also have been an influence.

This set came out of the All our tunes project run by the Riverside Music Project in 2013.  The first half of the first tune is from a transportation ballad that has 6 verses and a chorus.  Boring or what, but I guess you've got to pass the time somehow en route to Van Dieman's Land.  I added the second half of the tune to break the monotony.

In 2019 I had a great time at the first Land o' Burns fiddle weekend, with tuition from Gordon Gunn, Rua MacMillan, Alistair McCullough, and Kevin Henderson.  The first tune is one of Gordon's, the others were taught by Rua, Alistair, and Kevin, respectively.

This set was introduced to the Stirling session by one of the regulars, David Williams.

These are a couple of unusual (for me) tunes that I learned at about the same time.  The first was taught at a Klezmer workshop organised by the Riverside Music Project at the Tolbooth in Stirling.

The second tune is a Spanish song that Rafa Fernandez-Gil Bermudez sang regularly at the Settle Inn, until he moved to Edinburgh.  My mastery of Spanish enables me to sing the whole last line of the song: "La la la, la la la, la la la la la la la."

The Shiftin Bobbins ceilidh band theme tunes, very popular at the Stirling session.  Second time through the first part of the last tune we sing, "If I saw Maggie (Magnus) in the wood I'd do her (him) all the good I could."

This set is called "The polkas" and has been played at the end of the Stirling session since the turn of the century.