Karen McCrindle Warren from Cumnock is about to make history by releasing a collection of bagpipe music in Scots Leid.

Her home region of Ayrshire features heavily as does neighbouring Dumfries and Galloway with the collection already enjoying international acclaim wherever it has been performed.

Karen, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Scottish Music degree, set on a mission to find music after realising she could only name a handful of tunes from the region, and wanted to develop her repertoire.

She said: “I started with nothing but after months of obsession trawling the internet and searching all the manuscripts I could get my hands on I soon ended up with 200 pieces of historical music.

“I then asked the region’s top players if they would like to contribute any of their own compositions to the collection and was overwhelmed by the positive responses – even those who were unable to contribute were very enthusiastic and supportive of the project.

“There is a great deal of passion for the instrument and its music throughout the region, and a huge demand for a project of this nature.”

The collection contains 350 tunes over four volumes, of mostly unknown and new material in the piping world.

It is also the biggest collection of Burns music written for bagpipes and includes a fifth book, entitled Wan fur the Weans for young learners.

Another first, this will be the first ever bagpipe collection to be written in Scots Leid, with collections written mostly in English or Gàidhlig.

“One of the main reasons behind doing the collection is to instil awareness and pride in our local heritage and culture, and that includes our leid.

“The collection wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of our regional language, and I am proud to showcase it alongside our music.

“Every tune featured in the collection comes with background information, history and folklore, and makes for very interesting and entertaining reading.”

The books will be launched on Monday, August 13, as part of Piping Live! Glasgow’s International Piping Festival where five of the region’s top players, including Karen, will showcase some of the music from the collection.

Roddy MacLeod, Director of Piping Live and Principal at the National Piping Centre said: “I was truly astounded at the breadth of the collection and the research that had been carried out in compiling it.

Karen will soon be returning to Cumnock and Doon Valley to start a new project, called EPIC East Ayrshire Pipe Band Academy.

With this up and running, she will be teaching the next generation of pipers to embrace their traditional heritage and culture.