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Scott Skinner's first major collection was The Miller o' Hirn Collection (1881), and it contained 122 tunes (including strathspeys, reels, Highland schottisches, slow airs, songs, hornpipes and jigs) arranged for the pianoforte or violin and violoncello. Several tunes are named after fiddlers, e.g. no. 21, "Mr Alexander Adam", a violinist in Alford, and no. 96, "Mr A. G. Wilken's Favourite", an amateur violinist in Elgin. Skinner gives advice on bowing on page 1, including how to do the "straight slur" and the "loop", and bowings are notated throughout the collection. Go to Angela MacEachern - Composing, favourite tunes and fiddles to hear her play the reel, "Cairnie's Canter" (no. 101).
The Logie Collection of Original Music (1888) is divided into sections consisting of Songs and Airs (including slow airs, nursery songs and pastoral airs), Pipe Quick Steps, &c., and Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes, Marches, &c., and contains 190 tunes. All the tunes in the collection are by Skinner, and many have been dedicated to individuals e.g. "Manson's Schottische" to Manson Scott Skinner, his son. Go to Paul Anderson - Fiddle Teachers to hear Douglas Lawrence playing the tune "Glenlivet" from the collection, and to Angela MacEachern to hear her play "Tulchan Lodge", also from the collection.
The Harp and Claymore (1904) was edited by the folk song collector, Gavin Greig, who also gives an introduction to the strathspey. Greig, together with the Reverend James Bruce Duncan, amassed a huge store of ballads and folk songs from North-East Scotland, now published in The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, vols 1-8. Greig supplies piano accompaniments for some of the tunes and notes: "The arranging of Strathspeys has given considerable trouble. In early days our dance music had been necessarily played without accompaniment, and it is frequently so played still. The pure solo, indeed, represents the original and undiluted Strathspey. Modern ears, however, desiderate accompaniments, and to this feeling some deference must be paid, although it should not be forgotten that there is already in the melodies themselves a kind of oblique harmony of the arpeggio order." (p. 6) The work contains pieces by Skinner, works by other composers and traditional melodies, totalling 249 tunes. Some of these tunes have variations added by Skinner, such as "The Barren Rocks of Aden" (p. 54), "The East Neuk o' Fife" (p. 60) and "Largo's Fairy Dance" (p. 88). Certain of Skinner's most famous tunes : "The Cradle Song", "The Bonnie Lass o' Bon-Accord", "Bovaglie's Plaid", "The Hurricane" (go to Paul Anderson to hear this tune) and "The President" are to be found in this collection. The introduction states: "The present work contains the mature fruit of a life-long cultivation of the Scottish Reel and Strathspey and cognate forms; and in it are included specimens of the best work of other composers, together with many choice flowers of traditional melody, so that the student of our national music may have a conspectus of what is best and most enduring in this corner of art's high field." (p. 9) Go to Claire Gullan to hear her playing "Dumbarton Castle" from the collection.
Amongst Skinner's other collections were The Beauties of the Ballroom (1883), The Elgin Collection (1884) and The Scottish Violinist (1900), the latter of which included his own tunes as well as those of other composers and was a very popular work. Skinner also published A Guide to Bowing (c. 1900), which deals with the technical aspects of bowing Scottish fiddle music.
Find out more about James Scott Skinner: James Scott Skinner homepage - Dancing master and performer - Compositions
About the author - Acknowledgements - Banchory homepage - Bibliography - Celtic and Scottish Studies homepage - Conclusion - Homepage
Published by the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh
© University of Edinburgh 2001
Last modified Wednesday, 26-Aug-2009 13:33:33 BST by Katherine Campbell