Annotation:Miss Jean Aberdein

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MISS JEAN ABERDEIN. Scottish, Reel. C Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody appears in John Anderson's c. 1789 1st collection. Composed by John Anderson (1737-1808) and printed in his first volume, A Selection of the Most Approved Highland Strathspeys, Country Dances, English and French Dances…dedicated to the Gentlemen of the Music Society of Greenock (Edinburgh, 1789), which contains four of his compositions. Little is known about him, although he seems to have connections to Perthshire and Edinburgh (he died in Inverness). Musicologist Gavin Greig wrote of Anderson in the Aberdeen Journal (1908, p. 178), after reviewing four of Anderson's pieces from his second volume ("Bonny Links of Aberdeen (The)," "Sir James Grant," "Mr. James Ramsay," "Bridge of Dumfries (The)"):

These exhibit no originality, and have hardly any melodic interest or value--being little more than mere exercises in arpeggios. Anderson, indeed, would appear to have been rather an executant than a composer.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music), vol. 1, 1891; p. 42.

Recorded sources:




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