Annotation:Stonehaven Assembly
X:1 T:Stonehaven Assembly M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig N:”Slow” B: John Morison - A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1797, No. 5) N:Organist and fiddler Morison (1772-1848) was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point in Scotland, on the North Sea. Alburger notes that failing fortunes forced him to diversify: he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery. F:https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Collection_of_New_Strathspey_Reels_wit/Vo-EymUbJkYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22john+morison%22+%22new+strathspey+reels%22%C2%A0&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover K:Bb F|BcB Bcd|ede fga|baa fbd|dcc c2F| BcB Bcd|ede fga|bag fbd|B>Bc B2:| d/e/|f>gf fcf|fgf fga|bag fbd|dcc c2 d/e/| f>gf fcf|f>gf fga|bag fbd|c>Bc B2 d/e/| f>gf fcf|fgf fga|bag fbd|dcc c2F| BcB Bcd|ede fga|fbd cBc|B2B B2||
STONEHAVEN ASSEMBLY. Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB.
"Stonehaven Assembly" was composed by John Morison (1772-1848), a fiddler and, for a time, organist at St. Peter's Chapel, Peterhead. Morison was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point of Scotland and a port town on the North Sea. He had a small fiddle band for playing dances, but he supported himself, as many musicians did, with diversification. Alburger notes he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery; he also tuned pianos and organs and copied out music, but eventually he went bankrupt (at least once). Morison published two collections; the first around 1797 and the second in 1815.
Stonehaven is a coastal town in northeast Scotland, south of Aberdeen. Perhaps Morison and his band played for dancing at the assembly rooms at one time.
