Annotation:Stonehaven Volunteers Quickstep (The)
X:1 T:Quick Step (Stonehaven Volunteers) M:2/4 L:1/8 R:March B: John Morison - A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1797, No. 60) 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:C c’|c<c de|ge ec’|c<c de|ge zc’|c<c de|ge ec’|c<c de|ge z:| |:g|c’b ag|ag eg|c’b a^g|ae zg|c’b ag|ab c’2|c<c de|ge ec’|c<c de|ge z:|]
QUICK STEP.. Scottish, March (2/4 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. This quick step 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.
The piece is a companion piece to another tune in the Morison collection, "Stonehaven Volunteers March (The)," composed by Barclay Dun of Aberdeen[1]. As with all the regular marches in the Morison collection, the untitled quick steps were printed directly after the named marches, and are meant to be a pair.
- ↑ Alfred Moffat also attributes the quick step to Barclay Dun, but in Morison's publication only the "Stonehaven Volunteers March" is attributed to Dun.