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- The
Bonnie Lass o' Bon-Accord,
- Looks
lang owre the bar o' the Dee,
- An'
the Bonnie Lass o' Bon-Accord
- Comes
hamme wi' the tear in her e'e.
- An'
there's never a wind but blaws to her gate
- Some
brisk braw carle come to woo;
- But
wi' neither the kilt nor the coat will she mate,
- For her heart's wi' the jacket o' blue.
James
Scott Skinner (“The Strathspey King”)
James
Skinner was born in Arbeadie in Aberdeenshire on August 15, 1843. His
father William Skinner, dance teacher and violinist, was a gardener
until a shotgun took off three fingers of his left hand. After this
incident, William learnt to play the violin but holding the bow in his
left hand. William died when James was only eight months old, being the
youngest of six brothers.
Alexander
Skinner (Sandy, the elderly brother) taught James how to play the violin
and the cello. When James was 8, he played the cello in the local shows
together with the local violinist Peter Milne, for that he got paid 25
shillings a night.
In
1855 when James was 11 he had an audition with Dr. Mark and his band
“Dr. Mark’s Little Men”. He went to Manchester, England to study
for six years. Dr. Mark taught how to play the violin by rote in the
same way that James had studied, he had lessons in the morning, in the
afternoon and then in the evenings. The last years of his musical
education were spent by the French violinist Charles Rougier, taking
violin lessons, Charles corrected some bad habits of James, like the one
of not reading music. This was important for little James because it
motivated him later to compose his own repertoire.
When
James finished his studies in 1861, he went back to Aberdeen and he took
dance lessons with professor William Scott. Some years later, he changed
his name for James Scott Skinner thanks to his dance teacher.
In
1862 he participated in the Highland Dance Competitions in Ireland and
won the first prize in “The Sword Dance” Competition, with the
peculiarity that distinguished him from everyone else, he danced and
played the violin at the same time.
That
same year, after winning other competitions, he became a Scottish
Country Dance teacher. His increasing reputation took him to work at
Balmoral Castle where he taught the dances to more than 100 children. It
was told among the pupils, that James was very strict and hit the bow of
his violin onto the head of his pupils whenever they danced in the wrong
way or with wrong steps.
In
1871 he married Jean Stewart. They had two children, Jeanie and Manson.
James went on with both the dance and the music and published his
first musical work “Highland Polka” when he was only 17. This was
one among the 600 musical works, many of which were published by himself.
In
1884 one of these publications almost led him to bankruptcy, as a
consequence of that, his wife suffered a nervous breakdown and she was
sent to Elgin Asylum where she never recovered and died in 1899 being
only 58 years old.
His
daughter and mother-in-law helped him and got him a job as a dance
teacher.
In
1893 he went on a tour to USA and Canada with Piper and Highland Dance
Champion MacLennan who unexpectedly died of meningitis. From these years
onwards, James started to wear the Highland Dress and spent the rest of
his life playing and composing Scottish Music with a very deep patriotic
feeling.
Halfway
through 1889 James got married again, this time in Angus, with Gertrude
Park, their marriage lasted 10 years.
In
1899 J.S. Skinner made his first recording in the ancient Wax
Phonographic Cylinder and then in records of 78 rpm using a Stroh fiddle
to be able to amplify its volume. From those days, J:S: Skinner became
famous in the whole world, his slogan,
“The Strathpey King” gave him even more popularity among his
fans in presentations and shows.
In
1904 he published “The Harp and The Claymore Collection” which was
the biggest collection of musical works ever published for Scottish
Country Dances, the collection was edited by Mr. Gavin Greig.
Apart
from composing reels, strathpeys and waltzes, J.S. Skinner had the gift
of composing music for the violin in the Scottish Bag Pipe Style, an
example of this is “ The Cameron Highlanders” a song composed in
memory of his elderly brother, “Sandy”.
In
1905 he published one of his dance books “The People’s Ball Room
Dance Guide” where he gave tips and pieces of advice on how to dance
Scottish Country Dances and how to play strathpeys and reels in the
violin.
In
1922 he bought his first house in Aberdeen where he spent his last years
with his housekeeper Lily Richards. He died in Aberdeen on March 17,
1927
The
Aberdeen Police Bag Pipe Band trooped over playing “Lochaber no
More”. More than 40,000 people were on the city streets that day. A
bust and a commemorative plaque were placed to pay homage to him, the
plaque had some bars from one of his most famous compositions, “Bonnie
Lass o’Bon Accord” of which James wrote the words and the music.
Norman Alejandro Trench
