MRS. SIM'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Mrs. Sim's Strathspey" 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.
Additional notes
Printed sources : - John Morison (A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches), Edinburgh, c. 1797; No. 26.
