James F. Dickie’s Delight strathspey

This wasn’t on The Session, most likely since it was erroneously listed as a a.k.a. as “James F. Dickie’s Reel”, they are separate tunes.

I found this transcription on the interwebs. The submission form didn’t want me to put in extra ABC headers, but credit is due where credit is due:
S:Paul Anderson
D:Heat The Hoose
Z:Juergen.Gier@post.rwth-aachen.de

It’s the first one in this Medley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjSp2Gdb2Y

play video

The composer, J Murdoch Henderson, called the slow strathspey (this tune) “Jas. F. Dickie’s Delight” and the reel “James F. Dickie”. He composed the tunes in 1932 for James Dickie of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, and published them in his collection ’Flowers of Scottish Melody" (Glasgow, 1935).

Of Dickie, Henderson wrote, “Jim is a player of great taste and polish. In the rendering of slow strathspeys and E flat airs in general his style is inimitable. A warm admirer of J.S.S.” (Scott Skinner).

James Fowlie Dickie was born in 1886 in Old Deer village, into a household which contained his father - a concertina player - and his brother John - a penny whistle player. He started fiddle at age ten, and won a major competition at age 17 in Dundee. His main teacher was William Duguid of Fyvie (1866-1905), who was himself taught by Scott Skinner. Dickie was a pacifist (a conchy in WW1), a vegetarian, and an expert beekeeper. He died in 1983 well into his nineties after suffering from MS.

There are recordings of James F Dickie, but not many, and all of them said to have been made while he was past his best: in 1976 Topic records paired some recordings from the 1950s with 78s of J S Skinner for thewir LP ‘James F Dickie’s Delights’, and in 1980 his son-in-law James Duncan released ‘The Dickie Style’, a mixture of Dickie recordings from 1950 and his own fiddle playing.

One of our members here…
https://thesession.org/members/57749

However, this transcription has problems. It is not wise to just life a load of ABCs off the Internet and plop it here . It is more reasonable and sensible to first ‘learn’ ABC notation, and then take the time to do a proper transcription. It also helps if you know the tune yourself, or are familiar with the source, and can add useful comment to accompany your contribution.

Nigel ~ as always, a good and valued contribution. Maybe you’d consider adding your ABC take on this one? Please?

http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/87394/1
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/87394;jsessionid=9A6F48B872FAD6DC4DA3F9EEA2EB66B3

Title - James F Dickie’s Delight/J F Dickie’s Reel
Contributors - Hector MacAndrew; Alexander Edmonstone
Reporters - Dr John MacInnes; Donia Etherington

Summary - This is the strathspey ‘James F Dickie’s Delight’, followed by the reel ‘J F Dickie’s Reel’, played on the fiddle with piano accompaniment.

Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:02:45
Date Recorded - 1960.05.24

The John Murdoch Henderson Music Collection - Scran Hosted Web Site
J. Murdoch Henderson, Musician and Collector of Scottish Music, 1902 - 1972
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/jmhenderson/web/index.htm

Menu > Fiddles & Fiddlers > James F. Dickie

Fiddles & Fiddlers
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/jmhenderson/web/collection/fiddles/index.htm

James F. Dickie - Scottish fiddler - born 1886 in Cartlehaugh, Old Deer, died 1983 at 96
Pacifist, vegetarian, animal lover, sufferer of multiple sclerosis
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/jmhenderson/web/collection/fiddles/dickie.htm

There’s also a RealAudio link to hear the Strathspey “J.F. Dickie’s Delight”

ceolachan asked me to give a setting of this. X:2 is how I’ve played it for years. It’s not very far from the setting in ‘Flowers of Scottish Melody’ book (1935).

An interesting titbit: the copy of ‘Flowers of Scottish Melody’ I own belonged to J F Dickie’s brother, the noted whistle player John Dickie, and is signed and dedicated to him by J Murdoch Henderson. It was worth the £1.50 I paid for it! (Of course, that was when £1.50 was a lot of money…I remember when… Zzzz)