Music for 'The Highlands of Banffshire' & a reel by J. M. Henderson

Alexander Grant (1856 - 1942) was a native of Battangorm, Carrbridge, which gave rise to his familiar name - 'Battan'. As a boy he was exposed to what were to become his two great passions - fiddling and fishing. He went on to excel in both areas; as an angler by inventing his own unique fishing rod known as the 'Grant Vibration Rod', and as a fiddler by leading the Highland Strathspey and Reel Society for almost forty years and by becoming an expert in fiddle making techniques. He also invented a unique disc-shaped violin known as a 'Rondello'. An example of Grant's fishing rod, fiddle and Rondello can be seen at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG).<br /> <br /> This hand-written manuscript is part of the Grant collection. It contains the music for 'The Highlands of Banffshire' (Captain Simon Fraser's Collection) and an untitled reel by John Murdoch Henderson, dated 7th April 1934. (A native of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, Henderson (1902 - 1972) was a prolific musician (fiddle and piano), composer, and collector of music. He published his acclaimed collection of music, 'Flowers of Scottish Melody', in 1935.)