James Scott Skinner

James Scott Skinner (Banchory Ternan, near Aberdeen, 1843 – Aberdeen, 1927) was a Scottish violinist, composer and dance teacher who shaped much of the nineteenth-century violin music in the Scottish style. The younger son of William Skinner, "Dancie", a violinist and dancing master, he grew up surrounded by music and dance.

In 1855 he joined Dr Mark's Little Men, a touring company of young musicians linked to a charity for the orphans of musicians based in Manchester. For almost six years he received a thorough training from Charles Rougier, a French violinist and member of the Hallé Orchestra. After returning to Aberdeenshire he studied dance, chiefly Scottish dance, and began teaching it on graduating from his master Scott, whose surname he added to his own. His reputation as a dancer was considerable, but as a violinist he improved so rapidly that he decided to devote himself to solo performance and composition. He toured Scotland, London and even the United States.

He composed more than seven hundred works for violin, most of them in the Scottish style, among them the pastorals he developed from the slow strathspey. About six hundred pieces were published, almost always at his own expense. His music is melodically rich, though perhaps less original than that of Neil Gow, and technically denser and more demanding. He is regarded as the author of the finest collection, The Miller o' Hirn, and of his most accomplished strathspey, The Laird o' Drumblair.