The Tom Anderson Collection Vol 2

This, the second volume, contains a total of 70 compositions comprising 9 slow airs, 11 marches, 5 hornpipes, 23 reels, 9 waltzes, 4 strathspeys and 5 jigs, together with some miscellaneous pieces. As in Vol 1, bowings and chord symbols are provided for all the tunes. The bowings are based for the most part on Tom Anderson's own manuscript instructions. Foreword by Aly Bain

(The following text is taken from the foreword by Magnus Magnusson to the book The Tom Anderson Collection.) They were calling Tom Anderson (1910-1991) ("Tammy") the savior of Shetland s musical heritage long before he died. He was a Shetlander through and through, born in 1910 on a croft at Eshaness in the north of Mainland. He learned to play the fiddle from his grandfather; and although he became an insurance agent by profession, his life his real life -- was in the conservation of traditional Shetland fiddle playing and passing it on to younger generations. His career as a musical mentor really took off when he retired in the early 1970s and began teaching traditional fiddle playing in local schools. Today, hundreds of pupils all over Shetland have studied it in school as a direct result of his efforts. His passion for his life s work earned him international renown, an MBE in 1977, and an honorary doctorate in 1981 from Stirling University, where he conducted a memorable series of Heritage of Scotland Summer Schools which attracted countless enthusiasts, year after year after year. One of the most impressive and popular of Tammy s 500 original compositions has been The Slockit Light ( slockit is a good Norse word meaning extinguished ). It was inspired by the gradual dwindling of the population in Tammy s native Eshaness: as each family died out or left, there was one light fewer. Tammy Anderson s magnificent bequest of music and recordings, and the associated royalties, to the Shetland Musical Heritage Trust means that the lamp he lit will now never be extinguished.