Alan Watson, Accompanist
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Alan Watson has been the LSSRS's accompanist since its formation. He grew up with fiddle music. His late father, Ronnie, joined the Edinburgh Highland Reel and Strathspey Society about the same time as Alan started piano lessons. Alan too became a member after a long 'apprenticeship', helping out behind the scenes, deputising, etc., and was for thirteen years the society's official pianist. Father and son were members of its competition group, winning 1st prizes at the National Mod in 1973 and the inaugural Golden Fiddle awards in 1976. Alan has accompanied at most of the major fiddle competitions, including Aberdeen, Ayr, Banchory, Blair Atholl (the Glenfiddich), Elgin, Kirriemuir and Musselburgh. In 1981 he launched the Lothian Strathspey and Reel Group for younger unaffiliated soloists he met at competitions to allow them to enter group events and various groups were successful under that banner, notably taking 2nd place in the Golden Fiddle awards of 1982 and 1st place in the same event in 1983. |