A Scottish Hornpipe on banjo

[Jody Stecher]

Charles Grant  (1810- 1892) was a Scottish fiddler, schoolteacher, fisherman and composer. His daughter compiled his compositions and published them in a privately circulated book. I obtained a photocopy many years ago and on page 11 found the original version of a compelling hornpipe I had heard some years earlier from various musicians from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

I have seen the title represented as Grant's Hornpipe, Grants Hornpipe, Grant's Reel,  The Grants Hornpipe and even The Grant's Hornpipe.  In the book however the title is The Grants' Hornpipe.  The implication is that the title is meant to represent the Grant family or the entire clan and that this is their hornpipe.

I tried it on banjo in the original key of E major and found the open C string to be one half step too high to play an essential B natural, the lowest note in the tune. Moving the tune an octave higher meant playing much of the tune on the very top frets which produced a tone inconsistent with the bold declarative mood of the tune.  The key of F was no improvement but I found it sat on the banjo beautifully in G, and even better in elevated bass tuning where it benefited from the changed sonority,   I recorded myself playing it several times in several ways and then notated what I had played. It came naturally when played spontaneously but was harder to replicate from the page. My arrangement incorporates elements from the Nova Scotia versions as well as the Charles Grant original. 

I have found in 19th century Scottish music phrases and rhythms that prefigure ragtime. In The Grants' Hornpipe I found the exact phrases that appeared in American pedal steel guitar playing 100 years later. Check out measures 14 and 15; they are pure Pedal Steel.

I posted early versions of my arrangement here but I came to realize there were changes to the fingering that made the tune more playable.  Attached here is what may be the final score, a midi file to hear how the chords sound, and a recording of me playing a fair-to-middlin' rendition on the banjo, just to show how it sounds on a real banjo.