"Happy-Go-Lucky" Transcription

[Shawn McSweeny]

Finding the correct composer was a process, as this is an obscure piece with a popular title.

This is not the Grimshaw banjo solo of the same name. Nor is it the HGL galop by Miers, or either of the HGL shottisches by De Coen or Ross. The HGL one step or two step by Lamont looked promising, as the cover art features a banjo-toting pierrot.  But alas, it was another dead end. 

The piano score for the correct HGL, (penned by F. A. Black in 1899),  appeared on you-tube -Ragtime Dorian- about two years ago.  Ossman transposed the score from the piano's Eb to C for the banjo.

The publisher is Hylands Spencer Yeager.  Fred Hylands-pianist - and Len Spencer- vocalist- were recording colleagues of Ossman.  As publishers, they likely hired him to record the piece to help boost sheet music sales.  Their publishing venture however, was short-lived.

Digital score playback, transcriptions in notation and tab are provided below. The original recording remains in a private collection. 

[thereallyniceman]

Another solo that I have never heard before!  I know of George Formby's "Happy Go Lucky Me"..but that is completely different :-)

Thanks again Shawn. How do you do the transpositions? Do you use slow down software and find the notes and chords by ear...  what I job that is, as I know, as I have wasted many weeks of my life attempting to do that !!!!!

I will upload to the MUSIC LIBRARY later today.

[Shawn McSweeny]

My approach is to first digitally improve the original recording as much as possible; the clearer the notes, the better. If needed, pitch is tweaked to match contemporary pitch.  A copy is saved at about half tempo.  That is my working file. 

Next I find the piano score online and digitize it into an editable file. Ossman's solos are usually close to the piano score, so this becomes my reference file. If needed, the piano score is transposed to match the key Ossman is playing in. 

Then it's a matter of stepping through the recording (working file), a few notes at a time, banjo in hand.  As the notes are found on the banjo, they are added directly to the reference file in the computer, replacing the piano notes on the treble clef. Score playback is possible at any time so I can check on the fly that pitch and duration of the transcribed notes sound correct. Repeat the process until your head starts spinning,  Then it's time for a break. 

No question this is difficult and tedious.  Initially, progress is very slow, but repeats of measures and phrases form a large part of most pieces, so things pick up as you go.  Think of transcription as being akin to solving a puzzle, but with a practical end product, which is something you don't get doing crosswords or Sudoku.

[thereallyniceman]

Yes, tedious!  That is the way I approach transcriptions.  Listen over and over and over to attempt to hear all the individual notes in a chord and then work out where they are being played on the fingerboard... then repeat for next chord... then repeat.......

Thank you for all the hard work and for sharing the results.