A Work in Progress: The Grants Hornpipe

[Jody Stecher]

I'm nearly done with transcribing a banjo arrangement of a Scottish hornpipe called The Grants. The title has no apostrophe because the apparent meaning is the entire clan. More about the tune when I finish the transcription. 

I've transposed it to G major from E major for reasons I'll explain later.  I found that Musescore got cranky when I tried putting flags on more than one G within a single measure. I dunno why as it cooperates with other tunes I've been transcribing. After many attempts I gave up and used a circled 5 instead.   

How does that look to the Gathered Assemblage here?

I've also entered fingering only to measures where I've found that it sounds better or plays better or both when played as I've indicated. Most of the measures are free of such markings as I found that every fingering I tried was equally viable so it was better to leave the choice up to the player. 

Does measure 5 make it clear that the grace note F# is briefly played at fret 4 on string one right before the melody note G is played on the 5th string? I don't actually indicate it to avoid clutter.

Measure 10 is a bit of a jumble with "mixed numbers".  String 2 is played once—for A. String 5 is played twice – for G. Everything else is on string one. I tried it several ways and this sounds the best to me and is not hard to play.  But is the fingering clear from the score?

(Measure 16 and 17 should be and will be marked 10PB rather than 10B)

Thanks!

Attached are the notation in its present state and a midi sound file.

[Trapdoor2]

As far as the 'circled 5', I think I would prefer that note be marked "O" for "open". I've never seen any sheet music with a 5 bubble (not that I've seen it all, etc.). It is readable, just not as familiar as the "O" (or the 5th string flag).

I think I'd probably play some sections differently...but no terribly so. M13, I'd pick that (quarter note) D open as a point of shifting. M17, I'd probably play that last G open (5th string) to give me similar point to shift down to 4P.

[Jody Stecher]

Maybe today or another day Musecore will let me put 2 G flags in a single measure in this tune. 

About your open string choices, I've been sometimes playing  the triplet all on closed strings so there's no advantage to the open D. And if I play the triplet on the 1st string it starts with an open string anyway. I don't have to get to a lower fret right away. But the main reason in measure 13 is I like the sonority better as notated.  In measure 17 I do play one or another (or both) of the Gs on the 5th string sometimes. I still am trying out different fingerings so I didn't mark those G-s with a flag (yet?).

Trapdoor2 said:

As far as the 'circled 5', I think I would prefer that note be marked "O" for "open". I've never seen any sheet music with a 5 bubble (not that I've seen it all, etc.). It is readable, just not as familiar as the "O" (or the 5th string flag).

I think I'd probably play some sections differently...but no terribly so. M13, I'd pick that (quarter note) D open as a point of shifting. M17, I'd probably play that last G open (5th string) to give me similar point to shift down to 4P.

[Trapdoor2]

Just thank Dog you aren't doing dotted jigs. I have some that the 5th string flags look like a forest in every measure...

[Jody Stecher]

Today Musescore is Munificent ... or Muse-nificent and the g flags fell into place without incident. Soon I will post the completed score and a recording with banjo and some words about the tune itself.

Another Musecore Mystery. I followed the directions in the online handbook to get swing playback. No luck.

But when I scored a different tune today,  one would be played with swing or could be written dotted—but was entered in straight time— the playback is in perfect swing.

Soon I will complete the score, recor

Trapdoor2 said:

Just thank Dog you aren't doing dotted jigs. I have some that the 5th string flags look like a forest in every measure...

[Jody Stecher]

What the heck? What is "recor"?  What I typed but didn't get posted was that I will soon record the tune on the banjo, complete the score, and post them here along with the story of Grants Hornpipe and how I came to learn it.

Jody Stecher said:

Today Musescore is Munificent ... or Muse-nificent and the g flags fell into place without incident. Soon I will post the completed score and a recording with banjo and some words about the tune itself.

Another Musecore Mystery. I followed the directions in the online handbook to get swing playback. No luck.

But when I scored a different tune today,  one would be played with swing or could be written dotted—but was entered in straight time— the playback is in perfect swing.

Soon I will complete the score, recor

Trapdoor2 said:

Just thank Dog you aren't doing dotted jigs. I have some that the 5th string flags look like a forest in every measure...