Scottish slow air/lament on banjo

[Jody Stecher]

You've all heard the banjo jokes. Like: what's the difference between a banjo and a chain saw? Answer: a chain saw has dynamic range. 

These jokes address an actual problem but the problem is not with banjos. It's with (some) banjo players. I find the banjo to be as expressive as the violin. What it lacks in sustain can be compensated for with expressive timing.   Here is a banjo arrangement of a well-known and much-loved melody composed by the legendary 18th century violinist Niel Gow upon the death of his benefactor. Full published title was "Niel Gow's Lamentation For James Moray Esq of Abercarney "(or Abercairney).

The melody is charged with pathos and deep feeling. In C on the banjo it is a fifth lower than when played on violin and I find this helps evoke gravitas. 

On the fiddle it is always played in G but it works better on the banjo in C.  I'll post the dots here and a recording of banjo playing. No midi this time as the timing of the notation is not to be taken literally. The timing is loose and personal.  I have heard it played so many ways.  I played it through twice, spontaneously and with different timing and tone colors the second time.

Now to be clear I'm not saying I'm playing it here as well as it can be played on the banjo or even as well as I can play it on the banjo. And, as usual when recording on my computer, I make a few boo-boos. But this performance is good enough to convey the feeling of the piece and to convey that the banjo can handle slow emotive music very well. 

(But then we all already knew that)

[Jody Stecher]

Ning or my computer lost my faithful reproduction of the odd punctuation of the original title. At least it didn't change the spelling of Niel to Neil.   Niel is how Mr Gow spelled it.  OK here it is again

"Niel Gow's Lamentation For Jas. Moray Esq., of Abercarney"