Cane Brake Jig, transposed for Briggs tuning

[Andy Chase]

Since AEBG V, I've been trying to force myself to learn tunes from standard notation rather than being lazy and tabbing them out... tab is easy to read, but it would be much nicer to be able to just work right out of the old tutors, or poke through other sources like Ryan's mammoth collection, etc.

So far, so good; I guess I've been playing this early material long enough that the common patterns and licks have become second nature and start to become recognizable on the staff.

However, I'm not going to try to map later tunes arranged for A and E (mostly) down to Briggs tuning on the fly until I'm a little better at reading the G and D tunes first.  So,  time for some transposition!  I've started tinkering with the free/open source composition software MuseScore, and it looks more than adequate for my meager purposes.  Here's G. Swaine Buckley's Cane Brake Jig (From the 1860 Buckley tutor) transposed down a whole step for Briggs tuning.

CaneBrakeJig_G.pdf

[Bell Banjos]

Pretty cool, Andy. I recently discovered MuseScore too.

[Rob Morrison]

Andy--

I applaud your learning to read standard notation for Briggs' tuning.  I agree this simplifies things for anyone learning new stuff.  But how is transposing the tunes in A and E into G and D any different than changing it to tab, that is accessible to most everbody else?  Please don't take this as a criticism, but it harks back to Stewart's problems with Dobson's Simplified Method. --Rob Morrison

[Andy Chase]

Good point, Rob - in my case, I'm taking baby steps; getting comfortable with reading for one tuning before confusing myself by trying to get comfortable with two at once.  I hope not to be transposing indefinitely. :)

[Joel Hooks]

Let's not confuse "tuning" for pitch. For those that mIght read this, the intervals remain the same.

[Rob Morrison]

Andy--

I get it .  believe me.  I play other instruments using standard notation (guitar, fiddle, mandolin),  but have avoided early banjo music specifically due to the transposition problem.  More power to you.  Also I tend to embellish, improvise, and otherwise adulterate the sacred texts.-- Good luck, Rob 

[Al Smitley]

I'm with you Andy.  I can read music from Ryan's on the fiddle but would like to read it for banjo as well and not sure how to go about it.  All the necessary transposing seems ominous.  I think the best thing to do is to look at music (no matter what key) and be able to hear it in my head, then apply it to the banjo in the key it seems to work best......but I need to sit down and practice trying to hear the right notes in my head.

Perhaps Tim (or others) can chime in on this.  If there are any suggestions out there, I'd be appreciative.

[Andy Chase]

Good point also, Joel; for those who saw Jim Dalton's presentation at AEBG V, this is what the instructions in the tutors mean when they say, "To play in a different key, tune the banjo up or down accordingly."  The intervals between all of the notes (and therefore the fingering) remains the same whether the banjo is tuned gDGF#A (so-called "Briggs Tuning") or aEAG#B; same principle as using a capo on guitar.

The reason I took the extra step of transposing the notation down to the key of G (same intervals, one full step lower than written in the original) is that it makes it a direct map from the notes on the staff to the notes on the banjo fingerboard as tuned to gDGF#A; it's one less mental translation to make for now.  In terms of playing directly from the notation in Rice 1858 and onward, the next step will be to memorize the positions of the banjo fingerboard as tuned to aEAG#B; reading notation in the key of A or E will map directly to those fingerings, and "transposing" just becomes a matter of using those fingerings in Briggs tuning instead.

[razyn]

Another reasonably good use for the transposition is for fiddlers, mandolinists, and in general people who play from normal notation (instead of banjo tab) to learn some of these tunes.  I've just zapped this one to my wife, to try out on 4-string prima and tenor domras.

[Tim Twiss]

Consider if you are creating a solo banjo arrangement, or something that you intend to play with other people. (I am speaking of arranging from Ryan's, and fiddle tunes in general). If it is just for yourself, you have to play through it and see where the thumb string will give you the greatest advantage. Almost always, songs in G and D use the D referenced as a thumb string (like Briggs'), and songs in the A and E usually have the thumb string referenced as E (like Rice).    

[Carl Anderton]

Much ado about a whole step.  It's understandable why this is a big issue-- it certaintly was later on in the 90's when standard pitch was up to G and D and the (American) banjo music was still written in E and A.

For me, I like to read in "Buckley" best 'cause there's more material available in those keys.

I don't always think of notes when I read banjo music. (Reading Buckley notation)  I see a note on the bottom line, I think open third string.  I see a note in the second space from the bottom, I think first fret second string.  

Reading Briggs, I see a note under the staff, I think open third string.  Second line from the bottom, first fret second string.  Then just take it from there.  There's just not that many notes in this style of banjo music.

I don't know if that helps anyone with the problem, it's just my little system.

[John Masciale]

There are a lot of reasons for transposing the music.  You need to answer a number of questions about what you are doing.

 

1.  Are you going to be singing a song?  If no, then maybe you want to find a key that sounds really good on the banjo.  If yes, then you will want to pick a key that is good for your voice.  I've noticed this with songs that Tim and I have chosen.  Tim's voice is lower than mine, and there are times he will choose a key that is lower than the key that I choose.

 

2.  Will other musicians be playing with you?  If yes, then it makes sense to transpose the music to the key that your banjo is tuned to.

 

I started out by transposing everything to D and G (Briggs' tuning).  However, I have found ultimately that this restricts your freedom in reading through the music in the later instructors.  I now don't really care, and have learned to read songs in either sets of keys.  It is a little painful to get started, but the transition period is relatively short.

 

However, when other people want to play the same music, this becomes confusing for them, and so I have transposed the music for their benefit.

[Tim Twiss]

I still don't think everybody is talking about the same thing re: pitch, tuning, and transposition.