Week #7 ~ Big Sciota ~ REVISITED

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  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    I'm heading out the door, so I'll announce this week's tune an hour early.

    Big Sciota

    This link will take you to the discussion of where you can find TabEdit files, and a couple of videos of the tune.

    Let the fun begin! This isn't a tune I know, but strangely, the banjo player in the band I play with, just taught us HIS version, which goes nothing like the TABedit filed tune!

    Barb
  2. Tom Tax
    Tom Tax
    I've been working on Big Sciota for a long time and don't think I'm likely to improve upon this in the next week, so I'll just post it. It's from the tab of the Sam Bush break on the wonderful album, Skip, Hop, & Wobble. The tune, while a traditional one, is Russ Barenberg's signature guitar instrumental and he's recorded it several times.

    Tom

  3. Ken_P
    Ken_P
    Nice, Tom. I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot of people working from Sam's version. I know I will! I wouldn't know how to improve on it.
  4. Mike Romkey
    Mike Romkey
    Nicely done, Tom! Very smooth. You've sent the bar for us all. So, you're probably going to spend the week on working on something else completely impossible? (g)

    I think most people will find this an easier tune than "Squirrel Hunters" to get under their fingers. The version you play is very similar to the Forrester TEF version posted over in the commentary under the voting.

    Skip, Hop and Wobble is HIGHLY recommended if you don't have it. It's really tasteful acoustic music from Jerry Douglas, the king of dobro, Edgar Meyer, acoustic bass and classical phenom, Russ Barenberg, my favorite acoustic guitar player and Sam Bush on mandolin.
  5. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Tom, that was great! Here we are Saturday morning, and so far, you are the only submitter!
  6. Don Christy
    Don Christy
    Here's my version. Still reading from the Bush tab, so not up to speed yet.

    Don

  7. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Don.... sweet!
  8. Rob Fowler
    Rob Fowler
    Hi all,
    This is my first video post to the group! I really like Big Sciota and have been working on playing it for awhile. Got a bit nervous video taping and flubbed a couple of parts, which is quite obvious! This version isn't really from anywhere but I started learning the tune from the Sam Bush mandozine tef. I'm trying to get down some crosspicking on the b part so bear with me! If I have a chance I might post a better rendition in the future. My mando info is in the video and I'm playing with a Wegen TF140 and DEAD elixir strings. Englemann top on the mando.... I've enjoyed hearing all of your guys and gals renditions of all these great tunes!


  9. Ken_P
    Ken_P
    Well done Rob! Very creative arrangement.
  10. DavidHowell
    DavidHowell
    Rob, I like your shirt. Are they warblers? I use to bird watch some and take pictures.



    I don't know why I went up the neck. It felt easier than stretching for that 7th fret on E.
  11. Rob Fowler
    Rob Fowler
    Hi David,
    The birds on my shirt are actually Western Tanagers. I've got way too many bird shirts these days so you'll probably see more in my videos! Nice job on the Sciota!!!
  12. Ken_P
    Ken_P
    I think this is a first for me, getting the tune in early! I learned the Sam Bush version long ago, so I just had to brush up a bit. For those who want a real workout, trying playing along with the recording. It's about 10 times faster than you think when you're not trying to keep up!

  13. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Rob, David & Ken.... those were all very nice! Maybe'll I'll try to record mine today!
  14. Sore Ears
    Sore Ears
    Ken, you're making us look bad. All dressed up and playing very well. I was just sitting around in a t shirt and shorts and a dab of breakfast porridge on my chin.
  15. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Sore Ears, please don't join the 'well-dressed' side, those who record in the 'better homes & garden' studio! I need someone who sits around in their lounging clothes, amidst the clutter, to keep me company!!!
  16. Tom Tax
    Tom Tax
    I must say I really like this tune and the way everyone is playing it. If anyone is interested, the Scioto River (the tune is often spelled that way too, and Scioty as well) is in Central Ohio. According to Wikipedia, there is also a Little Scioto River, which is sometimes called Brushy Fork - the name of a fiddle tune Bruce Molsky plays.
  17. Sore Ears
    Sore Ears
    Barbara, I'm looking at my video software for a "dress up" option. There's gotta be one, software has done wonderful things.
  18. Ken_P
    Ken_P
    Don't read too much into me being all dressed up. I just happen to do most of my recordings in the morning before I go to work! Thanks for the kind words.
  19. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Really nice Ken -- great version very clean and the Collings really has the distinctive treble ring -- bell-like. There really is a difference -- I think in Gibson vs. Collings vs Weber overall sound. All have their high points.
  20. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Tom Tax: "I must say I really like this tune and the way everyone is playing it. If anyone is interested, the Scioto River (the tune is often spelled that way too, and Scioty as well) is in Central Ohio. According to Wikipedia, there is also a Little Scioto River, which is sometimes called Brushy Fork - the name of a fiddle tune Bruce Molsky plays."

    Tom I agree with you on the tune -- its great.

    I'm not sure who put that info in the Wiki --but the Little Sciota River is an upper trib. (northern end)of the Big Sciota River (50 miles north of Columbus).

    There are several Bushy Creeks in Ohio but I've never heard the L. Sciota called that -- funny.

    However there is a Salt Creek on the Big Sciota and we do have a tune for that!

    BTW, the Big Sciota is a very cool river. It is the main drainage to the Ohio River in the center of the state and it is lies in the bed of the ancient Teys River. The Teys was a major N. American river that started in N. Carolina and ran into what is now central Indiana -- but it was diverted by the Wisconsinan glacier circa 15,000 years ago and this is what lead the the Ohio River being formed!

    We should have a song for this river!!!
  21. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Ken, Sam Bush doesn't do that nice 2nd finger slide when going up to the D in the B section - that's all yours and very nice too.
  22. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Here's mine! Slow and steady, haha! (well, maybe not so steady, but slow for sure!)

  23. Ken_P
    Ken_P
    Bernie - that treble ring is why I've always loved Collings mandolins, and the reason I didn't hesitate when I got the chance to buy mine. So sweet!

    Old Sausage - I actually adapted that little slide from Russ Barenbergs break on the same recording. I think I learned the guitar version first, and I love that sound. Since I got this one done so early, maybe I'll do the guitar version too.

    Barbara - I like it at that tempo. It's got a nice lilt to it that you don't have at bluegrass speeds!
  24. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Barbara, nice. I like it -- very melodic and cleanly played. It is amazing to compare the sound of your oval Collings with Ken's f-hole.

    I read somewhere on line yesterday that this song Big Sciota, is one of the most varied of fiddle tunes and may have as many versions as Grey Eagle -- now that is saying something!

    Oh and on my previous post on the Big Sciota River -- I impled but did not state the most interesting part. Today the Big Sciota flows north to south --draining Ohio to the Ohio River. The Teys River of 15,000 year ago (the channel of the Sciota) flowed south to north -- carrying water from the North Carolina area across Ohio and west to Indiana.
  25. billkilpatrick
    mine might quality for being a very wee sciota ...

  26. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Nice job, Bill and Barbara. Here's my version:

  27. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Here is another tune that my friend, Scott, taught me, that he calls Big Scioty. He plays it on a 5 string banjo. It is not at all like the one we are working on, but is a cool tune, too!

  28. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    I think maybe that is the tenor harmony to the real tune. It seems to imply the same chords.
  29. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Well, kind of, here you go - I took the liberty of playing a duet with you. It took a little bit to get in sync, but then it works out pretty well.

  30. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Good call, OldSausage (I know you have a real name, but it escapes me!)

    Here is MY duet with myself!



    I've discovered that when you learn the melody of a tune from a banjo player, you are getting a BANJO rendition!
  31. AZStu
    AZStu
    How is the title Big Sciota pronounced?

    Big Show'-tah

    Big Sky-oh'-tah

    Big Skee-oh'-tah

    Other?

    Thanks

    (Just in case somebody asks me what it's called!)
  32. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    It's pronounced "Big Sigh Oh Tea".
  33. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    AZStu: "How is the title Big Sciota pronounced?"

    Well I would not call myself an "expert" on Indian names but most of the folks that live in the watershed say "Sigh oh TAH" or sometimes "Sigh OH ta". You seldom hear "Big" Sciota -- just "The Sciota or "The Scioto". (on maps and road signs it is officially written "Scioto").


    Fiddlers Companion: "Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, West Virginia. G Major. Standard tuning. AABB. A popular tune in the old‑time revival repertoire. It is named for the Scioto/Sciota (pronunciations vary) River, which flows through Ohio and empties into the Ohio River. The source for most of the versions, Marlinton, West Virginia, fiddler Burl Hammons, evidently played different versions of the tune (or perhaps it was a tune in evolution), for recordings of his playing by different collectors reveal variations of the melody. These different versions have influenced different revival bands ‑‑ contrast, for example, the Red Clay Rambler's version (learned from a 1970 field recording of Hammons by Malcolm Owen, Blanton Owen and Bert Levy) with versions based on the Alan Jabbour‑collected recording of Burl which appears on the Library of Congress recording "The Hammons Family." Alan Jabbour says Burl simply irregularly repeated phrases within the tune, “making it wonderfully crooked. In my memory, he adds repeated phrases not just in the second (low) strain but in the first (high) as well. In both cases the candidate for possible repetition is the third phrase.”
  34. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    So there you have it, a controversah.
  35. AZStu
    AZStu
    Muchas gracias
  36. bhGreen
    bhGreen
    Fantastic job everyone. :D
  37. hendrix2
    hendrix2
    There's some great stuff in here!!! I'll try to get time to learn this song 'till tomorow or something.
  38. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    I sat down tonight to take a whack at this song and it ended up taking a whack at me. I just don't get it -- I can up with three or four "versions" and this one was the least objectionable. I will probably try to copy one of the other better versions on here and repost the tune this week end. Anyway this is where I quit....

  39. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Hey Bernie, you're too hard on yourself! I liked it!
  40. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Barbara, thanks. But what bugs about this tune is I do have an acoustic image in my head of the song -- but what I play does not match.

    I have 12 (count'em) videos of this tune (not counting the total screw-ups) on the hard drive and they all seemed OK while recording,--- but each time the playback sounds like -- oh I don't know --- something else!

    Anyway I found a fiddle version in midi format about an 15 minutes ago and I think this time I'm going to get a lot closer.

    But what I like about this group is it gets you to get out of the routine box and onto learning something else because you have a reason to do it.
  41. Sore Ears
    Sore Ears
    Bernie, I'll take your throwaway versions any day.
  42. Mike Romkey
    Mike Romkey
    Better late than never. Trouble with the wireless here on vacation. This is Big Sciota after several cocktails with some help from my friend, Tom, and son, Matt.

  43. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Mike, that was wonderful! Your son looked like he was having fun.... Tom looked like he was dazed and confused

    I guess you're in Colorado... hope the bad weather has passed you... here in middle Iowa, we're getting hammered! Just had about a minute of larger than marble hail (we're praying the crops weren't ruined) and an inch of rain in about 30 mintues! Glad it stopped raining! But, the forecast for today and tonight is more of the same!
  44. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    That was great! How cool that your son plays the mandolin too!
  45. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Looks to me like they're getting hammered in Telluride too

    Good pickin, boys!
  46. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Very very cool! What are you guys looking at on the video?

    Also I have no mandolin within a mile of me here at work (and I should not even be looking at the Mandolin Cafe during the work day I guess -- but so what I'm retiring in a few months). I was wondering what key you were playing it in -- are you in G?

    Great picking!
  47. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Barbara: "Just had about a minute of larger than marble hail (we're praying the crops weren't ruined) and an inch of rain in about 30 mintues! Glad it stopped raining! But, the forecast for today and tonight is more of the same!"

    Yikes! We tend to get it here in Ohio after you folks -- I really get concerned about the hail as that often is associated with a cold front leading to a wall cloud and a tornado!
  48. Eddie Sheehy
    I'm jumping in here... Where's the link to the notation?
  49. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Bernie, yes, it was eerie this morning.... out to the northeast, a rapidly approaching shelf cloud, I was driving back out to our farmhouse after running into the little town we live near... got caught in the rain, and the hail started right after I got into the house! It is tornado season, and the crazy climate we are having, is just right for those suckers to spawn! We were in the 60's 2 days ago, and near 90's yesterday & today!
  50. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Hey Eddie, are you back from Zouk Fest? How was it, huh, huh, huh???

    The first message in this discussion has a link another discussion that has a link to the TabEdit files on Mandozine, and one posting of notation right in the discussion. Can you access that?

    We've been missing you!
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