I know there are several x-over pipers here, from the GHP. I thought you might be interested in this.
I saw a black guy on PBS (or similar TV station) the other night, performing at Carnegie Hall, and he went to the piano keyboard to demonstrate to the audience that most all “Negro Spirituals” were written in a different scale…all on the “black” keys , and not to the “do re mi fa so la ti do” European scale.
He then demonstrated several spirituals and how they all could be played on the black keys of the piano, including Amazing Grace. He had done research on the song, including the Library of Congress, to find that the author only wrote the words, and was captain of a slave trader ship, and had gotten the melody from listening to the wailing coming up from the bottom of the ship.
When I listened to the runs on the black keys, it did remind me of the Kalimba (thumb harp, or thumb piano) of Africa.
I tried to find the info on the internet but could only find this link…
http://www.nazcompassion.org/lifeeducation/complife2003/vol3iss2feb_strike.html
“Whintley Phipps groaned through “Amazing Grace” as though from the bowels of a slave ship, reminding us of the pathos and hope that shines through the bleakness of human injustice. It’s the black keys of the piano that form the mellow music of the negro spirituals, and this classic tune transcribed later by converted slave trader John Newton recalls this haunting melody born in the souls of the desperate.”
The black keys produce a pentatonic (five-note) scale, which is not peculiar to negro spirituals but is the basis of many systems of music around the world, and crops up frequently in the folk music of the British Isles. There are dozens of tunes in the ITM repertoire that are either purely pentatonic or slightly modified pentatonic - there was a thread listing them in the ITM forum some time ago.
That sentiment was echoed in Bill Moyers’s PBS thing on Amazing Grace from the mid-90s. When he was interviewing Jessye Norman, I think it was, she said something about the slave melody thing. He said, “Well, we know it isn’t a slave melody, but rather an Anglo folk tune.”
She said something like, “Yes, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were?”
Wacky. I think that maybe the earliest record of the tune is in that old hymnal, Virginia Something-or-other from the mid-19th century in which it’s called “New Britain.”
I don’t know. It’s kind of like saying the Egyptians were black (or sub-Saharan Africans).
Played a funeral for a Liberian emegrant a few months ago. Played AG at the grave side. All of the mourners broke into song right after. Quite moveing.
I used to love the tune. Used to. I’ll admit it sounds best on pipes. Now I’m to the point where I give a $10.00 discount on a gig if the person hiring me requests that it not be played. I’ve heard from my teacher that most pipers didn’t even play it until a recording in the early 70’s swept the pop charts. I must have played it 20 times on St. Paddy’s day. People think they’re doing you a favor by requesting something that pipers know. It’s the piping equivalent of the pornographic “money shot”. I just don’t want to play it anymore.
Marc
Sort of like “Freebird” or “Stairway to Heaven” for guitarists, and “Danny Boy” to vocalists. Whenever I would get a request for “Freebird”, I used to smile really big, flip the bird in the general direction of the request and politely say: “No charge.” It seems to have actually increased all requests for “Freebird” rather than putting an end to them. :roll: Ah, life’s little nuisances, where would we be without them. I don’t mind any of the above tunes, in fact I wish I knew how to play “stairway”, and “Danny Boy” netted me a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, tip many years ago while playing at Kitty O’Shea’s in Chicago. It sort of hit home to me that, no matter how tired I may be of hearing or playing a tune, they can be quite profitable and are worth the effort. One can always drown out their memory later with the proceeds procured from their playing. “Amazing Grace” has herculean profit potential and has provided me with handsome tips as well.
Yup. That’s when the twenty dollar bills find their way into the tip can. Och! The whoooores we can be!
Marc
P.S. I love the “freebird” bit. I must remember that for the next wedding.
Don’t care who wrote it. A beautiful song. I would play it over and over as best as I can, no problem. Someones mother, Dad, brother, wife, passed away and the piper played Amazing Grace. I’m not going to ruin those memories. Give me a chance to play, give me that honor!
While in a Highland pipe band a few years’ ago, a couple of wiseguys in a bar on St. Patrick’s Day began shouting, “Stairway to Heaven” and doing the requisite waving of a cigarette lighter. They were shocked when I played a few bars of it during a break in the band’s tunes.
We also used to play “The Lumberjack Song” just to break the monotony of the endless renditions of ‘Grace’ and ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’.
The amazing thing is that some folks have come to believe those are Irish tunes.
I’d heard that story before about it being a slave song.
Ah yes, the Lumberjack song. Haven’t tried that one. But years ago I used to get myself into trouble by playing the themes to Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie and Star Wars on the GHB while marching in a supposedly traditional parade…quess I’ve never been big on some traditions.
OK - here’s the story about how I became remarkably infamous with ‘The Lumberjack Song’.
The Band was at the local Highland Fest, and on an adjacent field there was a scheduled rugby tournament. They’d asked us to come over at the end of the matches and play a few tunes as they did what ruggers do at that time of day - drink beer and enjoy the days’ events.
So there we were, in a fairly wide circle, between tunes, and the PM says, “Brian, you take the solo.” I understood this to mean, ‘Play whatever you like.’
What I hadn’t heard immediately prior to that instruction was that one of the ruggers had requested the usual - Amazing Grace. All I’d heard was the 'you do the solo".
So I did. I stepped (as was our custom) to the middle of the circle, fired them up, and launched into “Oh, I’m a lumberjack and I’m OKAY…”
The looks on the faces of my bandmates caused me great despair - the look on the faces of the ruggers caused me great fear!
Frantically, the PM is giving me the “CUT” signal, and so I dutifully stopped. He approaches me with a wry grin and then loudly proclaims, “That’s the oddest rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ that I’ve EVER heard!” The ruggers only stared, perplexed.
, and not to the “do re mi fa so la ti do” European scale.
It seems to have actually increased all requests for “Freebird” rather than putting an end to them. :roll: Ah, life’s little nuisances, where would we be without them. I don’t mind any of the above tunes, in fact I wish I knew how to play “stairway”, and “Danny Boy” netted me a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, tip many years ago while playing at Kitty O’Shea’s in Chicago. It sort of hit home to me that, no matter how tired I may be of hearing or playing a tune, they can be quite profitable and are worth the effort. One can always drown out their memory later with the proceeds procured from their playing. “Amazing Grace” has herculean profit potential and has provided me with handsome tips as well.
Gilligan’s Island – LOL