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Jeff Norman 
Weekly Blog on Clawhammer Banjo

Track 10 - Stripey Cat

4/16/2017

8 Comments

 
If you read last weeks post (here), you'll remember that I'm planning on spending the next 10 weeks or so recording an "album" one track at a time. This pursuit included some big plans that have already succumbed to reality : ).

First off, I planned on recording the tracks in the order that I wrote them, starting with "Cheese and Krackers"...however, I couldn't find my guitar capo so I decided to start with the only tune for which I wouldnt use one: "Stripey Cat," in G major (in contrast to my capo-free banjo playing I normally play D and A tunes, but not G tunes, with a capo on guitar). Secondly, I'd planned on 3 repeats per tune...but recording was taking a bit so I capped it after 2 repeats (one with solo banjo followed by one with guitar accompaniment). However, "done" is better than "perfect" and, other than a bit of lagginess in the second B part, I'm pretty happy with the results; without further ado, I give you "Stripey Cat:"
"Stripey Cat" - an original fiddle tune by Jeff Norman (me). Played twice through by me on my Buckeye tuned to gEADE; guitar accompaniment the second time through using a 12-fret Epiphone Masterbilt in standard guitar tuning sans capo. Tune and recording Copyright 2017 - Jeff Norman.
About the tune
I wrote this tune in honor of a friend's rambunctious little cat "Heathcliff" who stayed in my apartment for about a week while they were out of town. Correction: Heathcliff was supposed to stay with me for a week, but he was a little ball of energy and I was just too exhausted to keep up with his antics after about 3 days (also my cat Peekay was not thrilled with an intruder and started "marking her territory" in response...sigh). Thankfully, another friend volunteered to watch Heathcliff for the duration of the week and (with some dogged cleaning) Peekay's efforts fell short of depriving me of my security deposit when I moved out. 

This is the only tune I've ever written in what Adam Hurt calls "Sandy River Belle tuning" (gEADE); though it looks a lot like A modal, its meant to be treated as a non-open tuning for the key of G major. To use Sandy River Belle tuning, one plays melodies around chord shapes; this approach is akin to what Chet Atkins did on guitar. Speaking of guitar, this tuning should feel quite comfortable to guitarists since the 3 lowest pitched strings are tuned the same (though 1 octave higher) as those of a guitar in standard tuning. 

One interesting feature of "Stripey Cat" is that 1 beat of the A part (ignoring the lead in notes) starts on a phrase best backed by the IV chord (C major) of the key rather than the 1 chord (G major). I suppose you could therefore think of the A part as being in C Lydian rather than G Ionian (click here for my post on modes if you don't know what I'm talking about)...? This is certainly not unique, however - for instance, the B part of "Nail that Catfish..." starts on the IV chord. The B part of "Stripey Cat" starts on the relative minor chord (E minor) and, like many of my tunes, employs some "big brushes" (post on this technique here). There is a 3 note sequence repeated twice between each big brush that you can sing the title to if you're feeling goofy ("stripe-y cat, stripe-y cat") in the B part as well.

I think of the tune as going AAB (with a B part thats quite long); I suppose you could play it AABB as well, but that means that most of your time is spent on the B part - I do think it would be neat to double up on the B part the last time through (but I didn't do that on the above recording). This isn't the most interesting fiddle tune I've written, but I do think its pretty catchy! I've never played this one with a fiddler, but I'd love to hear what a fiddle could do with it one day!

​Copyright stuff
You'll notice that I have a copyright statement below the tune. I asked the good folks over at Banjohangout what was necessary for copyrighting a tune (you can find that discussion here) and they pointed out that simply putting a creative work into "tangible form" was enough to claim copyright on it. Someone else mentioned that I should write that copyright statement in association with each tune as well...so I did. Apparently I can register a copyright for ~$35 but I don't see these tunes as a road to riches so I guess the "tangible form" argument is good enough for me. I'd encourage anyone reading this to take these tunes to jams and festivals if you like them; if you'd like to record one of these tunes for commercial purposes I'm likely all for that too but please contact me before doing so.
8 Comments
Geoff
4/22/2017 03:18:32 pm

Lovely start to the project Jeff. A catchy little number!

Reply
Geoff
4/23/2017 01:58:59 am

Ps - I'd like to hear your original plan of 3 repeats. With even an unaccompanied coda to close?

Where would your Buckeye be if 'done' really was better than 'perfect'??
G

Reply
Jeff N link
4/23/2017 12:29:53 pm

Hey Geoff - great to hear from you and I'm glad you liked the tune!

While I was, in general, hoping to do an "anything goes" take on the 3rd repeat...its just a lot of effort and I'm swamped in my "real job" at the moment. I guess I've let this project evolve a bit - rather than making recordings that are primarily for listening pleasure (which I'd still like to do) I'm thinking of these kind of like source recordings for each tune - if anybody wanted to learn the core of any of these tunes, this is where they could find it.

As for Stripey Cat in particular - I've got a couple fun variations on both the A and B parts...I was also thinking of adding some surprise piano in there, which would either come out pretty great or super cheesy (not sure theres an in-between).

As for the Buckeye - we'll you've definitely got me there : ) We're lucky that Greg is a perfectionist and doesnt ascribe to the "done is better than perfect" viewpoint. You've kinda got me feeling guilty that I'm not striving for perfection in recording his fantastic banjo...when I finally get around to making a "real album" of these tunes I wont be so willing to settle!

Geoff
4/23/2017 01:37:03 pm

Yes, sorry it was a low blow re Greg and Buckeye!
Real jobs are a real pain (I seem to remember.) Happy to listen to these tracks anyway while waiting for the real album.
G

Reply
Stew Ellis
4/25/2017 12:06:56 pm

Nice start to the project! The banjo work I expect, but the guitar backup was just right.

I can't help it though...
When I hear a tune is called S*****y Cat my mind is dragged in an irreverent direction. Stripey Cat is really a whole lot better than Smelly Cat. :-)

While on the topic of cat piss and things being cheesy, have you ever seen that episode of "South Park" about cat urine?
:-)

Reply
Geoff
4/26/2017 01:25:27 am

Dammit I was trying so hard not to think of Sm**ly Cat...

Reply
Emily
4/26/2017 02:32:24 pm

I like this one!

Reply
Jeff N link
5/3/2017 12:35:05 pm

Thanks Emily! And (...assuming this is the Emily I think it is...) I'd love to hear what you do with it on fiddle!

Reply



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