Appalachia in the Fall.
Big Sciota is an old time tune that you’ll sometimes hear at bluegrass sessions. A lot of musicians have recorded it over the years. I learned it many years ago from another banjo player. Neither of us knew what a Sciota was, nor were we aware of the difference between a big one and a small one.
Of course, there was no Google back then, so we really didn’t concern ourselves much with the history of the tune or where it came from. We were just happy to add a new tune to our arsenal called Big Sciota.
About a year later, I met a fiddle player that also knew the tune. And, she called it “Big Scioty”. Whether we called it Big Sciota or Big Scioty, it was the same tune.
The Tune
I’ve laid out a simple version here in the Key of G. So, there’s one sharp (F#).
If you start on the open G-string and play a two octave “G” scale, you’ll see all the notes used in this arrangement. In the B-part, we make a short trip into the 3rd octave to reach the A-note (5th fret) and B-note (7th fret) on the first string.
Each part is repeated twice, so it’s played A-A B-B
Listen to “Big Sciota” for mandolin:
Downloads:
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Big Sciota, Scioty or Scioto?
The tune is named after the Scioto River in west central Ohio. It flows in a southerly direction for just over 230 miles before it empties into the Ohio River at Portsmouth. The word “Scioto” was originally derived from a word in Wyandot, meaning “deer”. Wyandot is an Iroquoian language. Also, Wikipedia tells me that the English pronunciation is sy-OH-toh.
Probably passed on by word of mouth, I’m guessing the different endings depended on how that last syllable was heard (tuh, toh, teh). Apparently, the melody has Appalachian roots, and is sometimes pronounced there as “Scioty”.
The river is often “Big Scioto” (or Big Sciota, Scioty), because there is also a “Little Scioto”. It’s a tributary that flows into the bigger river before it reaches the Ohio.
Thanks for taking a look at Big Sciota arranged for mandolin. I hope you enjoy the tune.
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