Air on the G String on Classical Ukulele
In this video Jeff Peterson plays his performance of Air on the G String by J.S. Bach on classical ukulele.
Below we’ll talk about the title of this famous air, discuss some of its history, and offer you a link where you can purchase Jeff’s arrangement for classical ukulele.
Bach’s “Air” from Orchestral Suite No.3
The popular title of this piece is actually not the invention of J.S. Bach. Originally this music was titled “Air a Violin Conc.” and was the second movement of Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 (BWV 1068). This “air” (0r song) for violin concertante thus featured a solo instrument, the violin, with continuo. Likewise the original air was in the key of D Major.
Air on the G String
However, in 1871 the German violinist August Wilhelmj arranged the Air in the key of C Major so that the entire melody could be played in unison by violins on the G string. Wilhelmj’s arrangement popularized the piece and while most orchestras today perform the original version, Wilhelmj’s name for the air “on the G string” has stuck.
Air on the G String on Classical Ukulele
It’s remarkable how well this music fits on the four strings of the ukulele. If you’d like to play this timeless melody on your own ukulele, you can pick up Jeff’s arrangement here.
Beautiful I learned something new about the ukulele. Thank you.
I wonder if you could play this on a mandolin?
What is a classical ukulele? Is it a regular uke but used only for playing classical music? Or is it tuned in a non-standard form deemed more suitable for classical music? If it’s a regular uke, is it tuned with a low G or high G or does the G tuning change to suit the piece to be played?
It’s just referring to the genre — classical music arranged to be played on a ukulele. It would use standard ukulele G-C-E-A tuning. Since the ukulele’s tuning matches the guitar’s tuning for the top four strings, except a fourth higher for each string, guitar arrangements are suitable for ukulele except the need to adapt for the missing lower strings. The arrangements would indicate on the sheet music whether the piece is meant to be played on a high-G or low-G ukulele. Jeff’s arrangements are typically for low-G, but there are some arrangers who arrange classical music for high-G ukulele (see Samantha Muir’s arrangements).