Contra Dance Tomorrow Night

I'm playing the Indy Contra Dance tomorrow night with Vicki Stohl and Chuck Wuthrich. Vicki plays piano, foot percussion, and The Cup; Chuck plays bass. I'm on clawhammer banjo. Not a classic old-time lineup, string band lineup, or contra band lineup, but I think we sound pretty good, especially with Vicki's musicianship pulling us along. Collectively, we are the HoosierTones (notice-one word, capital H capital T - I think it looks cool!) and we are gonna to bring it for the dancers tomorrow. A few surprises await, so come on out and discover them. Also, The Cup has apparently gotten some wider recognition lately due to a video from a movie called Pitch Perfect. I have only seen the below video - Vicki says it's something every percussion major - such as herself - is intimately familiar with. Anyway, Vicki rocks the cup. We are anticipating some slight logistical issues from micing it, along with her feet and the piano, but we should have them worked out by dance time!

Weekend Jam - Back to a Busy Week

Light blogging this week, due to work (boo!). Went to a jam at Lee Mysliwiec's in Bloomington this past weekend. It was great! So great, in fact, that I didn't take any pictures, vids, or audio, so I have nothing to post other than words. Not the best strategy for a blog about the banjo! Oh well, I'll try to gin up some more content this week. Now, back to arguing about insurance.

Learning by Ear v. Learning by Book

Is this the best way?

I'm in a contra dance band with my friends Vicki and Chuck. Last night Vicki and I were working up tunes to play for the next dance, and we settled on St. Ann's Reel. Vicki is a supremely talented multi-instrumentalist. A percussion major in college, she's also a mean piano picker. She went to town on piano on St. Ann's Reel, changing up the rhythm, really making it come alive. I, on the other hand, just plodded along, playing this tune the way I learned out of Dan Levenson's book. My playing bored me. I could hear the places where adding some syncopation would have really added to the experience, but I couldn't just syncopate on the fly. So over the next few nights, I'm going to have to play around with the tune, and change it up.

I learned this tune out of a book several years ago. I haven't played it much since then, and so I basically only know it as I learned it. But still, I've played it, it's a tune I can call up without any difficulty. And yet I can only play it basically one way. This raised a question in my mind. Would I be more flexible in my playing if I'd learned it by ear instead of out of that book? I'm not sure either way. I've probably learned more of the tunes I can really play out of books, in part because until fairly recently I didn't have a good enough ear to really learn a tune that way. Now, when I learn tunes by ear, I'm constantly playing around with them until I get them right, and sometimes when I don't get them exactly "right" I end up doing something I like better. On the other hand, I still usually end up playing a tune in pretty much the same way over and over again, unless it's a tune that I either play so much that I really develop a feel for ways to change it up, or it's a tune I'm playing for a dance and I really don't want to play the same thing for five minutes, either in practice or in the dance.

Ultimately, I think learning by ear is more fun and challenges me more, but in the end I don't think it makes a huge difference. Once you learn and play a tune, you pretty much make it your own, no matter how you learned it. Still, I do wonder what kind of lingering impact that initial learning experience has...

Syncopation II

Here's Cathy Moore's You Tube video on adding "drive" to your playing. Good stuff! 

Double Concert Review!

It's been a busy weekend. I actually made it to two concerts! On Thursday I saw Scott Miller and Rayna Gellert. As I said, I used to see Scott Miller back in Knoxville in the early 90s playing in bars. He's no longer a full-time musician (which I believe he was for a while), dividing his time between music and cattle-raising. The venue was the Hard Rock Cafe (of all places!) which charged us $10 to get in the door. Apparently, this wasn't enough for a decent seat, though. The hostess asked us if we'd like to eat (it was shortly before 8), and we said no, we're here for some drinks and the show. So it's not like we weren't going to spend any money, we just didn't intend to spend it on food. "OK," she said, "well, we want to reserve the tables for diners, so you can sit at the bar." Fine, we thought. Only the bar turned out to have a view of the performers' butts! Hard Rock needs to decide if they want to be a restaurant or a concert venue. This kinda-sorta-both did not make me want to return.

The opening act was forgettable, so much so I can't remember their names. Scott and Rayna were great, if a little down. His music was kind of novelty-act-style when I saw him 20 years ago ("Sweet Home Ft. Sanders" sung to the tune of "Sweet Home Alabama"), but his more 'serious' stuff is, from what I heard, more of the cry-in-your-beer kind of thing. But a good show nonetheless, him on guitar and vocals, back up by Rayna on the fiddle.

The second show I saw was a benefit for Jude Odell, the best banjo player in Indiana! Unfortunately, she just got diagnosed with colon cancer, so some folks threw a benefit concert to raise money for her treatment. Many bands played, but the highlight for me was her in a trio with a guitarist and harmonica player. They played "Hot Tamales" - and did a nice, rollicking rendition. She played a Memphis Minnie song, and accompanied herself on a tenor guitar which she tunes like a banjo in G. That trio had a great, old-timey sound that was a lot of fun to hear.

A digression about Jude. She's a great banjo player - seriously the best clawhammer player in Indiana, hands down. But it can be hard to jam with her, because she's also a great talker! You play a tune, and then talk for two! But she's a great conversationalist as well, so you have a good time either way! Get better, Jude, I want to spy on your playing for years to come! Here's Jude and her band at the show:

Syncopation

I've been listening to the "jukebox" on Banjo Hangout for the last day at work. It's great, because most of the tracks are strictly instrumental, and the few that aren't you can just skip. Also, while quality can be a bit uneven, of both recording and ability, it's generally pretty good, and is often excellent. I highly recommend it. One thing I've noticed is that there are several players who play perfectly proficiently - they hit all the right notes - but they just don't grab me. Their playing is good, but boring. I think the problem is that they don't syncopate. They play every note ON THE BEAT, and it's just...boring. A few people syncopate too much, and that gets irritating, but it isn't boring.

I'm going to have to record myself playing more tunes, and make sure I syncopate enough. Cathy Moore, on her You Tube channel, has a video about putting "drive" in your banjo playing. I'll link to that later, when I have time to look for it. She discusses this issue, but I hadn't been able to really hear the difference until listening to so many user-uploaded files on banjo hangout. Now I just want to get the hell out of this office and make sure I'm not putting people to sleep with on-the-nose playing! Oh well...

I Haven't Heard That One Before

The Indianapolis Star (the local paper here) has a slideshow of the top five live shows this week. The first show on the list is "An Evening of Bluegrass," which the reporter begins by describing thusly:

Yes, it's true: there's more to bluegrass than the dueling banjo scene from "Deliverance."

Really? Who knew? Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of a good banjo joke, but jeez, that one's so old it's turned to dust. They've been making t-shirts that say "paddle faster, I hear banjos" for at least the better part of a decade. Since you're being paid to write things, try coming up with something fresh, you know, without mold.

The rest of the piece demonstrates a level of sophistication that makes me think it's taken straight from the press release, while the above was tacked on by someone looking for some yucks:

Today, the classic American genre is vast and varied, with traditionalists carrying the torch while newer, innovative acts like Yonder Mountain String Band push 'jamgrass' into the future. An Evening of Bluegrass at Deluxe brings together some of the best voices and pickers in bluegrass today, featuring Noam Pikelny will be among the featured performers for An Evening of Bluegrass at Deluxe in the Old National Centre. (pictured here), Bryan Sutton, Ronnie McCoury, Luke Bulla and Barry Bales. If those names aren't familiar, check their resumes: they're members of Alison Krauss & Union Station, The Punch Brothers, The Del McCoury Band and others. See classic Americana done right.

Rayna Gellert in Indianapolis Thursday.

Rayna Gellert is going to be playing in Indianapolis on Thursday, April 4. I say Rayna Gellert, but the show is headlined by Scott Miller (who I used to see play in Knoxville when I was in high school!). Actually, the venue doesn't even mention Rayna, just Scott Miller and some opening bands, but she says she's playing here. And that venue, if you haven't clicked the link yet, is the Hard Rock Cafe. I haven't been to one of those since I was in middle school. But I'm going on Thursday - it's only $10, and there might be some old-time music happening. Or at least something close. And even if there isn't, Scott Miller was awesome back in 1993, so hopefully some of the magic has lasted. I'll report back after the show...

Book Review - The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy, by Bob Carlin

This is one of those books I'm glad I read, but wouldn't recommend. It's got some interesting information, but is deadly dull. The author is Bob Carlin, best known (to me at any rate) as a banjo player, instructor, and performer. Before I go on, I should also say that he is an amazing banjo player! I listen to his music every single day (though only the instrumental tunes - I find his voice not to my taste). He does a medley of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood with Waiting for Nancy that is absolutely great. His playing with other musicians is understated and perfect, letting the fiddle shine while pushing the sound forward. But as a historian, he has too much in common with someone making a grocery list.

Joel Walker Sweeney was a white man from Appomattox County, Virginia who, in the 1830s, brought the banjo (formerly an exclusively folk instrument played mostly by blacks and perhaps a few southern whites) onto the American stage. He didn't invent the instrument, and he probably did nothing to technically innovate its construction, but he did introduce it to the world. He did so by blacking his face with burnt cork and ham grease and pretending to be a black man. There is a LOT to say about the phenomenon of blackface minstrelsy, and many historians have done so. Carlin says almost nothing. We get little analysis regarding why white Americans - and people in Britain and Australia - thought it was a good idea to black up and play Negroes for broad humor. Instead, we get excruciating detail regarding Joe Sweeney's itinerary; the cities he played in, the theaters and their addresses, what the newspapers said about his shows, the night he took his "benefit" (apparently the night upon which he got all the gate receipts).

In Carlin's defense, Joe Sweeney died in 1860 at only fifty years of age, and before anyone thought it worthwhile to ask him about his life. He left few documents - such as letters, diaries, etc. - that would give historians a window into his mind. So all Carlin had to go on for Sweeney specifically were those newspaper accounts and handbills for shows. But the result is deadly dull, and left me unsatisfied as to how and why this whole blackface minstrelsy thing got started.

The one good chapter in the book discusses Sweeney and the "invention" of the five-string banjo. For a long time, those who wanted to claim the banjo as an "American" - read, white - instrument claimed that Sweeney took a crude slave instrument, and added the short fifth, or drone, string. This claim is patently false. There are numerous African ancestors/cousins of the banjo that have drone strings (often more than one), and the idea that an Anglo-American would take a folk instrument and add a drone string - which is almost unheard of in other Anglo-American musical instruments - makes no sense. Carlin discusses this, as well as the likely construction of Sweeney's banjos, who might have made them (probably not Sweeney) and the construction and sale of banjos before and after Sweeney popularized the instrument. It's a great chapter. If you get the book, skip the rest and read that one only.

June Apple

June Apple, dedicated to Cheryl Gibson of Lowell, Indiana. The last time she and her husband Joe graciously hosted a jam at their home, she requested that I play this. So now you can listen anytime you want to, Cheryl!

Not much to say about this tune. You've heard it, but it's a good one. I like these myxolidian tunes that go from A to G (or G to F). Sort of minorish, without actually being fully minor and down-bringing.

Avalon Quickstep

Here's You Tube user "Fukuda Banjo," from Japan, doing an excellent, steady rendition of one of my favorite tunes. Such a crisp sound and a nice tempo. I usually play it faster, but enjoy the slowdown here.

Does anyone know of a dance that could be called to this tune? I play contra dances here in Indy, and think this would be a great tune to dance to, with the low beginning to the A part. But whenever the band gets together, we immediately jettison any tune that isn't 64 beats. I'd love to find dances that work with these off-kilter tunes. Would a square dance work? I'm not sure how those are supposed to be timed, but understand that they don't require the precision of a contra.

Pretty Little Pink

Here's me, playing Pretty Little Pink! (after some yammering). I've just started holding my banjo in the middle of my lap. For all the 13-odd years I've been playing, I've held it off to my right, almost over my right hip, because it felt awkward to center it. But for some reason, though it still feels awkward, I make fewer mistakes, and get a crisper tone when I hold it in the center of my body.

My Banjo - A Gold Tone BC-350

So this is a picture of my banjo, a Gold Tone BC-350. The BC is for Bob Carlin. It's got a great, full sound (which is a polite way of saying it's kinda loud). The pot's on the bigger side, I believe it's 11 inches (I can't find a tape measure, otherwise I'd make sure). Its sound qualities are its best qualities, but there are some slightly annoying aspects to it. For one, the first string is too close to the edge of the fingerboard, which you can see pretty well in this picture. The groove in the nut for this string is right up next to the edge, as you can see below.

That makes it far too easy to pull that string off the fingerboard entirely, which does not make for a good sound! The action is also a bit too high when you go up the neck. That may be able to be fixed - I need to take it to a shop. But this is my only banjo. If I take it in, I'll be forced to fart around on the mandolin that I play atrociously. So I haven't taken it in.

The only other issue I've had is that I get a lot of overtones if I don't make a real effort to dampen the strings. I used to just keep a piece of felt under the strings right at the tailpiece (in addition to the bandana in the back), but I was still getting tones, so I eventually wrapped that piece of cloth around the strings below the bridge. It looks wierd, but it gives me the sound I want! You may notice something shiny on the left side of the pot - that's packing tape. I have nickle poisoning. If I play in short sleeves for any length of time, my skin breaks out in a rash where it touches the metal. So I've covered the metal in packing tape. Problem solved!

Welcom to The Frailer!

I Intend this blog to be about all things clawhammer banjo. I was rooting around on the internet a while back, looking to read something of, by, and for clawhammer banjo players, and I just wasn't finding what I was looking for. So, being blessed with an abundance of free time (as if!) I decided to just create what I was looking for. I plan on posting pics, videos, and maybe some audio files (can you do that? surely!) of interest to clawhammer banjo players. I should be posting an inaugural you tube video of my playing "Pretty Little Pink" in about half an hour (e.t.a. on the super-slow upload I'm apparently destined to endure). 

I've been playing off and on for about 13 years, though as somebody said to me once about playing a musical instrument, it's not the years, it's the hours. Some of those years I've put in a lot of banjo hours, some hardly any, but lately I've been getting in as many as I can. I am by no means an expert, and don't hold myself out as one. I'm probably a journeyman banjo player, but I want to connect with others of all skill levels. I'd love to post pics, vids, and links that people send me, so feel free to do so. 

As I say in the video that will eventually be posted, I named this "The Frailer" because both clawhammer.com and banjo blog were already taken. I'm much more likely to say "clawhammer" than "frailing," but you take what you can get when picking through the crumbs of the cyber table.