Banjo ensembles...

[Trapdoor2]

Dangerously, I've been thinking again.

 

When early banjo players got together to play, how did they do it? Did they all play the same notes at the same time (a la OT clawhammer banjo jams) or did they assign parts to each player (a la Classic Banjo)?

 

I figure everybody plays "Briggs Jig" (don't we all?). If we all get together at AEBG III, we can all hammer away at it and have a good time. However, if someone starts a bass/chord style backup pattern, is this going to create hate and discontent? We have period arrangements (for banjo) which provide backing for songs, can we assume similar arrangements were used for solos too?

 

When do we see the first published banjo-duets? I don't recall seeing any prior to the 1870's but I haven't looked at the books in a while either.

[Carl Anderton]

Good topic, Marc--surely period playing involved to use of chordal accompaniment from time to time. We see it in tunes in Briggs (Lulu is our Darling Pride, Wait For the Wagon) Buckley (The Glendy Burk, Dixie) and of course the green Converse 1865 has the most extensive chordal accompaniment instruction.

I don't think anyone will object to some of us providing chordal back-up. Perhaps we could even have a formal discussion or two about how we like to do it, and what we get out of the tutors that teach it.

[Ian Bell]

Even if not in the banjo books of the mid 19th century, the convention of banging out chords under dance tunes certainly existed in that era. Fiddle music collections like the Simon Fraser Collection (1816) show a simple (on the beat) chordal accompaniment, probably intended for piano. I've always wondered when the offbeat "ching" appeared in in the "boom-ching". I've always assumed it was an African thing, but it sure got quickly sucked into everyone else's music too. There are early 20th century recordings of Scottish pipes and drums where the drummers are playing a figure you could only call "Bo Diddley" Where did that come from?

Carl Anderton said:

Good topic, Marc--surely period playing involved to use of chordal accompaniment from time to time. We see it in tunes in Briggs (Lulu is our Darling Pride, Wait For the Wagon) Buckley (The Glendy Burk, Dixie) and of course the green Converse 1865 has the most extensive chordal accompaniment instruction.

I don't think anyone will object to some of us providing chordal back-up. Perhaps we could even have a formal discussion or two about how we like to do it, and what we get out of the tutors that teach it.