New digital collection

[Jim Dalton]

Hi all,

 

It's been a while since I've been here. Can we say overextended?

Anyway, a librarian friend alerted me to this new digital resource for early banjo tutors and I wanted to be sure to let you all know about it asap. If someone else has already posted about it, I apologize for the redundancy. 

 

http://elib.hamilton.edu/hc/hc-main.php?id=col_spe-ban&c=spe_ban

[Nicholas A Bechtel]

I'm kinda new to the this forum. This is the first time I have seen anything about this. I will explore it more. Looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

NB 

[Tim Twiss]

Thanks for the link and making us aware. I had not seen the Converse 1893. It seems to address only the fingerstyle, and is listed as his final publication.

Also, I had never seen the cover to the Buckley 1868...it's a lot like Briggs'. Also, it includes instruction to use both styles of play, and uses the basic Rice approach for Stroke style play. When I got mine from Brown, I omitted the instruction and cover and got only the music.  

[Tim Twiss]

Anybody printed from this site yet? I'll take some tips.

[Tim Twiss]

Okay...getting somewhere now. Turn menu "on". Let's try a few of these Converse 1893. Good stuff around page 41 and later.

[Joel Hooks]

Yes, and the copies are lousy and sometimes unreadable.

 

You can print individual pages that look nice, but I like to print out  the entire book double sided and bind it.  That way I can take banjo in hand and find a tree to sit under and play with it.

 

Left hand corner under document "options" choose "complete print version" then hit go.  You get a really grainy low res PDF.

 

I sent the director an email asking for better files.

[Tim Twiss]

Lot's of repetative themes from earlier days. I wonder why....possibly being a bit more refined with some...or maybe he was just burnt out and re-using what he had? I'll play some, post the JPEG, and we can discuss some of the "roots" of the tune and how it was either refined, or watered down...or just altered enough to become a new tune. I am grateful just to see this stuff...it's good enough to extract music from the page.

[Tim Twiss]

You can print individual pages that look nice, but I like to print out  the entire book double sided and bind it.  That way I can take banjo in hand and find a tree to sit under and play with it.

 

Joel - You surprise me with that statement! AMB pg. 11. 35.

[Tim Twiss]

Okay, so compare "Albany Polka" (Banjo Made Easy page 57) to "Leavitt's Polka" (Buckley 1860 page 34).  The new one is way more playable, and it doesn't really lose anything.. 

[Joel Hooks]

I always carry one of these over my shoulder.

[Joel Hooks]

Well, not always, just when I'm a gonna go where there aint a bench.

[Joel Hooks]

And that is just to "play" with the book.  If I find something I want to work up, it's to the metronome and music stand.

[Ed Womack]

Very nice link - it also includes the Gumbo Chaff "Complete Preceptor for the Banjo" mentioned in the Weindlich anthology. I've never seen this anywhere (though maybe I haven't looked in the right places).