Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

Finger style piece from the 1871 book "The banjoist" by Frank Converse.

Views: 100

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 2, 2012 at 8:16pm
I know fingerstyle, and fretted banjo, are slightly out of the scope of this group, but the act that it is from the ne Converse Book made it feel "okay". I think this borderline transitional material is interesting....certainly worth a look.
Comment by Ian Bell on August 3, 2012 at 6:47am
Great tune. It would be fun to hear that with some chords under it. What's the banjo? It seems to have a lot of punch.
Comment by Tim Twiss on August 3, 2012 at 6:51am

Yes, I think it needs accompaniment. I think I'll try that today. It is a Luscomb that I am time sharing. Just got it yesterday....and need to become reaquainted. This book is interesting...the division of the 2 styles,. This one just sucked on the fretless.  

Comment by Carl Anderton on August 3, 2012 at 8:21am

The Children of Haymon was an "epic poem" by Ludwig Bechstein, 1830.  There's almost nothing about it on the web, I guess it was pretty much forgotten.

Comment by Trapdoor2 on August 3, 2012 at 9:04am

Cool! Yah, the first part sounds a bit bare. Might do to add some common fingerstyle ornaments, etc...perhaps a bit of 'swing'. ;-)

Comment by Strumelia on August 3, 2012 at 12:02pm

You know, it reminds me very much of the old Spanish 'danzas' that they used to play a lot in the 'folklorica' dance troupes in Puerto Rico when I lived there.  There, they were played on guitars or cuatros, and accompanied with 'guiros'- long gourds with striations cut in them, rasped in rhythm with metal combs- a pretty sound, like a very crisp controlled rattle.  This makes me think that perhaps a nice tight tambourine using thumb rolls, or a bones player would sound good accompanying this.  Another possibility- maybe you could just do a full accent brush/roll on the strings at the end of certain phrases, to give a fuller chord effect without actually having to add a guitar.

Sounds pretty, in any case.  I wonder if it was influenced by some Spanish, Portugese or Italian type folk piece... has a certain flavor to my ear.  Was this book touching the very beginning of the tango craze?

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 3, 2012 at 2:42pm

For what its worth, I'm just playing the written page. Nothing added...nothing taken away.

Comment by Trapdoor2 on August 3, 2012 at 3:01pm

Which is appreciated, Tim. I think we were all affected by the sparcity and thus the comments on arrangements and variations, etc.

Haymon was a Tyrolean folk hero/biblical hero. Slew dragons, founded a monastery, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymon

Comment by Strumelia on August 3, 2012 at 3:09pm

So did Frank Converse actually compose this tune, or is that not made clear in the book?

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 3, 2012 at 3:39pm

No he did not.

Comment

You need to be a member of Minstrel Banjo to add comments!

Join Minstrel Banjo

About

John Masciale created this Ning Network.

© 2024   Created by John Masciale.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service