The Early American Parlor Banjo

[Rob MacKillop]

Hi Folks,

 

I placed the following on the ning Classic Banjo site, but as much of it could also be played stroke style I thought I might place it here too.

 

On this page [url]http://www.classicbanjorm.com/parlor.htm[/url] you can download for free all the mp3 files from an edition currently under consideration by Mel Bay. They said it might take a few years before it sees the light of day, but they are happy for me to release a CD in the meantime.

 

I contemplated making a commercial disc, but as I am not active as a performer it would be a difficult sell. Besides, eventually the book will come with a CD of high-quality wav files. So I decided to place mp3 files on my site. If you like them, please follow the link provided on the page to politely urge Mel Bay to publish the book asap.

 

Most of the pieces can be played with either clawhammer or bluegrass techniques, but they come from a period of exploration of what was called 'guitar' technique. You can play them that way or adapt them to your own technique.

 

All the pieces are in Drop C tuning - gCGBD.

 

You can also read the introductory essay to the book, at least its current draft form. Please inform me of any changes you would like to see.

 

This is the first of a number of volumes, the second of which is near completion: The Early Irish-American Banjo.

All comments, discussion, constructive criticism welcome...

Rob MacKillop
www.ClassicBanjoRM.com

[Greg Adams]

Dear Rob,

This is a wonderful development, indeed. Congratulations on your initiative to begin highlighting these important details for wider audiences and readers. I hope that this community will be able to work through your materials as you request and offer feedback.

Keep us posted on your progress in getting this work published.

Best regards,
Greg

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Greg. Mel Bay have published two guitar books of mine and are publishing four ukulele books over the next two years, and asked for more material. I thought it would be an opportunity to get them to do some of the early banjo repertoire. They have almost nothing other than bluegrass and clawhammer, so they are a little hesitant. They said they are interested, though, so we shall see what develops.

[Greg Adams]

Rob,

I was able to skim your draft intro to this work. I like the sampling of pieces as well as the primary sources you reference. It's an interesting process to see how you are giving voice to the types of perspectives fingerstyle/downstroke players have been exploring for some time. It's also meaningful that Mel Bay recognizes this value. I'm really bogged down with grad school this semester, but if you haven't gone to press by the end of May, I would like to go through your work more carefully at that time (as you invited us to do in your original post). Ultimately, I think it's exciting that you are doing this.

Best regards,
Greg



Rob MacKillop said:

Thanks, Greg. Mel Bay have published two guitar books of mine and are publishing four ukulele books over the next two years, and asked for more material. I thought it would be an opportunity to get them to do some of the early banjo repertoire. They have almost nothing other than bluegrass and clawhammer, so they are a little hesitant. They said they are interested, though, so we shall see what develops.