Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

So I sub-divided the book into 3 parts to make each volume a reasonable size. ( appr. 38 tunes each ). This is the start of the second part, beginning on page 25 with Raccoon Jig, and Corn-husking Jig. I've done them both a lot before, but as usual....under close scrutiny, flaws pop up that need fixing. Got 2 pretty good takes, using the Bell Boucher for this leg of the trip. The interpretation of the dotted rhythm is a bit of a beautiful mystery to me yet...

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Comment by Strumelia on November 22, 2012 at 6:26pm

Ok .....duh.   lol   Thanks!

For the benefit of nincompoops like myself, perhaps you could consider including the link pointer in the beginning of any blog post/thread you post that refers to recordings located elsewhere?

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 22, 2012 at 7:06pm

Added Marsellaise Hymn and Leavit's Polka. I certainly think I am wading through a fretted swamp here. Gotta not take some of these too seriously...I mean the French National Anthem on a banjo...c'mon now. It is just a humble little plucky instrument, but what the heck. It is in the path, so I'll play it my best. I really do think these were intended for a fretted banjo (my disclaimer for slop..ha ha)

 

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 22, 2012 at 9:03pm

Okay, last ones for the day. I'm off for Brighton proved to be a wonderful find. It even has  "Briggs' Corn Shucking Jig" brush chords in it. Very melodic and easy to play. Then came Rail Road Polka. I play this one in Stroke style until the end with that big ascending arpeggio and repeated single notes. I switch to finger style, and play the repeated notes on adjacent strings.

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 23, 2012 at 8:18am

11/23/12 Added James  Buckley's Fancy Solo and The Tycoon Jig. If you have not tried or listened to Buckley's fancy Solo, I recommend it. It has a really pretty B section...very flowing and almost Bach-like. Tycoon Jig...you will recognize this. It is Jig from French Quadrilles, Lions Jig....maybe another. Anyway, this theme is revisited over and over.

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 23, 2012 at 8:18am

11/23/12 Added James  Buckley's Fancy Solo and The Tycoon Jig. If you have not tried or listened to Buckley's fancy Solo, I recommend it. It has a really pretty B section...very flowing and almost Bach-like. Tycoon Jig...you will recognize this. It is Jig from French Quadrilles, Lions Jig....maybe another. Anyway, this theme is revisited over and over.

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 23, 2012 at 8:43am

Add Dan Bryant's Waltz. This is one I would keep in the repertoire. It fits in with fingerstyle tunes like Les Sylphedise and is not difficult. I'll be thinking a bit about this next one...Picayune Butler's Harmonic Jig. Indications are not clear about playing the harmonics....and retuning the string. hmmm

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 24, 2012 at 9:34am

11/24/12 Okay, i have to skip over Harmonic Jig for now. It needs further study. Not that I can't play it, I just am not sure what to do. So, moving on to Original Essence credited to Dan Bryant. It is the first one with no thumb string indications, and also openly says it is for violin. The key signature has 2 sharps....making one think that perhaps it is in "Briggs' tuning". I chose to use the Rice thought, and place the thumb string as "E". Since dan Bryant and Dan Emmett worked together, it is worth mention that this has some "Whole Hog" riffs in it.

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 24, 2012 at 11:06am

Strawberry Girl...page 39. I remember this one bugging me as being a stange tune. I still think so. Perhaps I hear a little more in it this time, but my modern ears just don't quite grok it all yet. As far as I can tell, I extracted the notes from the page, and did not see any reason to change anything...but I thought about a G natural in M6.

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 24, 2012 at 11:30am

Couple more...Ninth Avenue Jig by Professor Price. Anybody got anything on this guy?

Then Land of Canaan. I like this one a lot, but then ask myself...would I like it as much if I had not heard repeated listenings of the Cane brake Minstrels?

Comment by Tim Twiss on November 24, 2012 at 2:51pm

2 more....Deacon Buckley's Jig and Buckley's Copenhagen Reel. I did not really recall these. There is a couple of funky grace notes in there....I found a way. Wanna know the secret?...ha ha. The second one. Copenhagen, is of a style I really like. It has these running eighth notes with this balnced Bach-like lines. Some fiddle piece, I'm sure. I'll look deeper sometime.

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