Q&A: Finding New Songs & Avoiding "Typewriter Banjo"
Added 2018-03-09 01:54:11 +0000 UTCNathan sent us a great multi-component question that I found quite challenging--especially the last part!
Digital Library of Appalachia: http://dla.acaweb.org/
Lomax Kentucky Recordings: http://lomaxky.omeka.net/
Field Recorders Collective: https://fieldrecorder.org/
Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/about-this-collection/
https://www.patreon.com/cliftonhicks
https://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com/
Comments
As I do more research, I'm really starting to see what you mean about revivalist pseudo-history. There were probably thousands of mostly undocumented idiosyncratic local styles at the level of individual families and towns. Folklorists collected some of these songs, but only after they were filtered through what they were looking for. Sound recording technology only became available after the peak of the banjo's popularity. If nothing else, it seems like whatever you do on the banjo, someone, at some point, on a farm somewhere, probably did something similar. So you might as well have fun with it.
Nathan Rosenquist
2018-03-13 04:06:02 +0000 UTCWell said!
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-12 04:06:35 +0000 UTCI'm still early on in my banjo journey but I came to old-time as someone who'd learned 3 other instruments the academic/classical way. I couldn't play hardly anything by ear at all and had been trying to learn banjo from a book. I was lucky enough to find a teacher that played a number of old-time & minstrel styles, and her teaching style basically forced me to start learning (and listening) in a different way. The first time we had a blind lesson (aka I couldn't watch her hands, only listen to figure out the song), it was like seeing the light! For me it's less about authenticity than about sheer limits - if I had kept the academic route I'd be missing a whole world out there of new ways of playing and listening.
Vanessa C
2018-03-12 03:05:33 +0000 UTCIf "authentic" = "of undisputed origin; genuine," then coming up with one's own original arrangement is mighty authentic--no matter how postmodern/oddball that arrangement is. Personally, I feel that the ideal expression of our traditional music comes from songs learned informally (i.e. "by ear") and in-person.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-10 08:36:26 +0000 UTCI don't think Patreon lets you add paragraphs (hitting enter submits the post), so apologies in advance for the wall of text. Thank you so much! This was a really great, and thoughtful response. I'm going to check out ALL of those resources. In retrospect, it does seem like the authenticity question is the hardest to answer, probably because it's a bit subjective. It's more like a spectrum of trade-offs, that probably have some clearly wrong answers, but not necessarily any right answers. For example, if the musicians 100+ years ago were coming up with their own arrangements, then what is more authentic? Playing it exactly the way that they played, or coming up with your own arrangement? However, it seems like it would be easy to take it too far the other direction and do something that was no longer recognizable at all. I get the sense that the folks playing this music a long time ago were innovators themselves, and all approached things differently from each other. George Gibson wrote a wonderful article that I think you posted recently about learning to play by emulation vs. imitation, that made a lot of sense. It seems that people have a natural tendency to try and pigeonhole music into smaller and smaller sub-genres (witness the endless Internet debates about banjo strumming styles, for example). I used to do sound for rock bands a long time ago, and the same sub-sub-genre disease had infected that world as well. For now, I've just been striving to get the basic tune of the song in my head, figure out the "map" of the song, and then try to make it my own.
Nathan Rosenquist
2018-03-10 01:04:21 +0000 UTCLouie, I actually sell a bunch of CDs and records in the UK (Well, OK not a "bunch") but there are a lot of banjo players on that Island.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-09 12:58:55 +0000 UTCClifftop, WV was about my favorite festival that I ever went to. Great atmosphere and great campsites. Attracts more people from outside so you get a great mix of music.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-09 12:57:48 +0000 UTCRay, it's a common issue as you know--but one that can be overcome. Tabs are fine for reference and sharing, but as I say, they are a dangerous tool for learning any form of "vernacular" music because, once it's been transcribed and re-transcribed and published and adopted by 90% of the old time scene, it is no longer "vernacular."
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-09 12:43:48 +0000 UTCThanks, Robert. I have been disqualified from every banjo contest I ever bothered to enter, two of these disqualified me for singing and one, believe it or not, disqualified me because the entire panel of judges agreed that my playing style was not "old time." WOW.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-09 12:33:46 +0000 UTCRight on, Patrick. The last thing I would ever want to do is speak down to someone else's music playing. I feel the same way about contemporary jazz or polka bands--it's all good but it's not all for me! And it's certainly not all "authentic..."
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-09 12:31:42 +0000 UTCGreat because i ain't got a clue how to read tabs. like learning by watching and by ear and adding my own bits, plus its more fun, was thinking about learning from books but after watching this don't think il bother.
louie goodwin
2018-03-09 05:30:52 +0000 UTCThey don't do any folk festivals in England unfortunately, learn most my stuff of YouTube, got a lesson nxt week though, need to make some new friends who play banjo hopefully. Great stuff
louie goodwin
2018-03-09 05:25:00 +0000 UTCThese are available in one way or another through LOC, Cultural Equity and elsewhere, but this archive allows you to sort them by KY county, for a good look at different styles: <a href="http://lomaxky.omeka.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://lomaxky.omeka.net/</a> Clif, what are your favorite festivals/the ones that have seemed most amenable to your style of playing?
Garrett
2018-03-09 05:04:02 +0000 UTCYep i tend to be typewriter player (never liked it but now i know what it's called) , learnt from online lessons and can only learn songs from tabs. I'm starting to get out of it and get some life into my playing, playing with others when i get the chance and learning to sing have both helped massivley. Do you have any suggestions on other things to try to brake the whole typwriter issue?
Ray Pewter
2018-03-09 03:53:25 +0000 UTCThanks for tackling such a broad group of musical topics. I know what you mean about a "typewriter" player. Everything is perfectly played, but there is no emotion or variety in their playing. As a long-time guitar player, I enjoy exploring new tunings and picking patterns to fit each new song. Clifton, I appreciate your candor. I have been run off from a few old time groups for not being "old-timey" enough. Keep your videos coming.
Robert T. Gibney
2018-03-09 03:48:17 +0000 UTCOn the subject of authenticity and typewriter banjo, I’m with Clifton, I am not downing them in any way, and have all the respect for anyone who learns an instrument in the way they want to learn it. But with that being said, when you learn from a book you see the music laid out in front of you note for note and that is how you play the song, and it sounds great that’s why it was originally put on paper. But if you sit down and learn a song by ear or memory you get a certain authenticity with it that is impossible to get from a piece of paper. You can make the song “your” song with your own little licks and add ins that you will not find in any other versions. It also makes you unique, and that is in my opinion the holy grail of playing any instrument. If you have something that sets you aside from the other artists, something that makes you stand out it will make you seem like the better musician and people will come from all around just to hear you play. Coming from a guitar background, this banjo is a breath of fresh air. I don’t have to worry about being like everyone else and hitting every note and sounding like everyone else. I can make my own style. But enough rambling I just thought I would carry on the conversation. Thanks
Patrick Campbell
2018-03-09 03:35:38 +0000 UTC
