Inspiration Polka now in the library...

[Trapdoor2]

Hi gang,

Ian has uploaded some music I sent in: "Inspiration Polka" by E.M. Hall. Interesting tune, some odd tonalities in there. After working on some of the other pieces in his tutor, I think he was attracted to minor keys and a slightly skewed tonal palette. I hope you enjoy it. I'll post some of the other tunes from this tutor later.

A few weeks ago, I sent Joel Hooks some tutors to scan and upload to the 'net. The E.M. Hall method was published in 1890 by L.B. Gatcomb. Mr. Hall was one of the first generation of "Minstrels" in the US and gives us a link to some of the earliest banjo methods. This book contains a number of "banjo style" (now called "stroke style") pieces as well as a good number of "fingerstyle" pieces.

No different than any other tutor, it has a "tunes" section in the back. Some are easy, some are not. They're all in A-notation but it is fairly easy to convert it to C-notation.

I've provided the original dots, a set of C-notation dots and then TAB. In this case, I think the TAB is probably the best way to play it. It was originally in F, C and Bb (A-notation). When transposed to C-notation it drops to 4 flats, 3 flats and then 5 flats! Not sure I would like to read it in 5 flats...

Go here for the Hall method: https://archive.org/details/EMHallBanjoMethod You can download it from there in its entirety.