All Pages - Classic-Banjo2024-03-29T15:23:52Zhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/?sort=mostRecent&feed=yes&xn_auth=noOriginal Recordingstag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2019-05-25:2667446:Page:1376712019-05-25T17:09:29.703Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div class="hidden" id="recordings" style="min-height: 800px;"><div class="cb_welcome" id="recordings_welcome"><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Welcome to the Classic-Banjo.Ning Collection Of</span> </span>Classic Style Banjo Recordings.</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;">This collection and database have been put together over many years from original records and cylinders. We have digitised tracks of live playing and…</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Welcome to the Classic-Banjo.Ning Collection Of</span> </span>Classic Style Banjo Recordings.</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;">This collection and database have been put together over many years from original records and cylinders. We have digitised tracks of live playing and included many noise reduced versions of poor quality originals. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Most of these are recordings are from cylinders and early records now over 100 years old, so be prepared to hear Classic Banjo as it was really played at the time, along with all the hiss, hum, clicks and pops too!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>ALL tracks are free to download and play when you wish.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>We believe that the tracks being made available are all in the Public Domain, but if you are a copyright holder, and wish for them to be removed,</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>please contact us with proof of copyright and we will be pleased to do so.</em></span></p>
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</div> Journals and Albumstag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2019-04-27:2667446:Page:1365622019-04-27T10:22:17.448Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div class="cb_welcome" id="journals_intro" style="text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: center;">On this new page I am working to create a resource of Banjo Journals and Music Albums. Some of these magazines are incredibly rare due to both their great age and to extreme crumbliness! Some of the very early ones may also have music supplements missing although most banjo scores are available from the site MUSIC LIBRARY, but the existing articles are quite fascinating.…</p>
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<div id="journals_intro" class="cb_welcome" style="text-align: center;">
<p style="text-align: center;">On this new page I am working to create a resource of Banjo Journals and Music Albums. Some of these magazines are incredibly rare due to both their great age and to extreme crumbliness! Some of the very early ones may also have music supplements missing although most banjo scores are available from the site MUSIC LIBRARY, but the existing articles are quite fascinating.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> If you enjoy reading these journals and have any other documents you would be prepared to loan or maybe send a scan, please email me here: thereallyniceman@yahoo.co.uk</p>
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</div> In Memoriamtag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2018-11-29:2667446:Page:1330942018-11-29T10:09:31.819ZDave Hollowayhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/DaveHolloway
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<p style="text-align: center;">John D. H. Field died at Ealing Hospital, west London, on the night of 8th August 2018. He was 74 and had been battling bone marrow cancer since the beginning of the year, suffering from aggressive…</p>
<p style="text-align: center; padding: 0 0 20px 0;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/byenRWWO2zc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">John D. H. Field died at Ealing Hospital, west London, on the night of 8th August 2018. He was 74 and had been battling bone marrow cancer since the beginning of the year, suffering from aggressive chemotherapy and weekly blood transfusions. He never married and leaves a sister, a niece and a nephew, to all of whom he was devoted.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">By profession, John was a chemical engineer, specializing in water quality, having studied in both London and Toronto, but his main interest throughout his life was music, and it was through his musical activities that he became best known. Equally at home on the banjo, tenor banjo, mandolin and fiddle, he was also catholic in his musical tastes and could play a variety of styles on all of them.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">John first came to general attention as part of an extremely influential group of instrumentalists who gave weekly lessons in the early 60's at Cecil Sharpe House in London, home of the English Folk Song and Dance Society. He held the banjo chair at a time when there was keen interest in learning the folk styles, particularly bluegrass. John was one of the few people in Britain who could play a presentable version of Scruggs-style banjo, and Cecil Sharpe House was a popular destination for a host of aspiring players. Jim Woodley (gtr.) and Bryan Oliver (mndln.) were also regulars and together the three of them became the resident bluegrass band.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In the March 1965 edition of the BMG magazine, Cyril Phillips, a classic banjoist who had been running a monthly column on the bluegrass style wrote: "The publication of this article should just about coincide with the issue by Decca of an LP entitled "Way Down Town" by the Malcolm Price Trio + 1. The " + 1" is a young bluegrass banjoist named John Field whom I had the pleasure of meeting when he paid a welcome visit to the Associated Banjo Circle recently. The meeting was one I had looked forward to for some time, because a few months previously my good friend Charles Bramley had secured some examples of John's playing played them over to me. And one did not need to be a bluegrass enthusiast to realise immediately that here was one of those rare people with markedly developed musical talent and a vital natural flair for the five-string banjo."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"Meeting John Field in person and hearing him play fully confirmed the enthusiasm I had felt on first hearing those few snatches of music on the tape recorder. As I had suspected, John was no stranger to music, having had ten years' classical piano training before taking up the banjo 3 years ago. Although only 21 years old, he is a mine of information on bluegrass techniques and styles; has visited the United States to see and hear many of the finest American performers and has, I am bound to admit, provided me - as a result of one meeting and two letters – with more general and technical information about bluegrass playing than I have succeeded in obtaining from any other single source since I plunged into the subject last July."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"John tells me be first heard the 5- string banjo played in the Seeger manner by Winston Young on the B.B.C.T.V. programme "Tonight" and heard his first Earl Scruggs disc shortly afterwards. From then on he started to play and teach himself almost entirely by listening to records and other performers."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"His style is indeed remarkably suggestive of Scruggs; the clean sweet tone, mastery of slide and slur and brilliant octave-string punctuation are all there. But to me the most appealing feature was an underlying sensitivity for musical effect."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"John Field's tone is pure banjo tone; silver bells of sound that would have warmed the heart of Alfred Cammeyer and would almost certainly have provoked J. McNaughton to unscrew his fluently adjectival fountain pen if I had not done so first. I think that no-one could have been a better or more welcome ambassador for bluegrass than John Field was on that evening. He is modest and unassuming, highly intelligent and musically well-informed; in short, a thoroughly likeable person."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"Moreover, he endeared himself to us all by his genuine reciprocal interest in orthodox style playing for which he professes a keen admiration and showed us, by joining in an Ossman duet with Charles Bramley, he was perfectly capable of changing from bluegrass to orthodox style if ever he wished to do so."</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;">According to John, he and Charles Bramley bumped into each other by chance and were quite taken aback by the other's style of playing: John had never seen classic banjo before and Charles had never heard Scruggs style. They spent the next few years effectively teaching each other, John establishing a good grounding in the classic techniques during the period.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Malcolm Price was a phenomenal acoustic guitar player in the Doc Watson mould who led a folk trio that was one of the most popular shows on the folk circuit. About the LP record that Phillips mentions, John said: "It was recorded in two afternoons at the Decca West Hampstead studios, in Oct 1964, about 6 months after I started playing with the MPT. I never thought it was much good at the time (or now). The mix was all wrong and the CE Special XX banjo (soggy calfskin and open back) didn't sound good. It's the one I still have. I was also suffering from a stonking head cold during the recording. A few takes were scrapped due to my sneezing…. Still, some punters claimed to like the album at the time and Malcolm did too. It was a long time ago and seemed like a good idea back then, but to my mind never captured what the MPT could do."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"Malcolm was a one-off for sure. The original Trio were one of the hottest things on the early Folk Scene. I first saw them at Reading Folk Club in Sept 1963 and was knocked out. Getting the invite to play with them early in 1964 was fantastic. I guess I played about 90% of their gigs in 64 and they were often working 5/6 nights a week and also had BBC Radio and TV work, and recorded for Decca. I was with them on some broadcasts and appeared on Anglia TV twice from the Norwich studios. I also played for a year with MP's second group, which was MP, Ian McCann, Roger Churchyard + self. That was also highly memorable, but MP decided to go solo in 66....probably for financial reasons as much as anything. I needed to quit too, as my finals were looming, and although I never went full-time as a musician, it was taking up too much time/energy and detracting from the day job and university stuff."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">At about the same time, John also established contact with other well-known classic players, such as Tom Edwards: "I've dug out a letter I received from Tom Edwards; the date he wrote it was 12/2/1966. We exchanged several letters at that time, but this is the only one I kept. I had sent him a tape of Jim Woodley, Bryan Oliver and myself running through a few old bluegrass classics, and I suspect that Tom hadn't run up against a UK bluegrasser at that point. There are some interesting details from Tom about his friendship with FVE and Tom's acquisition of a flush-fret from Dr. Thornburgh. I don't know whether Tom retained/bought that banjo, or where it is now. Tom was a most remarkable player on f/style, plectrum and tenor banjo, and did send me a tape or two of his ensemble. I still have one of those. He invited me over to his place, but for reasons now lost in the mists of time, I never went. Talk about a lost opportunity......."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">While John remained active in music circles after his peak in 1966, he had to balance his music with the day job. He mastered the guitar, the mandolin and the fiddle to add to the banjo and tenor banjo, and he branched out into as many different styles that would allow him to keep playing. His fiddling could accommodate western swing, bluegrass, English and Irish folk, for example. It was during this period that he also took up making and repairing instruments, and when he retired he became a virtually permanent student of the violin workshops at Cambridge.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In 2013, following his recovery from major open-heart surgery, he rekindled his early interest in classic banjo, and worked with Tony Bryan on duets. The bar they set themselves was extremely high, which accounts for so little of what they achieved being recorded – it was never perfect. John was particularly keen on acquiring banjos from the period, and for a few years played Bill Bowen's FVE flush-fret banjo. He can be seen playing this on the YouTube tribute video ‘The Lobsters' Promenade'. He also played a 12" Weaver while he was trying to restore a 12" SS Stewart.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In terms of repertoire, John had no fear, and picked numbers based on their appeal to his taste. "Darktown Dandies" and "Shuffle Along" from the Morley catalogue, "Life in Louisiana" from Grimshaw, "Jazzbo's Holiday" from Tarrant Bailey Jnr were all routine, as were "Ragtime Episode" and "Ramshackle Rag", but once he had heard Gregory's "L'Infanta March", that was immediately added to the practice list. The difficulties of the piece were always a challenge that could not get in the way of his ambition.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;">That was the way John lived his life.</p>
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<p></p> BMG Magazinestag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2018-11-25:2667446:Page:1329652018-11-25T14:00:32.315ZDave Hollowayhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/DaveHolloway
<p><a rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="//classic-banjo.com/files/BMG_MAGAZINES/banner.jpg"></img></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Classic-Banjo Ning contributor, and fine banjoist, John Field died August 2018.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">He made a request that his collection of B.M.G. magazines should be shared for all and I am now delighted to be able to offer downloadable and <strong>SEARCHABLE</strong> PDF versions of them below.…</p>
<p><a href="http:////classic-banjo.com/files/BMG_MAGAZINES/banner.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="//classic-banjo.com/files/BMG_MAGAZINES/banner.jpg" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Classic-Banjo Ning contributor, and fine banjoist, John Field died August 2018.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">He made a request that his collection of B.M.G. magazines should be shared for all and I am now delighted to be able to offer downloadable and <strong>SEARCHABLE</strong> PDF versions of them below.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">You can read a full obituary for John here: “<a href="/page/bmg-in-memoriam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IN MEMORIAM</a>”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Clifford Essex & Co. first published the B.M.G. magazine in 1903 and they continued to produce monthly editions through until 1942 when the then Clifford Essex & Son Ltd. went into liquidation. The remaining Clifford Essex company assets were acquired by Blackpool based music publisher and promoter Bert Feldman. A re-formed company was incorporated, by Feldman’s, as Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. Three years later Feldman died and the company changed ownership to Francis Day & Hunter. The B.M.G survived until 1976 when again the publishers went into liquidation. After a gap of some thirty years a new company was set up and registered as Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. In 2009 this company also started to produce a B.M.G magazine of a similar format to the original, but this time as a quarterly journal. The magazine was published up until 2021.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p> The life of Joe Morleytag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2016-10-15:2667446:Page:1177612016-10-15T17:50:19.593Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Welcome to the BRAND NEW addition to our website.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This extensive biography has been carefully researched and produced by site member Richard Ineson as part of Anthony Peabody's ongoing</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/works-of-joe-morley" target="_self">"Works of Joe Morley"</a> project.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> I would like to…</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Welcome to the BRAND NEW addition to our website.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This extensive biography has been carefully researched and produced by site member Richard Ineson as part of Anthony Peabody's ongoing</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/works-of-joe-morley" target="_self">"Works of Joe Morley"</a> project.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> I would like to thank Richard and he, in turn, would like to acknowledge all who have contributed to the work.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">His full acknowledgement is found at the foot of the page.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>___________________________________________</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p><b>The life of Joe Morley (1867-1937)</b></p>
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<p><b><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8772001258?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8772001258?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"></a> </b></p>
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<p><b>His early life.</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558301?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558301?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Joe Morley (originally Joseph Caswell ) was born in Kinver in Staffordshire on the 3rd December 1867. His parents were George Morley (b. 1848 Mildenhall), and Lucy Caswell (b.1839 Stourbridge), previous writers have claimed erroneously that his mother's name was Maxwell. He had two brothers and three sisters, Delilah Sophia, also born in Kinver, in 1874, James, born in Keynsham, (spelled K.E.Y.N.S.H.A.M. later to be the home of Horace Batchelor and his famous 'Infra Draw' method) Bristol, Somerset, in 1875, Louise Elizabeth born in Westbury, Wiltshire in 1877, Sophia, also born in Westbury, Wiltshire, in 1878, and George Harry, born in Cardiff in 1882.</p>
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<p><b>Kinver High Street c1900</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558285?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558285?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
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<p><b>Keynsham c1900.</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558345?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558345?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>Joe's father, George, was listed in the Census of 1871, as a bricklayer by trade, but was by 1891 listed as a musician; his daughters,( Joe Morley's sisters), Sophia and Louise ('Lulu') are listed as pianists in the Census of 1901 and Joe Morley's brother, James, is also listed as a musician in the Census of 1891. James later became a publican at 55, High Street, Stoke Newington (1911 Census) and also, at 198, Lewisham High Street.</p>
<p>George Morley seems to have been nomadic in his dwelling habits moving his location regularly, probably in connection with his work as a bricklayer. In 1861 he was living in North Street, Mildenhall. In 1871 he was in Prince's Street, Sudbury (the home of his sister Elizabeth and her husband, Thomas Smith). and in 1881 he was living in Roath, Glamorgan, and in 1891, Canton, Cardiff.</p>
<p>Joe Morley was living in High Steet, Kinver in 1871, in Helen Street, Roath in 1881, and Cradock Street, Canton, Cardiff in 1891. In that year, he moved to London and was lodging at 37, Rosaville Road, Fulham where his landlord was called William Townsend. Joe was later to rent two rooms at Burnthwaite Road from the same Townsend.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Roath</b></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558224?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558224?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
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<p><b>A recent photograph of 37, Rosaville Road, Fulham, where Joe Morley lodged in 1891.</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558427?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558427?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
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<p>The overall impression of Joe's early years is one of a very chaotic existence. His father was already married when he met Lucy Caswell, and she already had two children (Amy Alice Brown Caswell b. 1860, and Mary Jane Lewis Caswell b. 1865) out of wedlock. The constant moves, even more probably than those listed in the Census, indicate a very precarious way of life.</p>
<p>George, Joe's father, seems to have drifted in and out of Lucy's life ( he married her in 1873) and by 1901 she was living in Cunnington Square, Wisbech, with her daughters, Louise and Sophia, whilst George, her husband, is not mentioned.</p>
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<p><b>Joe Morley and the banjo.</b></p>
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<p>Joe's family obviously had some musical talent and it is said that his father George played the concertina and that Joe, from the age of five, used to go busking with him, Joe step dancing to his father's playing.</p>
<p>Joe said in an article in 'The Banjo World' magazine of January 1896, that he commenced playing the banjo at the age of twelve, he acquired his first banjo when his father bought a seven stringed, smooth arm, banjo, which had been left in one on the Inns which he frequented. Joe was soon plucking simple tunes on the instrument.</p>
<p>By the 1890s Joe Morley was associated with at least three Minstrel troupes, The Bijou Minstrels, The Royal Victoria Minstrels and the Royal Osborne Minstrels.</p>
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<p><b>The Bijou Minstrels.</b></p>
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<p>This Minstrel troupe consisted of Joe Morley, Bruce Wyatt, Ern Locke, Den Hussell, Mr. Brookland, and Master James Bowen. The following transcription from a newspaper cutting gives a flavour of the performances of the Bijou Minstrels:</p>
<p><i>Worcester County and City Lunatic Asylum.</i></p>
<p><i>On Tuesday evening last a very successful entertainment was given by the Bijou Minstrels in this asylum for the benefit of the patients, this being the second tome during the season that the company have appeared at Powick.</i></p>
<p><i>A very excellent programme was provided: the first part consisted of part songs rendered by the whole company, several solos and several pieces by the band. The second part was made up of a banjo solo by Mr Joe Morley, a descriptive clog dance, a new burlesque oration by Mr Bruce Wyatt and various other items, the whole concluding with a laughable sketch by the Bijou Burlesque Team.</i></p>
<p><i>All parts of the programme were much appreciated, and very hearty applause was given by the large audience that had assembled, composed of over 500 patients, a number of the staff, and a few visitors.</i></p>
<p><i>The efforts of Mr Ern Locke, Mr Brookland, Mr Bruce Wyatt,Mr Den Hussell and Master James Bowen may be mentioned as being particularly successful</i>.</p>
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<p>A further appearance of the Bijou Minstrels at the Public Hall (possibly in Worcester) is recorded in the following newspaper cutting:</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558247?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558247?profile=original" width="535" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><i>"Genuine holiday fare was provided as the Public Hall on Monday, when the Bijou Minstrels appeared with one of their most attractive programmes before a large audience who had apparently a huge capacity for enjoying the many good things put before them by this excellent combination. The ballads of Master James Bowen and Mr. Harry Chair, the comic songs, the banjo playing of Mr. Joe Morley and the whimsicalities of Messrs. Ern Locke, Bruce Wyatt and Dan Hussell were as appreciated as ever. Master Bowen sang an 'Evening Hymn' written and composed by Mr. H."</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>The Bijou Minstrels seem to have still been active into the late 1890s, their generous offer to entertain the children in the Royal Albert Orphanage being rejected by the Management Committee in 1897,1898 and 1899 inclusively.</p>
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<p></p>
<p><b>The Royal Osborne Minstrels</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>(They may have been named after the Royal Yacht Osborne, or Queen Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House) were founded in 1879 by Donald Marshall 1848 -1919, who was born in Liverpool.</p>
<p>The members of the Royal Osborne Minstrels were Donald Marshall (whistle), Joe Morley (banjo), Alf Wentworth (concertina), Mr. Twinn (harp), Dave Pegg (tambourine) and Ted Scott (bones).</p>
<p>Donald and the Royal Osborne Minstrels had the honour of appearing before Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII)the Queen of Denmark, the Duke of Saxe- Coburg and many other members of the Royal Family at Osborne and on the Royal Yacht as well as many other leading Society people, both ashore and afloat, who were visiting Cowes for the yachting festival.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Minstrels also visited Ryde for the yachting week, attended regatta shows and many other important events on the Island. During the summer months they often played at race meetings on the mainland, including Ascot and Goodwood.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I found a further reference to the Royal Osborne Minstrels in the archives of the former Tenby Urban District Council, who were making enquiries, in 1898, of Rhyl Urban Distict Council regarding the reputation of the Minstrels - 'were they known to the police?' as the Royal Osborne Minstrels had applied for a licence to perform at Tenby during 1898.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>The Royal Yacht Osborne.</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558241?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558241?profile=original" width="402" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe Morley reminisced in 'The Radio Times' June 25th. 1936, about playing for the Duke of York (later Prince of Wales and later King George V) on the Royal Yacht at Sandown, Isle of Wight, when he was a member of the Royal Osborne Minstrels.</p>
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<p><b>The Royal Victoria Minstrels</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>The name of this troupe may have been prompted by the prestigious Royal Victoria Yacht Club at Ryde, I.O.W., whose club house still overlooks the Solent from the western end of the esplanade at Ryde and was intended as a private yacht club for Queen Victoria because the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes would not accept female members/visitors, even those of Royal blood.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558230?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558230?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>Completed in 1847, the building cost £4,500. Queen Victoria's death in 1901, however, brought about a change in emphasis and the yachting fraternity returned to their traditional clubs in Cowes.</p>
<p>Between the wars the fortunes of the Ryde based club declined and during the 1950s there was very little activity. Fortunately some farsighted members of the club sought a union between the RVYC and two dinghy clubs, Fishbourne Sailing Club and Wootton Creek Sailing Club. In the early 1960s the clubs relocated to their present premises at the mouth of Wootton Creek at Fishbourne.</p>
<p>The personnel involved with The Royal Victoria Minstrels were, Joe Morley, Walter Verner, Mr. W. Corrie, Mr. A.Ross, Mr. A. Lawrence, Mr. C. Sutton, Mr. S. Blackmore, Mr. F. Palmer, Mr. A. Crosbie and Mr. Ted Yates.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Surrey Mirror, of Saturday, 12th November, 1892.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558407?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558407?profile=original" width="513" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Surrey Mirror, 19th November, 1892.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558271?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558271?profile=original" width="441" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Clifford Essex meets Joe Morley</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>It was during this time with these various Minstrel troupes that Joe Morley first made contact with Clifford Essex. Here is what Essex had to say about this meeting in the B.M.G. magazine in 1937.</p>
<p>"It was the first year of my Pierrot Banjo Team,(1891) and after having performed at Henley, Cowes and Ryde Regattas, I was advised to try Sandown, in the Isle of Wight. It was not long after arriving there before I heard of a wonderful banjo player who was performing in a local nigger troupe known as the Royal Victoria Minstrels, In those days the nigger troupe was the principal form of outdoor entertainment at most seaside places.</p>
<p>I very soon took the opportunity of hearing their show, and heard Joe Morley play for the first time, and wondered at his wonderful dexterity. His great number at that time was Meyer Lutz's well known 'Pas de Quatre' from the Gaiety Theatre which everyone was humming or playing on their pianos. I was surprised to see that Joe was playing on a smooth arm seven stringed banjo, but the way that his hand raced up and down that handle was wonderful ( no position playing).</p>
<p>Even then I did not know his name, but I soon made it my business to make his acquaintance, and he told me that most of the things which he played were his own compositions. I offered to buy some of them from him for publication, pointing out to him that his name would get widely known, and he would become a 'personality' instead of just 'one of the niggers'.</p>
<p>Joe at once fell in with the idea but nothing materialised for three years when, by that time, the popularity of my Pierrots had proved the undoing of the Victoria Minstrels and, incidentally, sounded the death knell of nigger troupes throughout the country. Then Joe came along and said, "Oh Cliff, I can let you have some of those compositions of mine, if you like," just as if I had only made the proposition the day before. "Right you are," I said, "bring them along," and I mentioned several of the numbers I should like to have.</p>
<p>I felt sorry that the success of my Pierrots should have been the means of closing down Joe's show, and as he was the only one I could be of any help to. I suggested that he should come to London in the winter and I would put him up at my big concert when all of the banjo fraternity would have the opportunity of hearing him, and I should be able to keep him going until it was time for him to rejoin the Victoria Minstrels, who were going to try their luck at Colwyn Bay, in Wales, for the next summer season.</p>
<p>But I explained to him that I could not possibly put him up before a London banjo audience with a seven string, smooth arm, banjo. Joe protested that he could not cope with a five string instrument so we compromised by my having a six string fretted banjo made for him by Weaver and this I gave him with my best wishes.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley's London Debut</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>My concert took place at St. Martin's Town Hall and Joe's reception was most enthusiastic, as I knew would be the case. I was sitting with a pupil of mine, Mr. Brodrick Cloete (whose brother won the Derby with Paradox), ( Essex might have been confused about the name of the owner of Paradox, who was a William Broderick Cloete, a rather controversial figure, in horse racing circles) and he was so struck with Joe's playing that he asked me whether he could be engaged to play at his house in Berkeley Square after dinner one night, and if so, for me to make the arrangements and to engage my Pierrette, Miss Dewhurst, to come and play Joe's accompaniments, which I did.</p>
<p>This was Joe's first private engagement and I got him many more, such as the National Sporting Club, Artist's Volunteers, London Scottish, Officer's Mess at Knightsbridge and many others which I cannot now remember and rounded things off by placing him at Moore and Burgess Minstrels, St.James' Hall, Piccadilly with a three months' contract (Morley's first performance with the Moore & Burgess Minstrels took place on Easter Monday 1894) which saw him through until it was time for him for him to rejoin his troupe at Colwyn Bay.</p>
<p>Joe Morley recalled 'blacking up' for the only time in his life whilst performing with the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, he mentioned other members of these famous minstrels as being, Jimmy Carrol, Johnny Morton, Tom Birchmore, and Willie Frear.</p>
<p>The Moore and Burgess Minstrels played their last performance at the St.James's Hall in 1900 and then the Mohawk Minstrels took over the lease of the hall. The Mohawks last performance was in 1904 when the hall was demolished to make way for the Piccadilly Hotel.</p>
<p> ( Harry and Dick Pepper revived the minstrel show at the London Palladium in 1912 with a 'sit round' of a hundred artists with thirty six banjoists, under the charge of Joe Morley, who composed 'The Palladium March' especially for the occasion.)</p>
<p>By 1894 Joe Morley was playing on the same bill as Alfred Cammeyer and also with Miss Francine Dewhurst, a member of the Pierrot Banjo Team/Clifford Essex' Pierrots as the following newspaper cutting from the Sunderland Daily Echo, March 20th, 1894, shows:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558279?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558279?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>By 1896 Joe Morley was well established in the London banjo scene. The following article appeared in Essex & Cammeyer's magazine, 'The Banjo World", in January of that year. For some reason the date of his birth is glossed over and his birthplace is given as being Worcester but the photograph of him seems to indicate that he is prospering in the company of Essex and Cammeyer.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558494?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558494?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558430?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558430?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b><b>The Essex & Cammeyer Partnership at 59, Piccadilly.</b></p>
<p><b>Clifford Essex</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558291?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558291?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>Clifford Essex had been in partnership with Alfred Cammeyer at No. 59, Piccadilly, where they had had a very successful banjo studio, since 1892; this is the address from which they published the first Morley banjo solos and those of other composers and the monthly banjo magazine, 'The Banjo World'. They imported banjos, made by established makers such as Cole, from the U.S.A. and they also had banjos made for them by English makers, Richard Spencer and Alfred Weaver amongst others, before establishing their own workshops..</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <b>Alfred Cammeyer</b></p>
<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558380?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558380?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Alfred Cammeyer came to England, with his zither banjo, from the U.S.A. in 1888 and quickly established himself as a 'society' entertainer, so much so that he was engaged as part of the entertainment arranged for the birthday of the Duke of Clarence at Sandringham in January, 1891.</p>
<p>The Essex & Cammeyer partnership was dissolved in 1900 apparently because of some disagreement about copyright. This was reported in the Morning Post, Saturday 14th July 1900.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558220?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558220?profile=original" width="696" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Alfred Cammeyer moved to premises in fashionable Jermyn Street, initially at number 14, (his wife, Annie Vaughan Hughes, who was a widow when Cammeyer met her, lived on Jermyn Street, her father was a jeweller and had his premises there), but moving eventually to number 97A (printed on the Cammeyer publications was the direction, 'entrance in York Street' ) this is actually Duke of York Street,</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558283?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558283?profile=original" width="524" class="align-center"></a> </p>
<p>... which is off Jermyn Street) before settling, in 1903, at 3 Swallow Street, in premises which had previously been occupied by Herbert J. Ellis, the banjoist and prolific composer of music for the fretted instruments, who died in that year. Cammeyer later moved to number 6, Swallow Street.</p>
<p>Clifford Essex, under the terms of the dissolution of the partnership, apparently could not establish a similar business or publish a magazine for a period of three years from the date of the dissolution; but the restriction may, in the case of the publishing of banjo music, have been circumvented in the case of the compositions of Joe Morley, by using the pretence that Joe Morley was publishing the compositions himself.</p>
<p>This seems to explain the existence of the mysterious seven banjo compositions, bearing the photograph of a young Joe Morley and his address, which were published at this time.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558343?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558343?profile=original" width="622" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Interestingly, Charlie Rogers, ' The wonder boy banjoist' and his parents lived at No. 15 Burnthwaite Road in 1901, at which time Joe Morley was living on Neville Street, Fulham but he had moved to 11, Burnthwaite Road by 1903 when these seven banjo solos were apparently published by him.</p>
<p>When Clifford Essex was able to establish his own business in 1903 he took the upper floors of 15a Grafton Street, which had previously been the home, until 1899, of Sir Henry Irving the great Victorian actor.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558363?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558363?profile=original" width="588" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p align="center"><b> </b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley's association with Clifford Essex and his Pierrot troupe.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>There has been much controversy, amongst banjo historians, about the names of the Pierrot troupes associated with Clifford Essex.</p>
<p>Here are my personal thoughts on the matter:</p>
<p>The first Pierrots (in connection with the banjo) were in fact, Clifford Essex, his anonymous stockbroker friend "H.S." - a "banjo fiend" and Kate Sampey, known in those days as 'the lady banjoist' (Kate Sampey had been playing the banjo, with Essex and Arthur Corbett since at least 1889). This troupe was known as "The Pierrot Banjo Team" and had no Royal connection until August 1891.</p>
<p> Jimmie Blakely joined the 'Pierrot Banjo Team' in 1892, Francine Dewhurst at the end of the 1892 season and Will Pepper joined them in 1893.</p>
<p>Will Pepper was not, as has been sometimes stated, the original banjo player with the Clifford Essex Pierrot Banjo Team, all three members of which played the banjo.</p>
<p>'The Pierrot Banjo Team' were not known as the 'Royal Pierrots' or the 'Royal Pierrot Banjo Team' at the time of the 1891 Henley Regatta because, at that time, July 1891, they had not appeared before any member of the Royal Family and could not therefore claim the Royal connection. Their first appearance before the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward V11) was at Cowes, on the Royal Yacht, in August 1891.</p>
<p>It is debatable whether or not, even in these circumstances, that 'The Pierrot Banjo Team' could claim Royal patronage or endorsement because they had not been commanded to appear before the various Royal personages present on the Royal Yacht. Essex had merely had his troupe rowed out to the vessel and they, as it were, 'gate crashed' the Royal party. They were lucky to have been given permission to board the vessel.</p>
<p>It is not clear when Clifford Essex adopted the description 'The Royal Pierrot Banjo Team' or 'The Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots' or when the word 'Royal' was first used in any way in connection with Clifford Essex and his Pierrot troupes but the use of the word 'Royal' seems to only appear, in connection with Essex' Pierrots, towards the end of the 1890s, when, as the picture shows, the personnel of the 'Clifford Essex' Royal Pierrots', were, Essex, Blakeley, Morley and Dewhurst.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558275?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558275?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a> </p>
<p>The banjo solos 'Heel and Toe' polka by Joe Morley, No. 45 in the Essex & Cammeyer lists and 'In the Moonlight', also by Joe Morley and No.23 in the Essex & Cammeyer lists, both bear the words 'PLAYED WITH THE GREATEST SUCCESS BY THE PIERROT BANJO TEAM'.</p>
<p>Both of these solos were amongst those ordered from Joe Morley by Clifford Essex in 1891 and published from 1893 onwards. This seems to indicate that Essex had not adopted the term 'Royal' to describe his Pierrot troupe at this date, 1893, two years after the Cowes performance on the Royal Yacht.</p>
<p>I have a copy of the sheet music for the song, "Say 'Au Revoir' But Not Goodbye" written by Harry Kennedy and copyrighted in 1893 which bears the words 'with banjo arrangement by Clifford Essex of the Pierrot Banjo Team' no mention of any Royal association here, and this two years after the Royal Yacht performance at Cowes.</p>
<p>Another song, 'The Belle of Honolulu' written by Lee Johnson and copyright 1898, has printed on the front cover, "sung by The Royal Pierrot Banjo Team" (Clifford Essex is credited with having arranged the song for the banjo).</p>
<p>Another popular song of the time, "I Want To Go To Morrow" written by Lew Sully and also copyrighted in 1898 has the words "Sung with immense success by the Pierrot Banjo Team" again no mention of an 'Royal' connection. Incidentally, my copy of this song has a footnote written on the score by J. MacNaghten (McNaughton) - <i>"By 1898,'The Pierrot Banjo Team' had presumably become "Clifford Essex' Royal Pierrots",</i> J. MacNaghten, a well respected banjo historian and former editor of the B.M.G. magazine, was obviously also unclear about this matter.</p>
<p>The famous tune "Whistling Rufus" arranged and published for banjo by Clifford Essex and copyrighted in 1898, bears the words, "As played with the greatest success by Clifford Essex' Pierrots", again no 'Royal' connection.</p>
<p>The front cover of the Parke Hunter composition, 'Pensacola', No.242. in the Dallas' Artistic Banjoist list, bears the words "Played with the greatest success by the ROYAL PIERROT BANJO TEAM (Clifford Essex)". Morton Parke Hunter arrived in England in 1897, when presumably the publication of his compositions, by English publishers, commenced so this seems to be another indication, together with the other evidence, that the Essex' Pierrots were known as the 'Royal Pierrots' only after this date.</p>
<p>The facts which are clear are that the description 'Royal' used in connection with Essex' Pierrots was used inconsistently and, where it is used, it seems to have been used only circa 1898 and afterwards.</p>
<p>In the 'Derby Mercury ' November 14th 1900, it is stated that Clifford Essex and his Pierrots had appeared before Royalty on at least five occasions. Enough appearances, it would seem to me, to justify, without fear of contradiction, the appellation 'Royal' to the Pierrot Banjo Team.</p>
<p>Further, as regards the inconsistent use of the word 'Royal', the B.M.G. magazine Issue No. 2, Vol. 1, November 1903, has an advertisement, on the inner back cover, for the Autumn tour of the "Clifford Essex' Pierrots" no 'Royal' connection here, but on the front cover, the 'Clifford Essex' Royal Pierrots' (amongst others) are advertised to appear at the Kensington Town Hall on the 11th December 1903.</p>
<p>This inconsistency is surprising bearing in mind that a claim to 'Royal' patronage and endorsement, in the early years of the 20th century, a time when the Royal family was held in the highest esteem by the general public, would have carried with it a very valuable commercial advantage suggesting high quality, respectability and indeed a Royal connection.</p>
<p>Of course, there may well be evidence to show that Essex used the title, 'The Clifford Essex Royal Pierrot Banjo Team' to describe his troupe immediately after their Royal performance at Cowes in August 1891, but I have not seen it.</p>
<p>It is also clear that Clifford Essex ran at least two Pierrot troupes; in the B.M.G. June, 1913, the editor, Emile Grimshaw, writes<i>, "For some weeks past, a second company of the Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots has been appearing before enthusiastic audiences at a very fashionable watering place in France, (this was Le Touquet). This company includes Miss Katie Moss, ( composer of the famous song, 'The Floral Dance') who has had many years' experience with the Pierrots".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>Perhaps the 'Clifford Essex' Royal Pierrots' was the troupe in which Essex appeared personally and the 'Clifford Essex Pierrots', or the 'Pierrot Banjo Team', was another troupe with which he did not appear.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley joins the Clifford Essex Pierrots</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe Morley had seemingly formed a close relationship with Clifford Essex by 1894, and was already performing with Francine Dewhurst and Alfred Cammeyer, (Cammeyer was still, at that time, in partnership with Clifford Essex at 59 Piccadilly). Morley joined the Clifford Essex Pierrots as the featured banjo soloist when Will Pepper left the C.E.Pierrots, (Essex claimed that there had been some dispute involving Jimmy Blakely, who needed regular, year round, work, and Pepper not wanting to play with the CE Pierrots in the provincial theatres during the winter months) but to form his own troupe, 'The White Coons' which was, according to Harry Pepper the son of Will Pepper, the founder of the White Coons, (Radio Times February 5th 1937) in 1896. (Bill Brewer in his excellent series, 'The Banjo in Britain' published in the B.M.G. magazine in the mid 1950s, claimed that the year was 1895.)</p>
<p>This is what Clifford Essex said about this in the B.M.G. November 1937, in an article entitled 'Poor Old Joe'.</p>
<p><i>"When Will Pepper left my show to form his 'White Coons' on similar lines to my Royal Pierrots, I sent Joe a wire to Colwyn Bay offering him the post, which he at once accepted and opened for a week's engagement, I had booked at Folkestone Pier in the afternoon and Town Hall at night.</i></p>
<p><i>This put Joe on 'easy street' at once and he remained in my show for about thirteen years performing with us at all the smartest watering places on the South, East and West coasts and the Channel Islands, beside innumerable private engagements and suburban concerts.</i></p>
<p><i>He made himself a great favourite with the public. His wonderful playing coupled with his perfectly stolid way of presenting it, appealed greatly to his audiences.</i></p>
<p><i>How we came to part I never quite understood; some sinister influence got to work and four B.M.G. concerts were organised within a fortnight surrounding my December date, and all of the artistes engaged were barred from mine.</i></p>
<p><i>The following year, (according to Essex, the four B.M.G.concerts organised around his own event which led to him deciding not to hold a banjo festival took place in 1911, which seems to indicate that JM and FD joined the White Coons in 1912, a date which does not seem to tie in with those given by either him or Joe Morley in other accounts) Joe Morley and Miss Dewhurst joined the 'White Coons' at a very different salary to what they had been accustomed to in the Royal Pierrots. Sid Turner of Cheltenham, took Joe's place and the change made no difference in the business done".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>There is some confusion about the date that Joe Morley joined the CE Pierrots, but based on the evidence of Harry Pepper who seems to be the most reliable source, Will Pepper left the Clifford Essex Pierrots in1896.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Essex also commented about this, in the May, 1930 issue of B.M.G.</p>
<p><i>"Later on, as I had to make a change in my Royal Banjo Team (Will Pepper had departed) I knew the one man for the job was Joe Morley. I sent him a wire offering him the post, which he at once accepted, and in a week he had assimilated the repertoire of the past three years. (This would mean that Morley joined the Pierrots in 1894, as they gave their first public performance at Henley Regatta in 1891)</i></p>
<p><i>For thirteen years he held the job................."</i></p>
<p>Essex' memory must have been at fault here (he was writing over thirty years after the event) as an advertisement in the Morning Post of 3rd December 1895 shows that Will Pepper was still performing with the Clifford Essex Banjo Team at that time.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558235?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558235?profile=original" width="675" class="align-center"></a> </p>
<p></p>
<p>Morley was certainly performing with the Pierrot Banjo Team in 1897:</p>
<p><strong>Hampshire Advertiser May 22nd, 1897.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558435?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558435?profile=original" width="681" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>During his time with the Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots, Morley played banjo duets with Essex.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Hastings and St. Leonard's Observer, Saturday 17th September 1898</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558334?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558334?profile=original" width="455" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Later, in 1901, he was joined by the 'Boy Wonder' Charlie Rogers, who remained with the Pierrots until c1904. It was probably at this time that Joe Morley collaborated with Charlie Rogers on arrangements of banjo solos such as 'Nigger in a Fit'</p>
<p>Francine Dewhurst left the Royal Pierrots in 1900 and was replaced by Margaret Cooper. Essex claimed that Miss Dewhurst left him to join the 'White Coons' at the same time as Morley (1909) but this is obviously not correct.</p>
<p>This is what Essex said about the departure of Miss Dewhurst:</p>
<p><i>"The next trouble I had was when Miss Dewhurst left us after having been eight years in the team. A great calamity this was and many thought and some, I think, hoped it would prove a knock out blow for the Pierrots. Personally I don't think we ever quite found her equal, taking everything into consideration; but her successor was someone who, although at that time practically unknown, has since become very famous - namely, Miss Margaret Cooper.</i></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Miss Margaret Cooper</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558419?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558419?profile=original" width="386" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><i>Her performance with us was always most artistic. In those days she never attempted such a light frivolous style as 'Waltz me Round Again Willie' , 'Hullo To Tou' etc. That came after, when she created such a furore at the Palace Theatre".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558369?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558369?profile=original" width="504" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Margaret Cooper was succeeded by Ethel Negretti.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Ethel Negretti</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558332?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558332?profile=original" width="313" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In 1904 the members of the Pierrots were Clifford Essex, Joe Morley, Algernon Newark, Walter Walters, Ella Barkley (better known as Katie Moss) and Frances Roscoria.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Katie Moss</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558860?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558860?profile=original" width="500" class="align-center"></a></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p>Katie Moss (Kate Emily Barkley Moss 1881-1947) is probably the the best remembered Pierrete to have performed with the Royal Pierrots, mainly because she was the composer of the eternally popular song, 'The Floral Dance' which she wrote in 1911 and which was recorded by Peter Dawson in 1912.</p>
<p>Another well known singer who appeared with the Pierrots was Ivy St.Helier (Ivy Janet Aitchison 1886 -1971) who appeared in the original cast of Noel Coward's 'Bitter Sweet' and in several films including 'London Belongs to Me'.</p>
<p>Other Pierettes were Haidee Hamilton and Doris Walthew.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Essex took the Pierrots 'off the road' in 1915 because of the World War.</p>
<p></p>
<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558232?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558232?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>During the early 1900s Morley featured solos by other composers as well as his own compositions, 'Cupid's Arrow' by Eno, 'Hiawatha' by Moret, 'Coloured Band Patrol', by Eno, amongst them.</p>
<p>Clifford Essex also tried to encourage him to take part in other parts of the Pierrot performance but without success. Joe seems to have been quite shy and it is known that he spoke in a quiet voice.</p>
<p>Joe left the Clifford Essex Pierrot troupe in 1909 (Essex and Morley agreed in their separate reminiscences that Joe Morley was with Essex for thirteen years) and had been replaced by Sid Turner by 1910, as this advertisement from the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette dated 2nd September, 1910, shows:</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558239?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558239?profile=original" width="496" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley and the 'White Coons'</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>It is almost certain that Joe Morley joined Will Pepper's 'White Coons' in the year 1909. In an interview in the Radio times of June 25th 1936, Joe claimed that he joined the 'White Coons' two years after they had been founded but this is not possible as they were founded in 1896 which was when Will Pepper left Essex to form the 'White Coons' concert party.</p>
<p>Essex said that Joe Morley was with him for thirteen years following Pepper's departure, which takes us to 1909. It must be borne in mind that Joe was an old man at the time of the 'Radio Times' interview and he was obviously mistaken.</p>
<p></p>
<p>This photograph of the 'White Coons' dated 1905 does not show Joe Morley:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558297?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558297?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>And this photograph which does show him, is unfortunately undated:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558218?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558218?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>It would seem that Joe Morley joined the Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots in 1896, and, as Essex claimed that Morley was with him for thirteen years, this establishes the date of his departure as being in 1909 when Sid Turner replaced him. Sid Turner played with the CE Pierrots until 1912 when he was replaced by Vero Berrie, who like Morley, left to join the 'White Coons' and he was replaced in turn by Doris Walthew.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Here is another rare photograph of Joe Morley whilst he was appearing with the 'White Coons'</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558269?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558269?profile=original" width="502" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>The photograph of the 'White Coons' below, shows Allan Thomas and Alf Wood using Cammeyer banjos.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558227?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558227?profile=original" width="627" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p>In the Radio Times interview Morley said that The White Coons had toured Ireland prior to him joining them, and had played at the Viceregal Lodge, in Dublin.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Here is a picture of the White Coons performing on the Esplanade at Bray, which was at one time the largest seaside resort in Ireland.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558358?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558358?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Report of a performance of the 'White Coons' which was published in the 'Banjo World in 1907. (Before Morley joined them.)</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Although Morley was not a member of the 'White Coons' at this time, this report is interesting in that it demonstrates the typical format and repertoire of the 'White Coons' Concert Party at the time.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558394?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558394?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>It is not known for how long Joe Morley was with the 'White Coons', but it does not seem to have been for much more than two years; the 1st World War intervened and, perhaps the White Coons, like the Clifford Essex Pierrots, were taken off the road for the duration of the war.</p>
<p>Playing with the White Coons was also probably a seasonal job and Joe would have had to seize his opportunities, when the 'White Coons' were 'resting', for earning his living by playing the banjo whenever any such opportunities arose. As he aged he probably also sought a more routine and settled way of living.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p><b>The Palladium Minstrels</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>In the B.M.G. magazine, December 1912, the following announcement appeared :</p>
<p><i>"At the London Palladium on Boxing Day there will be a revival of the old time nigger troupe, a feature of the production being a banjo band of forty players".</i></p>
<p>The banjo band was led by Joe Morley. George Morris, who was a member of this banjo band (incidentally, he thought that there were 34 banjoists in the band) some years later recalled some of those who were also members: Bert Bassett, Will Blanche (who was arrested in 1916 for failing to enrol in His Majesty's armed forces), Vero Berrie, Jim Bertolle, Bob Thomas, Charles Page, Charles Stainer, Chris Webb, Dave Roberts, George Hewitt, Ted Casselli, Will Mitchell, Alban Booth, Jim Hawken, Mr.Cole, Dick Spence, Bert Goodall, Horace Wencker, Mr. Turmean, Charles Read, H.Strickland, Ted George, Jimmy Wells, Horace Somerton, Ernie Colgate, and J. B. Crocker O' Brien.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>A Song sheet featuring a photograph of the Palladium Minstrels</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558349?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558349?profile=original" width="500" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The January 1913 edition of B.M.G mentioned the performance of the Palladium Minstrels as follows:</p>
<p><i>"The banjo never had a finer advertisement than it is having at present in the new Christmas production at the London Palladium, although the introduction of thirty four banjoists on the stage at one time cannot by any means be considered a strikingly original idea".</i></p>
<p><i>"From start to close the banjo seems to dominate the entire production".</i></p>
<p><i>"Mr. Joe Morley played a solo of his own composition entitled 'Chrysanthemum'. This was rendered in his usual excellent style, the exquisite runs being played with marvellous facility. The tone of his banjo (N.B. not of Clifford Essex manufacture) was, however, far too weak for a huge building like the Palladium"</i></p>
<p><i>"In the two selections by the banjo band, the greatest charm was in the spectacular effect; in neither instance were the players keeping perfect time".</i></p>
<p><i>"Some sustained plectral effects would have been one means of improvement in order to relieve the continuous staccato tone of the banjos".</i></p>
<p><i>"We understand that plectrum playing is forbidden, this is surely a mistaken policy".</i></p>
<p><i>"However, as presented there is much in the banjo turns to attract and delight the immense audiences who are at present patronising this place of entertainment".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>The phrase, 'damning with faint praise' comes to mind.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Clifford Essex had his revenge, for in the June 1913 B.M.G. appears a short item in the 'Jottings' column -</p>
<p><i>"The Palladium Banjo Band has lost some of its best players including Mr.Bert Bassett, George Morris, Vero Berrie, and E.J. Manicom. The latter is now rehearsing in Glasgow with the Moss Empire's new minstrel production, particulars of which will be found elsewhere in this issue".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>It was quite a feature of the rivalry between the various banjo companies in those days, when invited to concerts etc. arranged by a competitor, to hint that everything was not as good as it might have been, as with this scathing comment:</p>
<p></p>
<p> <i>"Unfortunately we are not able to comment on the quality of the performances as the view of the stage, from the seats which had been allocated to us, was obscured by a large pillar and, as we were seated adjacent to the refreshment facilities, we had great difficulty in hearing anything above the noise of boisterous chatter and the clattering of crockery and cutlery".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>This is typical of those made by the representatives of the various opposing banjo factions.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Palladium Minstrels appeared again at Christmas 1913 and again Essex' mastery of withering understatement is well to the fore, in his review of the performance in the January 1914, B.M.G.</p>
<p></p>
<p><i>"In many ways the performance is better than that presented last year. The choruses are better harmonised, the orchestra assists instead of dominating, some of the jokes are not so ancient and an effort has been made (although not entirely successful) to make some use of modern ideas in banjo orchestration".</i></p>
<p><i>"The four bass banjos (N.B. not of Clifford Essex manufacture) gave added interest to the picturesque setting, but that was about all. It is a regrettable fact that, strain our ears as we might, not the faintest sound was to be heard that could in any way be attributed to the bass banjos".</i></p>
<p><i>"We hope that this production will have a long run".</i></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>This picture of Joe Morley with fellow banjoist Ernest Jones, was published in the B.M.G. magazine in December 1959.</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558489?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558489?profile=original" width="500" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Other work which came Joe's way was performing in the still popular banjo concerts, as this John Alvey Turner promotion in November 1913, shows :</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558382?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558382?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558559?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558559?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558552?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558552?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558749?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558749?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley and World War 1.</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>Joe Morley lived in Salisbury during at least some of the years of the 1st World War, (1914 -18). Perhaps Joe moved from London after the Zeppelin bombing raids commenced in 1915 as did Alfred Cammeyer and his wife?..</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Joe Morley c 1915.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558403?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558403?profile=original" width="564" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe made the following recordings, in May and August 1914, with Olly Oakley and an unknown pianist.</p>
<p><em>London circa May 1914</em></p>
<p>35527 Palladium March. Beka 876, Favorite 744, 35527, Scala 576, Coliseum 623</p>
<p>35528 A Darkie Chuckle. Coliseum 986, Scala 934, Silvertone 174</p>
<p>35529 Banjo Capers. Coliseum 986, Scala 934, Silvertone 174</p>
<p>35530 Peach Blossoms. Beka unissued</p>
<p>35531 The Drum Major. Beka 876, Favorite 744, 35531, Scala 576, Coliseum 623</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With Olly Oakley and an unknown pianist.</p>
<p><em>London circa November 1914</em></p>
<p>93498 The Palladium March. Pathe 8962, 5119, 332,30362,35071</p>
<p>93499 The Drum Major. Pathe 8961, 5118, 331, 20261, Diamond 0268</p>
<p>93500 Banjo Capers. Pathe 8962,5119,332,20262,35071 Diamond 0269</p>
<p>93502 A Banjo Oddity. Pathe 8961,5118,331,20261, Diamond 0269</p>
<p>93503 A Darkie Chuckle. Pathe 8963,333,1209,20263, Diamond 0268</p>
<p>935504 Peach Blossoms. Pathe 8963,55617,333,20263</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Tarrant Bailey Snr. reminisced about visiting Joe in Salisbury, at this time, in the B.M.G. magazine of September 1956:</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558795?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558795?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>W. M. Brewer, the banjo historian, wrote in the B. M. G. magazine of December1955,</p>
<p><em>"When the 'Palladium Minstrels disbanded, Joe joined Alec Hurley's concert party, 'The Jesters' which toured Ireland during the early part of the 1914-18 war".</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>In an article about Joe, in the Radio Times, June 25th 1936, the interviewer writes,</p>
<p><em>"He has memories of playing Rummy one night after the show with a pitched battle going on outside. Curfew in Dublin, after that and the show cancelled.... memories of crossing Bantry Bay on a drifter to play on an American battleship lying in Berehaven, 'They wanted us to stay on, we couldn't, or I might have gone down with the Leinster.' (The R.M.S. Leinster was torpedoed by the Germans off Dun Laoghaire (then called Kingstown) in October 1918 with the loss of over five hundred lives.)</em></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley at Salisbury army camp c1916</b></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558249?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558249?profile=original" width="547" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>As a soloist, Joe Morley played for the troops at Aldershot and Salisbury. These photographs show Joe at Salisbury; on this occasion, after the concert. Joe is looking rather 'washed out' in these photographs probably due to the fact that Alf Wood had kept him from his bed all night playing banjo duets:</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558491?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558491?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe also played at the, now demolished, Palace Theatre in Salisbury during the war years.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558644?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558644?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>This theatre is probably better remembered as the site of the auction of Stonehenge, on September 21st 1915, to its last private owner, Cecil Chubb, for £6,600.</p>
<p>The 1st World War brought the virtual closure of many seaside resorts as large hotels were taken over for the housing of troops and also the Zeppelin raids and German bombardments of holiday resorts such as Scarborough and important ports such as Hull, made the public nervous of travelling into what were seen as danger zones. Clifford Essex took his Pierrot troupe off the road in 1915 and, doubtless, many others followed suit.</p>
<p>After the Armistice in November 1918, Morley travelled to France and played for the army of occupation in Cologne and Coblenz.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<div class="Section1">
<p><b>The Ragtime/Jazz Era</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>After the war regular work for banjo players of the old school must have been hard to find. Jazz and ragtime were now the rage, banjo players were now required to play with the banjo with a plectrum and the banjolin, tuned in fifths, was developed to allow violin players to play the banjo, but Joe Morley would not change his ways. He said to Clifford Essex, "Cliff, if I hadn't soles to my shoes, I would not put a pick on a banjo".</p>
<p>Essex remarked, <em>"He remained true to his principles to the last, thereby missing a lot of easy money".</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>The following article, "The Corner House Ragtime Quintette" from the B.M.G. magazine, February 1919, gives a flavour of how the banjo had developed during the 1st World War.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558398?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558398?profile=original" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558470?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558470?profile=original" width="750" class="align-center"></a> </p>
<p>The 'White Coons' continued to play in Felixstowe until 1922, but I have not been able to discover whether or not Morley played with them at this time.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe continued to compose music for the banjo. 'Niggertown' one of his most popular banjo solos was published by Turner in 1919, (Niggertown was an area of Cardiff, a town in which Joe Morley lived at one time, it was inhabited by people of various nationalities and there were some serious riots in this area in 1919. This may have been the source of the title for this banjo composition). There were a further 26 pieces or so, up to 1933 when 'Desert Trail' seems to have marked the end of Morley's publishing career with John Alvey Turner.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Essex continued to publish Morley's compositions after the war, 'Crackerjack', 'Monkitrix', 'Freckles', 'Blush Rose', were amongst more than twenty new compositions, altogether.</p>
<p></p>
<p>This advertisement appeared in the B.M.G. in March 1932:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558477?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558477?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Other publishers such as John Alvey Turner, Dallas, and Larking also published banjo solos by Morley at this time.</p>
<p></p>
<p>This advertisement appeared in the B.M.G. in March 1933:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558788?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558788?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Morley also made his one solo recording of 'The Donkey Laugh' backed by 'The Jovial Huntsman', for the Homochord Company on December 15th 1925.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Here is a Joe Morley recording anecdote related by Tarrant Bailey Jnr. in an article in the Fretwire magazine, September 1979:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558294?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558294?profile=original" width="559" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>At this time Morley still undertook musical engagements and continued teaching the banjo. Some concert work was still available as these advertisements for the 29th Annual concert of the Aston Banjo club, which was held in 1926, and the John Alvey Turner concert held in February1935 show, but overall, his financial circumstances must have been difficult.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558479?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558479?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558808?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558808?profile=original" width="404" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>The Banjo Tutor</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe Morley's banjo tutor was published by John Alvey Turner in 1929. The book was, it is said, co-written by Joe Morley and John P. Cunninghame.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558707?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558707?profile=original" width="474" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>Here is an interesting article about Morley's method of right hand fingering which appeared in the B.M.G. December 1931.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558438?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558438?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>The Later Years.</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>The Joe Morley Testimonial Fund</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Through the 1920s Britain's economy was struggling to pay for the effects of World War One. Then, in 1929, the American Stock Market crashed, world trade slumped, prices fell, credit was no longer available. The value of British exports halved plunging many industrial areas of the UK into poverty. By the end of 1930 unemployment reached 20%. Finally the pound was devalued by 25% which stimulated exports but unemployment blighted large areas the UK for some years afterwards.</p>
<p>Public spending was cut and taxes raised. This had the effect of depressing the economy even further. The North of England in particular was devastated by unemployment, resulting in the protest march known as the 'Jarrow Crusade' which took place in October 1936 which was intended to draw attention to the unemployment and poverty suffered in the northeast Tyneside town of Jarrow during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London, over 26 days, carrying a petition to the British government requesting the re-establishment of industry in the town following the closure in 1934 of its main employer, Palmer's Shipyard. The petition was received by the House of Commons but not debated, and the march produced few results.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558414?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558414?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>This economic disaster must have affected the demand for entertainers of all kinds and especially for musicians such as Joe Morley who had not moved with the times.</p>
<p>Even Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth (wife of King George V1 and mother of our present Queen Elizabeth II) ...</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558355?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558355?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p> ... was not unaffected by the economic turmoil in these years, in a letter to her mother in law, Queen Mary (wife of George V) dated 16th September,1931, she says:</p>
<p></p>
<p> <i>"My father is thinking of shutting up Glamis, which would be very sad, but I feel that the new super tax makes it almost inevitable. I feel rather worried about everything Mama. The world is in such a bad way, and we seem to be going from bad to worse here too. Everybody is hard hit by the new taxation, and everybody is feeling very unhappy!"</i></p>
<p></p>
<p>Desperate times indeed! Little wonder that by 1930 it must have become very clear that Joe Morley was struggling financially and Clifford Essex, to his credit, decided to organise a fund to get Joe Morley back on his feet. This fund was commenced in March 1930 and by July 1930, the sum of £138/7/6 had been raised. Clifford Essex had agreed to equal the highest amount sent in by any individual during the course of the fund and, at this time, this stood at £16/19/6, raised by Tarrant Bailey Snr.</p>
<p></p>
<p> The following article appeared in the B.M.G. in May 1930:</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558520?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558520?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe Morley continued to appear at various banjo events, including the meetings of the London based B.M.G. clubs. His performance at the B.M.G. All-England Finals, held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on the 9th January, 1932, was reported in the 'Rhythm' magazine of February 1932, as follows:</p>
<p>"Joe Morley, who exhibited all his old artistry in 'Monkitrix' and 'Diana' and also with his ensemble in 'Sports Parade' and 'Japanese Patrol'. He was also featured in a photograph together with Pascale Troise".</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The following article appeared in the B.M.G. magazine in July, 1932:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558810?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558810?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>My collection of the B.M.G. magazine is not complete, but I have several of the issues relevant to the Joe Morley Testimonial Fund which show the various amounts given by individual donors and the running total of contributions received.</p>
<p>In August 1932, £21/14/5 was raised, in September, 1932, £20/18/0, in November, 1932, £4/3/2, in December, 1932, £4/5/9, in March,1933, £0/15/6, after which subscriptions to the fund seem to have fizzled out.</p>
<p></p>
<p>A photograph of Joe Morley taken at around this time (1933):</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558361?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558361?profile=original" width="347" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> <b>Radio and Television</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>In the late 1920s Val Gielgud was responsible for staging the first variety programmes on BBC radio. He brought a young producer from Belfast called John Watt who was put in charge of the new revue section in 1930, and it was he who collaborated with Gordon McConnel and Doris Arnold who were joined by Harry Pepper (Doris Arnold married Harry Pepper in 1943) and they decided to revive Will C.Pepper's 'White Coons' for broadcasting, with Joe Morley as the banjo player, in August 1932.</p>
<p>The financial security provided to Joe Morley by working with the 'White Coons' on this radio show may have been the reason that the Joe Morley appeal fund, started by Clifford Essex, seems to have been wound up.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Photograph of the 'White Coons' Doris Arnold at the piano, Harry Pepper to her right, and Joe Morley with banjo, and the W.C. chorus</b>.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558720?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558720?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Doris Arnold (1904- 1969) was a BBC broadcaster in her own right. She had joined the BBC as a typist in 1929 and became the first female 'disc jockey' with her programme of light classical music. 'These You Have Loved'.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558366?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558366?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>That first 'White Coons' concert party broadcast was followed in January 1933 by the 'Kentucky Minstrels. Only Doris Arnold and Harry Pepper had any confidence in the idea behind the new show - that of reviving a real old time 'sit round' show, as in the days of Moore and Burgess, but their confidence was soon justified. Pepper wrote the signature tune and also the hit song of 1934, 'Carry me Back to Green, Green Pastures'.</p>
<p>The 'Kentucky Minstrels' were broadcast until 1950; various banjo players were featured in the show over the years, Edward Fairs and Bernard Sheaff amongst others.</p>
<p>The three main characters were played, for many years, by African Americans, Isaac 'Ike' Hatch (c1891 -1961) Harry Scott (1879 - 1947) and Eddie Whaley (1886 - 1961) Hatch was a vocalist and songwriter who had been a member of the W.C.Handy orchestra - he came to England in 1925. Scott and Whaley had worked together in the U.S.A. and came to England in 1909, they were featured in a film directed by John Baxter and written by Harry Pepper and C. Denier Warren (also American), also called 'Kentucky Minstrels' in 1934.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558417?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558417?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Joe Morley reminisced about his early days with the banjo in the 'Radio Times' of June 25th 1936. His memory is at fault on several points, but it is still interesting reading; remarkably, there is no mention of Clifford Essex and Morley's thirteen years with the C.E. Pierrot Banjo Team/Royal Pierrots.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tarrant Bailey Jnr. Joe Morley and Dick Pepper, were engaged as the 'Kentucky Banjo Team:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558299?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558299?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558457?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558457?profile=original" width="316" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Tarrant Bailey Jnr. reminisced about the 'Kentucky Minstrels' in the April 1975, B.M.G.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558647?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558647?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>The White Coons were transferred to the new medium of television in January 1937, here is the synopsis of the programme. </p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Arranged by Harry S. Pepper and Doris Arnold</em></p>
<p><br>
<em>Today, viewers are to have the opportunity of seeing the first concert party on the television screen - the famous White Coons, to be introduced by Harry S. Pepper, son of Will C. Pepper, who founded them away back in the 'nineties. When Harry joined his father, between eight and ten companies were showing at different seaside resorts. On August 31, 1932, the first White Coons show was broadcast, and it was little guessed that the originally planned series of four a year was to grow in popularity until the White Coons became a regular feature once a month.</em><br>
<em>The party is formed of Wynne Ajello, soprano; Jane Carr, who gives clever monologues which she writes herself; Paul England; Denier Warren, who writes the book and is 'the naughty boy'; that grand old man Joe Morley ('Lightning Joe Morley'), who appeared with the original company and composes a new banjo solo for every show; Tommy Handley, who succeeded Stanley Holloway, as the schoolmaster; and last but not least, Harry Pepper and Doris Arnold at two pianos.</em></p>
<h2>Contributors</h2>
<p>Arranged by: Harry S. Pepper<br>
Arranged by: Doris Arnold<br>
Soprano: Wynne Ajello<br>
Performer: Jane Carr<br>
Performer: Denier Warren<br>
Performer: Joe Morley<br>
Schoolmaster: Tommy Handley<br>
Pianist: Harry Pepper<br>
Pianist: Doris Arnold</p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-4"><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558886?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558886?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></em></span></strong></p>
</div>
<p></p>
<p><b> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558433?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558433?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p><b>The End</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Joe Morley died in Lambeth Hospital, on the 16th September 1937, the cause of death was given as 'Carcinoma of Larynx'.</p>
<p>The death of Joe Morley was reported to the Lambeth Registrar by his nephew, James H. Morley, and he was buried in Streatham Park Cemetery on the 20th September 1937.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558454?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558454?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Joe's Death was announced in the October 1937 edition of the BMG.</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103561865?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103561865?profile=original" width="500" class="align-center"></a></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558513?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558513?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558843?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558843?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley – Locating his grave and organising a subscription fund to purchase his Headstone.</b></p>
<p>In 2000 Pat Doyle, Secretary of The International Banjo Circle and producer of “The Banjo”, undertook the hunt for the location of Joe Morley’s grave. A search through innumerable cemetery ledgers revealed the burial location as grave 34010 square 20 in Streatham Park Cemetery, Rowen Road, Streatham South London.</p>
<p>Via the 60<sup>th</sup> edition of “The Banjo”, a subscription fund was set up to remedy the fact that Joe’s grave had no marker and to purchase a white marble headstone, designed by Pat, illustrating a Weaver Banjo with suitable inscription.</p>
<p>On September 15<sup>th</sup> 2001 during a poignant gathering of banjo enthusiasts beside Joe Morley’s resting place, then a blank lawned area, the late Sally Murrell unveiled Joe’s headstone. Following several moving addresses Morley compositions were played. This historic occasion was suitably photographed and, later, Mike Redman produced a Joe Morley Memorial Day brochure.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The assembled party adjourned to a convivial lunch reflecting on Joe Morley’s unique and lasting contribution to banjo and having finally remedied the omission of his suitable headstone.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558373?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558373?profile=original" width="305" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Streatham is relatively close to Wandsworth and Joe's last address, Engadine Street. This cemetery is also appropriate as a last resting place for this illustrious banjoist as it contains the graves of over three hundred former 'stars' of the Music Hall from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Tributes and Reminiscences</b></p>
<p></p>
<p>G.A Keeler wrote this tribute to Joe Morley which was published in the 'Pickings' magazine November 1944.</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>MY MEMORIES OF MORLEY.</b></p>
<p>By G. A. KEELER</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>I first heard Joe Morley play in the early 1890s at St. Martin’s Town Hall, the occasion being a concert promoted by my old and esteemed friend Clifford Essex. It was about the period when Pat Shortis was appearing with his plain finger-board banjo at the old Alhambra and the Moore and Burgess Minstrels at St. James’ Hall, Piccadilly, W. Needless to say, Joe at the “old Town Hall,” was a great success, and practically from that time on, and for a long period, he was known as “the lightning player”; in fact, one of his early compositions which caused him to be dubbed thus, was entitled The Hailstorm Jig. Another solo of about the same period was called The Cannon Jig. Both compositions, it will be noticed, imply speed.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>From that particular concert I went to others where Joe was billed to play, in order of course to hear him. To me, as to many others, he was wonderful on his six-string banjo. I believe it was a long time really before he changed to the five string, often called the American banjo.</em></p>
<p><em>The Clifford Essex Pierrots (Royal Pierrot Team) were then exceedingly popular and I well remember dining in the West End on one occasion with Mr.Essex and Miss Francine Dewhurst (the Pierrette of the troupe). Joe, however, did not turn up; neither did Jimmie Blakely.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Miss Dewhurst backed up Joe’s banjo solos with remarkably sympathetic pianoforte</em></p>
<p><em>accompaniments.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>A popular item in the programmes of the troupe was the Banjo Duet regularly featured by Messrs. Morley and Essex, Joe most often playing the lead. He was with the Pierrots for more than twelve years and I can vividly recall the Pierrots visit to Leytonstone in the 1890s, where I was then residing, and on going to see Joe in the artists’ room during the concert interval, being witness to a certain amount of excitement caused when Joe had hurriedly to protect his banjo (or rather banjos, as he kept two at that time in a double case) from some over-enthusiastic amateur’s interference.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Joe, it will be noted, was not only a Pierrot for many years, but also a nigger minstrel (sic), and besides playing for the Moore and Burgess troupe was with the Palladium Minstrels of after years as well as the “Kentucky Minstrels” of B.B.C. fame.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Joe was a prolific composer, his (published) compositions dating from the year 1894 (more probably 1893). The question has been asked did Joe Morley ever play anything not his own composition? Well, so far as I can remember them.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Here is a list of pieces that Joe either played strictly solo or in combination with Mr. Essex: Bonnie Scotland, Dickey Dance, Coon’s Parade, Coloured Band Patrol, Cupid’s Arrow, Hiawatha (arrangement), Highland Dance, Marche Humoresque, Plantation Echoes, Salome (arrangement), Sorella (arrangement), The Lobster's Promenade, Honolulu Cake Walk, Wheelmen’s March, and very many others.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>To come now to a consideration of Morley’s own compositions it is, in my opinion, a question of registering contrasts rather than making a study of an orderly historical progress. When I say “contrasts,” the contrasting items in Joe’s repertoire were due largely to his long-continued experimentation in obtaining, evolving or perfecting out of- the-way banjo effects. Joe was an indefatigable experimenter. One of his early compositions clearly exemplified this tendency in his written work. For example, take the third movement in his Kentucky Parade (published before 1896). This third movement is an eight-bar phrase, the third and fourth bars of which each consists of four quavers. The first and third quavers in each bar are single notes, and the second and fourth are the same notes repeated with harmony. The single notes are picked in the usual manner, but the chords should be struck with the nail of the first finger. The effect of the first-finger strokes played after each of the main notes of the melody was, to my mind, highly captivating.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>As a distinct contrast to the Kentucky Parade one can name, amongst his earlier compositions, Patricia — a rondo, the only rondo Joe ever wrote, a composition altogether different in style from any of his then published solos. I could go on pointing out many deft touches in his compositions in after years by way of experimentation; in fact, they were written as diversions from the style of contemporaneous composers. Joe himself, recognising this feature in his compositions, actually named one of his solos A Banjo Diversion; indeed, a fair proportion of his compositions were really diversions.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>There was also a humorous streak in Joe’s psychological make-up. Without this .he could never have written Donkey Laugh, Banjo Oddity, Sprig of Shillelagh, A Banjo Frolic, etc., which all incorporate what I consider musical humour. Witness again that quaint item in his Banjo Tutor where, on p. 69, he tells us: “This piece, The Dancing Bear, comes to my mind as many years ago I used to see a man with a performing bear in the streets. The man used to play a tune similar to this on a reed instrument and the bear used to dance. The bear would lie down where the ‘rallentantos’ are marked, and commence dancing again where ‘a tempo’ is marked, and then pretend to die at the end of the piece.” Morley’s humour was spontaneously expressed from time to time in his solos, and another of his compositions reflecting this trait was called Merriment.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>When residing at Burnthwaite Road, Fulham, in South-West London, Joe published, among other solos, his long-famous Slip Along Polka, which he played with the Clifford Essex Pierrots. It was about this time that he considerably modified his right hand fingering (mostly double and triple fingering on the first string).</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Morley’s latest compositions, largely expressions of mood, except when on occasion of necessity, he wrote a “pot boiler” to earn ready cash, were always eagerly looked forward to by his admirers. The generality of his compositions are greatly favoured even today and I notice that out of the twenty banjo solos played at the concert of the National Banjo Society on the 27th May (1944), fourteen were by Morley.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>When commencing to write these “passing notes” about a real banjo genius I looked up the Minute Book of the London Banjo Club. I found that during the year ending September 1937 Morley played seventeen of his compositions, nine of which are published, the titles being Shuffle Along, Banjo Frolic, Sprig of Shillelagh, Peppercorn, Niggertown, Banjo Oddity, Water Nymphs, Jovial Huntsman, and Zarana. I also noticed the title Mister Punch. I mention this number particularly because Joe had a habit of altering his MS work right up to the moment of passing it for publication and even the title sometimes so that it was hazardous to venture playing one of his manuscripts without enquiring immediately beforehand if there were any departures from the script. The alterations and additions Joe made were not due to inconsistency or wilfulness but always on account of an incessant process of polishing and improving.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>I had the privilege, I regarded it then as I do now as a privilege, of occasionally playing duets with Joe, as at the London Club and the Ilford Club at which latter we played, in unison, The Gunners’ March, and at the London Club Zarana and Mister Punch.When I say in unison it was not only note for note but “vibration for vibration,” as when playing a duet with him, Morley preferred to tune both instruments himself. He had quite remarkably acuity of ear.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>The last time I heard Morley on his banjo was on 13th September, 1937 at the London Banjo Club when he played an unnamed composition, I call it Morley’s Last Melody. I do this with every confidence for, on visiting him in hospital shortly afterwards and bearing in mind the dispute there was in former days as to what Stephen C. Foster’s last song was, I asked Joe what was his last work. He had difficulty in explaining it as his voice was failing but I had the manuscript of the piece at home and was able to whistle softly the first few bars when Joe confirmed that it was his last composition. (We are no wiser as to the name of this tune)</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Joe’s originality in musical composition speaks for itself in the numerous solos written and played by him. His memory, imagination and emotion were all good. His humour I have already singled out, whilst he always arrived at securing balance throughout his compositions, bar occasional snags for the inexpert, and the plan and aptness of the majority of his works also speak for themselves.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>As is the case with other musicians, Morley’s compositions in many instances dated themselves. Thus we find, to mention only a few; Jersey Schottische, London Club Parade, Shanklin Schottische, Sandown Schottische, Cowes Schottische and Royal Osborne Gavotte. These numbers not only date themselves largely by the fact that the Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots, in the old days, visited the Isle of Wight, but also indicate the place of their origin or conception. - I remember Joe telling me that Senegambian Revels, for instance, was written because of the rhythm suggested by a chain dangling loosely and banging against the end of a railway carriage on a journey from Leamington to London.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Of course, there are other factors to be taken into consideration in naming a banjo composition and I believe not a few of his manuscripts were actually named, by his publishers. I could never ascertain, why Joe named his famous solo Zarana, but bearing in mind that Joe was “fond of the gee-gees” and also bearing in mind that there was at one time a racehorse named “Zarane,” it strongly suggests itself to me that here we have a clue, as the name “Zarane” was probably pronounced by the uninitiated as Zaraner.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>At Poland Street Joe ran a banjo class for some time which with some dozen others I regularly attended. His method when teaching was more by actual example than by authoritative precept.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>In animated discourse or composition vivacity is often promoted by the use of figures of speech in which words or phrases are used in a sense different from that generally assigned to Them. Their object is to make one idea throw light upon another by bringing into view some previously hidden quality of the things of which we are speaking.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>This happened similarly with Morley and his music and I need only instance his unusual use of the second, third, and fourth strings in such solos as Donkey Laugh and Mauna Loa, which latter, Spoonerised by some facetious players, became Launer Mower. This unorthodox use of certain strings certainly brought to light hidden qualities or effects, sometimes comic, as in Donkey Laugh etc."</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>At a meeting of the Ilford B.M.G. Club and the London BMG Club on the 6th October, 1930, as Vice-President of the Ilford Club in welcoming Morley and the other members of the London Club I said, amongst much else:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em> "Whether you have known Mr. Morley for a few minutes or whether you have had the privilege of his acquaintance for a few years, I am sure you will all agree with me that he is worthy of all honour from the Seven Ages of Banjoists. In Joe’s banjo compositions will be found delicate morsels of music, such as Popcorn, suitable for the tender mental digestion of banjo babes. The schoolboy has been catered for in Merriment and various rags. For the sighing lover he has written Cupid’s Serenade and Bright Eyes. For the soldier he has written numerous marches, parades and patrols. To the justice in fair round belly with good capon lined he has provided Mixed Grill and Nuts and Wine, whilst for the lean and slippered pantaloon, who figures with the clowns in the harlequinade, we have Danse Arlequin, Circus Parade, and The Ringmaster. For the last scene of all when the banjoist is sans teeth, and sans everything, has not Joe written Kingdom Comin’ ?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Joe Morley always spoke softly, and he was not a great talker at any time. Some of the words he spoke of consequence may perhaps have passed unwittingly from one’s recollections, but his banjo music to his many admirers still surely vibrates in their memories. As the poet Shelley wrote: <strong>'Music when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory'.</strong>"</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bernard Sheaff published his memories of Joe Morley in the October and November 1948 issues of B.M.G.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558954?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558954?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558919?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558919?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558715?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558715?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558820?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558820?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Emile Grimshaw wrote the following tribute in the pages of the 'Pickings' magazine, Oct/Nov 1937:</p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>We regret to announce the death of Joe Morley which occurred at the age of 76 (this is obviously a mistake, Morley was aged 69, b.1867 d.1937) in a London hospital on September 16th.</em></p>
<p><em>Morley was undoubtedly the best known British banjoist: it would indeed be difficult to imagine any player of the instrument not having heard of Morley, because the player must surely have featured one or more of his innumerable compositions, and listened to Morley's characteristic and faultless playing of original banjo solos in those popular B.B.C. productions, "The Kentucky Minstrels" and the "White Coons"</em></p>
<p><em>To know Morley personally was to find him a an extremely likeable fellow. He was Joe to everybody, Fee or no fee, he would turn up at any club meeting and please everybody by rattling off two or three of his latest compositions. Although quiet, unassuming, and inoffensive, he had his own definite ideas about the banjo and how it should be played, and he saw no good reason why he should change or endeavour to improve his early methods.</em></p>
<p><em>Although the advantages of having a resonator back attached to the banjo are recognised by almost all players to such an extent that all manufacturers now include it as an integral part of the instrument, Joe would never use one. In pieces such as the "Donkey Laugh" he would mute his banjo with a cork placed between the perch pole and that part of the vellum supporting the bridge; he continued to support his banjo with a sling; plectrum playing, to Joe was a desecration; and although he made frequent appearances before a big public, few of whom were banjoists, he would insist on playing only his own compositions, many of them unpublished manuscripts.</em></p>
<p><em>If ever an instrument called loudly for the playing of a few up to date popular tunes, it was Morley's happy go lucky banjo. what opportunities he missed! What greater appreciation and revenue he must have sacrificed!</em></p>
<p><em>In the writer's opinion, Morley's greatest composition is "Darktown Dandies" the reason being that the piece exactly suits the banjo: it is original in style; the melody is tuneful and inspired; the three movements are perfectly related to each other; the whole piece means something and is as fresh and appealing to day as it was on the day it was written.</em></p>
<p><em>There is insufficient space here for a description of Morley's many other compositions that turned out to be best sellers of their day.</em></p>
<p><em>The best seller of all, it' s interesting to note, happens to be a solo that the composer cared very little about. To Joe, it was trivial, the sort of thing he did not care for his name to be associated with.</em></p>
<p><em>Clifford Essex had asked him to try his hand at a very easy solo for beginners and the result was a little gem that was called "Gold Diggers". How many young banjoists must have been encouraged by playing that easy yet effective tune?</em></p>
<p><em>All Morley's B.B.C. engagements were good publicity for the banjo; millions of listeners were given opportunities to hear the instrument well played, and all those who already played had readily available, an acknowledged high standard of finger style banjo playing by which they could compare their own attainments.</em></p>
<p><em>Some months ago in an issue of a wireless paper, (Radio Times, June 25th 1936) there appeared an article on the subject of Joe Morley's banjo activities during his early public appearances on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. This article did not mention Clifford Essex. I conclude by saying that no biography of Joe Morley could be half complete without reference being made to to his association with Clifford Essex, who gave him his first big opportunity in the Royal Pierrots; published his first compositions and helped in other ways which meant a lot at the time.</em></p>
<p><em>E.G.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>Joe Morley in his later years</b></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558651?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558651?profile=original" width="482" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b> </b><b> </b></p>
<p><b>The final word on Joe Morley from Tarrant Bailey Jnr.</b></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558871?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558871?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><b> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558464?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558464?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558389?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558389?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558371?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103558371?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">________________________________________________________</p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I was encouraged to write this biography of Joe Morley by Anthony Peabody as part of his project for this Classic Banjo website. Anthony is in the process of transferring/transcribing Joe Morley's compositions into Midi files so that anyone can listen to a particular piece of music written by Joe Morley before attempting to play it.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Anthony suggested to me that a biography of Joe Morley would be a very useful addition to this project, I agreed and thought that it would also be an opportunity to attempt to get the facts surrounding the life of Joe Morley written down for the benefit of anyone who may be interested in this remarkable musician now and in the future.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Most of what I have written in this biography of Joe Morley will have to be taken on trust by the reader, I could not see the purpose in overloading this account of his life and times with detailed references to the sources of the various quotations or other signs of erudition but I have scanned and inserted in the text, a number of articles and other references to Joe Morley, these hopefully, give a flavour of the times in which Joe Morley lived and perhaps illustrate the difficulties in finding any references which might have filled out more than the bare facts of his life and so given us some idea of his character.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Nowadays, every last detail of the life of any minor celebrity is available for public inspection, this was not the case in the years in which Joe Morley lived.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The sources for my account of the life of Joe Morley are firstly the many banjo players whom I have known over the years, some, such as Bill Ball actually met Joe Morley, others such as Alf Brimble, Charlie Bramley, Alan Middleton recounted tales to me which they had been told by old banjo players of their acquaintance, who knew Joe Morley and other notable members of the banjo world in the hey day of the banjo in the UK.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I have spent some time reading many old banjo magazines hoping to find contemporary references to Joe Morley, amongst these magazines were firstly, 'The Banjo World' and then B.M.G. both of which were prime sources for much of the account of Morley's first appearances in London and then his time with the Clifford Essex Pierrots, both Royal, and otherwise, and the 'White Coons'.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Much of the material relating to the C.E. Pierrots was written by Clifford Essex himself, in the series of articles published in the B.M.G. entitled "How I Started".</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The B.M.G. was also the source of W. M. Brewer's interesting biography of Joe Morley which was published in the December, 1955, issue and which provided much useful information.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>At this point, I must thank Mike Redman for making available to me his collection of scarce B.M.G. magazines from the period 1911 -1919 which contain a great deal of information about Joe Morley, the Pierrot Banjo Team, the Clifford Essex Pierrots and the Clifford Essex Royal Pierrots.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I also found items of interest in the John Alvey Turner magazine "Keynotes" and the Dallas magazine 'Rhythm'.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The 'Fretwire' magazine also contained some important references to Joe Morley, one very interesting item in particular, which was written by Tarrant Bailey Jnr. and which I have included in the biography, relates to his recording activities.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Emile Grimshaw's magazine 'Pickings' was also a source of important information.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The quotation from the correspondence of the Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, is taken from "Counting One's Blessings" the selected letters of same, by William Shawcross, published by Macmillan in 2012.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>There is no doubt further information about Joe Morley, may be available in magazines such as 'The 'Jo' and 'The Troubadour' etc. but these magazines are rare, and I have been unable to trace any copies of them, if anyone has copies of these magazines which contain references to Joe Morley I would be pleased if they would make them available for inclusion in the biography.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The 'Radio Times' provided some of Morley's personal reminiscences relating to his musical career and in particular, his time with the 'White Coons' although surprisingly, there was no mention of his thirteen years with Clifford Essex and his Pierrots in this magazine.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The material relating to the 'White Coons' also came from the 'Radio Times'.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I purchased the photographs of Joe Morley taken at the army camp in Salisbury c1916, from Pat Doyle, some years ago, other photographs are from my collection or obtained from the internet and other sources.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>A great debt is owed to Anthony Peabody who spent much time and effort tracking down the elusive newspaper cuttings relating to Joe Morley's early musical career before he met Clifford Essex; these throw new light on his musical activities at this period.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> Anthony also painstakingly researched the genealogy of the Morley family, this was particularly difficult in view of the colourful lives led by both of Morley's parents.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Inevitably, I will have inadvertently forgotten someone who has made material available to me, I apologise in advance if this is the case, I will also have made some mistakes, probably in the chronology department, again I apologise and welcome any additional information which will help to correct any omissions or mistakes which come to light.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>There are also some items which I would have liked to include in the biography but which I was unable to trace, the October, 1937, edition of the B.M.G. magazine which gave an account of the passing of Joe Morley, is one such item. This magazine went missing from my collection some years ago and I have not seen a copy in recent times.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I would also have liked to have included a picture of Kate Moss but was surprisingly, unable to find one, I would be grateful if anyone who has copies of these two items could make them, available for inclusion here.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Thanks are also due to Dave Wade who provided me with the details of the Joe Morley recordings.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> </em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Finally I would like to thank Joe Morley himself for the many hours of pleasure that his banjo compositions have given me and many thousands of other people, both in the playing and the listening. It is quite remarkable that he could have written so many tunes in so many different styles for the banjo and that he is still regarded, by banjo players worldwide seventy nine years after his death, as a major contributor to the repertoire of the banjo.</em></p>
<p>Richard Ineson</p>
<p>October 2016</p>
<p></p> The Works of Joe Morleytag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2015-01-18:2667446:Page:974352015-01-18T14:21:30.055Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
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<div class="links cb_welcome"><p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b>Clifford Essex Music Co.Ltd</b></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234412086?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234412086?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></b></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Following in the footsteps of his father, Clem Vickery Jnr. is now at the helm of Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. He has maintained strong links with…</p>
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<div class="links cb_welcome">
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b>Clifford Essex Music Co.Ltd</b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234412086?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234412086?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-left"></a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center">Following in the footsteps of his father, Clem Vickery Jnr. is now at the helm of Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. He has maintained strong links with the craftsmen and composers that his father had onboard to continue the company’s legacy of being a top-quality provider of instruments, accessories and sheet music.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center">Strings, Instruments, Cases,Sheet Music and Tutor Books and accessories are now available from their online shop.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234414676?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12234414676?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center">View their website at: <a href="https://cliffordessex.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLIFFORD ESSEX MUSIC</a></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cliffordessex.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://cliffordessex.com/</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b>The American Banjo Fraternity</b></p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551859?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551859?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-left" width="148" height="270"></a></p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p align="center">The ABF is an international organization committed to keeping Classic Banjo music alive and to preserve the traditions and memories of its composers and player.</p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p align="center">Check out their website for full details:</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.banjofraternity.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.banjofraternity.org</a></p>
<p align="center">or contact:</p>
<p align="center">Joel Hooks, Executive Secretary</p>
<p align="center"><a href="mailto:joelhooks@me.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joelhooks@me.com</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p> </p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>"The" website for the zither banjo.</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551879?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551879?profile=original" class="align-left" width="183"></a></strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The first ever web site dedicated to the zither banjo. It was launched in early spring 2003 and has had a tremendous response from not only the UK but also from the US, Australia and France. In addition to articles and pictures they have now included sheet music and original recordings.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">For everything you ever need to know about the zither banjo visit the late David Wade’s site:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.zither-banjo.org.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.zither-banjo.org.uk</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>British BMG Federation</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551865?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551865?profile=original" class="align-left" width="183"></a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The aim of the British BMG Federation is to promote the performance and education of banjo, mandolin and guitar. It is committed to creating educational opportunities for players of all ages to learn and improve on their chosen instruments through runningworkshops and courses and advertising courses run by other individuals and organisations.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bbmg.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.bbmg.org.uk/</a></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><b>The Unique Joe Morley</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551881?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551881?profile=original" class="align-left" width="184" height="271"></a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This web site was originally designed in 2001 to support the Joe Morley Memorial Fund.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">At that time there was no permanent marker or headstone on his grave in Streatham. Through hard work and public subscription this was rectified on 15th. September 2001.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">There is information on Morley's life, compositions and even his famous Weaver banjos.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.joemorley.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.joemorley.co.uk</a></p>
<p> </p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><strong> </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Joel Hooks, Banjo playing from the 19th Century</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551984?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551984?profile=original" class="align-left" width="184"></a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Joel plays in the styles that were popular during the mid-late 19th century. Carefully researched and recreated, the music he plays comes directly from the source, paying particular attention to documented techniques of the greats.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">A lot of the music he performs comes from that of Frank B. Converse, James Buckley and S. S. Stewart. Modern banjo playing (“clawhammer”, “Scruggs”) developed from these earlier styles.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The site is a great resource for information and downloadable documents from the era.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thejoelhooks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://thejoelhooks.com</a></p>
<p></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><b>American Banjo Makers</b></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551841?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551841?profile=original" class="align-left" width="183"></a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This is an amazing site with endless information and detail. There are more than 1800 entries in this site. They consist of makers, patentees, brand names and much more.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mugwumps.com/AmerInstMkr.html">http://www.mugwumps.com/AmerInstMkr.html</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>The Great William J. Ball</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551935?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103551935?profile=original" class="align-left" width="184"></a></strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">William J. Ball did everything he could to keep this wonderful music alive, achieving a degree of understanding, musicality and virtuosity that may never be equaled. William’s many recordings and concerts showed the world how the Classic Banjo should be played and now serve as a source of inspiration to all of us who love the sound of the instrument and its music.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This web site is dedicated to his name:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.williamjball.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.williamjball.co.uk</a></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103556667?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103556667?profile=original" class="align-left" width="386"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"></p>
<p>This site is based in the UK and came about after a chance e-mail from the late Terry Holland’s son in law who agreed to the original British Banjo Makers website being upgraded and he donated a lot of the original research documents to the project.</p>
<p>The website does not intend to compete with the many individual experts and researchers of the banjo and its makers, but to provide a single comprehensive reference site for those who have an old banjo and wish to know something about its maker.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><span class="font-size-2">Visit Norman Guiver's "The Vintage Banjo Maker" website:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span class="font-size-2"> <a href="http://www.vintagebanjomaker.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.vintagebanjomaker.com/</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b>Register of Banjos made by James Parslow 1880 to 1919</b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103561486?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103561486?profile=original" class="align-center" width="622"></a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ed Parslow has produced a register of instruments by Parslow and you can view it here:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a href="https://issuu.com/edparslow/docs/parslow_banjo_registry_nov_5_2022_for_issuu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Parslow Banjo Registry</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span class="font-size-2">If you have your own website or know of a website that you think should be included on this links page, please email me the details here:</span> <a href="mailto:thereallyniceman@yahoo.co.uk"><span class="font-size-2">thereallyniceman@yahoo.co.uk</span></a></p>
</div> Player Biographiestag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2014-01-08:2667446:Page:849462014-01-08T17:40:51.160Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
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</div> Tutor Bookstag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2014-01-06:2667446:Page:846232014-01-06T14:45:12.810Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div class="cb_welcome" id="tutorbooks_intro" style="text-align: center;"><p><strong>This page contains tutor books for both the early A and the now standard C tuning of Classic Banjos.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Select the thumbnail and click the “Download” tab.</strong></p>
<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic;">(Unfortunately the quality of the reproduction in some of these tutors is quite poor)…</p>
</div>
<div id="tutorbooks_intro" class="cb_welcome" style="text-align: center;">
<p><strong>This page contains tutor books for both the early A and the now standard C tuning of Classic Banjos.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Select the thumbnail and click the “Download” tab.</strong></p>
<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic;">(Unfortunately the quality of the reproduction in some of these tutors is quite poor)</p>
</div>
<div id="tutorbooks" style="min-height: 800px; display: none;" class="cb_custom_page_container">
<div id="tutorbooks_main"></div>
</div> Find a Teachertag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2012-07-23:2667446:Page:595172012-07-23T16:34:50.505Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div class="cb_custom_page_container" id="teachers" style="min-height: 800px; display: none;"><div class="cb_welcome" id="teachers_welcome"><p><strong>For banjo teachers who teach “Classic Style” as part of their portfolio, beginners who would like to learn to play and more advanced players who would like extra tuition, here is our new FIND A TEACHER page.</strong></p>
<p style="padding-top: 15px; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; font-style: italic;">Those offering tuition who would like to…</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="teachers" style="min-height: 800px; display: none;" class="cb_custom_page_container">
<div id="teachers_welcome" class="cb_welcome">
<p><strong>For banjo teachers who teach “Classic Style” as part of their portfolio, beginners who would like to learn to play and more advanced players who would like extra tuition, here is our new FIND A TEACHER page.</strong></p>
<p style="padding-top: 15px; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; font-style: italic;">Those offering tuition who would like to be featured on here please send me an email: <span class="thereallyniceman"> </span></p>
</div>
<div id="teachers_main"></div>
</div> Jukeboxtag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2012-05-01:2667446:Page:567512012-05-01T11:22:08.164Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
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</div> Bygone Timestag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2012-02-18:2667446:Page:540932012-02-18T10:56:16.115Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div id="timemachine_intro" class="cb_welcome">
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Enjoy photos from a time when the banjo was King.<br>
<br>
They are not meant to be educational or historical records<br>
<br>
… But just for fun!</strong></p>
</div>
<div id="timemachine" style="min-height: 306px;">
<div id="timemachine_results"></div>
</div>
<div id="timemachine_intro" class="cb_welcome">
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Enjoy photos from a time when the banjo was King.<br>
<br>
They are not meant to be educational or historical records<br>
<br>
… But just for fun!</strong></p>
</div>
<div id="timemachine" style="min-height: 306px;">
<div id="timemachine_results"></div>
</div> What is Classic Banjo?tag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2012-02-02:2667446:Page:537732012-02-02T19:52:11.434Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<p style="text-align: center; margin: 20px 0 10px 0;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4XlaDB5PCH0?wmode=opaque" width="480"></iframe>
</p>
<p style="width: 550px; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; color: #00000; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">In this 30 minute video site member Peter LaBau talks briefly about the "Classic Style" of banjo playing and, along with…</p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin: 20px 0 10px 0;"><iframe type="text/html" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4XlaDB5PCH0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="480"></iframe></p>
<p style="width: 550px; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; color: #00000; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">In this 30 minute video site member Peter LaBau talks briefly about the "Classic Style" of banjo playing and, along with</p>
<p style="width: 550px; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; color: #00000; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">Mitch Nelin, plays several classic banjo compositions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#whatisbanjo">1. What is a Banjo?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#whatisclassicbanjo">2. What is Classic Banjo?</a></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="#whatisclassicbanjoa">a. What Classic Banjo is</a></li>
<li><a href="#whatisclassicbanjob">b. What Classic Banjo is not</a></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#howtolearn">3. How can I learn Classic Banjo?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#whylearn">4. Why should I learn Classic Banjo?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#classicalbanjo">5. Is there a difference between Classic and classical banjo?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#authentic">6. Is Classic Banjo less "authentic" than other styles of banjo playing?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#banjomusic">7. What is "banjo music"?</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#origins">8. Banjo origins and misconceptions.</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a name="whatisbanjo" id="whatisbanjo"></a>1. What is a Banjo?</span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br></span></p>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">What is a <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo">banjo</a>? Technically, the answer is quite simple – the banjo is a plucked lute <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordophone">chordophone</a>, which produces sounds by the vibrations of strings which are transmitted to a stretched membrane via a bridge.</font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547979?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547979?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" width="300"></a>However, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Half-Barbaric-Twang-American-Popular/dp/025206433X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326812707&sr=1-1">the banjo, as a cultural construct,</a> is far more difficult to define. For the vast majority of the population, the banjo is a relatively unknown instrument; it has a round body, a neck like a guitar, and is either played by <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverance">inbred, toothless hillbillies</a>, pizza parlour banjoists in loud “riverboat” costumes, or <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby">George Formby</a> imitators.</font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">The banjo, it is said, is an “insufferable” instrument; it is considered “loud”, “annoying”, and “undesirable”. The banjo is an object of derision, in popular culture.</font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">This perception of the banjo, however, has undergone many changes throughout the years – some for the better, some for the worst – and, whereas the instrument, in its basic configuration, has hardly changed in the past 100 years, its repertoire and cultural connotations have been turned upside down.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547991?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547991?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right" width="300"></a></font></p>
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<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Believe it or not, just over 100 years ago the banjo was a mostly urban phenomenon, which started its life in working-class concert halls and minstrel shows, briefly flirted with the wealthy establishment and the world of the parlour, and led the way in the <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Van_Eps">Ragtime phenomenon</a>.</font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Throughout those years, the public’s love-hate relationship with the banjo was more obvious than ever – the instrument had achieved tremendous popularity; hundreds of thousands of banjos were manufactured and sold, and the instrument was at the vanguard of the nascent recording industry, yet the humble banjo did not manage to shake off the negative social stigma which was attached to it, and fell into obscurity after the banjo craze had passed.</font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547975?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547975?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" width="300"></a>There have been many renewals of interest in the banjo, which has since conquered new niches such as Bluegrass, Country and Old Time music, Irish trad music or traditional Jazz; but a loyal core of followers of the original fingerstyle method of banjo playing, known as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.classicbanjo.com/">Classic Banjo</a>, remains, and the style is currently experiencing a rebirth thanks to the internet.</font></p>
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<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">This website is dedicated to spreading the word about this style of banjo playing, and to promote knowledge and critical thinking about the instrument.</font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a name="whatisclassicbanjo" id="whatisclassicbanjo"></a><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">2. What is Classic Banjo?</font></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></span></p>
<div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">There is a certain amount of confusion on what <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/">Classic Banjo</a> is, which mostly stems from its name. Indeed, the name Classic Banjo, which was chosen by the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.banjofraternity.org/">American Banjo Fraternity</a>, is often confused with “classical banjo”, which leads us to think that it is “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perpetual-Motion-Bela-Fleck/dp/B00005OSX6">classical music played on a banjo</a>” – a relatively small, niche style in which modern, steel-strung banjos are often used.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547982?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547982?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right" width="300"></a></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">The terms “Classic” and “classical” tend to create an association with classical music, which, in the mind of your average banjoist, carries often negative connotations such as “difficult”, “snooty”, “elitist”, &c.</font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Indeed, the average banjoist nowadays only has a vague knowledge of what banjo playing, in the years Before <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Scruggs">Scruggs</a>, was like; the general stereotype goes something like this:</font></p>
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<div> </div>
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<div>
<div>
<blockquote>
<p><span class="font-size-2" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><i>Back in the late 1800s, the banjo – an essentially rural instrument – was ripped from the hands of poor, illiterate hillbillies by evil, greedy snobs such as Samuel Swaim Stewart, who proceeded to try and make the banjo a high-class, classical instrument by re-spelling its name to “banjeau” and other such dastardly shenanigans. Of course, this unhappy marriage of the banjo and classical music did not last, and by the 1920’s the banjo was once again free to roam in the Appalachi</i></font><i>ans, where honest, illiterate folks could get back to transmitting ancient, oral banjo traditions.</i></span></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547960?profile=original" target="_self" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547960?profile=original" class="align-left" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial;" width="291"></a>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">This view, which is widespread in the banjo-playing world, tends to dismiss Classic Banjo as a historical error – as an unsuccessful attempt to steer the banjo from its “true” nature.</font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">However, to dismiss a period in which the banjo was infinitely more popular than nowadays, in which thousands of original pieces for the banjo were published, and in which there was an amateur banjo club in every city, is to miss out on a huge part of banjo music and culture which lies, dormant and almost forgotten, but ripe for the picking.</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">So, what is Classic Banjo? <a name="whatisclassicbanjoa" id="whatisclassicbanjoa"></a>Classic banjo is:</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<ul>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is a form of fingerstyle banjo playing which, unlike some modern styles such as <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scruggs_style">Scruggs</a>, is not based on patterns. As such, Classic Banjo is a very free way of playing, meaning that almost all kinds of music can be attempted.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is played on a five-string banjo (either old or modern) strung with nylon, nylgut or gut strings with the bare fingers; no fingerpicks are used.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is a solo style of banjo playing, but it also very well suited to ensemble playing and duets with other banjos, pianos, or guitars.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is a style in which the performers play music in all keys and time signatures, without the use of a capo.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is a style in which there is a very large body of music available in the public domain, and, therefore, absolutely free.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is a living tradition, with excellent teachers and players alive nowadays.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is rewarding and fulfilling; when you learn Classic Banjo, you will soon make your own arrangements of songs, and will be free to experiment with music beyond the usual banjo stereotypes.</font></li>
</ul>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div>
<p><a name="whatisclassicbanjob" id="whatisclassicbanjob"></a><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Classic Banjo is not:</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<ul>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Playing classical music on the banjo; although it is possible, and there is some classical music arranged for the banjo, the vast majority is popular music, ragtime, and “banjo music”, or original music written specifically for the banjo.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Extremely challenging or difficult; in fact, it can be as simple or as challenging as you like, and there are many very impressive pieces which are surprisingly easy to learn.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">A re-enactment of a historical style; Classic Banjo is a living tradition, and it makes use of all modern innovations, such as mylar heads and nylon strings.</font></li>
</ul>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Nowadays, many excellent banjoists are “reinventing the wheel” and, unknowingly, returning to what Classic Banjo really stands for – being able to get the most out of the banjo, as an instrument. Now, more than ever, Classic Banjo has its place in the banjo world and in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a name="howtolearn" id="howtolearn"></a><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">3. How can I learn Classic Banjo?</font></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></span></p>
<div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Whereas it is very difficult to find a teacher near you, nowadays, there are many options available to those who wish to learn how to play the banjo.</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<ul>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Become a member of <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/">Classic Banjo Ning</a> and follow the free <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/classic-fingerstyle-banjo-for-1#MgWfHwVTW5o">Video Lessons</a>. These lessons are an excellent way to get started, as you will learn how to set up and care for your banjo, how to read notation and tablature, and you will be guided step by step through an entire solo, “Georgia Medley”. The friendly community on Classic Banjo Ning will assist you and answer your questions.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Buy the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliffordessex.net/">Clifford Essex Company’s</a> new book, “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliffordessex.net/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=657">The Banjo and How to Play It</a>”. The book, which includes both notation and tablature and an audio CD, will teach you everything you need to know; is is an excellent resource both for beginners and advanced players. Players who are already experienced in banjo playing should have a look at "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliffordessex.net/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=563">How to Excel on the Banjo</a>".</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Download some of the Public Domain tutor books for free; they are excellent instructional books, especially <a target="_blank" href="http://www.classicbanjo.com/tutors/Morley/MorleyPart1.pdf">Joe Morley’s tutor</a> and Emile Grimshaw’s.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Finally, you can download as much <a href="http://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/scores">Public Domain music</a> as you like, and learn how to play it; or, if you don’t read music, you can buy <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliffordessex.net/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=24">new editions in TAB</a> from the Clifford Essex Company, either in print or digital download.</font></li>
</ul>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></div>
<div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a name="whylearn" id="whylearn"></a><font face="'Times New Roman', serif">4. Why should I learn Classic Banjo?</font></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB"><br></font></p>
<p><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Learning to play Classic Banjo has ample benefits which await those with the patience to achieve them. Learning Classic Banjo will:</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<ul>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Broaden your musical horizons; you will have a great repertoire of banjo music at your fingertips, both arrangements and original music.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Improve your understanding of music; if you want to be a musician, and not only a banjoist, learning Classic Banjo will help you understand music and will benefit not only your banjo playing, but other instruments as well.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Allow you to easily arrange and improvise music for the banjo which is not possible to play in other styles.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Shatter common stereotypes and change people’s minds about the banjo by playing music which goes beyond the expected.</font></li>
<li><font face="'Times New Roman', serif" lang="EN-GB">Get more out of your banjo; playing more and more varied music on your instrument means getting more enjoyment from it.</font></li>
</ul>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></div>
<div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><a name="classicalbanjo" id="classicalbanjo"></a>5. Is there a difference between Classic and classical banjo?</font></span></div>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif">There is a certain amount of confusion on this subject due to the name "Classic", as has been pointed out earlier. The original Classic-style players did not call themselves "Classic" banjoists, "classical" banjoists or any other such labels; they were, simply, banjoists.</font></div>
<br>
<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547930?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547930?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right" width="300"></a></div>
<div><br>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif">In 1948, when the popularity of Classic Banjo had waned considerably, a group of American banjoists got together to resume playing this style of music, and in 1955 they formed the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.banjofraternity.org/">American Banjo Fraternity</a>, a society dedicated to keeping this style of banjo playing alive.</font></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br>
By that time, the banjo, which had gone through the plectrum and tenor craze, was heading towards its more familiar, modern "folk" incarnation in what is commonly known as the</span> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.zipcon.net/%7Ehighroad/folkscare.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Great Folk Scare</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and the ABF adopted the "Classic" label to distinguish their style of banjo playing from the new "folk" styles.</span></div>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="'Times New Roman', serif">There is no</font> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">such</span> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">genre as "classical banjo", as the banjo has not been accepted as a classical instrument other than by a few composers and performers, although there are a few musicians who play classical music on the banjo, such as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.johnbullard.com/">John Bullard</a> or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.belafleck.com/">Béla Fleck</a>.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a name="authentic" id="authentic"></a>6. Is Classic Banjo less "authentic" than other styles of banjo playing?</span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">According to common stereotypes about the banjo nowadays, the banjo is an "essentially rural" instrument, with a rural repertoire which is often played by ear. Reading banjo music from notation is seen as "un-banjoish" -- an elitist, snobbish and outdated attitude adopted by people who wanted to "elevate" the instrument.</span></div>
<br>
<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547886?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547886?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" width="310"></a><br />
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, it is important to keep in mind that these stereotypes are cultural constructs and that the way we see the banjo nowadays is not the way people have always seen it. When the "old-timers" such as Joe Morley or Emile Grimshaw wrote banjo music in notation and played fingerstyle, they did so because it allowed them to compose and play more ambitious and complex music for the banjo, and it is this style of playing which made the banjo such a popular instrument with all social classes.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whereas it is easy to disparage Classic Banjo as belonging to "educated city folk", this style of music was accessible to all -- after all, the greatest Classic Banjo composer, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.joemorley.co.uk/">Joe Morley</a>, was born poor and died poor.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Classic Banjo is authentic in so far as it is a long, verifiable living tradition; whereas many banjo "traditions" are based upon dubious oral accounts, speculation and nostalgia, Classic Banjo has a wealth of recordings, sheet music, and living players and teachers which confirm its authenticity as a style of banjo playing.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a name="banjomusic" id="banjomusic"></a>7. What is "banjo music"?</span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/103547942?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" width="250"></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Banjo music is a very important genre in Classic Banjo; </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">whereas modern banjo styles often play music which was not specifically composed for the banjo -- such as Old Time or Bluegrass standards, with a banjo part in them -- Classic Banjo is unique in that a good amount of the music performed cannot be found outside the banjo world. It is, basically, music whic</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">h has been composed specifically for the banjo, and it makes up a large part of the Classic Banjo repertoire.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even a good deal of arrangements of popular music have a strong "banjo" flavour, which is what makes Classic Banjo music so appealing.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a name="origins" id="origins"></a>8. Banjo origins and misconceptions.</span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br></span></p>
<p>Over the years many errors have become perpetuated as to the origin of the 5 string banjo as we know it today, and how it evolved as an instrument.</p>
<p>In this excellent article site member, Tony Thomas, corrects some of the misconceptions:</p>
<p align="center"><b><i>“Joel Walker Sweeney invented</i></b></p>
<p align="center"><b><i> the modern day banjo”</i></b></p>
<p>Joel Walker Sweeney never claimed that he invented the banjo. During his lifetime (1810-1860), the general knowledge of the banjo’s African American origins were so clear such a claim would not have found much hearing. Yet, Sweeney was certainly the most important early popularizer of the five string banjo as we now know it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">“<b><i>Sweeney heard slaves playing instruments resembling banjos in plantations”</i></b></p>
<p>Sweeney never said he heard African Americans in nearby plantations playing other instruments that resembled banjos. Sweeney said he learned <b>the banjo</b> from African American <b>banjoists</b>. His contemporaries reported Black banjoists were common in the area of Virginia where Sweeney grew up.</p>
<p align="center"><b><i>“Sweeney invented the banjo 5<sup>th</sup> or octave string”</i></b></p>
<p>Sweeney never claimed he invented the short chanterelle string on the banjo. The earliest illustration of a banjo from 17th century Jamaica shows a peg for a short string. An 18th century illustration of a banjo from Surinam shows a short string. <i>The Old Plantation,</i> painted in South Carolina around 1790, shows a Black banjoist playing a banjo with a short string. Other illustrations, and, perhaps, at least one surviving banjo with short strings predate Sweeney.</p>
<p>Sweeney was certainly the first major European American banjo entertainer. Following his entry into circuses and stage shows in the mid-1830s, Sweeney popularized the banjo in North America, Britain, and Ireland. Sweeney began playing a four string banjo similar to the early gourd banjos first reported in the 17th century. He eventually played and popularized an early model of the five-string banjo with an additional lower string, nowadays usually tuned to C or D. By 1840 he had switched from gourd banjos to frame headed banjos. </p>
<p>In the late 19<sup>th</sup> century a fiction was created that Sweeney invented the banjo. At times, this myth has revolved around the claim Sweeney added the short string or that he added the lower string, both of which had been reported on banjos previously. </p>
<p>These claims seem to seek to detach the banjo from its actual creators, Black people in the Caribbean, and from the African Americans who brought the banjo to North America. Modern research confirms what Sweeney and his generation of banjo entertainers said. Their stroke and two-finger minstrel styles were based on Black American banjo approaches. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the idea of Sweeney’s “invention” of the banjo reinforces the false idea that the banjo is solely an “American” instrument. Indigenous banjo traditions exist in the Caribbean where the banjo was first reported. Moreover, tours by Sweeney and others in the 1840s swiftly made banjo playing popular in Britain and Ireland. By 1850 the banjo had reached Australia. In the 19<sup>th</sup> Century the banjo became a world instrument.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yet, this should not diminish Sweeney’s greatness. Reports of his performances in the United States and the United Kingdom ring with the excitement he created. His success encouraged many to pick up the banjo. He popularized advances in banjo construction that made banjos sturdier, extended the banjo’s musical range, and made banjos easier to manufacture. Sweeney always pointed to the Black origin of the banjo music he made. Sweeney and the other banjo entertainers of his generation were crucial to the spread of the instrument in the United States and throughout the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The best available source on Sweeney is Bob Carlin’s <i>The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy</i> a book that belongs in every home!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The most up to date information on the roots of the banjo are available at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Banjo-Roots-Banjo-Beginnings/146459448740018">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Banjo-Roots-Banjo-Beginnings/146459448740018</a>, maintained by the world’s leading scholar of banjo origins Shlomo Pestcoe.</p>
<p> </p> Sheet Music Librarytag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2011-12-28:2667446:Page:517412011-12-28T15:47:39.546Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
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</div> Classic Fingerstyle Banjo for beginnerstag:classic-banjo.ning.com,2011-05-22:2667446:Page:324852011-05-22T11:54:03.603Zthereallynicemanhttps://classic-banjo.ning.com/profile/thereallyniceman
<div id="beginners" style="visibility: hidden;"><dl id="youtube-videos">
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c3ko45EBJg" title="Welcome to the wonderful world of 'Classic Style' banjo playing">Classic Banjo<br></br> and its origins</a></dt>
<dd><p>A history of Classic Style Banjo.</p>
<p>In this video we give a brief history of the origins of Classic Style Banjo, from its roots in Africa the banjo travelled to America. The American travelling Minstrel shows came to the United Kingdom…</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div id="beginners" style="visibility: hidden;">
<dl id="youtube-videos">
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c3ko45EBJg" title="Welcome to the wonderful world of 'Classic Style' banjo playing">Classic Banjo<br>
and its origins</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>A history of Classic Style Banjo.</p>
<p>In this video we give a brief history of the origins of Classic Style Banjo, from its roots in Africa the banjo travelled to America. The American travelling Minstrel shows came to the United Kingdom bringing the banjo with them. Hear about the development of the style and enjoy early recordings of the Classic Banjo greats.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/A%20brief%20history%20of%20Classic%20Style%20banjo.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aGN1UNCGF8" title="An Introduction to the beginners' video tutorials in this section of the site">More information<br>
on our videos</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>What's to come in our tutorial videos:</p>
<p></p>
We will give detailed information about banjos suitable for classic style playing and their setup and tuning. There will be video exercises and lessons to introduce you to the correct techniques that will enable you to play classic finger style banjo solos.<br />
<p></p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEZ6ZqJ1R2s" title="The Classic Style Banjo. A look at its parts and construction">A description of<br>
banjo anatomy!</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>In this video we will describe the construction of the Classic Style five string banjo, from perch pole to bracket band and neck splice to flesh hoop.</p>
<p></p>
No longer will you be confused by the jargon!<br />
<p></p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmshkOTd5JQ" title="An in depth look at how to set up, and accurately tune, your banjo">More to tuning<br>
than you think?</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>We do the things that an electronic tuner can't do.</p>
<p>We investigate tensioning and tap tuning the vellum, string action measurement and adjustment and calculating the bridge position. We check the string intonation and the use of harmonics for perfect positioning of the bridge. Tuning by means of electronic tuner and by fretting across the strings and finally testing the tune by fretting all five stings to G!</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Ygb-tyPJU" title="A guide to Notation and Tablature as used in banjo playing">Notation or TAB?<br>
We explain both!</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>In this brief guide to Notation and Tablature</p>
<p>we explain the simple concepts of both systems and of their use together in banjo scores. In future lessons we expand on their useage and have downloadable scores to print off and then follow while watching the video exercises and specific lessons based on a medley of several short classic banjo tunes.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIf4H1RjK1s" title="Fingering exercises and Chord shapes Part 1">Playing by<br>
Numbers!</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>I show how to hold the banjo correctly and the correct use of the right and left hands. Effective use of Alternate Fingering and the thirteen basic chord shapes</p>
<p>There are downloadable files attached which include tutor books, exercises and chord sheets to help you play Classic Style Banjo efficiently.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Fingering%20and%20Chord%20Shapes%20Video1.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90nMcIJY_Y" title="Fingering exercises and Chord shapes Part 2">All fingers<br>
and thumbs!</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>More techniques and exercises</p>
<p>Finger strengthening exercises, more chord shapes and alternate fingering based on chords.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Fingering%20and%20Chord%20Shapes%20Video2.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhE5Wxsa_6o" title="Fingering exercises and Scales">Scales?<br>
...BORING!</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Scales are useful and effective exercises in the use of Alternate Fingering and help to improve the speed and accuracy of rapid runs of notes up and down the fingerboard.</p>
<p>Scale and fingering exercises are probably one of the best ways to help you to play Classic Style Banjo smoothly and efficiently.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Fingering%20exercises%20and%20Scales%20video%20downloads1.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywQa_NcDaWg" title="Broadway Promenade">A lesson<br>
for beginners</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Broadway Promenade, a fun, beginners'piece</p>
<p>Marc Dalmasso gives a tutorial on how to play "Broadway Promenade" composed by Herbert J. Ellis. A rhythmic and melodic cakewalk easily learned by a beginner to classic banjo.</p>
<p>The full score, with Tablature is available in our Music Library.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGrhQ4ZxPM" title="Sunflower Dance">A delightful<br>
and easy banjo solo</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Sunflower Dance, a lively beginners'piece</p>
<p>This piece is often played by those just starting Classic Banjo. I will explain and demonstrate, note by note, bar by bar how to play this great tune.</p>
<p>The full score, with piano part is available in our Music Library.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/SunflowerDance.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPDSbOA3wN8" title="The Jovial Huntsman by Joe Morley">A simple to play<br>
beginners' solo</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Jovial Huntsman, a great Classic Banjo Solo</p>
<p>This is quick run through lesson of Joe Morley's Solo. I will explain and demonstrate, bar by bar how to play this Classic Style Banjo tune.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLKGee69iDU" title="Georgia Medley by Joe Morley">An introduction to<br>
our video lessons</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley, a great Classic Banjo Solo</p>
<p>This is an introduction to the following eight lesson videos. I will explain and demonstrate, note by note, bar by bar and tune by tune how to play this Classic Style Banjo Medley. I will show the position of the left hand fingers and the correct right hand fingers used to pick the strings. You can download all 8 Lesson scores by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Georgia_Lessons.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT2t7RvjGfA" title="Snaps and twiddly-dees!">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 1</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 1 of 8</p>
<p>A complete work through of the opening section of a great Classic Style Banjo tune. I will explain fingering techniques and describe playing by numbers for the complete beginner to banjo playing. You can download the score for this Lesson by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson1.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDVLlyw7v0I" title="Darling Nelly Gray">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 2</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 2 of 8</p>
<p>The second lesson of this superb Classic Banjo medley. The first part of the tune Nelly Gray is played in this Lesson and the second part in Lesson 3. You can download the score for this Lesson by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson2.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXTStmqKm7Q" title="Numbered Chords... easy!">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 3</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 3 of 8</p>
<p>The video lessons continue with the second part of Nelly Gray. Poor old Nelly Gray, they have taken her away!... It's sooo sad :-( You can download the score for this Lesson by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson3.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fok-ueBkAFE" title="Marching through Georgia">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 4</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 4 of 8</p>
<p>This is the first of two Lessons based on the Marching Through Georgia tune of the medley. It's a great, fun, and a rousing marching tune for the banjo. The first part of this tune is demonstrated in this Lesson. You can download the score by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson4.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH6384lceB8" title="More marching!">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 5</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 5 of 8</p>
<p>This is the second of two Lessons based on the Marching Through Georgia tune of the medley. It's a terrific tune that can be played either as part of the medley or on its own! The second part of this tune is demonstrated in this Lesson. You can download the score by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson5.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8KqQrgRLzE" title="There's a Tavern, let's go!">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 6</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 6 of 8</p>
<p>This is another two part Lesson for the tune Tavern in the Town. Yet another rousing tune that can be played either as part of the medley or on its own! The first part of this tune is demonstrated, with lots of rasps, in this Lesson. You can download the score by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson6.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqhIICT08A" title="Rasps? Loads of them!">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 7</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 7 of 8</p>
<p>This is the second Lesson of Tavern in the Town. Lots of twiddly-dee-dees in this part of the medley! The second part of this tune is demonstrated in this Lesson. You can download the score by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson7.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s45gxQvAGY" title="Relax on the river">Georgia Medley<br>
Lesson 8</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Georgia Medley Lesson 8 of 8</p>
<p>This is the final Lesson of the Georgia Medley and time for a gentle float down the Swanee River. There are some good finger stretches in this part of the medley! This tune is over two pages and you can download the score by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Lesson8.zip">Links and references to download (ZIP File)</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9DcCEBAO9A" title="Gipsy Dance 1">by Parke Hunter<br>
Tutorial</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Lesson by Marc Dalmasso</p>
<p>This is part one of three video lessons produced by Marc Dalmasso from France. Marc is a professional musician and talks us through this solo composed by Parke Hunter. Marc gives instructions on how to play this 6/8 piece in both French and English. The score, with piano part, second banjo and Tablature produced by Marc can be downloaded by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Parke_Hunter__Gipsy_Dance.pdf">Download the score to play along</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGlDIi89w6g" title="Gipsy Dance 2">by Parke Hunter<br>
Tutorial</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Lesson by Marc Dalmasso</p>
<p>This is part two of three video lessons produced by Marc Dalmasso from France. Marc is a professional musician and talks us through this solo composed by Parke Hunter. Marc gives instructions on how to play this 6/8 piece in both French and English. The score, with piano part, second banjo and Tablature produced by Marc can be downloaded by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Parke_Hunter__Gipsy_Dance.pdf">Download the score to play along</a></dd>
<dt><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coN1enRV2-U" title="Gipsy Dance 3">by Parke Hunter<br>
Tutorial</a></dt>
<dd>
<p>Lesson by Marc Dalmasso</p>
<p>This is part three of three video lessons produced by Marc Dalmasso from France. Marc is a professional musician and talks us through this solo composed by Parke Hunter. Marc gives instructions on how to play this 6/8 piece in both French and English. The score, with piano part, second banjo and Tablature produced by Marc can be downloaded by clicking the link below.</p>
<a class="download" href="https://classic-banjo.com/files/LESSON%20VIDEO%20DOWNLOADS/Parke_Hunter__Gipsy_Dance.pdf">Download the score to play along</a></dd>
</dl>
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