Banjos in England

[Michael Wright]

Hello.  New member from Philadelphia in the US.  I've written numerous books of guitar history, am a columnist for Vintage Guitar Magazine, and am a presenter at the annual Banjo Gathering.  If you don't know of the latter, it is a 25-year-old meeting of banjo enthusiasts that moves mostly up and down the East Coast of the US.  There is always a display room for dealers and collectors, but the main activities are historical presentations, a field trip (this year we met in Williamsburg, VA, and were given an up close and personal viewing of The Old Plantation, which is not on display otherwise), and lots of good fellowship and conversation among good people.  Virtually all of the recent books on banjo history have been written by Banjo Gathering members.  My presentation this year was on how banjos (and guitars) got wire strings.

For next year I will be speaking on the 1890s running argument between American banjoists and English banjoists over notation.  Banjos evolved from being tuned in F around 1850 to being tuned in C by around 1885.  When banjos hit A tuning around 1865 they had become enormously popular and music publishers began publishing tutors and sheet music written in the key of A.  Out of stubbornness (and built up inventory), when banjos rose further to the key of C, the music continued to be notated in A, continuing up until the 1920s.  When C banjos came to England, English musicians said, "What the heck is this?  The banjo's tuned in C, but the music is in A.  No way, Jose."  And music became C Notation in England.  Hence the ongoing skirmishes seen in the banjo press of the time.

So, what I'm interested to learn is if you can steer me to any good sources on the history of banjo in the UK.  I know the Virginia Minstrels came over in 1843 and that blackface minstrelsy became popular, but beyond that I know very little.  The subject is rarely much addressed in American books on the banjo.  I don't intend to focus on that story, but I have to paint some background of how there came to be any English banjoists at all, much less how the C Notation controversy came about on that end.

Thanks in advance if you can be of help!

Michael

[Mike Bostock]

Hi Joel, if you sent to my email address linked to my BHO account I have daftly lost the details and now can't access it. Could you resend to my regular email address: [e-mail]? Apologies for the inconvenience. Please let me know if there are any English documents/specific areas of research from over here that interest you. A fair amount of my material relates to social context e.g. the mid-Victorian debate, legislation and consequences of the crack-down on licences for vernacular music and dance venues, which quite frankly would bore the pants off've any sane person. But I do pick up banjo-specific nuggets along the way and I have English banjo documents, mostly tutor and songbooks, from the early period, that (as far as I'm aware from bibliographies) are not on current banjo historians radar.

Many thanks in advance. Mike

Joel Hooks said:

Mike, did you get my email, and did all come through okay? ;-)

[Joel Hooks]

Hey Mike,

I don't know what to tell you.  I have tried sending it to the email attached to your BHO account, which you can't get.

Then I sent it to the AOL account that, I guess, did not accept the attachment. 
So I just sent it again with We Transfer and hopefully you will get that. 

[Mike Bostock]

Hi Joel, I was on my phone and juggling work earlier. My apologies to you. I completely missed your intended humour. In the frame of mind I was in at lunchtime I thought I’d been slapped with a wet fish lol.

Im interested to see the English Christy banjo tutor. What’s the best way to send material to you?

Joel Hooks said:

Hey Mike,

I don't know what to tell you.  I have tried sending it to the email attached to your BHO account, which you can't get.

Then I sent it to the AOL account that, I guess, did not accept the attachment. 
So I just sent it again with We Transfer and hopefully you will get that. 

[Mike Bostock]

Got it. Thank you!

A couple of English publications winging their way to you now.

Joel Hooks said:

Hey Mike,

I don't know what to tell you.  I have tried sending it to the email attached to your BHO account, which you can't get.

Then I sent it to the AOL account that, I guess, did not accept the attachment. 
So I just sent it again with We Transfer and hopefully you will get that.