Free Cammeyer mini album!

[Rob MacKillop]

Here's a SoundCloud link to 27 minutes's worth of Cammeyer on a Temlett zither banjo. I hope you like it. Ian, let me know if you want mp3 files for your jukebox.

I've loved exploring Cammeyer's music, and even contemplated making a full album, but who would buy it? About three people (said he with uncharacteristic optimism!)? But the point is to encourage people to hear these fine compositions. 

Link: https://soundcloud.com/robmackillop/sets/alfred-cammeyers-zither-ba...

[Trapdoor2]

Outside of our porcine proclivities, do we know or have a good idea of Cammeyer's output? Has anyone made up a collection (like our Morley Library)?

I'm showing somewhat over 100 pieces in my digital collection. I have quite a few printed things (but I have no idea if they are duplicates of the digital stuff or not).

[Rob MacKillop]

I have 105 pieces, probably the same as you have, Marc. 

[Pip]

Thank you for sharing these lovely recordings Rob. The one thing that has (and still is) taken a long time is to get a clean sound from the zither banjo with out bumping into other strings and sounds from lifting fingers etc Your recordings a wonderfully clean and sensitive.

How do find the Temlett compared to other Zither Banjos you have played? 

[Jody Stecher]

If you are getting sounds from lifting fingers on any kind of string instrument there is a good chance the reason is that you are pressing the strings too hard.  I can't think of a reason why a zither-banjo should make more of this kind of noise.

Pip said:

Thank you for sharing these lovely recordings Rob. The one thing that has (and still is) taken a long time is to get a clean sound from the zither banjo with out bumping into other strings and sounds from lifting fingers etc Your recordings a wonderfully clean and sensitive.

How do find the Temlett compared to other Zither Banjos you have played? 

[Richard William Ineson]

MacNaughton listed Cammeyer's output in one his 'Fives Court' articles in the B.M.G in the mid 1960s I think, correspondence followed from readers who filled in some gaps but I cannot remember the total number. I haven't counted my pile lately but I'll try to find time to go through it.

Trapdoor2 said:

Outside of our porcine proclivities, do we know or have a good idea of Cammeyer's output? Has anyone made up a collection (like our Morley Library)?

I'm showing somewhat over 100 pieces in my digital collection. I have quite a few printed things (but I have no idea if they are duplicates of the digital stuff or not).

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Pip. The Temlett seems a high-quality instrument, but you have to put the appropriate light strings on it. My first is an 0.08. Many zbs have not survived well, and really need an overhaul and set up. This might be the cause of the problems you are having. Hopefully you can find someone to set it up properly. Good luck. 

Pip said:

Thank you for sharing these lovely recordings Rob. The one thing that has (and still is) taken a long time is to get a clean sound from the zither banjo with out bumping into other strings and sounds from lifting fingers etc Your recordings a wonderfully clean and sensitive.

How do find the Temlett compared to other Zither Banjos you have played? 

[Danielle Saxon Reeves]

Great tunes Rob!

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Danny ;-) 

[Richard William Ineson]

It being the Bank holiday and nothing much happening I went through the mouldering pile of Cammeyer music today, MacNaughton's list appeared in the March 1963 B.M.G. by the way. I have 166 pieces by Cam including some Mss which might never have been published and some of which may have only been published in the pages of the Banjo World. In addition there are the arrangements of various Sousa marches and popular, at the time, selections from musicals such as 'San Toy' which are not much heard nowadays and some items from Gounod's 'Faust' and the Bridal March from 'Lohengrin'  there will no doubt, be more Banjo World supplements waiting to be discovered. An interesting letter to the B.M.G. in May 1963, from Dick Chapman lists a few more pieces but he had not seen them personally so the jury is out on those, the titles sound Cam like but is that enough?

Trapdoor2 said:

Outside of our porcine proclivities, do we know or have a good idea of Cammeyer's output? Has anyone made up a collection (like our Morley Library)?

I'm showing somewhat over 100 pieces in my digital collection. I have quite a few printed things (but I have no idea if they are duplicates of the digital stuff or not).

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, there's enough to keep us busy for generations. 

[David Wade]

The late Hal Alert and I were working on the Camm Project a couple of years ago - we located 215 Camm/Ames pieces, we believed that there were others attributed to other pseudonyms.

Richard William Ineson said:

It being the Bank holiday and nothing much happening I went through the mouldering pile of Cammeyer music today, MacNaughton's list appeared in the March 1963 B.M.G. by the way. I have 166 pieces by Cam including some Mss which might never have been published and some of which may have only been published in the pages of the Banjo World. In addition there are the arrangements of various Sousa marches and popular, at the time, selections from musicals such as 'San Toy' which are not much heard nowadays and some items from Gounod's 'Faust' and the Bridal March from 'Lohengrin'  there will no doubt, be more Banjo World supplements waiting to be discovered. An interesting letter to the B.M.G. in May 1963, from Dick Chapman lists a few more pieces but he had not seen them personally so the jury is out on those, the titles sound Cam like but is that enough?

Trapdoor2 said:

Outside of our porcine proclivities, do we know or have a good idea of Cammeyer's output? Has anyone made up a collection (like our Morley Library)?

I'm showing somewhat over 100 pieces in my digital collection. I have quite a few printed things (but I have no idea if they are duplicates of the digital stuff or not).

[Richard William Ineson]

I think that it was Cam's mate, J.W. Whittaker who discussed, in the correspondence columns of B.M.G. the question of pseudonyms being used by Cammeyer on some of  his compositions. Some of the names mentioned were, Nickolds, Agnes Fisher, C.J.Gilbert, Fiske, and Horace Somerton, but I think that there were more. There a few mysteries surrounding Cammeyer, he was a suspect in the 'Jack the Ripper' murders at one time, his arrival in Great Britain (as it then was) in 1888, coinciding with the commencement of the horrific activities of same. Also his fascination with an ancient tree in the village of Brailsford where he lived in his retirement; the tree is a well known local landmark and when Pat Doyle and I went to Brailsford to see if there were any inhabitants remaining who remembered Cam living there (we found three, we just missed his housekeeper who had only died recently - what a tale she could have told) his fascination with this tree was remarked upon by them all. He would spend hours just staring at it apparently. 

David Wade said:

The late Hal Alert and I were working on the Camm Project a couple of years ago - we located 215 Camm/Ames pieces, we believed that there were others attributed to other pseudonyms.

Richard William Ineson said:

It being the Bank holiday and nothing much happening I went through the mouldering pile of Cammeyer music today, MacNaughton's list appeared in the March 1963 B.M.G. by the way. I have 166 pieces by Cam including some Mss which might never have been published and some of which may have only been published in the pages of the Banjo World. In addition there are the arrangements of various Sousa marches and popular, at the time, selections from musicals such as 'San Toy' which are not much heard nowadays and some items from Gounod's 'Faust' and the Bridal March from 'Lohengrin'  there will no doubt, be more Banjo World supplements waiting to be discovered. An interesting letter to the B.M.G. in May 1963, from Dick Chapman lists a few more pieces but he had not seen them personally so the jury is out on those, the titles sound Cam like but is that enough?

Trapdoor2 said:

Outside of our porcine proclivities, do we know or have a good idea of Cammeyer's output? Has anyone made up a collection (like our Morley Library)?

I'm showing somewhat over 100 pieces in my digital collection. I have quite a few printed things (but I have no idea if they are duplicates of the digital stuff or not).