Bandcamp download comes with printable 8.5"x11" PDF sheet music notation and banjo tablature. Also available from the
shop -- beautiful high-quality full-color 9"x12" prints --
Tablature and
standard notation for banjo, with notes on the music and album credits included on the back cover.
“When you want a real syncopated rag, well done with plenty of gravy, have it served hot on a banjo.” — Thomas Armstrong (1859-1932)
For decades around the turn of the 20th century classic finger-style banjo was the most popular kind of music in the English-speaking world, although today it is all but forgotten. This music comes from African-American music that was appropriated for minstrel shows and mingled with other popular styles of European and distinctly American origin. It gave rise to ragtime (for example, both of Scott Joplin’s parents played three-finger banjo), which fed into the development of jazz. Classic banjo provides a missing link between the banjo of minstrel shows and the banjo of early jazz and country music.
Ragtime music represents the first music and dance movement of free Black people in the US. Its composers intended to create a music that would entertain and elevate, a music both lighthearted and dignified that could respond to Western European traditions and form a foundation for American popular and art music to come. Ragtime also represents the pinnacle of popular music before the widespread adoption of audio recording technology. These were the last days that the only way a person could hear music was by being within earshot of someone playing or singing, or by creating music themselves.
My primary interest and challenge in this project is to find ways to make a near-dead form of music compelling and engaging in an environment where many people regard looking to the past as out-of-touch or moving backward. For me this music provides a missing link in our shared cultural history. It opens doors to discussion and understanding of how we got to where we are now.
— AJL
Scott Joplin (1868–1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime,” he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.
— Wikipedia
Find out more about this extraordinary project at
www.ragtimebanjo.com