A Site Dedicated to all enthusiasts of Classic Style Banjo
Sorry, I don't have a recording of Banjo Antics, Frank. But I *do* have a carpet of the same color as the one beneath your Paragon! I'll try to include it in the next video. I've just learned Grimshaw's "Life In Louisiana" and am nearly ready to give it a go with the camera running. Also, that is a nice looking JE Dallas banjo. Do you have photos of the whole thing, front and back? I've replied by starting a new discussion to make this easier to find for all forum members.
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Hi Jody, Life in Louisiana was the second classic banjo tune that I learned to play I've never heard it played by anyone else so I look forward to your rendition. It's a good tune and should be played more often...Steve.
Yes, it's an excellent tune. Although it has no big finger stretches or difficult chord shapes, playing "Life In Louisiana" involves a fair amount of jumping around up and down the fingerboard. I don't know if I'd give it to student as a second tune. Steve, was that your own choice or did a teacher give it to you? What was the first classic banjo tune you learned? Mine was "The Tantalizer". Well, it was the first one I attempted. I guess the first one I actually learned was "The Smiler".
Steve Harrison said:
Hi Jody, Life in Louisiana was the second classic banjo tune that I learned to play I've never heard it played by anyone else so I look forward to your rendition. It's a good tune and should be played more often...Steve.
BUT, does the score have a turquoise/aquamarine/pale blue carpet?
Send me a square out of your carpet Jody and I will take a photo of my Paragon standing on it and post that too.
:-)
Yes but they are here in California. Other forum members will know of specialists on your side of the ocean. Thanks for the JE Dallas photos.
Frank Coyne said:
Hi Jody,
Thanks’ for comments. A few photos of the Dallas appended. It needs some refurbishment. Do you know of anybody who specialises in this work?
Hi Jody,
Thanks', glad you liked them. Frank
Hi Jody, I've never had a banjo lesson being totally self taught. I got hold of my first banjo in the mid 1960's and had been playing piano accordion since an early age. I couldn't get on with tab so I figured out how to tune the banjo and started to transfer tunes that I played on the squeeze box onto the banjo using the dots. It was at the height of the folk revival in the UK and most of the music was traditional folk tunes. I later found out that what I'd been doing was playing melodic style.
About 25 years ago, I was introduced to Denise Woodward, an elderly neighbour of a friend. She was a retired classical guitar and banjo teacher who had been taught by her mother who had the stage name of Madame Ida Neruda. Ida was a professional violinist and banjo player at the turn of the last century and was a regular performer in the theatres and music halls around the city of Birmingham in England.
Denise produced her collection of banjo music, much of which came from Ida and that was my banjo eureka moment. I hadn't realized that such music existed. Included was an original 'How to Excel on the banjo' by Grimshaw so I decided to give it a go. The first tune I tried was the Dashwood Quickstep by Olly Oakley and having mastered that, I began working through the rest of it. I was playing a steel strung banjo using picks at that time.
Just over 20 years ago, I attended banjo rallies at Backwell and Ridgeway and that was the first time I'd seen the music played by someone other than myself on authentic instruments in the correct classic style. I sold my banjo, bought my Weaver and started playing classic banjo as we all know it.
So there you go, a potted history of my introduction to classic banjo. Having had a good grounding in music theory from my early years taking accordion lessons was a huge benefit.....Steve.
Jody Stecher said:
Yes, it's an excellent tune. Although it has no big finger stretches or difficult chord shapes, playing "Life In Louisiana" involves a fair amount of jumping around up and down the fingerboard. I don't know if I'd give it to student as a second tune. Steve, was that your own choice or did a teacher give it to you? What was the first classic banjo tune you learned? Mine was "The Tantalizer". Well, it was the first one I attempted. I guess the first one I actually learned was "The Smiler".
Steve Harrison said:Hi Jody, Life in Louisiana was the second classic banjo tune that I learned to play I've never heard it played by anyone else so I look forward to your rendition. It's a good tune and should be played more often...Steve.
Great story! Interesting that Denise's mother seems to have taken the name of another famous violinist of her time or just before it. Madame Wilma ( Wilhelmine) Neruda was a pioneer woman violins who lived in London for a time. Female violinists were accepted and appreciated in Europe but frowned upon in England. She changed all that. J Scott Skinner composed an E flat tune (really a buncha arpeggios) called "Madame Neruda" and didn't she appear in a Sherlock Holmes story? It's hard to picture the original Madame Neruda playing banjo. But why not?
Steve Harrison said:
About 25 years ago, I was introduced to Denise Woodward, an elderly neighbour of a friend. She was a retired classical guitar and banjo teacher who had been taught by her mother who had the stage name of Madame Ida Neruda. Ida was a professional violinist and banjo player at the turn of the last century and was a regular performer in the theatres and music halls around the city of Birmingham in England.
I would love to see a few close ups of the Top tension New Paragon. Is the resonator undamaged?
I sold a New Paragon, finished in black in the 1970s and have regretted it ever since!!!!
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