Reuben Reubens Paper Collection Released

[Satoshi Hara]

All Classic Banjo Ning Fans

I 'm Satoshi Hara (Samurai Banjo), a Japanese banjo player and member of the Classic Banjo Ning.

I 'm always looking forward to entertaining and enjoying the huge amount of valuable material on Classic Banjo Ning. Thank you!

I think everyone is in a difficult situation due to the spread of COVID-19. How are you doing?

An important member of my 14-member band PASCALS, which lasted 25 years, died the other day.

We have very sad days.

Earlier this year, I heard that Reuben Reubens, a British banjo collector, died. I pray for the souls from the bottom of my heart too.

A part of his banjos collection has been preserved under Akira Tsumura and now in the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum in Japan.

I and world-class banjo player Ken Aoki (Akira Tsumura's banjo instructor) went to the museum for two and a half years to organize about 760 banjos including Reuben Reubens's banjo collection.

We decided to publish more than many textbooks and albums on Classic Banjo Ning site for the paper materials owned by Mr. Aoki that were collected together with these banjos collection.

They are Sheard's banjo album that was published before the first issue of BMG magazine.  & No. 13, No. 43, No. 63 from the Mohawk Minstrel Magazine.  & Walter Howard Banjo TUTOR etc.

I hope that some of the missing puzzle pieces will be filled by publishing these materials.

best regards,

Satoshi Hara

[thereallyniceman]

Thank you so much Satoshi! 

Satoshi and I have been working for a few weeks getting these Banjo Albums and Tutors ready for upload and now you can find all of them in the TUTOR BOOKS page and the JOURNALS AND SONG ALBUMS page.

Enjoy!

[thereallyniceman]

In the 1970's when I was first learning to play the banjo (I still am!) I bought many instruments that were advertised in the local newspapers. One of these was a Wilkes banjo that had a circular hole in the velum that was surrounded by a circle of tortoise shell. It looks nice but sounded awful, so I sold it. Who to? you ask...YES... Reuben Reubens.

Here is a short BBC TV recording made in the late 1970s of Reuben, and he still had a dry sense of humour that, as we all know, is mandatory for Classic Banjo players :-)

[Satoshi Hara]

Hi Ian,

A band member who died suddenly told me what I should do now.

Thank you for posting Reuben Reubens' paper collection on the UK site.

I hope somebody will find this material and find out more history of banjo.

Thank you so much!

thereallyniceman said:

Thank you so much Satoshi! 

Satoshi and I have been working for a few weeks getting these Banjo Albums and Tutors ready for upload and now you can find all of them in the TUTOR BOOKS page and the JOURNALS AND SONG ALBUMS page.

Enjoy!

[Jody Stecher]

My goodness, that is a funny video. Thanks!

thereallyniceman said:

In the 1970's when I was first learning to play the banjo (I still am!) I bought many instruments that were advertised in the local newspapers. One of these was a Wilkes banjo that had a circular hole in the velum that was surrounded by a circle of tortoise shell. It looks nice but sounded awful, so I sold it. Who to? you ask...YES... Reuben Reubens.

Here is a short BBC TV recording made in the late 1970s of Reuben, and he still had a dry sense of humour that, as we all know, is mandatory for Classic Banjo players :-)

[carrie horgan]

Hi Satoshi - firstly, I am sorry to hear of your loss.  

Thank you and Ken so much for sharing these very rare banjo journals - and thank you to Ian for all the hard work in uploading them to the site.  This is such an amazing resource.

Hope all site members stay safe and well

Carrie

[carrie horgan]

p.s. wow, those Sheard banjo album covers are amazing.  I have never seen them before.  

[Trapdoor2]

Ditto, what Carrie said. Thank you Samurai Banjo and Ian!

I claim a little bit of Japan as I was born in the Army Hospital at Camp Zama (my parents were USN but it was the closest hospital in 1957). My birth certificate says Sagamihara.

The artwork on the Sheard covers is very cartoonish and enjoyable. I wish I could hear all the tunes sung in an English Music Hall!

[Joel Hooks]

This is very cool stuff!  Thank you so much for this.  It is especially interesting to see English publications with year of publication.

I am a bit confused about some of this stuff though.  For example, in "Sheard's 4th", "New Gaiety Dance"-- is this for a 6 or 7 string banjo?  Since this was arranged by Vess Ossman, was Ossman playing a 6/7 string?

I read through it as if it was written in A notation and, while it does not lay cleanly, it does (sort of) work.  Is this an example of A notation printed in England in 1896?

How did they get it?  Did Vess randomly send his arrangement to Sheard?  

More than likely it was taken from a cylinder recording.  If so where did the A in the first measure come from?

Is it just an example of music arranged by a non banjoist (which happened fairly frequently in the 90s)?

So many questions!!!

[Rob Murch]

Wow! Thank you for putting these up. So much to look through and sure to find a few gems along the way.

[Trapdoor2]

LOL. While it might be for a 6 or 7 string, the tunings I know of for those don't go below G. gCDGBD or gGCDGBD. Easy enough to tune the 7-string down to get that A but...

It appears to have no other notes that drop below D. I can't imagine Ossman arranging anything like that. Perhaps the cylinder had a lead in from another instrument like a GB or CB or a piano and the transcriber simply wasn't a banjoist.

Another unsolved mystery for the ages...

Joel Hooks said:

This is very cool stuff!  Thank you so much for this.  It is especially interesting to see English publications with year of publication.

I am a bit confused about some of this stuff though.  For example, in "Sheard's 4th", "New Gaiety Dance"-- is this for a 6 or 7 string banjo?  Since this was arranged by Vess Ossman, was Ossman playing a 6/7 string?

I read through it as if it was written in A notation and, while it does not lay cleanly, it does (sort of) work.  Is this an example of A notation printed in England in 1896?

How did they get it?  Did Vess randomly send his arrangement to Sheard?  

More than likely it was taken from a cylinder recording.  If so where did the A in the first measure come from?

Is it just an example of music arranged by a non banjoist (which happened fairly frequently in the 90s)?

So many questions!!!

[Joel Hooks]

Could one not just stop the 6th string at the second fret?

Trapdoor2 said:

LOL. While it might be for a 6 or 7 string, the tunings I know of for those don't go below G. gCDGBD or gGCDGBD. Easy enough to tune the 7-string down to get that A but...

It appears to have no other notes that drop below D. I can't imagine Ossman arranging anything like that. Perhaps the cylinder had a lead in from another instrument like a GB or CB or a piano and the transcriber simply wasn't a banjoist.

Another unsolved mystery for the ages...

Joel Hooks said:

This is very cool stuff!  Thank you so much for this.  It is especially interesting to see English publications with year of publication.

I am a bit confused about some of this stuff though.  For example, in "Sheard's 4th", "New Gaiety Dance"-- is this for a 6 or 7 string banjo?  Since this was arranged by Vess Ossman, was Ossman playing a 6/7 string?

I read through it as if it was written in A notation and, while it does not lay cleanly, it does (sort of) work.  Is this an example of A notation printed in England in 1896?

How did they get it?  Did Vess randomly send his arrangement to Sheard?  

More than likely it was taken from a cylinder recording.  If so where did the A in the first measure come from?

Is it just an example of music arranged by a non banjoist (which happened fairly frequently in the 90s)?

So many questions!!!

[Trapdoor2]

Of course. That was my native right/left up/down dyslexia showing thru...again.

Joel Hooks said:

Could one not just stop the 6th string at the second fret?

Trapdoor2 said:

LOL. While it might be for a 6 or 7 string, the tunings I know of for those don't go below G. gCDGBD or gGCDGBD. Easy enough to tune the 7-string down to get that A but...