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

[Shawn McSweeny]

Thanks Satoshi and Ian for posting these publications.

Joel, below are the first couple of measures of the piano accompaniment to Ossman's "New Gaiety" arrangement. The piano score is in F, so it looks like the key of D banjo solo in Sheard's 4th is in A notation. Transposed up 3 semitones, the lowest pitch in the score is C. Perhaps the publisher was working from a ms. received from Ossman and overlooked transposing to C notation.

[Joel Hooks]

Thanks Shawn!  I had suspected that it was in A notation and was surprised to see it in an English publication. The theory of the publisher not knowing better does make sense.

I have thoroughly flogged the subject of A and C notations (as well as pitch) in an article I am finishing up for the "5-Stringer" so this kind of stuff is on my radar.

[Richard William Ineson]

[Richard William Ineson]

Laurendeau was a Canadian composer best known for his arrangement of 'The Entry of the Gladiators' , he died in 1916.

[Shawn McSweeny]

Richard, does the FVE ms. have it right?

Laurendeau sounds similar to Durandeau, but the former's first name was Louis-Philippe, while the published Ossman solo and piano acc. both cite as composer a Durandeau with first initials A.A. 

An Augustus Durandeau (1848-1893) was a Music Hall songwriter, remembered for composing "If You Want To Know The Time, Ask A Policeman" among others. He seems a better fit.

[Richard William Ineson]

I just thought that FVE would know best as he was alive at the time when the piece was popular. I don't know who composed it but both Durandeau and Laurendeau seem to be likely candidates unless it was written post 1893, in which year Durandeau passed on, even then , it could have been published posthumously. Somebody, somewhere, will know the answer, meanwhile we must keep an open mind, until the incontrovertible evidence of authorship presents itself to the public eye. Interesting that Durandeau composed the song, 'If You Want To Know The Time' etc.  this song was still heard on the radio (wireless) when I was a boy, but I've not heard it for many years now.

Shawn McSweeny said:

Richard, does the FVE ms. have it right?

Laurendeau sounds similar to Durandeau, but the former's first name was Louis-Philippe, while the published Ossman solo and piano acc. both cite as composer a Durandeau with first initials A.A. 

An Augustus Durandeau (1848-1893) was a Music Hall songwriter, remembered for composing "If You Want To Know The Time, Ask A Policeman" among others. He seems a better fit.

[Richard William Ineson]

Another interesting item from the pen of Durandeau
Richard William Ineson said:

I just thought that FVE would know best as he was alive at the time when the piece was popular. I don't know who composed it but both Durandeau and Laurendeau seem to be likely candidates unless it was written post 1893, in which year Durandeau passed on, even then , it could have been published posthumously. Somebody, somewhere, will know the answer, meanwhile we must keep an open mind, until the incontrovertible evidence of authorship presents itself to the public eye. Interesting that Durandeau composed the song, 'If You Want To Know The Time' etc.  this song was still heard on the radio (wireless) when I was a boy, but I've not heard it for many years now.

Shawn McSweeny said:

Richard, does the FVE ms. have it right?

Laurendeau sounds similar to Durandeau, but the former's first name was Louis-Philippe, while the published Ossman solo and piano acc. both cite as composer a Durandeau with first initials A.A. 

An Augustus Durandeau (1848-1893) was a Music Hall songwriter, remembered for composing "If You Want To Know The Time, Ask A Policeman" among others. He seems a better fit.

[Richard William Ineson]

Looks like Durandeau was the culprit. This was copyrighted by Sheard in 1892.

[Joel Hooks]

I don't much care for the piece, I am interested in the idea of A notation being printed in England. It is not hard to believe that it was simply a mistake. 

[Shawn McSweeny]

Richard, thanks for following up and posting the score cover.

M. Witmark & Sons, one of America's largest publishers of popular music at the time, also published Ossman's "New Gaiety"  banjo arrangement in 1895 (for which I had only the piano accompaniment). Additionally, VLO recorded the piece in the 1890's for Edison (2624) and Columbia (3810), about 30 years before FVE.

Below is the Ossman score, now transposed to C notation, along with the piano accompaniment. The sound file merges both scores, giving some idea of how the full arrangement sounded back in the day.

(Apologies to Satoshi for severe topic drift!)

[Richard William Ineson]

Essex published some banjo solos in A notation, I've got a few in my pile.

Joel Hooks said:

I don't much care for the piece, I am interested in the idea of A notation being printed in England. It is not hard to believe that it was simply a mistake. 

[Richard William Ineson]

I enjoyed the search Shawn, I'd not come across Durandeau before but I'd certainly heard some of his music. Like Joel, I'm not too interested in 'The New Gaiety', Morley wrote one or two things in a similar vein in the 1890s, it must hae been popular at the time. Thanks for the mp3 by the way.

Shawn McSweeny said:

Richard, thanks for following up and posting the score cover.

M. Witmark & Sons, one of America's largest publishers of popular music at the time, also published Ossman's "New Gaiety"  banjo arrangement in 1895 (for which I had only the piano accompaniment). Additionally, VLO recorded the piece in the 1890's for Edison (2624) and Columbia (3810), about 30 years before FVE.

Below is the Ossman score, now transposed to C notation, along with the piano accompaniment. The sound file merges both scores, giving some idea of how the full arrangement sounded back in the day.

(Apologies to Satoshi for severe topic drift!)