Ring Ring De Banjo..(1851)..arrangement based on a set of variations for piano by Charles Grobe.

This is a 'barnstormer' of an arrangement that will test the fingers and is a definite must see/hear. I selected the variations that were most suitable for banjo, simplified some, rewrote others and added a couple of my own. I've set it in G and to play at a quick tempo, it lends itself to be played melodic style and from bars 35 to 50 I've added melodic annotation to illustrate this. It begins in 2/4 time and from bar 68 changes to 6/8 where it morphs from G to E minor changing back to G from bar 86.  The score and midi are in the library...Steve.

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Gosh, that is a barnstormer - who will be brave enough to attempt it? 

Here is a piano player doing something similar (increasing the difficulty level on a simple melody): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2f6Mi7I5lY

Every now and then I attempt to play Fred Van Eps' variations on Old Folks at Home.  It is not that it is hard, I just can't make anything of it.  I'll take a look at this one and see if I can get anywhere.

Theme + variations was a very popular gag.  I imagine it is as old as music, but in "recent" times Paganini was well known for it. 

"Home Sweet Home" was the most common piece to do this with for banjo, but one sees many of the "standard" melodies. like "Annie Laurie," "Blue Bells of Scotland,"  "Old Black Joe", etc..

There was an early banjo recording of Yankee Doodle with Variations posted recently.

Hi Carrie, As I suggested, try playing this melodic style, it does stray from the usual classic banjo method but with a little practice, you will be able to achieve a reasonable speed. It's how I play it and how I used to play banjo before I discovered classic...Steve.
carrie horgan said:

Gosh, that is a barnstormer - who will be brave enough to attempt it? 

Here is a piano player doing something similar (increasing the difficulty level on a simple melody): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2f6Mi7I5lY

Hi Joel, Let me know how you get on with this..Steve.

Joel Hooks said:

Every now and then I attempt to play Fred Van Eps' variations on Old Folks at Home.  It is not that it is hard, I just can't make anything of it.  I'll take a look at this one and see if I can get anywhere.

Theme + variations was a very popular gag.  I imagine it is as old as music, but in "recent" times Paganini was well known for it. 

"Home Sweet Home" was the most common piece to do this with for banjo, but one sees many of the "standard" melodies. like "Annie Laurie," "Blue Bells of Scotland,"  "Old Black Joe", etc..

There was an early banjo recording of Yankee Doodle with Variations posted recently.

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