What are people practicing?

[Jody Stecher]

It's been a while since I learned a new classic Banjo Solo. Instead I've been reviewing my existing repertoire, and seeing if there are some left or right hand changes I can make that will make the music sound better. Right now I'm working on the Fred Van Eps piece "Rag Pickings".  What are others practicing? 

[Richard William Ineson]

Joe Venuti also agreed,“If you’re going to make a mistake,” he said, “make it loud so everybody else sounds wrong.”
Jody Stecher said:

I agree. In speech a mumbled mispronounced word is more noticeable for the mumbling than the pronunciation. The world is a better place without banjo mumbling.  

Richard William Ineson said:

George Morris always said 'If you're going to play a bum note, play it loud enough so that everybody can hear it', sound advice, in my book. 

[Evan Crisman]

This is the first piece of his I've been exposed to, but I quite like it. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for more of his pieces. Any recommendations?

Trapdoor2 said:

I've been playing Cupid's Victory for years. Lots of opportunities for emotive playing. Dynamics, tempo, etc. Fun to play as well...I  like Weidt.

[Jody Stecher]

There are about 40 of his pieces here in the music library. Take your pick, I like Kaloola.  

Evan Crisman said:

This is the first piece of his I've been exposed to, but I quite like it. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for more of his pieces. Any recommendations?

Trapdoor2 said:

I've been playing Cupid's Victory for years. Lots of opportunities for emotive playing. Dynamics, tempo, etc. Fun to play as well...I  like Weidt.

[Joel Hooks]

Evan, A. J. Weidt was a solid composer and continued to compose new works up until the end of anyone caring.  He also composed for Spanish guitar, plectrum banjo and tenor banjo. 

While some of his early works were published by a few publishers, most of his work was published by Walter Jacobs. 

His instruction book series was printed in both A and C notations. 

The easiest way to find a nice chunk of his work is in the Jacobs Banjo Collections which may be found in the "Journals and Song Albums" section here. 

His works range from very easy to pretty advanced and he seemed to epically like marches. 

He was a regular contributor to Cadenza magazine in later years and he had a hand full of compositions that were only published as magazine supplements.  Every issue of that magazine is available digitally now. 

One march to look at is "Pink Lemonade" which is fairly easy to play (and I do not raise the bass as indicated-- you don't need to).  While there are pieces of his that I like more than others, I tend to enjoy anything he wrote. 

[Ethan Schwartz]

For a long stretch of time, I've pretty much only been playing Morley and Weidt. Recently, I've started getting into Grimshaw's work—"A Footlight Favorite," "Fooling the Frets," "A Banjo Vamp," "The Banshee." And then there are the pieces for the ABF rally, which are mostly new to me. 

As part of my grad program, I'm also using my banjo in a free improvisation ensemble/workshop thing. It's quite challenging to improvise in an atonal and unmetered way while making it sound convincing/intentional.