Comment by Rob MacKillop on May 6, 2019 at 20:49

Thanks, Pär. I'm a proud parlour player! Nothing wrong with it, though some here are against it. But it's the way I always play, it's my own voice - for better or worse - and there's nothing I can do - or want to do - to change it. I'm glad you like it. 

The sound on the recordings is misleading. Vess Ossman didn't like recording because he had to play at maximum volume all the time, with no gradation of dynamics - that's how he was told to play so that the microphone could pick it up clearly. But he did not like it. And the same would happen in open-air concerts with no amplification. The poor guy had to play at fortissimo all the time. But more people heard the records than heard him live - in fact that is obviously still the case - and many devotees try to emulate that sound - the sound he didn't like. And that has become THE classic-banjo sound. And I get criticised for not sounding like that. I used to get annoyed about that, but now I just laugh. Just be yourself, no matter what that is, good or bad, because if you are not being yourself, who or what are you being?

Comment by Pär Engstrand on May 6, 2019 at 21:02

Wise words, Rob. It's easy to lose oneself trying to achieve something one heard on a recording or in a concert, thinking, "that is how it's supposed to sound", and not spending enough time focusing on how I want it to sound. I feel I have to do a bit of rethinking, or refeeling, in this field....

I had an old jazz-guitar college who always before a concert kept repeating to himself "I am John. I am John" to be able to focus on his own voice and not get lured in to trying to play something that wasn't him. I should do things like that more often.

Comment by Rob MacKillop on May 6, 2019 at 21:03

PS Some here think I play too gently and quietly, yet that is deceptive. You can hear me on video in an ensemble with two cello banjos, one standard banjo, one banjorine, a real cello, and a clarinet, and you can still hear me very clearly over the top of them all. My neighbours will confirm I am loud enough :-)

Add a Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page