Classic Banjo The Little Daisy Mazurka

The Little Daisy Mazurka from Herbert J. Ellis's Banjo Album #6 and Bonus Track (don't take it seriously.)

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Comment by Mike Moss on August 24, 2013 at 17:36

Nice job! The bonus track sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on it. Reminds me of Asturias or perhaps Capricho Arabe, but it's not from those pieces, is it?

Comment by Pertti Vuori on August 24, 2013 at 21:45

The Bonus Track is called "Malaguena". My highly improvised version is based on a very easy guitar arrangement - one of them, it may be a Preparatory Level tune.

You wrote that Fernando Sor's Andante Op.31 #1 is Grade 2 tune, and because I know nothing about "them grades", I downloaded four syllabuses, made a list of the tunes, and sometimes I try to find a tune e.g. in YouTube, and its score. That's how I found "Malaguena".

You may have to wait a couple of centuries before I can play Tarrega's "Capricho Arabe" - it's a Grade 8 tune, but a great tune!

On Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journals I have seen the names of many Classical composers. Sebastian Yradier's "La Paloma" is also mentioned in the Banjo and Guitar Journals - which you have played. But did "they" play any other guitar composers than Fernando Sor?

Comment by Mike Moss on August 24, 2013 at 22:30

Hi Pertti,

"they" probably didn't even play Fernando Sor, back then. The arrangement of the Andante I played is very modern (circa 1970s), from a book of classical guitar tunes arranged for the banjo (and yes, there is a very daunting arrangement of Capricho arabe in there!). It's more of a novelty than a serious pursuit.

Banjoists have seldom played classical guitar tunes, and for good reason -- they are seldom effective on the banjo, which is a very different instrument. While it is possible to play several voices at the same time on the banjo, the banjo's tone is too brilliant and the effect is not very pleasing, whereas the guitar, with its basses and trebles, is more effective in that regard. The banjo is more effective, in my opinion, when exploiting its capabilities for close chord voicings, with a judicious use of the 4th string for contrast or to carry a bass melody in one of the parts of the solo.

Farland played "La Paloma", but he was, after all, Farland, and he chose his music from a very varied number of sources. His arrangement of this solo is also heavily altered (or Farlandised), with a lot of finger tremolo (parts of which I omit in my recording).

You must keep in mind that, at the time, the songs currently known somewhat disparagingly as "warhorses" (the usual Sor, Tarrega, etc.) which are a must in any amateur guitar recital were less well-known before Andrés Segovia popularized them; indeed, at the time when classic banjo was at its peak, the guitar was not yet accepted as a concert instrument in its current form, especially in the English-speaking world. That probably explains why most arrangements of guitar music for the banjo are from later (mid-late 20th century) sources, such as the abovementioned Al Jeffery book or the Frank Bradbury book.

Comment by Pertti Vuori on August 25, 2013 at 10:43

Hi Mike,

1) I have made an arrangement of La Paloma for two banjos, because I want the "Secundo" to play the Habanera Rhythm almost all the time - but I can't play it yet. My "arrangement" is based on Luis T. Romero's arangement - he is mentioned at least once in the Stewart's I have.

2) When I serached for the guitar tunes, I found e.g. Matteo Carcassi's Method for the Guitar - Carefully Revised and Enlarged by Walter Jacobs, 1884, and Arling Shaeffer's Elite Guitar Method. Jacobs wrote also Banjo manuals. Shaeffer was a guitarist, but he also worked with Banjo Clubs. In Shaeffer's book are Fernando Sor's tunes and one tune by Johann Kaspar Merz. So, banjo players may have been familiar with guitar music, but not interested in it. I am not like that.

Comment by Mike Moss on August 27, 2013 at 10:07

Hi Pertti,

on the contraty, I believe that if some of them also played the guitar, they were undoubtedly interested in guitar music. However, it would be logical to assume that they were interested in playing guitar music on the guitar, rather than on the banjo.

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