Classic-Banjo
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Dell Schottische and Boquet Mazurka by Frank Converse
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Comment by Ethan Schwartz on May 4, 2023 at 0:28
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Jody,
If Bert Bassettt's plectrum banjo music was played in the context of a dance band in what way is it "parlor music"?
But it wasn't ever played in that context, as far as I can gather. It was published (re-published?) as a banjo solo in BMG magazine in the 1930s.
I agree with your point that the term parlor is often misused today, especially regarding the design of instruments. But when it comes to the broader concept of parlor music, most sources are more or less in agreement on its main points. The physical location where the music is played is secondary. It's about a particular social and musical context, as well as the industry that supports it.
Some of what we call classic banjo qualifies as parlor music. Some of it doesn't. They are partially overlapping categories.
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Comment by Jody Stecher on May 4, 2023 at 1:02
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So BB played PB in a DB but they never played LR? Could be. How do we know this?
What follows may seem like sarcasm but it is not. It is genuine non-comprehension.
"Parlor" suggests a place where people converse. Who would chose to play banjo where people are talking? Indeed who would choose to converse where a banjo is playing?
What is the concept of parlor music? I am not familiar with this. I've never lived in or even visited a house where people lived which had a room that was called a parlor. I used to eat at Roosevelt Tamale Parlor in the Mission District of San Francisco. And I know some clawhammer banjo players who get artificial nails "done" at a Beauty Parlor. That's the extent of my parlor exposure so I don't understand the idea. Is the concept something like "chamber music"?
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So.... I did a web search for Parlor Music and found a wikipedia page on the same with a u in the word (parlour) and there it describes typical parlour music and I don't see how Lazy Rhythm is an example of this. Here's what it says:
"As described by Peter van der Merwe (1984), in contrast to the chord-based classical music era, 'parlour music' features melodies which are harmonically-independent or not determined by the harmony. This produces parlour chords, many of them added tone chords if not extended such as the dominant thirteenth, added sixth, and major dominant ninth. Rather, the melodies are organized through parlour modes, variants of the major mode with the third, sixth, and seventh emphasized through modal frames such as the mediant-octave mode, which uses the third as a floor and ceiling note, its less common variants the pseudo-phrygian, in which the seventh and often fifth are given prominence, and submediant-octave mode"
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Jody,
So BB played PB in a DB but they never played LR? Could be. How do we know this?
We don't, but it's an reasonable assumption. Lazy Rhythm, at least in it's published form, is simply not a dance tune. You could make it into a dance tune by arranging it for an ensemble and playing it up-tempo, but the same could be said for just about anything. And the fact that Bassett sometimes played in a dance band doesn't mean he never composed for other settings.
I would agree that the concept is somewhat analogous to chamber music (and in my own experience, out of all the times I've heard chamber music performed live, hearing it in a "chamber" has been the exception rather than the rule). We don't really build houses with true parlors or drawing rooms anymore. We have living rooms, but those are more for relaxing in privacy than polite socializing or courtship. The culture (and technology) has changed, and the concept is no longer really relevant. That doesn't mean it wasn't relevant to people living 100+ years ago.I like this defintion (https://dbpedia.org/page/Parlour_music):
Parlour music is a type of popular music which, as the name suggests, is intended to be performed in the parlours of houses, usually by amateur singers and pianists. Disseminated as sheet music, its heyday came in the 19th century, as a result of a steady increase in the number of households with enough resources to purchase musical instruments and instruction in music, and with the leisure time and cultural motivation to engage in recreational music-making. Its popularity faded in the 20th century as the phonograph record and radio replaced sheet music as the most common means for the spread of popular music.
The Wikipedia article, for whatever reason, focuses in on a particular repertoire of piano music. Well, probably for the same reason that something like ragtime is associated almost exclusively with the piano. That's the popular historical narrative. But the whole BMG phenomenon in the late 19th / early 20th century was sort of the final iteration of parlor music before it was made obsolete by dance bands, records, radio, cinema, etc.
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I just noticed that the definition I posted is taken from the same Wikipedia article. Well, I still like it regardless.
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Bert Bassett had two sides to his banjo playing, one was his fingerstyle playing of the five string banjo, and his compositions aimed specifically at that instrument, 'Pategonian Picnic', 'Jumbo Rag' etc. The other side was his playing of the plectrum versions of the banjo and his compositions and arrangements of popular songs and melodies at the time, for those instruments. Basset would not have played pieces such as 'Lazy Rhythm' arranged either as a finger or plectrum piece, with a dance band. The plectrum played banjos, predominantly the Banjolin (short necked 4 string banjo, tuned like a violin) became popular during the 1st World War, it is said because it enabled violinists to play the banjo without having to learnt to play a new instrument. Essex realised that plectrum playing was the coming thing and, acting as an agent, placed what were known as 'Ragtime orchestras' in the many cafes and similar establishments, in London. These so called ragtime orchestras had various line ups but a piano, a couple of banjolins and a 'trap' drummer' were usually featured. The music they played was drawn from popular songs/tunes of the time, the Emile Grimshaw 'Savoy Quartette' for instance recorded the great American patriotic song, 'Over There' (the tune has now been hijacked by the 'Go Compare' insurance outfit on their TV ads) and another 1st world War favourite, 'Oh Boy! When You're Home on Leave'. Bassett later played as a rhythm banjoist with at least one well known 'dance band' the name of which escapes me at the moment. He could also play the five string banjo very well, there is a good recording of him playing Eno's 'Ragtime Episode' on Youtube. Bert Bassett became the editor of the B.M.G magazine in the 1930s and his plectrum banjo arrangements of popular songs, along with those of Emile Grimshaw and Tom Harker (and probably others) appeared in the magazine at this time. As to the term parlour, this normally referred (the term has now fallen into disuse) to the room reserved in even modest homes, for 'special occasions' Sundays, weddings, Christmas parties, funerals etc. the room was not used very often and had the best furnishings and display of family wealth, furniture, china. silver, paintings etc. The rise of the middle classes in the 19th century saw them aping the upper classes by having 'musical soirees' and after dinner entertainment, often featuring the sons and daughters of the house playing their 'party pieces' on the piano or other instrument such as the banjo, in 'the parlour' for the entertainment of the guests.
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Many thanks for this Comment which successfully clarifies a number of issues.
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Bert Bassett's (1894 -1937) obituary appears in the June, 1937 B.M.G. magazine, it contains details of his musical career.
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Comment by Rob MacKillop on May 5, 2023 at 9:24
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Though we lived in a run-down council house, we did have both a living room for everyday use, and a smaller parlour, which was used for Christmas dinner and other special days. It did, however, contain a large Singer sewing machine, with which my mother would make clothes for my three sisters for many years. But we kids were not allowed in there unsupervised! The piano and ukulele were in the living room, and both got bashed around quite a bit! We were definitely NOT of the Middle Classes, but my mother would have liked to have been. And we did have family concerts, where everyone had to do a turn. Sometimes neighbours or relations would join in. I entered the musical world with a performance of On Top Of Old Smokey from the Mel Bay 'Have Fun with the Ukulele!' book. They now publish ten or more of my own ukulele books!
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Rob, I had a similar experience growing up in post war Sheffield, there were eight people living in a Victorian 4 roomed + attic bedroom, terraced house, but despite the lack of space, the 'parlour' or 'front room' was only used for special occasions and was kept immaculately clean and ready for use in case somebody died or got married. My dad kept the wind up Gramophone in there and he would retire to the front room with his pipe and the 'News of The World' on Sunday mornings and play the occasional 78 rpm record. unexpectedly. I found out that the World revolves around the Sun in this room, as I had prised some tar from out of the spaces between the cobbles on the street and made a large football sized sphere from it. I noticed that the coolest place in house was in the front room as I'd never been in there when the sun was shining. I placed the tar sphere on the highly polished floorboards and left it to go hard, the next day, I was alarmed to hear my mother screaming hysterically from the front room, she had gone in to do some dusting and found my tar sphere, had been melted by the morning sun and had oozed its way across the floorboards and come to rest on the carpet.
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