Comment by carrie horgan on March 5, 2014 at 18:09

Wow, that was great - looks fiendishly difficult to play.  I have been listening a lot to an album of Olly Oakley recordings: 'Banjo Burlesque and Bolero' and that tune is one of my favourites (along with one called 'Lumbrin' Luke'!)

Comment by Jody Stecher on March 5, 2014 at 18:56

Carrie, I think the main difficulty in this tune is remembering what happens next. Reading at the speed required of this Banjo Solo is out of the question for me. Technically  the first part presents only two hurdles. At the end of the third full measure there is a high E flat at fret 13 in the notation. (I'll post the dots right after I've posted this reply). But Oakley plays that as a triplet on an E flat major chord and I like to do that when possible.  The first hurdle is the transition from the triplet to the arpeggio on the high E flat chord at the start of the 4th full measure (the last measure of line 1).  After playing the triplet + . .. (thumb index middle) I want my next note, E flat on the 13th fret,  to be played with the thumb again. But that causes problems in the next phrase which flows better if begun with the index. ( . + .  ..) so I have to either remember to start with the index or else be able to move my thumb from the first to the third string very quickly.

The second problem is the descent of chord positions from E flat major to A flat major down to another E flat major and finally to E flat major at the lower frets. The chords are easy to play but it's easy to land on the wrong fret.  

The second part of the tune has a diminished chord with a 4 fret stretch which is awkward at first since the lower frets are far apart compared to the upper ones.

It's really in the trio, the third part, in A flat major, that the real difficulty begins. Big stretches again, and many chord positions and much use of the little finger of the left hand.  The Yeoman's Call is hard enough to play to cause me to play some wrong notes, but I can manage to hit some wrong notes when playing Mary Had A Little Lamb. 

Comment by Jody Stecher on March 5, 2014 at 19:03

Here is the notation to The Yeoman's Call by Alfred Cammeyer.  Oakley plays it a bit differently

Comment by carrie horgan on March 5, 2014 at 20:02

Thank you Jody - that's very interesting.  I can see why remembering 'what comes next' is challenging; there is so much going on in this piece.  And those big hand stretches - yikes.  I come from bluegrass playing where you more often play out of closed positions and there is much less 'rapid-shifting' so I am quite enjoying the challenges involved in learning classic-style. I am starting off with smaller pieces but hopefully one day I too will be able to master a three-parter!

Comment by thereallyniceman on March 5, 2014 at 20:37

I have added a score for "Yeomans  Call", with piano accompaniment to the music library and an MP3 of Olly Oakley playing the piece to the site JUKEBOX and the BANJO DJ.

Comment by Alan Sims on March 5, 2014 at 20:48

That was fantastic Jody. Now I know why I have to practice every day .

Comment by Jody Stecher on March 5, 2014 at 20:53

Well, in my opinion, Carrie, you play with a lot of rhythmic verve which enlivens the repertoire. I predict that you'll play three and four part tunes just as well as you play two part ones. They aren't necessarily harder, just longer. If you can remember 3 two-part tunes, you can remember 2 three-part tunes.

Most of the classic repertoire is also out of closed positions. Yeoman's Call is no exception. In fact the style is so tied to positions that a tradition arose of naming chords by the fingers used (in the descending order of strings) rather than by the root. What I called "an E flat chord at the 13th fret "(because the root is at fret 13 on string 1) Emil Grimshaw would call – in his books anyway– a four-two-one chord at the 11th fret. 

Most of the bluegrass repertoire is *songs*, as opposed to instrumentals and the range of songs rarely exceeds an octave and a few more notes, due to the limited range of the average human voice. So that allows a bluegrass player's right hand to stay put for longer periods.

Comment by Jody Stecher on March 6, 2014 at 16:10

Whoops! I meant *LEFT* hand in the last sentence. 

Comment by carrie horgan on March 6, 2014 at 19:39

Yes, Jody, I am familiar with playing closed positions but in a much more limited 'range' than in classic-style.  It's an adventure to be zipping up and down the fretboard!  I was feeling in a bit of a rut playing bluegrass so I'm pleased to be venturing into new territory...

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