This is my arrangement of the tune recorded by FVE that was recently posted by Ian. Providing you don't attempt to play it at FVE speed, it's not too challenging on the fingers, it has few chords and much of it is played out of first position using single notes. If you wished to simplify it further, where I've used double notes you could just play the top melody note. I've added my usual annotation with my suggested fingering. Play the triplets using slurs and snaps (HO and PO). It's good tune to play and worth a try. The score and midi are in the library...Steve.

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Hi Steve, this is a great arrangement!  

A "period" arrangement by R. E. Hildreth is found in Volume 5 of "Jacobs' Banjo Collection" and was also published as sheet music (Jacobs tended to publish parts for all popular instruments for pieces in their catalog).

Yours is easier to play, esp in the trio interlude (that is a good thing!)

While most ragtime era music is obsessed with stereotypes of African Americans, pretty much all races and cultures were targets.  Chinese people had historically been treated as basically slaves in the US to build the railroad system.  After that they continued to be treated horribly with institutionalized racism blocking citizenship, property ownership, as well as all kinds of rights they deserve as humans.    

Laws were passed restricting immigration to the US from China (attempting to outright ban it) that were not repealed until 1943!

I have been interested in these "Chinese" sounding or stylized pieces for awhile.  There are not as many as those attempting to sound "African American" but there are still plenty. "Me Melican Man" by Weidt is another example (the title is supposed to be broken English in a Chinese accent for "Me American Man" because it guess it was funny to depict a Chinese person claiming he was American when laws were in place to prevent it.

These relics of a past age can create important conversations.

I don't know enough about early 1900s Chinese music to know if this actually sounds Chinese, but I doubt it does.

I speculate it sounds about as Chinese as most of the "characteristic" pieces composed that were supposed to sound like enslaved African or African American music (much of the early banjo "tutor" music and the like).

LOL, you don't have to go very far back at all to see this. Turn on your TV and watch any 1960's series (um, like "Bonanza"). We are still in transition.

Humor stems from incongruity...and racial stereotypes were/are low hanging fruit. Obvious non-white ethnic claiming to be American = humor. Today, you still see this type of humor with science-fiction aliens. They can't sue you, so the same old ethnic humor gets transferred to bug-eyed monsters.

Glad you pointed out the Hildreth version, Joel. I was out looking for the Cobb piano version and saw that "ragtimedorianhenry" used the version from The Cadenza. I immediately thought there might be a period banjo version out there somewhere...

I'm with you, Steve's version is much more approachable. Thanks again, Steve!

Thanks for your kind comments guys, I used the Cobb piano score to write the arrangement....Steve.

Trapdoor2 said:

LOL, you don't have to go very far back at all to see this. Turn on your TV and watch any 1960's series (um, like "Bonanza"). We are still in transition.

Humor stems from incongruity...and racial stereotypes were/are low hanging fruit. Obvious non-white ethnic claiming to be American = humor. Today, you still see this type of humor with science-fiction aliens. They can't sue you, so the same old ethnic humor gets transferred to bug-eyed monsters.

Glad you pointed out the Hildreth version, Joel. I was out looking for the Cobb piano version and saw that "ragtimedorianhenry" used the version from The Cadenza. I immediately thought there might be a period banjo version out there somewhere...

I'm with you, Steve's version is much more approachable. Thanks again, Steve!

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