Our friend Tapis d'Orient, (aka Tony Bryan)

 Has sent me a rare and unusual booklet produced by Emile Grimshaw and published by Clifford Essex & Son.  It was "Intended for practical use during the study" of:

Grimshaw's "The Banjo And How To Play It"  tutor.

I have never seen it before and struggle at many of the questions!!!

All of the conundrums are available now for download from the TUTOR BOOKS page.

Thanks to Tony,  err Tapis

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I used to have this, or still do but can't find it. I think I got it on eBay a long time ago. I do have The Banjo And How to play it and I know where it is and where I got it. It was rolled up in an old decrepit English banjo case.

Oh Emile, I love your music so much that I can forgive you for your wire first (almost).

Oh. I just skimmed through some pages but there sure are some good questions in there! I think I will have to study the book and get the answers. :-)

Something I would like to know:

"124 Explain why banjo music is never written in keys that contain more than two sharps"

Also:

"129 When are "Position Signs" really usefull?"

My answer would be: "Always...?" :-)

The numbers of the questions correspond to the numbered tutorial points in The Banjo And How To Play It. According to its point 124, which follows a number of exercises in D major:  "The next sharp key would be that of A major with three sharps, the additional note sharpened being G. Banjo music, however, is never written in Keys that contain more than two sharps because G# would make the octave string useless. The next key, therefore, will be that of F major".

I usually like what Grimshaw has to say but this is nonsense.  G natural can turn an A major chord into A7 and that opens the way to a D major chord, I don't call that "useless".  What I would say is that the high G string makes playing in three sharps less convenient than in two, one or no sharps.

As for question 129 he has this to say: "Position signs are included in the following exercise, not for the purpose of locating the notes but to indicate how long the notes of a chord should be retained by the left hand.

Pär Engstrand said:

Oh. I just skimmed through some pages but there sure are some good questions in there! I think I will have to study the book and get the answers. :-)

Something I would like to know:

"124 Explain why banjo music is never written in keys that contain more than two sharps"

Also:

"129 When are "Position Signs" really usefull?"

My answer would be: "Always...?" :-)

Ah. Thank you , Jody! Now I don't even have to locate my copy of "the Banjo and how to play it". :-)

I do have to say though, that I find the Position Signs are also sometimes helpfull to be able to find the notes. But then on the other hand, I'm not a very skilled banjo player.....

If you DO locate your copy of The Banjo AHTPI please see if my copy of 250 Banjo QWA is nearby!   I can't remember where I put mine!

Pär Engstrand said:

Ah. Thank you , Jody! Now I don't even have to locate my copy of "the Banjo and how to play it". :-)

I do have to say though, that I find the Position Signs are also sometimes helpfull to be able to find the notes. But then on the other hand, I'm not a very skilled banjo player.....

Pedantry corner:-Emile should have said 'rarely' rather than 'never'. Morley's 'Ad Astra' has one movement in A Major and his ' Moonlight Revels' has a movement in E Major.

Jody Stecher said:

The numbers of the questions correspond to the numbered tutorial points in The Banjo And How To Play It. According to its point 124, which follows a number of exercises in D major:  "The next sharp key would be that of A major with three sharps, the additional note sharpened being G. Banjo music, however, is never written in Keys that contain more than two sharps because G# would make the octave string useless. The next key, therefore, will be that of F major".

I usually like what Grimshaw has to say but this is nonsense.  G natural can turn an A major chord into A7 and that opens the way to a D major chord, I don't call that "useless".  What I would say is that the high G string makes playing in three sharps less convenient than in two, one or no sharps.

As for question 129 he has this to say: "Position signs are included in the following exercise, not for the purpose of locating the notes but to indicate how long the notes of a chord should be retained by the left hand.

Pär Engstrand said:

Oh. I just skimmed through some pages but there sure are some good questions in there! I think I will have to study the book and get the answers. :-)

Something I would like to know:

"124 Explain why banjo music is never written in keys that contain more than two sharps"

Also:

"129 When are "Position Signs" really usefull?"

My answer would be: "Always...?" :-)

I can't help but think that this "banjo music is never written in keys that contain more than two sharps" is a shot at the "American System" of notation written in A and E.

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