Moving ahead in Bradbury

[Jody Stecher]

Moving forward in Bradbury, I  found the A minor instruction to be useful and good prep for Mountain Polka, which is arranged to incorporate most of what has been taught in previous pages. This book is well "graded"; step by step.  

Then I came to some small anomalies. 

Below "The Golden Slippers" is "Continued Right Hand Practice". Above the cut time signature is an asterisk. But there is no corresponding asterisk anywhere below. At the bottom of the page is an explanation of cut time (Alla Bréve). My best guess is that the printer forgot add the asterisk there. This omission is retained in the later edition.

Then comes the Cotton Club. The second strain is somehow familiar. It reminds me of a Scottish song but I can't quite place it. I find the shift away from the 5th fret in the first bar of this second part is coming earlier than necessary. Why not retain the 5th fret fingering for E natural just as it is in the first half of this measure?  The note the follows is an open string so there is plenty of time to get to the C/A double stop that follows this open D. Why go scooting down to fret 2 of string 1 to get E?  I guess the book way is just as good as either way the E is preceded by an open G string so we have time to move  to a lower position. No criticism intended here, just contemplating....

"The Cotton Club" is a strange title for this piece. I find all the titles a bit odd actually. Pajama Dance?  Is the beginning banjo student presumed to be 5 years old?  Maybe I am lacking sufficient context for the titles to make more sense to me.

[Joel Hooks]

As I mentioned, Bradbury ripped most of this stuff off and retitled it.  Sometimes the titles are arbitrary, sometimes they are similar to the original. 

"Cotton Club" is the first two parts of "Old Pennyroyal" found in Lansing's Excelsior Method.  (transposed from F to C)

"Pajama Dance" is an arrangement of "Hallowe'en Dance" composed by Walter Burke.

Here is a video of me playing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bs411LqdOc

There will be a full list of all my findings of the Bradbury sources in an upcoming 5 Stringer.

[Joel Hooks]

BTW, I just want to say, I like this topic and am enjoying traveling with you as you are working through it.  I'm not sure if this would be better all in one discussion or not as It could be a useful read for someone in the future working through the method. 

[Jody Stecher]

I like the topic too and I also like the book.  I'm glad you are finding my comments useful for future students. I have been reporting as I go along because I like it when new discussions appear on this site. Good to keep interest up and all that. Also if I waited until I was done with both volumes to post it all at once it would be a very long post. 

Maybe the best thing is for me to continue to report as I go along and then I can compile it all and email it to you and we can figure out a place to put it. I don't think my subjective reactions and occasional insights merit a page of their own on this website. I suppose I could post the whole thing here at the end. But how how would anyone find it?  Just brainstorming here. Not certain.  But glad what I've been doing might be of use. 

Joel Hooks said:

BTW, I just want to say, I like this topic and am enjoying traveling with you as you are working through it.  I'm not sure if this would be better all in one discussion or not as It could be a useful read for someone in the future working through the method. 

[Jody Stecher]

I enjoyed  the video and I look forward to reading the article in a future 5-stringer.   Tune origins are very much up my alley.  BTW, I now recall that Cotton Club/Old Pennyroyal was discussed here a few years ago and I found it familiar then as well.

Joel Hooks said:

As I mentioned, Bradbury ripped most of this stuff off and retitled it.  Sometimes the titles are arbitrary, sometimes they are similar to the original. 

"Cotton Club" is the first two parts of "Old Pennyroyal" found in Lansing's Excelsior Method.  (transposed from F to C)

"Pajama Dance" is an arrangement of "Hallowe'en Dance" composed by Walter Burke.

Here is a video of me playing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bs411LqdOc

There will be a full list of all my findings of the Bradbury sources in an upcoming 5 Stringer.