Classic-Banjo

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Compiling B.M.G. banjo solos

It occured to me: Wouldn't it be nice to take all the banjo solos printed in early issues of B.M.G. and compile them into a single document and/or directory? I enjoy collections/folios at least, and it can be an interesting way to see how things shifted stylistically over time. Well, I started messing around with that today, and I ran into some interesting problems. The first is obviously that many issues pre-1924 are missing from the John Field B.M.G. Library. The second is that there appear to be a significant number of pieces that aren't in the Ning music library. The third is that some number of available issues have their sheet music pages removed; no surprise there either. The fourth (and most speculative) is that there are potentially pieces in the Ning music library that originally appeared in B.M.G., but it would be impossible to verify this without seeing at least the cover page of those missing issues and/or going through every single piece in the library in search of Clifford Essex publications with the month/year printed at the top (any volunteers?). I don't imagine anyone here is sitting on that information, but if so, please speak up!

I worked through the first ten years (1903-1912), and this is what it looks like so far.

MISSING NOTATION = B.M.G. issue available but notation pages missing; substitute does not exist in Ning library

NOT IN LIBRARY = B.M.G. issue available with notation pages; piece does not yet exist in Ning library

1903/01-10 MISSING ISSUE

1903/11 "The Favorite" by Vess Ossman; NOT IN LIBRARY (this is a different piece than the Joplin arrangement)

1903/12 MISSING ISSUE

1904/01 "Rastus on Parade" by Mills/Essex; MISSING NOTATION (the version in the library is from Turner's Dance Album no. 16 and does not credit Essex; unknown how these two versions differ)

1904/02 MISSING ISSUE

1904/03 "Tyro Mazurka by Brooks/Denton; MISSING NOTATION (the version in the library was published 1923)

1904/04 "Riverside Gavotte" by Joe Morley; NOT IN LIBRARY (not entirely clear if this is the entire 1st banjo part or an excerpt)

1904/05-08 MISSING ISSUE

1904/09 "The Dusky Dandy" by Emile Grimshaw; IN LIBRARY

1904/10 "Sweet Clover Polka" by Alfred West; NOT IN LIBRARY

1904/11-12 MISSING ISSUE

1905/01-12 MISSING ISSUE

1906/01-04 MISSING ISSUE

1906/05 "Zealandia March" by Joseph Wright; NOT IN LIBRARY

1906/06-12 MISSING ISSUE

1907/01-12 MISSING ISSUE

1908/01-12 MISSING ISSUE

1909/01-12 MISSING ISSUE

1910/01-11 MISSING ISSUE

1910/12 "Kentucky Memories" by Emile Grimshaw; IN LIBRARY

1911/01 MISSING ISSUE

1911/02 "Butterfly Waltz" by W. Andreef; MISSING NOTATION (the version in the library arranged by Grimshaw appears to be a later publication, as it is plectrum-optional; unknown how these two versions differ)

1911/03-09 MISSING ISSUE

1911/10 "Scotland" medley by Ernest Rolf; NOT IN LIBRARY

1911/11 "A Celtic Morn" by Emile Grimshaw; NOT IN LIBRARY

1911/12 "Winsome Willie" by Thomas J Armstrong; NOT IN LIBRARY

1912/01 "The College Rag by William Hunter; IN LIBRARY

1912/02 "Valse Sympathie" by Emile Grimshaw; IN LIBRARY

1912/03 "Patrol Comique" by Vess Ossman; IN LIBRARY

1912/04 "The Mississippi Bubble by Chauncy Haines; MISSING NOTATION (how is this version different from the "simplified version" arr. Morley in the library?)

1912/05 "Pearl of the Harem" arranged by Essex; ??? (different than Steve Harrison's arrangement in libary?)

1912/06 "Felicita" by Joe Morley; IN LIBRARY (non-B.M.G. publication but same dots)

1912/07 MISSING ISSUE

1912/08 "Alabama Blossom" arranged by Essex; MISSING NOTATION (different than Steve Harrison's arrangement in libary?)

1912/09 "Lancashire Clogs" by Emile Grimshaw; IN LIBRARY

1912/10 "Out West" by Emile Grimshaw; IN LIBRARY

1912/11 "Ragtime Medley" by Vess Ossman; IN LIBRARY

1912/12 "Dream Dance" by Joe Morley; IN LIBRARY

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Trapdoor2 on Thursday

I started doing this a few years ago, essentially an index...and I wanted to extract only the banjo music that was not represented in the library...and send it to Ian.

However, I got sidetracked along the way...never finished. I'll see if I can rediscover my spreadsheet...

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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on Thursday

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

Attachments:

The Favorite (First).TIF.pdf, 585 KB

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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on Thursday

I've got 4 more, all published by CE, most with 2nd banjo part and piano part. That's a lot of pages to upload here. Would it make more sense to email them to you or to Ian (Really Nice Man) to put in library? I have

Tyro Mazurka

Sweet Clover Polka

A Celtic Morn

Alabama Blossom

Jody Stecher said:

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

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Permalink Reply by Joel Hooks on Thursday

If memory serves, we have discussed "The Favorite" before. I guess Ossman's favorite thing to do is ripoff other's music. Specifically, Ike Browne.

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Permalink Reply by Joel Hooks on Thursday

You might get some use out of this, sadly, there is no date:

https://archive.org/details/cliffordessexcatalogofminiaturereproduc...

This does include "the favorite" but with two banjo parts on each staff.

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Permalink Reply by Ethan Schwartz on Friday

Interesting! The version in BMG is substantially less notey. The B part is totally different (seems to take more after Bay State Quickstep), and it also lacks the ending phrase (just a single chord).

Jody Stecher said:

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

Attachments:

BMG1903_11_TheFavourite.pdf, 426 KB

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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on Friday

OK, so I guess the version I have is not from BMG. Looking through a random issue of BMG I don't see anything on a sheet music page that announces itself as being a magazine page. The notation pages, unlike the word pages are not numbered.

Ethan Schwartz said:

Interesting! The version in BMG is substantially less notey. The B part is totally different (seems to take more after Bay State Quickstep), and it also lacks the ending phrase (just a single chord).

Jody Stecher said:

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

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Permalink Reply by Ethan Schwartz on Friday

It would appear (I need to look more closely at this) that up through 1915, sheet music pages consistently have "month, year" in the upper corner and "B.M.G." up top. 1916 onward, they drop the header.

Jody Stecher said:

OK, so I guess the version I have is not from BMG. Looking through a random issue of BMG I don't see anything on a sheet music page that announces itself as being a magazine page. The notation pages, unlike the word pages are not numbered.

Ethan Schwartz said:

Interesting! The version in BMG is substantially less notey. The B part is totally different (seems to take more after Bay State Quickstep), and it also lacks the ending phrase (just a single chord).

Jody Stecher said:

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on Friday

In that case none of the scores I have are the ones you are looking for. Sorry. I like the idea of your project and was looking forward to contributing a few pages but I don't have what you're looking for.

Ethan Schwartz said:

It would appear (I need to look more closely at this) that up through 1915, sheet music pages consistently have "month, year" in the upper corner and "B.M.G." up top. 1916 onward, they drop the header.

Jody Stecher said:

OK, so I guess the version I have is not from BMG. Looking through a random issue of BMG I don't see anything on a sheet music page that announces itself as being a magazine page. The notation pages, unlike the word pages are not numbered.

Ethan Schwartz said:

Interesting! The version in BMG is substantially less notey. The B part is totally different (seems to take more after Bay State Quickstep), and it also lacks the ending phrase (just a single chord).

Jody Stecher said:

I've got Ossman's "The Favorite", published by CE but the sheet doesn't explicitly say it's from BMG. I also have 2nd banjo part and piano part. This suggests to me that it may have been published as a set, apart from BMG but I don't really know.

I may have others as well but let's start at the top of your list. Here it is. Is this what you are looking for?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ethan Schwartz on Friday

Jody, those CE (non-BMG) scores are the next best thing! Well, ideally we would have both -- the original BMG notation, which is typically just the 1st banjo part, and then the "real" publication that someone had to purchase separately, which may include accompaniment and/or be different in some way. So please send them my way, or lets get all this stuff added to the library.

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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on Friday

OK, I'll see if I can post them here in the next day or two.

Ethan Schwartz said:

Jody, those CE (non-BMG) scores are the next best thing! Well, ideally we would have both -- the original BMG notation, which is typically just the 1st banjo part, and then the "real" publication that someone had to purchase separately, which may include accompaniment and/or be different in some way. So please send them my way, or lets get all this stuff added to the library.