Where is the 'new' music for classic banjo?

[Steve Harrison]

For any musical instrument to continue in popularity, there has to be a supply of new compositions and arrangements to keep it relevant. The question I ask is how much new music has  actually been written for classic banjo over the last 30 years or so? Everyone seems to be relying on the old standards by Morley and Grimshaw et al but very little new stuff seems to be forthcoming. Every other  popular musical instrument has a constant supply of works written by new composers but classic banjo seems to have missed the boat on this.

I have made my small contribution with my 60 or so new arrangements of ragtime and other music and will continue to do so. I came to music through the folk revival of the early 1960s and this genre of music continues to flourish because there is a stream of new performers who are adding to the repertoire and  thus helping the music to evolve whilst at the same time acknowledging the contributions made over many years by historical traditional singers, song writers and musicians.

Maybe in the wilds of rural Worcestershire I may be missing a trick on this one but it would be interesting to hear what other members think of this.

Steve.

[Greg Adams]

Dear Steve,

I think this is an excellent question to not only be asking in this forum, but also in any other forum where people are pursuing the banjo as part of a particular tradition. I have my own hypotheses as to why we don't have much/any 'new' music for classic banjo or, for that matter, within other (but not necessarily all other) realms of banjo tradition. For me, most of the initial answers (not absolute answers) are tied to the banjo's provenance as the result of cultural trauma, racism, and other things most people are uncomfortable discussing, which, in my experience, are the first real hurdles in seeking answers to questions such as yours. I've been struggling with such questions since I came to the banjo nearly 20 years ago. These are, however not the only answer. From there, it can be any number of reasons musical, cultural, or structural. Perhaps I am not the only one who feels this way?

Keep asking great questions!

Greg (who is busy working on co-curating a 2014 banjo exhibit and ancillary programming for the Baltimore Music of Industry)

[Jody Stecher]

Greg, I disagree. New bluegrass banjo tunes, new old-time tunes (yes I know, it sounds self-contradictory : new/oldtime) and new unclassifiable music using bluegrass technique (which we all know, or SHOULD know, was partly —though unknowingly — invented by Joe Morley!)  are being composed all the time. Most of the players of these genres have no cultural "baggage" about the instrument. They just like how it sounds.  What you say might apply to the Minstrel Banjo genre but what I think is more likely is that many or most of those who play that style are concerned with period authenticity more than with creativity. I mean no slight to them.  As for classic style, I think we have some composers amongst us but the chief factor explaining that there isn't much composing going on is that during the period of composition of the core repertoire of classic banjo the style and form of the music was current. Everyone was familiar with the sounds, chords, rhythms etc. Now it is the music of another era. There aren't many people composing Renaissance music or Baroque music nowadays for the very reason that it *is* "nowadays" right now. Did that make sense?  Cultural trauma?  I don't see it.  Composing a classic banjo tune does not require that one give the tune a racist title. Playing it does not require blacking up or whiting up as a Pierrot. These are obsolete cultural artifacts that now seem bizarre. But somehow the old banjo music still sounds good. 

[Mike Moss]

For me, classic banjo -- even when not playing ragtime -- is indissociable from ragtime and the ragtime culture it developed in. There is something about the syncopation, the odd quirkiness of the music that allowed CB to attain its fullest identity and level of development starting in the 1890s, and I think it's no coincidence that it also mirrored its fall in the 1910s. I believe the reason why there is so little CB music being composed nowadays is the same reason why so many "modern ragtime" compositions just don't do anything for me -- the compositional technique may be there, but the spirit is missing. The days of Joplin and James Scott are long gone, and so is the mood, the culture their music transmitted so vibrantly.

That doesn't mean there aren't new frontiers to explore with CB. I believe that CB suits the musical genres of its time admirably and that there is plenty of music that has never been arranged for it (classic rags, popular songs, etc.) in which the unique sound of CB can provide that vintage feel they require for full effect. Compare the recordings of Buffalo Rag by Ossman (Banjo, 1905) and Bergeyk (Guitar, 1973). No contest.

[Trapdoor2]

I'm with Jody, new music is all around us. Lots of stuff can be rendered delightfully on a Classic Banjo...but it is unlikely to be then categorized as "classic style" music. However, some modern banjoists have taken the plunge. Tony Trischka has written at least one classic style tune "Ladies Of Refinement" from his "World Turning" album. It isn't Morley...but it is certainly in the classic style.

Jean-Marc Andres has waxed number of original tunes which dip into the classic era stylistically as well. He plays a steel-strung, bluegrass banjo but his feel for the period (and virtuosity) is excellent.

I'm sure there's more. Bela Fleck has touched on it, I'm sure.

Modern Ragtime has a huge following and I'm a big fan of David Thomas Roberts stuff. I've tabbed out his 1979 rag "Roberto Clemente" for classic banjo...but I'm a lousy arranger. It would sound much better arranged by Steve, I'm sure.

[Richard William Ineson]

Alan Middleton has written some interesting new tunes, TBJnr. continued writing banjo tunes until his death in the 70s, Chris Sands has written a few, Bill Ball wrote a couple, I've written one, and there are the American composers who have given us some new things, not a lot altogether but these are just what I know about. As for arrangements of 'popular' tunes, David Miles did about 500. I've been playing what is known as 'popular' music on the finger style banjo for fifty years - When You're Smiling, Calfornia Here I Come etc. which came about as a result of my playing the plectrum banjo in a jazz band in the 60s  where I had to play most things, and then just adapting them for the fingers. The trouble with these 'popular' tunes is that they are not really popular any more, no one hears them on the radio, as I did in the 50s and 60s, so they are as relevant to a modern audience as any piece by Joe Morley. I believe that all of the finger styles of playing the banjo are merging, old time style banjo players are using more Bluegrass techniques, Bluegrass players are taking an interest in the classic style etc. but there will always be a following for the 'pure', for want of a better word, version of whatever style you favour. There is an awful lot of banjo music already available, but it would be nice to find a composer who has got something new to say, it appears to me that most of the avenues seem to have been explored, on the banjo. Some people have tried to commission professional composers to write new music for the banjo; mostly this has been a flop, because, these composers were not aware of the vast repertoire of the banjo, and what had already been written,they also seem to have had some pre conceived ideas about what it was possible to play on the banjo, and they came up with some pretty elementary pieces, thousands of which are already in existence, or they went into the ' what time does the tune start mode' and odd time signatures. The argument was that if they were shown what already been done, they would be 'tainted' and would fall into the same old ruts as the banjo composers of yesteryear. New music of quality, will emerge, but it will take time, the renaissance of the banjo is at a relatively  early stage, in my opinion. I have not seen any new banjo music which I would wish to play, or hear, in preference to the pieces by composers whom we all know and love. Yes, just what I thought nurse, set in his ways you see, not open to new ideas, people like him will kill the banjo, still thinks that the banjo begins and ends with Joe Morley, and have you seen that banjo he plays? Time for his medication I think.