The Glory-Beaming Banjo

This year's Lake Erie Folk Festival dedicated a whole track of its free daytime program to Ohio-centric folk music. Two workshops, presented by Columbus-based old-time musician Henry Barnes , focused exclusively on fiddle tunes from the Buckeye State.  Seeking out Ohio-based old-time tunes has been a subject near and dear to my heart, as I've attempted to identify a common fiddle tune repertoire , uncover uniquely Ohio tunes and seek out my state's most influential old-time musicians .  Barnes is much more accomplished in all of these areas, so it was exciting to meet and learn from him at the Lake Erie Folk Festival on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Thwing Center on the Case Western Reserve University campus in Cleveland.  Barnes presented three workshops during the festival:  Learn Ohio Fiddle Tunes Fiddle Bowing Exercises  Performing Ohio Fiddle Tunes (with Susie Goehring) I attended all three. However, I'll focus on the two presentations related to Ohio fiddle ...

Five years ago, I began a quest to study old-time musicians from Ohio and the tunes they played. I was trying to determine if there was a specific repertoire of the Buckeye State.  In a post from May 2018, I reported on a survey I conducted to find what might be considered the most  common tunes of Ohio fiddlers . I always meant to come back to this topic to discuss some of the more unique pieces that these musicians played, which could be called "Ohio tunes."  Sure, there are tunes like "Banks of the Ohio," "Camp Chase" and "Big Scioty" that specifically reference the state and its landmarks, but these compositions are often attributed to sources outside of Ohio. There also are a number of wartime songs , minstrel tunes , broadside ballads and canal songs that have their origin in the state. However, I wanted to find the more unique tunes played by the fiddlers I surveyed, with special attention paid to those pieces that specifically mention Oh...

This has been quite the year at The Glory-Beaming Banjo. Although things may have slowed down a bit in the last three months, 2018 marks a new high in terms of the number of posts published in a year. That last time we had more than 30 posts was our first year, in 2011 . This one puts us at 40! Aside from the quantity of posts here, I'd like to think there was some quality too. Judging by the views, it seems at least a few items caught your attention this year. That said, here are the Top 5 posts for 2018: 1. Getting Blitzed with Tom Collins : Not just a top post for 2018, but this interview now ranks among our top posts of all time. Collins had just completed his Banjo Blitz series on YouTube. This year he launched Banjo Quest, an even more ambitious instructional video project that is well worth your attention. Check out his YouTube page . 2. Clawhammer Picks and You : A review of five different options for those in need of a pick for downstroke banjo playing. Whether...

Since the beginning of my journey into old-time music, I have sought to find a connection to my home state. After studying the recorded repertoire of a dozen old-time fiddlers who spent a majority of their lives in Ohio, I have compiled a master list of more than 300 tunes. By cross-referencing this list, there were 12 tunes that I identified as “common,” based on their appearance in the repertoire of at least three fiddlers. The results of my findings follow. This is far from a scientific method or academic study. I do not claim to be a musicologist or folklore scholar. I welcome any feedback. Common Tunes: Arkansas Traveler  Birdie Cumberland Gap Durang’s Hornpipe Forked Deer Grey Eagle June Apple Leather Britches Mississippi Sawyer Raggedy Ann Turkey in the Straw Wild Horse At some point I would like to put together a list of tunes that are unique to Ohio or have a particular connection to an Ohio locale, such as Lonnie Seymour’s “Chillicothe Two-Step” or ...

Considering my goal was to learn four more Ward Jarvis tunes this year, a quarterly update on my progress seems like a good idea. However, if that were the case, this post should have appeared a month ago. Apologies for the tardiness of something you didn't know was coming. I'll strive to do better next time. For this Second Year of Ward Jarvis , I started with "Three Forks of Reedy," which was a holdover from last year's overzealous attempt to learn six tunes. I actually started working on it in November, but got stuck . Since then I've noodled with how I play it several times. I think I've finally gotten close, but feel like I'm still missing something. In the attempt to figure out my shortcoming, I consulted The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes . "Three Forks of Reedy" is not included, but I had read on the Fiddle Hangout that Jarvis' tune had come from Ed Haley's "Three Forks of Sandy," which is ...

Over the past couple weeks I have been reflecting on my fiddle and banjo playing in 2017 and trying to determine what my path will be this year. So, I hope you're not tired of Ward Jarvis. Considering I made it through only four of the six tunes I planned to tackle last year, my first  Year of Ward Jarvis project seemed incomplete. I didn't want to just leave those tunes hanging. However, I also feel my repertoire is lacking in the more common tunes played in old-time circles, so I want to work on some old chestnuts. My focus will be on common tunes I've found among influential Ohio fiddlers from the mid-20th century. I've compiled a list of fiddlers and their repertoires, and determined "common" tunes to be those played by three or more people. I then looked to see which of those tunes I have recordings of by Ward Jarvis. This year's tune list is: "Three Forks of Reedy" "Leather Britches" "Forked Deer" "Gre...

Ward Jarvis at his home in Athens County, Ohio, c. 1977. (Photo by Kerry  Blech. Source: Slippery-Hill ) A s mentioned last time around , my new focus for old-time music is the Ohio River Valley, primarily Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Musicians such as Ed Haley, John Salyer, Burl Hammons and many others. As an Ohio boy, born and raised, my natural inclination is to start with some Ohio fiddlers, like Lonnie Seymour, Arnold Sharp, Jimmy Wheeler and Jeff Goehring. But first up is Ward Jarvis. Jarvis was born in West Virginia in 1894 and is said to have been influenced by Ed Haley . Jarvis then moved to Ohio for work in the 1940s, settling in Athens County. He was recorded by a few different people, including Jeff Goehring, Davis Brose and Ray Alden. His music appears on a release of Goehring's tapes by Field Recorders' Collective ( FRC402 ), two LPs produced by Brose, "Traditional Music From Central Ohio" and "Rats Won't Stay Where There's Mus...

Your scribe (second from right) with some friends at the 2017 Raccoon County Music Festival. (Source: Chagrin Valley Times) Well, it's been a minute, hasn't it? The last year has been difficult on many fronts. Playing music was no exclusion. The amount of time I spent playing banjo and fiddle suffered the most. I didn't blog much either, which you already knew. But it wasn't all bad. Here's a look back at last year and a look ahead to my goals for the year ahead. 2016 Notes I have now been playing banjo for eight years and fiddle for four years. My focus remains on the fiddle, as I try to learn general technique and tunes. Time spent playing banjo was mostly to keep up with a handful of tunes I like most. Playing Time: Due to increased work travel and other factors, my playing time was dramatically reduced in 2016. As mentioned before , I log my practice time in the quest to reach that fabled 10,000-hour mark. This last year was my lowest (by far) amount o...

If you've been holding your breath since my last post, my apologies to your family. It's hard to believe it's been more than three months. My only excuse is that I haven't had much banjo-related news to report, as the fiddle has been my main instrument as I continue to tackle the fickle beast. Bertie the Bus on Banjo Road. The few times I do drag out the banjo, it becomes part of  my son's playground. It most recently served as a road for his toy bus to drive along. His muting of the strings has actually led me toward a new staccato way of playing when I do manage to be left alone. The fiddle, though, reigns supreme. This month marked a year and a half of working through Brad Leftwich's Learn to Play Old-Time Fiddle videos. Last week I started the final tune of the two DVD set, "Old-Time Blackberry Blossom" (aka " Garfield's Blackberry Blossom "). It's a real finger workout, but it's a fun tune.