The Glory-Beaming Banjo

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of our lives. For those of us who enjoy playing old-time music, opportunities to play our instruments with others has been severely limited. No more going to jams at bars or coffee shops. No more festivals. No more workshops. No more lessons. Just sit at home and play alone. Thankfully, technology can ease some of that pain. In the last couple weeks, I participated in a couple of online fiddle workshops and a virtual old-time jam. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing has hit the mainstream. People using the technology for everything from remote work meetings to virtual cocktail hour with family and friends. Zoom has become the technology du jour. The online conferencing platform seems to have materialized out of nowhere with the advent of social distancing, stay-at-home orders and mass quarantines. While some old-time musicians have been offering lessons through Skype for years, many are...

Well, folks, the New Year is upon us. I hope you have enjoyed the holiday season. Thank you all for reading my blog throughout the year, despite my sometimes lackadaisical frequency. This is a hobby, and I appreciate all of your support. Keep in mind, we do have a Facebook page . Join us there to keep the conversation going. I look forward to what is to come in 2018. For your enjoyment, here are the Top 5 Glory-Beaming posts of 2017: The Year of Ward Jarvis : Learn how I decided to put together a project to learn the repertoire of the great Athens County, Ohio, fiddler. Review: Olitsky and Moskovitz Weave Beautiful Banjo Harmonies on "Duets" : A look at the banjo duets album, released earlier this year by two great players. New Additions to My Old-Time Record Collection : An overview of my budding old-time vinyl collection, including Tommy Jarrell, Ed Haley, Roscoe Holcomb and more. An Old-Time Smorgasbord in Peninsula : A preview of the wonderful Music on the Porche...

I love the stories of people who learned to play old-time music by slowing down their record players to figure out passages from tunes on vinyl, or even shellac. Those of us learning today have it so easy by comparison. In addition to the great instructional resources available by the likes of Brad Leftwich , Bruce Molsky , Erynn Marshall , Wayne Erbsen , Mike Seeger , Ken Perlman and Dan Levenson — just to name the few I've used myself — we also have a treasure trove of written documentation, recordings and videos available on traditional media and online to help us learn technique and tunes. On top of these source materials, there is a wide variety of software and technology tools that we can harness to improve learning. Not to mention, the internet makes it far easier to connect with other people who share similar passions and can help by providing one-on-one instruction or feedback on our playing. While I have taken one paid lesson and attended a few different workshops...