Can you believe 2018 is drawing to a close? That means it's time for a heavy dose of navelgazing to see what's built up, what needs work and perhaps what needs to be cleaned out. Back in January, I dubbed this "A Second Year of Ward Jarvis," building on the previous year's progress.
My goals were to learn four Ward Jarvis tunes on fiddle, log 186 hours of practice and play my banjo more often. The tunes on this year's list were culled from my list of common Ohio tunes, as well as one carryover from 2017.
Here are the tunes:
The Good: "Grey Eagle," while still a work in progress, has come along nicely. I had the opportunity to play with some folks recently, and I gave my newest tune a try for the first time in a group setting. It didn't go half bad. There are still three and a half weeks to go this year, and I think by then it'll be downright passable.
The Bad: The frequency of blog posts has dropped off significantly during this final quarter of the year. I took on a project that I was hoping to finish quickly, but then it grew and grew. That led to delays and skipping a few weeks. I hope to share some of that project soon, as I'm still trying to figure out the best way to present the content.
The Ugly: Rhythm and tempo. As I mentioned above, I played tunes with some folks recently, which I hadn't done since July. And boy, was it ever obvious. It was a mess. The majority of my fiddle and banjo playing is done solo, and I haven't worked much with a metronome or played with recordings to help with my timing. That was a big wakeup call.
Best post: There's not a whole lot to choose from over the last three months, so I'll have to go with my review of the Highwoods documentary.
One of my biggest successes was developing a daily musical habit. In the effort to play more often, I started tracking the number of days in a row that I played banjo and fiddle. My longest streak of the year was 86 days on banjo and 89 days on fiddle, a feat that was only interrupted because of an amazing family trip to Greece in August.
Work travel has prevented me from getting near that mark again, but I'm currently in the middle of a 25-day streak that I hope to continue through the New Year.
Aside from blogging about old-time music, I also starting writing reviews for The Old-Time Herald this year, an experience that has been very gratifying. Subscribe today to make sure you don't miss my next review.
My "Second Year of Ward Jarvis" has gone pretty well. The tunes have come along decently, though I'm still not thrilled with my playing of "Three Forks of Reedy" or "Leather Britches." While I'm happy I had the opportunity to play Jarvis tunes in a group setting a couple times this year, the experience taught me that my playing of "Head of the Creek" still needs a lot of work. On the bright side, my playing of "Icy Mountain" seems to be OK.
As for my playing time, I'm a bit behind schedule with 17 hours left to go and 25 days left to do it. If I reach my goal, it will put me at 1,000 hours lifetime, which is 10 percent of The BIG Goal.
Mission accomplished! My goal for 2018 was simply to play banjo more than I did last year. I've already surpassed last year's mark of 40 hours, and I even learned a couple new tunes this year. The biggest highlight was taking my banjo to an old-time session for the first time in years.
This was also a big milestone for me on the banjo, marking a decade of playing. This January will mark 10 years of learning clawhammer, as I started on Earl Scruggs' three-finger style initially.
My goals were to learn four Ward Jarvis tunes on fiddle, log 186 hours of practice and play my banjo more often. The tunes on this year's list were culled from my list of common Ohio tunes, as well as one carryover from 2017.
Here are the tunes:
- Three Forks of Reedy
- Leather Britches
- Forked Deer
- Grey Eagle
Fourth Quarter Highlights
The Bad: The frequency of blog posts has dropped off significantly during this final quarter of the year. I took on a project that I was hoping to finish quickly, but then it grew and grew. That led to delays and skipping a few weeks. I hope to share some of that project soon, as I'm still trying to figure out the best way to present the content.
The Ugly: Rhythm and tempo. As I mentioned above, I played tunes with some folks recently, which I hadn't done since July. And boy, was it ever obvious. It was a mess. The majority of my fiddle and banjo playing is done solo, and I haven't worked much with a metronome or played with recordings to help with my timing. That was a big wakeup call.
Best post: There's not a whole lot to choose from over the last three months, so I'll have to go with my review of the Highwoods documentary.
2018 Highlights
This has been a pretty good year for playing fiddle and banjo, writing about music and learning more about old-time music in Ohio.
Work travel has prevented me from getting near that mark again, but I'm currently in the middle of a 25-day streak that I hope to continue through the New Year.
Aside from blogging about old-time music, I also starting writing reviews for The Old-Time Herald this year, an experience that has been very gratifying. Subscribe today to make sure you don't miss my next review.
Fiddle Highlights
This marked my fifth year of beginning to learn fiddle. The more I learn, the more I learn that there's more I need to learn.My "Second Year of Ward Jarvis" has gone pretty well. The tunes have come along decently, though I'm still not thrilled with my playing of "Three Forks of Reedy" or "Leather Britches." While I'm happy I had the opportunity to play Jarvis tunes in a group setting a couple times this year, the experience taught me that my playing of "Head of the Creek" still needs a lot of work. On the bright side, my playing of "Icy Mountain" seems to be OK.
As for my playing time, I'm a bit behind schedule with 17 hours left to go and 25 days left to do it. If I reach my goal, it will put me at 1,000 hours lifetime, which is 10 percent of The BIG Goal.
Banjo Highlights
This was also a big milestone for me on the banjo, marking a decade of playing. This January will mark 10 years of learning clawhammer, as I started on Earl Scruggs' three-finger style initially.
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