The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Despite the proliferation of local music festivals, my banjo and fiddle playing time always seems to drop off during the summer. Perhaps it's having my son around all the time during the break or just the general glut of increased family activities, but I barely played music at all from May to July, and that includes attending a festival last month .  However, as August is coming to an end and as school has started back up, this month's tally exceeds my playing time for the last three months combined. Hopefully, that trend will continue as autumn approaches.  I'm happy to report that I did get to attend the Raccoon County Music Festival earlier this month in Burton, Ohio. Long-time readers likely know that this annual festival is one of my favorite events of the year. The Century Village is just a great place to host various pickup jams, as well as stage performances and workshops.  This year's event had to battle some serious thunderstorms in the area, but they were a...

Summer brings warm weather and music festivals, but also a bevy of activities to eat up my time. It's been a struggle to make space for playing banjo and fiddle the past two months.  As some readers might recall, I used to run a lot. In fact, this blog grew out of my now-defunct running blog . In my B.C. life (i.e., before child), I ran a handful of marathons, several half marathons and dozens of other races.  However, that all came to a screeching halt when my son arrived in 2013. I ran sparingly over the next several years as parenthood took centerstage. Last year, my friends coaxed me into running a race for the first time in nine years. That resulted in running my highest mileage since 2012, plus a sprained foot after running my second race.  As of this month, I've already surpassed last year's total mileage, as those same friends recruited me to run a leg of the Burning River 100  for part of an eight-member relay team.  Between running five days a week, ya...

Look, we've all heard that it's a good idea to record yourself playing music so you can gauge your progress. My problem has always been planning to record myself maybe once every few months and then failing to follow through. However, over the last six weeks, I've been a pretty good streak.  I have recorded myself on banjo or fiddle seven times since Feb. 9. Good or bad, I've also been sharing my videos on my Instagram account, which kind of makes it feel like there are stakes involved. I already don't like recording myself, but now there's that feeling like THIS IS A PERFORMANCE FOR MY FOLLOWERS. But let's be real, I get about 30 views and maybe 10 likes when I post these videos, so it's not big stakes. But it's enough to keep me working hard to play well. A big thing for me is I'm not recording multiple takes to get it perfect. If I get through the tune without going off the rails, then that's the one I post. If I need more than three attem...

Last year was a challenging year when it comes to my banjo and fiddle playing goals. After hitting what I think was a significant milestone in reaching 500 days in a row of playing my instruments, I took a break. That break turned into a hiatus.  Ending my daily habit went from celebrating a major achievement to lamenting my demotivation . My positive turned into a negative. For 2022, my goal is to reverse that trend and get back into good musical habits.  The good news is December ended with an eight-day playing streak and by tying my highest monthly practice time for 2021. Now the challenge is to continue those positive vibes for this year and get back on track with my banjo and fiddle goals. The March to 10,000 Hours If you've been following the blog for a little while, you'll know that I track my banjo and fiddle playing time as a means to keep myself accountable to my goals. Although the 10,000-hour theory has come under scrutiny, reaching that vaunted milestone in my l...

The last two months signaled a turnaround in progress and mood. After a rough second quarter , I hit rock bottom in July with playing music. I lost focus on my goals for the year and barely played fiddle at all. I played the bare minimum to keep my daily streak going and that's about it.  Staying hydrated and working on rhythm. However, at the end of July, I decided to look into an online fiddle course to see if that might reignite my enthusiasm . Lo and behold my playing time skyrocketed over August and September to help me get back on track.  Although I may not be able to catch up to my fiddle playing time goal for 2020, I'm right on target for my banjo playing time goal that I set back in January. Embarking on this online fiddle course means that I've changed what tunes I'm learning this year. Sometimes plans change. I mean, no one planned on a global pandemic this year, did they?  Another bright spot this quarter was actually getting to play music with others. I att...

Michael Ismerio is a fiddler and teacher based near Asheville, North Carolina. He's been teaching fiddle online for a number of years, and he recently launched an online fiddle course through his website. He spent the past two years developing the online course, which happened to launch shortly before the coronavirus pandemic forced us all to stay home. Over the last month, Ismerio has been hosting a free webinar on "The Secret to Old-Time Fiddling," which showcases his teaching method that uses mnemonics to learn various bowing patterns. Ismerio's next webinar it tomorrow, May 12, but he will be hosting the webinars every two weeks for the time being. You can sign up for the webinar at  michaelismerio.com/webinar-registration . GBB conducted an interview with Ismerio for our last post, " Going Virtual: Old-Time Music in the Time of COVID-19 ," but his answers seemed worth publishing in full. The following is a transcript of our email conversation....

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...

As we all know, in-person old-time music festivals are endangered because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Many events have already been canceled, and I expect many others will follow suit as time goes one. To help fill the gap is the first-ever Online Old Time Banjo Festival , May 2-3, via Facebook, Zoom and YouTube. Organized by Cathy Fink and Brad Kolodner, the event features a robust schedule of workshops and concerts on Saturday and Sunday. The lineup includes Adam Hurt, Evie Laden, Eden and Lukas Pool, Victor Furtado, Allison de Groot, Chris Coole, Frank Evans, and Frank and Allie Lee. Banjos workshops will start at noon each day, aimed at all skill levels and featuring a wide variety of topics, such as adding texture, movable chords, learning melodies by ear and many more. The cost for attending a workshop is $25. Preregistration is required. Email bradkolodner@gmail.com with questions. Registrants will receive a private Zoom meeting link after submitting payment. C...