Serious. Banjo.

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  1. Hi Ron,
    Your comment in part: “you’re lucky if you can find 20, most of whom can only play chords to the most basic songs (sorry, but it’s the truth).” is a true statement. I have seen it from my own perspective. As Founder/Director of the New England Banjo Orchestra, I have been able to use only my own students as members because the average ability to read music is practically non-existent in the 4-string banjo world these days. I think I can count on my fingers the amount of banjoists I have personally met who can actually read music fairly well, never mind at a professional level. That in itself is very frustrating to me when trying to play arrangements made for a banjo orchestra. I have had to have my arrangers write the harmony parts for a beginners level of reading ability. So my question is how can we as banjo teachers and performers get other players to work on this skill? Yes, it takes time and effort to gain reading skills, why are so many unwilling to really learn how to play their instrument? Horn players do it, even mandolinists do it. Why not banjo players?

  2. “. . .how can we as banjo teachers and performers get other players to work on this skill?”
    I fully realize it will take finding younger students to create this environment in the banjo world. I’m not saying older “hobbyists” are beyond reach, but it is probably asking too much for someone who “just wants to have fun” to learn to read music and understand even the most basic of music theory. And with the plethora of “play-in-a-day” “method books” out there today (and the nature of our fun, striped shirt/straw hat/toe-tapping music), the banjo-as-serious-instrument is a hard sell at best.
    So, let’s find young students, and pretend that the banjo has been taken seriously all these years! They are the next generation and our best hope for continuing the banjo tradition, after all.

  3. I have played guitar for thirty years, played in quite a few bands, and was given a five string banjo this year as a gift, never had as much fun in my life, its great to play, I love the freedom it gives to arrange music as you wish with no constraints, its an amazing instrument which can be used for any form of music, I absolutely love it, of course it helps having a thorough grounding in music to begin with, but the feel and sound is something else.

    I dont think it helps the instruments appeal, the idea that picks must be worn, which has been propogated by blue grass people and is completely untrue, anyway my thoughts, make of them what you will, much maligned instrument in my opinion and should be used more widely in all forms of music.