False Humility

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  1. That’s a good point Ron. We all know that it is hard to be humble when you play the Banjo! It is easy to be disappointed with our performance if you know that you can and have done better. Practice always sets the standard in our minds that I at least rarely achieve in performance. Most folks in the audience are not experts in how a tune should sound or will even notice most mistakes as long as you don’t have a total train wreck. Most musician and performers who may be in the audience are well aware of this and will not even comment on any faults because they have experienced their own gap in performance expectations.
    There is one situation that I have noticed in performance over the years that is a little confusing (and humbling); That is when you are playing with a jazz band and everyone is going through solos on the tune, The Cornet player plays an amazing chorus that Louie would be proud of (little or no applause from the audience), the clarinet and trombone players both play stellar choruses that scream of many years of professional practice and experience (likewise, no applause), then the banjo player just makes it through a chorus without causing a train wreck or falling off of the stool, and the banjo player gets a resounding applause! It does make you think what your band mates are thinking of this phenomenon causes a little embarrassment that the front line didn’t get the applause that I would have given them. I have asked other wise and skilled musicians about this and a common response is just that this is a gift from the audience. Or is it that the bar is set so low for the rhythm players in a band that everyone is amazed that they can even make it through the tune?

    1. When I first started playing trad, I thought I had to play fancy solos. I soon discovered that playing the melody got the best response. I believe this is a combination of things: People like to hear the melody; they don’t expect the rhythm guy to know how to play it (isn’t the banjo really hard to play?); and yes, lower expectations. There are many fine rhythm players who can’t play anything else–and many fine soloists who can’t keep a steady beat.