I woke up this morning realizing that The Banjo Snob is three years old this month; I thought “well, this is a good occasion to write another blog!”—my first in a few months. If you’ve read any number of my blogs, you’ll know that I use writing as a self-educational tool; I often do not know what I’m talking about and hope that by writing out and publishing my half-baked ideas, something will click (or someone will help me with the recipe), and we’ll be able to finish the cooking. It is the best thing I have ever done! I’ve learned more about music and the banjo through this process than I ever did in college.
I have kind of lost my sense of direction lately, so I thought I should revisit my mission statement (didn’t know I had one, did you?) in an effort to get back on track. Here it is:
“To preserve, promote, and advance the four-string banjo through education and public performance.”
Preserve: Ron is an avid student of banjo history, and has taken on the personal goal of mastering and teaching all of the historical styles of plectrum and tenor banjo playing.
Promote: Through his writing, YouTube videos, and public performance, Ron strives to bring the story of the four-string banjo to a wider audience.
Advance: Ron’s ultimate reason for understanding and mastering all historical styles is to develop the ability and knowledge to make the four-string banjo more relevant to today and to take it into the future, and to encourage others to do so as well.
Now, let me expand a bit more on each point:
Preserve: I grew up playing Chord Melody in a banjo band; I was a very shy and timid kid, and in no way did I consider myself to be a “soloist.” I was 28 years old (still playing like I did at shy 13 years old) when I met and heard Buddy Wachter. I had no idea the banjo could be played like this! That began a fascination with the many different historical styles because, well, that’s how Buddy got so good!
I believe that an immersion in historical methods is not only important as a way of honoring the “founders,” but also as a means of learning what it is to “play the banjo.” I’ve always been better at copying recordings than I am at learning from a book, so this has been a natural and effective process for me.
I am slowly working on a recording archive of pre-Jazz Age Classic banjo music (see my YouTube channel and under the Recordings tab on this site). There were thousands of banjo compositions from this forgotten era; I have glommed onto them as an important and overlooked part of banjo history, and an obvious means of “preservation.” As a musician, this process has meant learning how to read banjo music—at least well enough to learn the songs—and learning to play and present “serious” music.
The upshot of this approach is that I have no problem with being a banjoist who is “stuck in the past.” The banjo is a historical instrument; we ought to at least be able to play it in a historical manner. The danger in that of course is that the thinking can get stuck there too; I’ll take that chance because I sure do enjoy the music and the history.
Promote: As an inherently shy person, this has been a difficult thing for me; I am not very self-promotional, which is what it takes to get gigs. I wish I could say that I perform in public a lot, but I don’t! A few banjo conventions and an occasional Trad gig each year is about all I do—and that’s preaching to the choir.
I can only hope that my videos (done in the privacy of my music room) will reach a few non-banjo folks, but I’ve yet to come close to a “viral” video—if that sort of thing exists in the banjo world.
This leaves my writing as my main promotional method; in addition to this blog, I also write a technique/commentary column for BMG magazine and edit/update sheet music and books for them (Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd.). The magazine has a fairly large world-wide readership, so I know I’m reaching a few folks. I get some nice comments at shows and in the occasional email-out-of-the-blue (thank you for that); I choose to believe that I’m doing okay, at least with those few who read me.
Advance: Sad to say, but the banjo “template” was written almost 100 years ago—and we’ve hardly progressed since! We would be nothing—would have no musical identity—without that trilogy of great banjo soloists: Eddie Peabody, Harry Reser, and Perry Bechtel. There have been many others of course, but those three styles are the basis of just about everything we do. Think about it; Peabody and Bechtel were instrumental in the 50s-60s banjo revival and banjo band movement. Whether you think you are or aren’t influenced by them is a moot point.
I have observed two main methods for going past the templates (this is true for all music in general): #1, you get so good at one or all of them that you evolve your own unique style; or #2, you come to the instrument with no preconceived notion of “how it should be played,” and have such an overwhelming musical personality/skill that you create your own template. You either go through it, or around it.
As a banjoist who is beholden to the West Coast Peabody influence (and growing up listening to my Reser-inspired Father), I have no choice but to use the templates; I “know too much” to be able to “just play.” I’m trying hard to get so good at them that I evolve my own style, but only time will tell if I have it in me to do so (I’m 58 years old now).
My most fervent wish is to be “one of those guys” who ultimately takes the instrument in new directions; for me, this will take a complete paradigm shift, and I know it. I love to hear other styles that I previously didn’t know about, hoping that “maybe this is the direction for me!”
So, I guess I should say that excellence on the banjo comes within some pretty narrow historical parameters. Advancement means coloring outside the lines and creating something that others can and want to emulate; amazing ability means nothing to advancement of the instrument if nobody can copy it. Think Buddy Wachter is inimitable? There are young guys doing it now! That’s advancement!
So, there I am in a nutshell. I take the banjo very seriously and wish to help save it from obscurity. I am happy that there are those who disagree with some of my ideas; how else can one learn and grow than by arguing, accommodating, and integrating other ideas?