OCTOBER, 1940.

filw~ nameplate

shows you have a

"CLIFFORD ESSEX" banjo

Ask a player of a Clifford Essex banjo why h e p lays a "C.E." instrument; we know h e

will Uc enthusiastic over its merits. We l<n o w h a will never fail to recom.

mend it at every opportun ity. This pride o ~ ownersh ip is brought about by the

high sta nd ard of workmanship in eve ry Clifford Essex instrument coup led with a really

han dsome appearance and a tone which must be heard to be believed . We are so confident that a Clifford Essex banjo can be better than anyth ing you h ave seen o r heard before that we will glad ly a rr ange a fre e trial of any mod e l in your own home and tak e

your present instrum e nt in part exchange.

Pric e list gfo,dly sent post free on request

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD. 90, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, LONDON, W .I

MA KE RS OF FIN E BANJO S FO R OVER FORT Y YE ARS.

M USIC IN THIS ISS U E Banjo Solo : ·· Tai l s Up.··

Plectrum - Banjo Solo : " Undcnw:1t.h th e i10011 . " Hawaiian Cui t a r So lo : "S:nnoa n ls l:\n(h.•r·.-. 8011t,.:. •· Mandolin So lo (Duo Sty le ) : ·• Song or t.h<' Pin<-s. ' •

Pl ectrum G uil a r Solo : ":\ut.unm Ll·avt •s."

11

Are YOU playing :J,(ie Mawliing. S,ang. o.f

tfie &nadian6, ?

'' WE'RE ON OUR WAY" IT IS AN EFFECTIVE M/\H CH FOH BANJO,

M/\NDOLIN OH GUITN1-/\rr ·,1ngccl by

S. A MBLER The (o//owing solo port s ore obw inablc :

F in ger 8ar'ljo ( with 2n d u. Ace ) . . . . 1/ .. P lectrum-Ba n jo (w llh 2n d ll . Ace) 1/-So lo Mando l in ( Wit h 2nd M . Ace ). . . 1/-Tcno r -Banjo Solo ( wit h 2nd T - D Acc l 1/ · Plec;h"urn G u i t ar' Solo (w lLh 2n d 0. Ace) 1 /·

P iano Acc . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 / -2 Ban j os (F. or P. ) and Piano . . . . . . . . 2/· 2 Ma o dolins nnd Pia,10 . _. . . . .. .. . . 2/-

ond the following bond ports : 3 r d M ., 2n d T .B., 3rd B., M ' d o l:... M'Cc ll o Bass Ban j o a n d Gtr . acc . .. ...... . .. . 6d . E AC H

(Po~togc ex tra)

Sol e publ ishers:

CLIF FORD ESS EX & SON LTD . 90 Shaft esb ur y Aven ue, Londo n, W.1

Clifford Esse x

GUITARS Models from £8~10s

(Complete w it h case )

J u6,t tJuJ, one -

?lle linow. wfia t tp-wt tte1tclict

will & !

To m:.kc s ure o f rcc d vi nJ: )Our " /t .. 11 .<,·: · every 1110 11 lh it is nec es sary to fll acc a s tandini:: orde r . T h e rnos t tro 11JJlc- trc c way is by s ub­s~rihin ~ direct wi th the J>uh lis hcr s. 7 JG • • • 12 iss uos .

3 19 . . . G issues.

* free! A copy • f eu r guitar fo lde r w ill be g lad ly sent you uost

tre e on rC(tUC S l.

8.M .G. TI-IE ON I.Y M ODERN M ET/ 10 D FOH '/ 11£

13/\N JO I\ V /\II /\ Il l r I 0 -DI\ Y

''THE BANJO AND HOW TO PLA Y IT"

EM I LE G RIMSHAW

A co,111,lc tc niodc ,a mcd1o<J (or the b<Jnjo. The wo, k o( 011 authority wlio knows evcr yll 1i11g (hOl 1$ wor t h know ing about tlie ba njo, w ho hos rco liJcd wha t w os 11crdcd lo bridr,c tllc gap which, until rhis book wo.s published , exis ted bc,wecn old-fashioned books of instru cri on and t he 1emorkob lc d<:Y(:/opment which hM tokc:n 1,10cc in bonjo p/oyir11: durini: lo<e r•ors. Ev crylhirir. th e bc;:i,mcr wo nts to know is t o be foun d in (h is book. and tltc c uclior'.,- t rc otmcnt . portr culorl y in rclo f ion to f11c i11vc1sio11 of chords. is s<recu- ol1ead of ony d 1in1: ou cmpt cd before . If you ore o bcdn ncr you cann ot o(ford to be wid1out rhi, uf>•to•do tc modc111 m ethod .

- S I X S HILLING S -Cl' tM fflV t ~tl. t :i t r n )

C LI FFORD ESSEX & SON LT D . 90 Sh a ft e sbury Ave n ue, Lond o n , W .I .

H O W T O PLAY T H E

HAWAIIAN GUITAR by A. F. CRAM E R.

A CO MP R F:111,:NS I VE t u tor wriUcn hy on e o! the best p la yers lUH l t('ach c n; of t he

Ins trum en t . wh ic h inc lu de s nll t h e ncc<·ss :u y exer cise s an d scales tn t he v ariou s keys to (:n nb lc th e ::-tudcn t. to bec om e n p r o llcic n t. pe r fo rm er on th e ll aw a lln n g u ita r . l llu s­trnt c d w l t.h orlc in :tl ph olo g r:t p ll lc poses show ing th e correct pox l t..ion s for pla y in g t h e lnstru1n cnt. ; ho ldin g t he s t ee l : how to p l:l y st ra igh t. n nd a ngle c h o rd s Rn d lrnr mon ics .

T h is t.u t.oi- Is cnrc! ull y fln ge r cd t hr o ugh o •1t nnd has a num be r of so los :\ n d du cts in ­clud ed h 1 i ts p :·,gcs.

PR IC E

2,. (Posw ge 2d. ex!ra)

CLI FF O llO ESSE X & SO N LT D. 1J0 Shaftesbury Av e n ue, London, W .1

Recom m ended by t he wor ld's m ost famous T e achcn a nd Art is t s

SILVIO RANIERI MA N D O L I N METHOD

W ITH EN GLISH TcX T MATTER Tn• mo st th orough :1nd com, ,lute mnnd olln method ob t ainab le . Written b y ono ol tlu• wor ld '• Sf'Ont ost mnndoll n p tnyc,-s. Even 11 you ar e n o longer a lenr nor on t ho hutrumeut, you will ttnd thi s rnetho d ot ab sorbmr, int crost .

P UBLI S H ED I N F OU i! PAIITS

2s. Ea.eh Part. ( ~0 1,1) ~l•: P ,\ Jt ,\' l'J•:1, Yl

(PoslOge 3d . ex1ro each port) C L I FF O R D E lil EX 4 SO N LT D .

90, llhalte■bury Avenue, Londo n . W .1.

SEND THIS OFF TO-DAY I TO CL IF FOR D ESSEX & SON LTD., I

80, S h alt eabury Avenue,

I L OND O N, W . 1.

1 Please se nd me "B. M.G." for the next I . . . . . . . . mon th s com menc ing wit h the

I - I . .. ... .. .... . . .. .... .... .. . 19 .. .. issue .

11 enclose herew ith . ... . . . . valu e .. . . . . I I NAME ... .... ........ .. .... I I A D DRESS , .. ... . .. .. . .. ..... . . .. ... . .. I : ___ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::J

[ Oc tober, I !) -W

TOO OFTEN, MATERIALS, A TONE AND A

CHEAP POOR

SHORT LIFE HIDE BEHIND A LOW - PRICE TICKET W h e n b u ying a frette d in s t ru ­ment i t w ill be wo r t h yo u r wh ile t o pay a li tt le m ore an d o bta in an in st r ument t hat w ill g ive you b et t er t one and a l ife­time of se r v ice . A C liffor d Esse x in str um e n t m ay COS T mor e

b u t it 's w orth it.

"MODERN PLECTRUM GUITAR PLAYING,,

b y D I C K SAD L E I R

A 11\vdcru co u r:')c of plcc::l r m n gu lti ,r p lny h 1t{ :-.t rl1>1H:d o t :d i un cssc n t.lltl :;. whl ch pro vid es " u11Jq ut . rrq ,id sys te m and emb o dies th e cssc u Ua l~ of hnr mony. d c vr=lo pm c nt of Uw le ft. hnnd , d nncc l>ntl( 'l ch ord s tyl e s . cx w tc m por ls a Uo n o r " hot .. so lo s nn d m o dern vo cnl acc·omptu 1hnc 11ts . tog eth er wit h o r J1tln a l solos b y Al bt.·r t. Har ri s nn d J n.ck. Llew<-llyn.

Price Sf-(Postogc 'l<I. exuo)

CL I FFO O D ESSEX & SON LTD. oo Shattcsh u ry Avenu e, Loodo o , W. 1

AN ABRIDG ED LIST OF BE ST-SEL LING

PLECTRUM BANJO SOLOS

a " 01:uc Away O • • • • • • • • A . H ohr.m: \ n n 'l / •

at " Ca t ' s P yjamas " . . . . .. ll ar r y ,Jcn t.cs 2 / · h •• Ci r cu s Partu lc " . . . . . . . . JoL· Mor h •y 2 / ­.::1 "Cla ss ical S n a ckba r " :u·r. H. 1~h c 1·wo od 2; . IJ t "Cra zy J o e" . . . . . . . . . . l lany H.c:-.cr 2 ; . h •• Cu te an' Ca. lch y " ... . 1~r1t11k J.aw c~ 2 / · at" Dainty O in a h " . ... . . D enn is Maye 2 / -1, .. O ;u,ci,1~ Do ll y " .. . . W i ll Vall All (•n 2 / -a "Oc :;c.-t Urc c 7c" . . .. . . 1:111:cn c J•:a r h: ?./ • ;_1 •· Ouwn lhc M ;,,u •• a t-r. Dn11n1d :5hn1ff '2/ · a. " Favouri t e Mar ch " . .• V1:ss O.:-;sm:rn 2 / · a " Gi::or,.: ia Medl ey " , . . ... . 101· Mor lPy ?./-a "G litter Of Stee l " .. . . . . 'l' . Do r ward '2.1· a " H ikln ~ " . . . . . . . . . . .)i m mh °! l~d w :\rds. 1, 1. a "Hot O o~ 11

• •• • • • • • Will Va.11 A lh•n '! ' · I> " Hot Fre as" . . . . . . . . . . 1-'r:tn k r. aw1.•s 2 / ­a " lmo er ia l Guard s" .. .. s. L1•011ardi 2/ • h "Jil ;u l.>O'S Ho lut :w " T . Ha ll ey , .Jr . 2 / · a " Kee n the S t cu" . .. .. . i-:. 'I' , Tay lor ?./ • n •• La ,y nh y lhm " . . . . . . Be r l, Uass c t.t. 2 / · a t " M l!mfln r.°' of th e Soulh " lt oy :in w ,·k 2 / ­a II Moonfi ~ht a n d You" Em llc Gr im sh aw 2 -, l ·• 1-.,,-.,.;c, h-.r11s trc 1s" J-.111: lc G rlmsh; l W 2 / ­a " 011 with I.he Marc h.. arr. B . \V Dykl "S 2/ · I) t "Picki t1'S" . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:uTy lksc r 2 / · a "P o• Lu ck 11

• • • • • • J immie 1-:clwards 2 , . b " Rachm a ninofl Pr e lude"

arr . R. Cri m :-ihaw 2/­a t " Savoy na g" . . . • . . . • PcLc M:rnch- 11 2/­a "Sna t ch es o1 Son ~" arr . g _ Gr lm s h :t w 2 / · b " St iort s Parndc " . . . . . . ,10 1• Mor l<~Y 'l i ­b " Syn con a tin' Shuffl e" .. 1-'rnnk l,awf" s 2 / ­JJ t •• Take Your Pi ck " .. . . P1"!Ll- Ma nd ell 2 / · a O Tattoo ' . . . . . . . . . Emilt ! ( i ri 111sh:1.w 2./• a "Tt(!dy Dear s• Picn ic " arr. S. Amhl c>r 2 :. at ' 1 Ticld in ' the Ba n jo " W m. M on ts 2/ -a ' ' Vodk a" . . . . . . . . a r r . F.. Gr hnsl rnw 2 / · a •• Wr1Sh in~ t on Po st' ' arr. U. W . Uykr s 7.( -

a - En•w. h - M odc r:\tc . t -- dcno t <:!s cnn only he sum >tiod c ompl et e. A com1>lct e list or plt •ctrum -hanjo solos fi lTt' :-.pcc t 1vl.! of p 111, H.:-;IH'l"I wilt he· :~ladlv sc 11t. 1.0

any ad d rcs~ post fr <·<! o n rC<Jlil's.t..

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON Ltd . 00, Sha ftesb u ry Avenu e, London, W .1.

• THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR •

~~ ■. M . G.~~ The Monthly Magazine devoted to the interests of the Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar and Kindred Instruments

PubtisJ1e,d on the l st of each month nt

90, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, LONDON, W.1., ENGLAND.

Telephones - Gerrard 5314-5:ll,5 Te!egr(tms --"Tri ::implle, Lesqiiare,

London."

Vol. XXXVIII. No. 426,]

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK: "YOU AND MUSIC"

(';' HE Editor 's comments on ·::.J Christian Darnton's "Pelican " Book" You and Music" in las t

month's "B.M.G." seems to have pleased many reo ders (some of their letters are included in the " Corres­pondence " columns) but spac e does not permit us to print them ali. Be­low we print an article received from our plectrum guitm· contributor Jack Whitfield which, we consider, i!:l th e finest "follow up" to what has already bee n written about Mr. Darn­ton's lack of fretted instrument know­ledge.

Before giving Mr. Whitfield's article, we should like to quote what Ralph Hill wrote in the "Radio Times'' (issu e dated September Gth) about Mr. Darnton's book. Here is what he says :

"The book is so foll of strange per­r,onDl pr e judice,; th.it it ought to huve been entitl ed 'Myself and Mu sic: or an Experiment in Music a l Autobio­graphy.'

"Inaccuracies '1 Plenty of the m; but far too many to list here. It is a pity that th e proofs of the book were not read before publication by an ex­perienced mu sic critic, for the keen learner who places his faith in Mr. Darnton would have been spared many wrong impressions that he will continually have to correct as his musical know ledge and experience grows."

So much for Mr. Hill, who takes Mr. Darnton to task for a different matter than we do. Let us listen to Mr. Whitfield.

" I can forgive my newspaper col­league . who says : 'Huh! Tinkle tinkle.' when I m en tion my guitar . He has no interest in music and has never heard the guitar played. I can

Edited by A. P. SHARPE

~ 1'/te E di to1· does not necessarily agree u,wi the op i.nion.s e:q)resscd

by his co·1itrib 1itors.

OCTOBER, 1940.

forgive the thoughtful musician who dislikes fretted in st ruments because of their tonal qualities. But Mr. Darn­ton's summary and contemptuous dis­missal of a whole clas s of musical in­struments, in what is supposed to be an authc .ntic guide to the man-in-the­strcet, is quite unpardonable.

"Mr. Darnton, it appears, is a man of wide experience and ability; an authority on music and musical in­struments without question. That is all the more reason why he should be fair. His opinions will be accepted as re liable; hi s judgment as unchal­lengeable, and for tha t rea son he has don e a grave disservic e to a class of musical instruments whose adheren t s ar e perhaps more sincere ly mu sical , mor e earnest in practice, thnn any othe1 ·s.

"Apart from my inter est in fretted instruments, I can say (as a joU1 m1l­isl) that Mr. Darnton ha s committed ;;i bad error. Wri ting as an authority,

Contents Music in this Issue :

Ban; o Solo : ' ' Tail s Up." Plectrum Banjo so,o : " Underneath the

Moon." Hawaiian Cuita r Solo: •' Samoan Islander's

Song. 11

MaodoliPl Solo (DllO Sty!C) : "Soni-; of the Pines ."

Plectrum Guitar Solo : " Autumn Leaves."

Siibscription rat es : 12 months ...... 7 / 6 (U.S,A. S1,50} 6 montl1s ...... 3 / 9 (U.S.A. 75c,}

Al! new, items su bmitted for ihe n ext issue 1nust arrive at th is office not later t!!an t ile 20th.

ADVERTISING RATES ON REQUEST.

[Price Sixpence

he has covered many, many aspects of musie and orch estra ti on . In most aspect s ne is comprehensive to a point •)f fine det a il. In one aspect (the treat ­ment of the fretted class) he has ob­viously written without inv estiga tion beyond the li mite d field of his own knowledge. In so doing he has been unfair, not on ly to fretted instru­mentalists and devo te es , but to the whole class of his readers. Mr. Darn­ton is a greater musician t han I could ever hope to be and whila, in fact, I am prepared to accep t the rest of his book as reli ab le , I should be quit e justified (havin g regard to his sho r t­comings in the sect ion in which I am interest ed) to cast do ubts on the book as a who le.

"Ju st how bad is his paragraph on the fret ted ins t rnments '? Fol' t he benef it of those who do not ' kno w' fretted ins tru m ents, let me give thr ee analogies. Supposing he had writ t en : 'The chief use of th e cornet is to drag weary soldi ers out of bed in the early hou1·s o I the mornin g .' m· 'upul't from it s plac e: in haunts celest ia l the harp is an bstrument of little use,' or, ' drums may be heard being beaten by small boys in shorts who sh ide in front of simil a r small bo ys , who are called scouts.' I suggest that none of these is- any m ore fatuous than Ac-lvanccd Tcchnic1uc on the Bnnjo - ~·BY Zarh

Myron Cickford A ids to Memorising, . . - . - -O:alalatkn Music ·- Oy the '£.dito r

1~ what Mr Darnton di d write about the i guitar, the mando lin arid the banjo.

11 B.M ,G.11 Club Notes B.M.G." Diolomas

11 B.M.G. 11 Notes By the Way .. Corrcs1,ondcncc Enthusiasm . . . . . . Fingers and /or Picks-By Roy F. Bell Hints for Teachers . . _. . - . . Moro About the Book : " VOLi and Music 11

••

Please Yourself Proucr Practice . . . . Radio News . , . . . . . . . . 11 Song ol the Pi1rns " - By A, de Vckey The Banjo - By F. T. Lnmb . - .. The Banjo and the Pr css - -lly the Editor . . The Beginner and the Plectrum Guitar--:-BY

Jack Whitfield '. . . . . . . ' . The Electric Hawaiian Guitar in the Da n ce

Band-By Ray H iS~ins . . . . . . The Mandolin, Guitar and Ukulele By A .

do VekCY ' . ' . . . ' . . . Things Hawaiian - By Alfred Kealoha Life

17 1G 16 10 17

7 3

15 1

14 14 14

5 6 0

"Mr . Darnton may have known littl e al:out the fret te d instrum ents, but that does not excuse him. Better to have left out all mention of them. Hi s obvious course would have been to approach someone who did know about them; or perhaps tha t wou ld have been too much an a dmission of his own limited know ledg e.

2 " I hope Mr. Da r nton found new

4 knowledge in the Editor 's ar ticle; w hich was , to my mind , a comp lete

1~ reply and to oth ers whose l ac k oJ

2

knowledge only indu ces a s1:cer when fretted ins tr um ents urc m en tioned . H is rarely that Mr. Sharpe com es out of hi s shell lo show us how w ide is his kno wledge of lhe history of fretted instruments and the ir use , but this time he has done it with de­vastating cffocl. He might compide his ind ictm ent of Mr. D arn ton 's silly assert.ions by pbying h im a sel ec t ion of g ramophone recor d s from h is line pri va te colkction .

" If Mr . D arnton had condeSCl~nded to pay our Editor a call bc~for e starl ­ing his chaptc1· on 'S tring I nstru­ments ' h e cou ld have lcan1 ccl much to bi!-; benefit. bot h as a m usie i(m and ,m author. ''

And tha t ends .Jack Whitfield's arlide.

It w i ll be r emembered th at Mr. Darnton's comments on the E ditm· 'i: article were invited. A lthou_gh a copy o[ last month's "T3 .M. G ." was sent to Mr. Da rn ton . he has nol de igned to ar:knowJcdgc• it or rep),-.-.

BALALAIKA MUSIC B~, Tm : E1.>JTOR

(71' seem !; many ycan; ago s in ce J the balala ik ..i was nn ins!'. ·um cnt

heard at ev e ry tun1. vV. W . Andredr (who is c:i-editcd with laJ.:­ing th e cn,dc Rw-;s i,rn nat iona l insln,­me nl ancl pcde<:t ing the babl,1ika as we know it today ) and his nrchesll'n st,i:·tcd a boom t h :1L spread like a fo re st fire. :Lui ·gc; ba lalaika ol'ches lr as \\"(•re :[onrwd in ever~, big !ow n and man y pubi ic conccl'[.s \-Vere g iv<'l1. The nc11· instrunwn t appc.:il ed lo non -­pla :v·c~rs : I lw cla i ly press wpi ·c cnn­stan tly nwntion ing it: and Uw <:ream o l' Lond on soci ct~· d c<:ided it was·' llw thin~t " lo bl, abl e: tu pl,t_v I.he ba la­la ik a and peop le lik e Clifford Essex . Bert Bassett ,md l~milc nrimshaw (who w c•re som e or the first lo st ud :,, the new instrum ent in London) WCl'C in co nstant demand for lessons.

But al l this is past history. Th e w;i 1· or UJJ 4-Hll8 slopped h e import of in str u ment s fr om Russ i<1 and soon the balala ik a boom began t.o di e . un ti 1 today 1 he only oi·ches lras be forc the public ,tr<' You nkman\ Czardas Band and Mcclvecleff's Ba la laika Orches tra. The only soloist is Gregori Tchci·niak.

When Andrccff took his or chestra to America in 191:3. the demand for tl1e instrument, as in England , was repeated. But in the U.S. toda y the only or chestra of any fame is led by Feoclor Zar k evich who left Russia in 192:3. A s a r epresentati ve of Russian artistic li fe in Am erica , Mr. Zark c-

B."1.G. [October, 1!)40

vich fe lt the nee d for a good ba la- they must sure ly be g ivi ng to the laika orc h est ra and had liltl e ent hus ias t, m u st be d oing much to difTiculty in findin g en ough devotees brin g befo r e n on-players the beauti es to fo rm his pr esent organ isat ion of our inst r um en ts. In the past, m any which has recently record ed an have been introduced lo t he ba njo , ,llbum of ten s id es for the- Ame ri can m and olin and guitar t hrough th e Decca Co. med ium of th e gr amopho ne record.

Some of the fines t recorded fretted Tocl;1y, unfor tunat e ly. th is means of instrument musie has been waxed by inc1·casing our devotees is al most balalaika en~Pmblcs and th e present denied us, only because these same album is no exception. The scckc1· devotees have not t hemselves pw ·­fo1· vuri ety will not be d isappointed . ch ased t he reco r ds issued. Gramo­for th e se lect ions in th is album phone compan ies arc only interested nn1 1w from typical Russ ia n wa ltz es in side~. Can :-rou blame th e m'! One l:o t ,trnnlc llas. polkas . mazurkas and d.ly the pendu lum will swing aga in one -steps pla yed with a ll the ver v e (American Decca hav e st.H·led it in and skill one usu al ly assoc i;.ile:-; wi th t he U.S.) and th en it wi ll be up t o us th e Russ ian n ationa l instrument. all lo he lp it sw ing toils peak .. . and

Before g ivi ng a li.~t o r titles and stay there . In tbe mean ti me, record numbers , T must m e ntion the /\mcrican p laye rs <:an begin lo enjoy

ES, LADY! WHF.:t-t ·ruE IREt-1S SOUND CURL LlP1

• SIDE IT~

~f ~m::~-ir )

011tsland .ing p la_V('l" of tlw dom1·a who lea ds t.his band (l ,v isit I kn ew his name. althou1~l 1 1 should not be s111·­p 1·1s(•d if il was our old friend N . Kovacs) and th e quality o[ the rc•cording s. Th<' rr ctt<'d i11sl .n1m c•11L enthusiast in Uw U .S. sho uld lrnw no tim e in hearing these d isc-s.

Decca Album No. 88. :28!)8. "K isses of Spring.''

·• On llw R ive r. " 28!lD. "Oi- ra Po lk a."

·' Vinlag< ! Mazui·ka. " 2!)00. ·' L et's Go. Let 's Danct• ."

' · Thre e Roses. " 21)01. .. La Bianl'h ina d i Go1·d igian i."

·' Sv.·cdish Folk Dan ce ." 2i)02. " For go tt en Dreams.''

"Kohanol<: hka ." l would l ike lo encl this brief

review by paying tribute lo th e pol icy of the American Decca Record Co. The a lbums of fretted instrnment record s th ey h ave issue d r ece nt ly arc a welcome addi tio n to the re cord ed library and, apart fr om the pleasure

the fruils o f a forsighted company. /\s a postscr ipt T wou ld like to tell

Lh e Decca peop le in /\ mc1·ic,1 that a Ken Ha rv ey and Harry V ol pe a lbum wo u ld sun ' iy sell. Cornm fTcialism seems to have a diffc_,1·enl meaning lhl' other s ide ol' th e /\tlanl.ic and llwsr- l.\vo outstandin g p l;iyers of pl<>c·Lrt11)1 banjo and ple<:t r um g uita r rcsp1•<:tivc l~- w ould. I k now. mak e 1·cco1·ds I.hat could pl lias<.> th e· fan a nd 11on-pl,1ycr ,dike.

THE BEGINNER AND THE PLECTRUM GUiTAR

1:_y J\ CI( \\ "111'1'1-'l l·: I .P

'1.- Tm •: IU(xll'l ' HAND.

(7 'I' is ;·,til"I .,· s;lr,, l.o p•·c'sum c tha t :.J n i11cl.:,.• pe r cc nl of s<'lf-ta111:h~ students l"<'ac:hm g any s tag e ot

pr oLci<'nc y suff er fr om some C'ff<•ct ( i 11 ;1 gr:~a Ler· or ll·ss<T dcg1 ·,,c) due t o l lw i,· b <"k of c,1rl,, gu id ance in the vil:d a nd trnubksonw mallc r oJ' 1·i.1'.ht hand tech nique :.

l would Ix: ;1 bdt<·r pla ye r th,m I :1m lod a_v i f T cou ld hav< ' go n e str a ;ght l.o a ll':1c.:her at the ou tset o r my studi es ot· (il' I ,.im n ot being im modc sl) i i' 1 coul d have read an ,u ·tic:lc l ike• this ont! 1 So. ii.' I te ll yo u that at the ve i·y beg inn in g . the ri .i:;ht hand is the m ost. im po rlnnt of <di aspects ol phi ct n1rn g ui tar pby ­ing . you must g rant m e tha t l kn ow w hat T am ta lki ng about.

Thi s is the point. Ther(' a rc a hundn ' d ,i ncl one w;iys o f us in_g yo u r ri1~ht h;ind when you a 1·e playini.; the plectrum g ui ta r. A hundr ed of the m a r c wrnng-one is righ t ! And the odd s a rc that if you ar e not told the ri['.ht o,w. you w ill p ick on e of t h e \Vr ong .

October, l!J -W]

Th en. ,1fter a few monlhs ' pbying. you find so me o ne w ho kn m.vs the right way (or yo u arc to ld the right way) ,llld you hav e to set about countering the effec ts or hours of the w1·ong kind of training. And is that a hca l't--bn·ak inJ; job'! T know ! be­caus e f did it. Unfol"luna t cly l had been piayinJ .( the wrong way for so lon g tlwt even 110w my 1·i.~h t hand is suffering sli g htly from th at <•arly cldici cncy ; and il is sup1·cnwly ini­tat in g. to say the il'a st. \vh ~n you know that your left-hand tec hniqu e is wel l developed but is being hdd bac k by your r ight lwnd .

To r(ive a word picture 01· r.orrect right -han d action is not an ('as~, matt<'r . T he first fingc1· is crooked until thci lirs t joint is as n(' ,11· parall el lo th<' third .ioi n t: w-; poss iblP w ithout st r ain . lh•gin by holding ou l your II;1nd as ii" ~--m1 \\"(•1·<· 1{oin 1~ to shake li;1,nds. Tlw n crnok ,ill llw l\n ;'.<'!'S : 1n,1ki11g st11,, ,.hal the.• li1·st !'all s in llw posi t ion inc!i(' ,ll<•d. Tir in -'" down the tl111mli ,;o Uwl. the• il;i! I r<'Sl.s on llw lirst. .ioin l or llH• lir sL lin .((('1· :1u.l th!'n . k<·<·pin g Uw Lhuml> and l i1·st fi1q(1•1· in position . (·u i·I th(' c.Llw1· l;n !':•·r s in lri\\'a n ls i IF· p:tlm so t '1:11 t h• .,· n' st l i_,:h l.l\· . Tlwn. n• 1wh l.v . Llw lirs t joint <,!' i.iw !i1st lin ;~•·r ,; fl<lu ld n·sl r,11 Lh<· :..:.~-(·(~?id .i11i11L ol' (h(\ ~( ' <·011<1 r·1n,PJ·l ·. No\\ ·. kl· , pi ll_' t tl H· f1nnc.l in t lii~; pr1s iM

tiP n. r,·l:1 , ;ind 1<·1. i t J':ill !,,· , ·" 111· :-:id• ·. r.ifl :-,·,1:1r II:nl<I Id pL 1,,·i1i; : · p,i,; i l i<HJ : us i ;~~ i l1..1 (' Ui:>ir' ~•:~ pi, •of !'o: · ~! l l'

n1ov( 0 n1: ·n ! i·nd l;•.-n·t l~J~ l lH• 1"01·v~1rn~ r111it,· sl :I<':,. y,,111· h :•nd ,;lwt!ld no\\· l'<'d li:11,nw :·•d :111,l ·,·,· s trul and tlwn! ,-clv111lc! lw a ntl(•1·- ,:t 1·:ii ,~ht lint· 1·ron, ,\'('I ll' !'!ho\\' ri• thl ['J tilt' k11u,:kl (',; or _, ·ou r kmd (no t th(' k 11u('ki<.-~ or ll w lin .t•:1·rs\. Tl w plt ·cl rt1111 sho u ld bri n 11sl1'·d h(•L,,.·,•,•1: ll1r· firsi. lin .,'<' l' and l it(' l,;i!I n l' th ,· thumh so 1.h ,1t it po ints V(•I'.\" ,-cli? iill ., · a\\'a_, · from vou and pro­lr ud<·s ahot•l :1 <1ual'\cr o l' ;111 i11C'h.

Tlw .1<·\u,1 ! pn:-;i Lion o f llw ri ght ;1rn 1 in pla_\'in.,~ Lk pcn ds J,11-;(c•J.,· on tl 1c lwi _u;ht or lh<' pla:,,·1· - st.n1ng(· ,1s it m a:s· s<'('tn. A ta ll pln:-,·,·r \\"ilh ;1 long ,1rm shou ld h,\Vl' no difTie111ly in rc•,;t ­in, : UH• r-l bo\,· fu ll nn llw 11])J.>(' r part o r tlw g 11i l.;1r bndy so tha t h is hand . rest.in .,: on LIH• s trings . sho11l cl be about OV<'i' the snunclholc,. Tli,.1t giv <'S h im c·om pl<'l.<' and ind c•p<'n cl<'nt con­lrol or h is forearm ;mcl h,tnd w ithout 1·ockin g or m oving tlw gui(:ir , is he ~;l.rik es llw slrinris .

But if' tlw lengt h of you 1· ann ;,; not suffi c ic•nl to enab le you lo do l his . you must compensat e, for its sho 1·tness by restin g llw arm highp1• up the bod:,., or the instrument an.d

B.M.G_ 3

p lay ing a little lower down strings.

lh e act ua l moveme nt of the rig h t hand ,.,nd try to gi vc some prac tic al cxer­eises wh ich will e n able yo u to obta in that action as near pe rfect as poss i ble without actua l visual demonstra t ion .

NDw !'or tlw ve 1·y impo rl ant busi­n ess nJ' righ 1.-hancl m ovc mcnl. /\ ha1·d ,ind l'asL rul(• must be laid clown here. The mo1:r!1nenl t.hat wnie r r..s Uw <Wf,i on oJ the plecl.Turn 11wsl come from the wrist I Imag in e the ac tio n ;,r t.hro w in.L/ (01· flick ing) a c iga rette card . T hal. w ilh a little more rc­strainl. is a g uide ln the action at whi(' h ynu shnu ld aim.

N c•xt· mo n t h 1 shall dc'al w ith the

WE ARE STILL CARRYING ON!

by

The Editor

T he past month ln,s seen the intensity of th e Na:t.i air attack s as sume proportion s that can only he d esc ribed as cold­blooded mass-munlct· of th e civilian population. N ii;•ht af ter nir,·h l Lon cl on has hecn su b­_;cc k.d to a S\)I'ics of onslaug-hts i.11 which all pretence of homh­in;: · military nh.icctives has b een tlirown to the winds.

i\nyon<· w h o reads a 11cws ­pa1wr or listens lo the 1·,Hlio can u ndc rsiantl wh at we in Londoi. an• ;.:-nin;: t.hro u_!!;h. T h e result­an{. dislocation o!' tratlic an tl <lamagc' lo g·as am l watc1· mains in the City has put an extra hurdm1 011 our pl"intcrs . The !in otypc madtilw s m:cd fo1· sd­tiag· the typ e l'or , .. /1 .J/ ,(,' . " ar<' kcpl going by i.:as (il k eeps tlw n1olt<'U n1cl:1l :it . 1.h<· one temperature) . VVith no g-as. J\·Jcssrs, l'cvcr k ys coul<l not star t setting t he type ncclie<l for this iss ue . B ut here it is in you r hands. l'cr ha1>s a littl e la te in the month, but nev er theles s h ere it is.

hulisc r iminaic bombin g by day and by ni g ht has mea .nt a comt)lctc reorg- ;1 nisa tion of the method s for cnsurini:· that .. n . .1 / .(;. " r eac he s you ea ch 11wnth. So lon g- as it is humanl y tW'.,sihk, it will (·onli n ·iw to r each you each month. But if it is late, please do not worry us with letters. Rest assured we (and om· printers) arc doing our best.

W e are still can·yini; · on!

.Tack WhiWcld wclconws comm ents a :Hl cr Hic isff1!-i o( th i~ ~0ri cs; nnd que r ies and surrncs tions for top ics of fu ture a r ticles. W 1·itc him c/ o "13.,11.G. ," 9(), Shn ftcsbury i\ v t'lll lC. London, ·w. t.

FINGERS AND/OR PICKS B~, RoY F . B~:r.1.

j JI ANY years ago, guit aris ts Jf'l, came to recog nis e th e

Spanish ;u 1d p le ctrum gui ta r ,; a s lv,·o distinct instr uments. N one wou ld th ink o[ brac ket ing .Julio Martine z O~1ungurcn with D jan .~o Rein hardt. for in sta nc e .

Ba njoists do not ye t se em lo rcu l ise th at PX:.ictl y th C' same th ing applies lo the IJ,mjo an d plcdn1m-banjo . The lwo inst.nm w n(s arc sepan1lc and dis ­tinct ,m cl it is onl> ' the p(irs on w ho n 'a lis:·s this J"a('( that de r ives th e mns t pl<~asurL' fn )ln his ehoscn instrum ent.

L<•l. ·-1s. l'or :1 m inu l<•. ana lyse tl1<' 1na in diffl ·rt'lH '{'S :H~fore proc eed in g i : )

llw lc,~dcal outconw ; lh c t.ypc of rnu,:k- b('s l su ited Lo each.

T lw t 11,1in1; is d i/Tc,;·cnt. Pub l islwcl scl,,s 11<·<:tis,:it, \k Llw b;111j oisl u:,::1t: t.lw C lnss . but Llw prngr!':--s :vc p l c-c-L1·i~t. :1dopts t he KPn Harvc .,· (o r I) !Jass ) Lin ing . l'or hi' r ca li sl ·S w hat r,nd­lcss possibilities it offers.

Tlw ,d t<:1-cd 11111ing rn;1kc s l it tle cli il'<'ren<:\' t o l li l· banjo ist : ind<•Pd the l ow C i,; oft< ·n ,in asse t . T he pkct 1•;sl lin cls the C : 1 handic ,1p. Tlw]) t uning cn;1b ks him to double th e nw lo -J~·: 1·,1c il il ak s b,1ss so los wi th o<:tav,· ,1<·­(·omp ,1ninwn1: en ables hi m to us,• ,il l l'm11· strings in p lt'clr u m strnkes : and .u:ivcs hi m a bdtc•r cnmrnand ol' clos e l iannon>' ·

T lw 11\'Xl. obvious d ifference is ri.!.\ht han d ·,echniqt w . Tlw \J;Jnjo ist 11ses lhrc<! lin .~e1·s : I.he p lcct ris t one pick. Th is. morc th,1n an:-,t11ing el se, makes l.he Lwo in s tnmwnl s d istinct. The sanw sca les and 1x1ssag cs shou ld be p layN : in an e ntir ely d iff erent mann< ·r 0 11 e, 1C'h ins t rument. The b,111joist. who ~\raclu;1t<'s to t he plcc­tn 1111- banjo an d lr ics to retain his old posi t ioning is sta r ling· wrong .

TIH' pla yN of t.lw banjo puts suc­cc ssiv<' notes on a s ma ny di fferent s(l'ings as poss ib le; seldom is it ne ces ­sar y to p la, ' mo r e th an two on any one str in.[(. T lw pl;.1ycr of the plectrum -banjo keeps succ essive notes on the same string as long as i t is

4

conducive to effective left-hand fingering.

Again, the banjoist has a better command of rapid arpeggios and fill. ins; the plectrist the best method of playing sustained harmony.

The tones, too, arc dissimilar . There is nothing to equal the characteristic charm of an all-gut strung banjo. I cannot understand finger stylists using steel strings. -To my way of thinking it is all wrong !

The plectrum-banjoist, on the other hand, does produce an entirely different sound with his plectrum (in­stead of soft finger tips) and steel strings.

Actually, apai't from the shape, there is very little in common be­tween the two instruments.

The banjoist's obvious choice of solo is the characteristit: original banjo composition ; the oker style of Olly Oakley and Joe Morley or the more modern compo~itions of Frank Lawes, Tarrant Bailey Jr. and Vess Ossman--,vho was modern years ago.

Perhaps the best of this type is a jolly, rollicking number with a good ba-ss solo. Slower numbers, of the zither-banjo style, are better with a mute and extensive vibrato.

On the other hand, the plectrist's repertoire consists mainly oI arrange­ments; his own arrangemcn :,s, too, I hop e.

Although many finger-style solos are written for plectrum playing, I never consider thcJt they sound their bf'st on this instrument. Indeed, some renditions have mad e me shudder.

Ken Harvey undoubtedly leads the way with his arranging, introducing much of the orchestral style of play­ing into his interpretations. "When You Wish Upon a Star" from the Walt Disney film Pinocchio makes a fine subjct:t for study in thi s :style, but it should be remembered that any ar­rangement made should be sent to the publishers for stamping.

Jazz is equally playable on both in ­struments, but with a marked diITerencc.

The banjoist (or, better still , a banjo duet) can play dance music in strict tempo, copying the Billy Mayer! style. His syncopa lion utilises the chord shapes (in triplets and dotted time) and fourths, which arc very adaptable to finger-style playing. The accompanist can combine a steady bass using tenths runnin g from the fourth to the first string, or the lone player can add the bass with his thumb as suggest ed in my article

B.M.G. "New Pastures-II" (January, 1910, "13.M.G.")

The plectrist obtains his jazz effects with his stroking and has a beautiful accomplishment in the up stroke on the off beat. Bi1 t may I add a plc-a here? Please do not make it "corny."

[October, 1940

THE ELECTRIC HAWAl!AN GUITAR IN THE DANCE

BAND Omi t some of the chord strumming By R,w Hrcc;ms one so often hears and give a nic ely J\10\V more than ever is the time balanced effect. F. T. Lamb has had for Hawaiian guita rists to maim much to s;;1y about letting a solo the most oi' the opportunity of "breathe." Arthur Ingham 's arrange- establishing the cl-ectric guitar as a ment of "I Can't Give You Anyth ing lcgi t im:1tc melody ins trument in the But Love" in the June "B.M.G ." dance band. Up to th e present, li t tle makes an ideal plectrum solo. use ha s be en made of th e instrument

Light music in varying degrees is in this direction. The usual tendency, suitable to both t he ban:io and plet:- of, course , is to blame the "short­trnm-banjo. again with a difference . sight€dncss " of dant:c band leaders I•'or the banjois t there are a rra nge- for no t employing it, but a li ttl e un­men ts of such pi eces as " Minuet in biased considera t ion shows that the G.", "I-Iungui·iun Rhapsody No. 2 ", lea ders arc not entirely to blame, fo r etc. The plectrist can obtain bet te r whilst they do no t doubt t hat the effect with something more forceful. cledric Hawaiian guitar can have a I contend that the plec trum-banjo is wide public appeal, the usual efforts the finest so lo instrument for the ren- of an electric guitarist do not ju stif y d1tion of an overture. It can sustain his inclusion in the "front line." full harmony played tr emolo to ob- Even in some broadcasting bands t he tain the nearest effect to a full Hawaiian guitarist's effort is usually orchestra, but it cannot compete with limited to a few plaintive wails that the linger stylist for playing tho se remind us of the early nativ e •efforts rippling numbers by Mozm·t. rcfened to in a recen t article by

A good crisp picking (bringing Al fre d Kealoha Life. Compar e thcs•e memories of Harry Reser) puts piano cJl'orts wi th those of the electric novelties and numbers like "Entry of Hawaiian "uitarist featured in the re­the Gladiators" into the plcctrist's cordir.gs by H arry Owens and his repertoire. while ballads lend the m- ·Royal Hawaiian Hotel Orc h est ra ! se lves to a soft tr emolo and chord Here we hav e an ort:hcstra tha t uses inversion fill-ins as used by many the cLictrit: guitar as an integra l pa r t pianists. of its orc hest r ations , ,1ssisted by a

Both banjoists and plcctnim-banjo- p lay er of no mean ability w h o c,m ists will obtain a considerable amount carry the melody success l\l lly w hen of help fro m c<.trdul sludy of gramo- bacl~cd by a full ordws trn. In fact I phone reco rds and b roadcasts; not would s trnng ly advis e players of t he only of fretted instrnmentalists but clcctr:c Haw,1iia n guitar contemp lat­of pianists, orchestras. bands, and so in g- t his ki n d of work to purchase t he on. The rec ording of "Lig~t I-1;1ny Ow ens rct:ordings (on the C,walry" made by the London Phil- Decca label) for w hi lst they do not harmonic Orchestra is the linest help fca tm e the Hawaiian guitat· 'as a solo in playing Tom Barker's arra ngement in st rument the y do show, in my of the sam e number in the July opinicn, what c;n really be exp ected "B.M.G." _______ of the electric g uitari st in the dance

band.

BUSINESS AS USUAL! Shaftesbury Avenue has not

escaped the enemy bombs. Most of the windows at No. 90 have been blown out but the build­ing itself is still intact. "Busi• ness as usua.l " is the slogan here and all onlcrs will receive the usual prompt attention. Des1>ite present difficulties, the staff of Clifford Essex & Son Ltd. are waiting to serve you.

The ability o[ the Ha wa iian guitar to t ake! its p lac e in the dance ban d has already bee n i·ecognised by a fow publishers who have includ ed pa rts fol' t his instrument in the ir commer­.cial orches t ra t ions. True, I have seen some that would require strange an d weird tuni ngs in deed to play some of the six-string chords included but, never theless, this shows a trend in th e r igh t dir ectio n .

The chi ef trouble, of course , is that th e Haw ai ian guitarist has , in most cases, been gi ven a trial in the dance band without any previous trainin g .

October, l H40]

Tic ;nay. fm· -;•:-,:;_1mpl c, hr1ve play~:cl in a H,1wa iian comb ination that has pl«yed most of ils nu1111Jers in the ke ys oJ A or lJ and , nalurnlly. he ,vou ld fin d it c.lifli<:ult lo play in suc-h k<'ys as B iJ or D tJ, especially wh en he is required to read straight from the copy. Mon )­ove1·, it is my lw lid that quite a large percentage ol' players play "from car." They appear to do this quite lm t:onsciously . having discarded the o.-iginal sc.:1·ipt beton ? havin ,l\ thor­oughly learned the number. Whi lst. in tlw caS(~ of the l-Imvnii an ,:1,uitn1·. th e soon< :r tlw print<'d copy is dis­carded the belter. it is al so evident Lhat playc!1·s who try ov e r incnm­ph.•tcl:v memorised numbers willl a danc<• band w ill g('lW ndly find ll1C'm­:;dve:; hopc'k'.;:;l_v lo:;t, :;incc the volun1 c l'rnm their amplifier is being "played clown " 1.l~' the hr:1ss s<·ction ~;o that il m,J,Y lw difliC'lil l. lo lwar the n•sul t.s. Tlw _v Lh1,n lwg in to " bus!,,. ho1:,· l'ull.v. usu ~ill_y l',1cling out bcfor\' the ,.·11d ol' Lhe chorns.

Th e obvious soh1tio11 t.o lliis pro ­blem is lo make• ;1 c·,n-el'ul alT; rn gc ­

n1f•11t ol' c·acl 1 numb ::r bdon .- any ;1( tempi is made 1<) l'c ; 1 l.u n! i I. ,,vi i Ii ,1

cbnce band. (Puh l is!wrs an· 1.sL1;1 !Iv w il li11.1\ lo gr ,1nt pern1ission lo do u,i~ ii' p1·opc•1·l~, :lpp1·0:1dwd .) Thi,: wil l mean a lot or hard work . but it t 'Sltall.v fully repays ori , ·'s Pffo r t.s. 1,vC'n if on l,v in the us\' l\il c·xpcr ie nce gained . lbuaUy a ,l\ood arrnn:•,<'nH·nt c,tn be nwclc by us in:~ Uw v iolin co py in c·on­j11ncl.ion w i th the pkct.rum ,r~uita :· cop :-·. 1\l l:• r sonw expericnn: it wi ll be possible lo cvc?ll n·ad al sigh t from v iolin ,llld pl<'c:ln1m guit;H · copies used in co 11junct.ion .

I 1-.·01il d also SUQ[:c,st I h; 1t the <?lcc­tric llaw;ii ian guita ri st keeps his ,t1npl ific1· <1s iwar as pos s ib le• to him with llw spc,1k<?l' .ius!: IJC'hind and a,: ne:ir lo his head l 1•vcl as is pennis­sibk. otbenv is<' lw m,1v nol l.>r! ,1\il-e lo clearly hea r what h:'ind o[ i-csul ls he b obt,tining if sep;11·atcd l'nim his ,nnpl ific1· by a smal I army oJ: sa xo-­phonc• and t rnmpet playc~rs.

Rq :tarc!ing lhc tunings used. T think l.hal Lhc high bass or i\7th w ·c tlw best l'or all - round work in a clan-~<: band . whilst the C~ m in or ·;uning merits attention by the mmc i!d­vancecl players .

B.M.G. · "SONG OF THE PINES"

By A. DE Vmmy

a S promised in t he Au gus t '_' B.M.G. ", thb month's issue mclud es a mandolin duo or the:

guitar so lo, "Song or th e Pines." M,mdolin ists who ·have made thei r own a1T,1nJ\l.'111Cnt of this number will. I am sure, be in t er ested in the setting gi ven.

As playci·s w ill realise, there a rc inany 1,va:ys o[ t ranscribing any solo but lh<! arrangenwnt giv c,n has been made in a style liest su ill:d for the duo pw ·µose ;1s it brings in the melody with acc orn paninwnt in various ways; melody on Llw low er slrings with ac­<.:omp;lnyi n/.( chords on tlH: hi 1,:hc·r strings (C'i(her in double slops or Juli h;in no n) •) 01· inc·lod:v no!<'s only with cho rds i•i ;n·p,_,gg io form. And. «s ,vii! be seen by lh<: many chan,~cs in I.his l'CS].)(•d,, all 1'01· UH : puq ><JS{' or SL'CU l '­

in,!2; varicl.y. V;,1r icly is worth aim ing for if it is

suit:lbl e and dl'cct.ivc , a nd whi le• 011

this point I wo uld rdc.-r the reade r to llw e ighth bar o[ Lhe Jirst movement. l [ one ol' the: no Les o l" ! his chord is orniU,•d (usinJ( Lhc "J<: as tlw nwludy tl<l i.r•) i( (';111 be pl,i~'<'d in Llw lirsl posilion a:-; the: first c:honl in the lir,, t l>a1· but how c_kl i,,:htrul ly difl'en :nl and mo re eir,·c·livc i l .is wlwn tlw nwlodv note (E) is t;iken on tlw fourth string with ;i .t:•l isse from th e l3 OH the same string; Uw at:compan_ying ch ords bc•ing pla. vcd <•xactl y ;1s marked (t hat i :; with the C, on the third st1·ing ( 11. Lh l'rct) ,rnJ the i\ and E open). J3cf'ore doing anylhin_g e lse. try t he chord in the lirsl. bar as ,vritl(•;, and Uwn th e s<1m<• c:hord ,-vith th e: added A ,1s _l(ivcn in lhC' eigh th bar , fo1· this should mak<! cle,w wh,1t T \Vant lo conv<'y 1·c~:ardin g va ri<:ty in this 1x1r­ticula1 · manner. T lw chords should be struck d<•li cately so Lh,1t each bkncls sw ee t!~-- with and docs not ovcrpowP1· the m 1!lod.v nole on the fou rth sti·in.l\. Tr:--· this severa l times and learn 1.o e11ltivatc the necessary "Lo u<·h .. l'or the best results in chord·s of this n;iturc : stopped and opC'n notes in 1.lw h i;~lwr n!gislC'r. 'l' oo ofll'l1 one hc;ir:; th<' open str in.tfs. th e stopped

Finally , I woulu SUf(,(((:St that ,-------------------, Hawai ian qunrlds Uw rns-:..-lves could be m oi·c univ ers ally c1nploycd for dancing. It ·is up lo the play ers them ­selv e s to use the pr es-cnt situation to maJ.:,, their instnimenls more p-Jpular than ever .

SILK GUITAR CORDS win, /.oop P.n<l crnd trtssr,l

BLUE, GREEN OR GOLD Price Is . each. (Poswgc 3d. extra)

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD . 90 Shaftcsln1ry Avcn11e, Lond o n, W.1

5

not e being· almost non est by the greater power o[ the open notes. The t hree st rings should be stn1ck to pro­duce the effect des cribc• d.

So m uch for this one example . Now kl us ta ke the solo r ight throu gh.

Fo1· the first twelve bars the melody is taken on the t hird and fourth strings, :he e ighth bar bringing in the th ir d s t1·ing in th e accomp;iny ing no tes. The fingering marked i:; what I use, althoug h i t may be varied to su i l in d iv i.d ual tast es. Some players prder lo slop two strings a l the sa m e fre t wit h one linge r , but I profc 1· to use a scpa1·ut e fiHg<:r for each s tr ing (sec Sl!Cond b, 1r) . ·

I t w ill be no ticed t hat the en t ire m<·lorly I in p ol' l.hP Ii r·st mov c•menl. ean be pb_vtd on the mandolin as written -J'or th e gu i tar with th e• cxc:0plion of om· note; tlw low E in th e li [t h bar. Th is is ta k<'n an ocla vc h igh<'r lhan in the g.tilar par t. One player, when trying this .from tlH ] guilar part for ll "' Ii rsl time, noticed tlw low E and irnmedialdy set a liout. pla_vi11g the me lody ,111 ocl.a ve hi gh er but all the l>c,tut i ful "ac co mpany ing dl'ccts" arc los t by this method. \,Vhen this p layer hea r d il play ed as s::t out, his rema r k wa::-: : "\i\J lwl I'm missing ! "

Jncidcn lally, this p layer (who has to play a lorn~) is now one of th e kcen­(•,;l p l,1yc:r,; in the duo style and in a lcttt-1 · recen tly r ece i v<•d said that it has "kcyc ·cl up h is in terest .in lh c mandol in " more than he l!Jought poss ible .

To comµlete th e firs l movem ent. l n (h<.' thirteenth and fourteenth ba rs c:ho r ds ctt-c show n w it h small note s. Chords written in this form through­out th e solo m ay eit her be playf•d in l'ull hncnony or th e top note µh1yecl tre molo.

The sc('oncl movenwnt is t aken a li llle• Jaste1· (as indicate d); Lhe quavers bein ,t; struck and n otes of longer \'al u c bein g p layed t r emolo. Finger the seventh ;rnd eig hth bars as marked. fo r then all no te s as written can be played free ly. The four th fin gei · stretch to t he A is rather try­ing for small hands, but w ith · th e wrist well ar che d most players should be ;-ible lo 1·1),1<:h it w ith littl e ti-ouble.

Now lo the T r io . · The fingering for th e first chor d of

A min or has purposely been omitt ed to stress a point I woul d like to ma ke. Experience has shown me that the majori ty of man d ol in is ts w ill. un - ­less fam iliar with duo mandolin ·play­ing or chord work in positions in a ll i ls stage~,, ;\ l firs t sig-ht consider (his ,1

G

mis print. alt hou gh the rc ude r wi ll already have 1·e<·<•ivcd dcl.a iled in­fo rmation about a m.uj or chord of this kind . Po ssi bly, with thi s hav ing been ma de c:lec1r. tlw pla~ •c•r will sen se ,iu:-;t where to locale th e chord. hut an un ­fai l ing ly quick nwthod is to cleci<l(' Llit• positi on o r tlw slo pped noks. Tlw

lop I•: will be on the fir s t slr in~: a l t.lw

twel[ th l'rt•t: tlw C is stopp c•d o n tlw 1hi1·d siring ,1I l lw lC'nih frpl : thl' lowe r J•: on llw 1·ourlh strin1( at Ill<'

ttill lh f'rd: tlH! f\. is. or cr.urse . llt v opc•n s l rin .,:. The• .,·01111.~ st.ud<·nl l':tn qu iek I .v s<•<· thP cl i ffp1·c·m·<' bet \\'P<'ll

th e m;1jo1· and minor dw rds in this pos ilion by tlw l'ol low i11.1.: 'in1.:cri ngs ( c•:ich from lhe fir st s l 1·in,:) :-

M ino1· ..... . .. .4. 0. 2. I. Ma.io1· .. ...... . 4. 0. :i. l.

Llw only diffl'rc-nc· c· in this l'~tsc be itt /'. lhaL t lw t.!1i1·cl ling('!' s haq> <•ns till' C on Llw thi rd st1·i 11.~. N um ,•rnus <'X­

amplPs of th is kind wil l bt• fo u nd in a cc 1'lai n rorm or mando l in c:ompo si­tion.

T he chord s in lh r.: first sc•ven bars may eit her be p layed in full har m ony

or the lop note only pla ye d lrvmolo. f\.ft c r th e " rit " b,t r tlw ml'l odv is again ta lwn on th e lowe r strings ;vilh a dean-c:ut ae('o mp an iment. n ·vcrti111,!

to melody on tlw hi ~he r stri ngs w ith cho rd s p l,tye d in any prd< ', T<:d styh­

lo t lw end or th e movement. l•' rom thi s we go right 011 lo the F inale .

I t will be seen the mclod v is tak err , tlmosl enl ird~ , on LIH' thi; ·d s\.l'ing, Th e Jirst or I.he acl'ompa11yi11g chord s

in t he last. bar but rnw (A an d E) is t,tl«·n al t he 121h f'rl'l: s<•c(,nc! st r ing

and op e n E rcsp r-d ivcly . Th e l ast

chor d. a l ;·<•ady <:xp la in ed. is c ll'ec:liv e if clcli cal.C"ly :-;tnwk wilh th c.: nuib of

1 lw r ight-han d lini:<·1~. This co mpletes the lesson for t he

yo un ,1~ pl ay<' l' on !his rn ontl t's m :m ­dolin duo whic h. o[ <·ours e . .;oul d als o be p laynl rn1 tlw 1<·1101·-1.>anjo with perhaps an oc <:a s ional c;han1:e of

fin ,1.(('rin .!.( lo sui l t.lw lo n1H•r sc a le•. N nt urnll y, the op t•11 sl.tin gs wo ul d lrnv<• lo lit• ('on sid<·n• cl as h :iwd to (;. D./\. 1,:. whil'h would m:•k<' it a t1·ans ­J)os in .i( ins t.n 1nwnt as p1·t·vious ly , ·x­

p lainl'd wlH· n answ<·r in,(( (·01Tvs­pcmtl0.n L-;.

Whilst on llw s11bj('c t ol' inslrn­tn(•nts with a tenor vo ice:. th e ll•nor ­ma lldola ('an b(• fr.t l.u1·l'cl in cx ac:tl y lil t• sam<· way as above dcsc ril.wd ro1·. dill' lo llw lone• q ua lit y, il is inlinill'I> ' mqre s11il,tb l<! for r·<•nclitions or a m :u1-clol i11 ch: .tr;n ·lc 1· ll1:111 an. ,· vl' llu m in • st rnmenl. M, ln·ov c!1·, the scale is

n111d1 short l· r than lhc le-nor -ba nj o \\'It il'h brin.l::; st1·l'l ch t,s as ::l1slom, 11·y

B.M.G. J'or th e mandolin w ith in co mpara­tively easy 1·eac h .

I wou ld be intcn:st<:d to hea r from

m, 111cloli11isls and be plea se d to su ,L(­i :<•sl o th<.·t· numlwr s sui lablt• Joi· t nms­:;criplion ill thi s l'orm. /\.pa r t rm m thv sa t is f;1ction d,Tivctl f ro m b<'ing ;1bk to do this . ti ll' work is inler csl in g allcl irn:t n .1l'I i vr! l'or tlic pro c·c•ss givc•s

rn1<· a ktio\\·kdg c or tlw in sl nuiwnt' s (';1pabi l i: i<.•s on l' rni.L(ht otlwrw isc over­

: onk 11111 < ·ss orn · has :111 e xten siv e

rcpc r l.oil't' . i\ ml whi le on tl tl' ·· cxlt :n­s ivt· n•p<•rl(, in ·" m ;tl.t<-r r lt;1v1, he;,rtl

of so m e 1~ood pla ,,·<•1·s poss<·ssin g a la1·~:c• lil>r:11·~, of ma ndolin musk \\'ilh­

•Htl a sin. t(ll' cop~ · in al lt•1·<·d tunin g or t'<•,il d uo s l.yil' ! l l w ill lw obv ious Lhat IH•i111~ ;th l<' lo p la >' in harmo11 .,· ;1ncl in va r ious :,l>·l1·s mu s ( Ol' vastl~ · mo re· inl <·n !stin/! than t lw s in:d c not t· nu rn bt•r s. eS!H'('i.tll.v lo those· \\' ho

Lhrnu .~h 1w,:c·ssi t~• haVL' to play ;tlol\l ' . (kcasi o n:il doubl<· stops 111a.,· s:1Lisl'.,· a

pla_,·t•r ftH' ;1 Lime. but an cxc ur s io11 inlo what h, 1s bet•n written on allc •1·<·d

tunin.L( and duo numbe rs \\'il l ho ld the in! c1·C'st c·ontinuall.v which <>lherwisc

may Ila ;( or ceas<• en t i r<:ly.

THE BANJO AND THE PRESS

Uy Tm: E n1Tou

(i) ERIIAPS Tu m mist a kC'n. b11L tlw J . ban j o see ms to be nwntio iwd

mor e in thC' da ily press Lhcs,•

clays t.ha 11 il h as <•vcr b<•t•n befo r<•.

Ca n this m ean that Uw inslnuncnt is bei ng p la>·ed mm·<• during LhP pres<'nt t imc? I hope so.

Sin ce la st mnnl h's "1/ .. l! J,' , ..

:ipp<•a1·c-d l hav e sc-c•n lh t• followin J,!

rcferent< is to lh t• banjo in o ur daily ne 1-vspapt•rs <md [ do nol d oubt that

olhe1· 1·c!l'<•r c·n<·cs hav0 IJ<'Cll ma ck•. Tlw "1,:,,n1 ·inu News." n· porlin g

th at tlw B.B.C. w ,·1·<• sPar c·h in g for !;tlcnl in l ,ondon ai 1· 1·aid shcllc•1 ·s,

said lh :.d llw t alr· n l sc o11I pa rl.iculn rl.v w,m l<•d inst n .tm1•11 t.J lists ,incl m t•n­

tioncd a11 011ls tan d i11~ pla>' t·i· of' t.lH• ban jo lw ha d clis<"OV<'rc-d.

Th c- •· Duil11 r,:.n,n•.,.s:· p rint.<·d a p it:llll'( ' ()r one o l' 1.IH• ('l'< ?W o r ,, Th t• (; irl Pat .. (lhe boa! !ha t made frnnt­

p;1ge 11t•1,·s l;dm·1• l h<· 1,·a1·). a sl c, •p in

his bunk. Prom in ('nt in th<• pi ctun i

wa s th e ban j o(" wi l.h whic h he m: tl<<•s li.L(ht or nwny a do:~ v:,1td1 ") pl a,\'t' cl

by anolh< •1· m em ber of the <Tew. Tlw .. D1iil.11 /VlirroT ... itt :1 ston·

abo u t IIH• q ui•cn's vis it to llw i>ombc·~I East End or 1,ond on. to ld or I-for

Majcst.v shaki ng hands wit h a ban.io­isl. wh o had co ntril n1led solos

[October, l !H O

thr o111~houl th e ni ght to he lp dw cir up the shc•lt e rin g people.

J. B. P1·il•s tl<' Y. w 1·iting in the .. .'>1111.clH'!I /!,'.l:Jll' C!ss: ' made• mention of " ;dl a :11at e ur pl;iy cr s o f' l lw banj o.'·

Tlw ·' S1mclo!J Disp« l.ch." in ;in arl id c about British prisonci·s o f wa 1·

in G<• ·ma ny , l<'lls of one who "has c xprnss <id llw d('s i rP lo make a s<•ri ous st 11d;v o l' Uw 11:tn,io."

lnd ividu, il }~,. suc h lllentions lllt ' ,lll

only .i litll e . bl 1t rn l l<:ctivt'l .v it p lc, 1s<•s m.e l.o know IIH' li;1njo is r c­cc ivi n;.( sueh a" .t!oo d pn•s s .'' F'o1· loo

long th e instninwnl's c, 1p,1uili1ics

(and nanw! ) hav<' bP<' ll a dosed book lo 1h t' gc rw r;tl publie.

THE BANJO l \ v I-'. T. T,.n11: a H IS lll;Jlllh T l) l'O J)OS ( ' dp;ding :.J \\'ilh_ an<_>thcr 01· Mr. M<•(•k\;

q11Pn:·s : u • .. arra nJ!mg. Vv'h ilst this sub j t•t'l ean b<" dealt with l'rom a st.r i<:Lly Lhco rc!l il-:tl basis. it ma_v be:

mo r (' inte r est in 1: Lu g iv e a ki nd <1[

·' si LLi ng - lo.:{l'lhcr -a nd-ha v ing -a -q11il'l ­ch~1t ,~ a11s\ver.

Af lr t· mu('h s<·archin g up and do wn lil in d a ll e , 's . I pi n m:v fa ith lo a c lose n•lation ship to lh l' printed pi ano c·opy . Pu b i i,-.Jwd song l'Opie s n•pn-s,•n l a n

<!Ul'IH'Sl cffo 1·t lo obtain :tl l th<' worth of nwlody. ha rmony and rhythm in the <'.lsi<•st ,uicl nwsl dl'c•\·livc form to n's t tll in a Slltt<'ssful l'(•tu l'n to th<! pu bi i:-;lwr .

So !n,, •' lay -ou t" is ni.td c• for nw . Tl w actual arrang i11g is not cliflku ll

on tlw se lint's lw(' aus<•. with the ba nj o al hand. it is poss ible lo play a bal' o r so in aclvan(' e to d iscov er how lhc ;uT,1rt1'.l'nit- nt ·• ree ls ." wh ils t if a ('hord pn>g1-cssluu is i1,v k ,-v,11d i t is

11:-;uall y pos si b le• to m .ik <• a subsl itu -1.ion for simp ler handl in.1: from th e ('ho rds in Lhc piano C"op,1 •

I s tron.idy adv ise th;1t th is in itia l \\'Ork h0 done wilh a pencil fo1· il ma\' be l'o1mcl that. wlwn pl ayin.1.; tlw ai'-­r,rn ~(<'tlil:n t. Uw l'Csu lt ra i ls bel ow (' X­

pc•cta:io n : ii. dot:s no l soun d li kt• a banjo so lo.

Till l'horus of " S<"allt'l' b rai11." for inst,111<'<'. pla _v,•cl l'Xaclly ;:s writte n l'or p iano. s11its nw clown l.o Lhc ground .

Hy p :ay i111: most of llw sing l<· not t•s in po ~i lion . 11/u,- a skill'ul u s,· o r ,1.:lis­

sa nd c:s 11p ,md dow n IIH• th ird slrin .u.. c·t·r lainh· rnakc •s a so lo admir :tl, lv st!i ll•d 1·0 a li n ic-1,.,· li:111jo play,•r stll ·i1 a•; m_;-spJJ'.

\Nit h su ch a 111111ilw1· ;1s tl1is it is so m: ccs,,1 r .v lo chl,ti n l !i(' li.c•:hl pr ,tn c in g l'IT<•t·t and. nalt11·;il l~-. thi s wou ld lw imp ossih lc with fou1·-n ol t· C"hords: for

th e ~anw reason th a t ii would be•

Octobe r, 10 4,0]

fut ile to treat a numbc1 · such as, say ... Tiptoe Throu~h the Tulips" as on e w ou ld t r eat " Policem.in 's Holi­da y."

N ext we might arr ive at a point whei·e the printed copy can 110L help us a lot: i.e .. lilli ng in long notes. Here we add quai nt conceits and J.Wncra:ly set ;.ibou t the bu siness of .~cttin!,( t he ba n jo " runnin g." and here there are end less poss ibi li ti es wHl styles. hut we hav<' at our comman d the best tcachC'rs on this subj ect. ea ch o[ w h om uses . a :-;lightl.v d ifferent methocl.

Thc•1·c is no n eed to m<-ntion the worth of arra n:~cmcnts by Emile Grim shaw. the J,1t<· Bert Bassett. Ber­na rd S lw.tff, etc .. which hav<' prnvided us with such valu a ble kissons in '13.M.G." from tinw lo Lim<': whilst we hav e' .ii. our disposal and g uid,rnce really v,lluablc lwlp in the p11l.ilishcd banjo so los or :;ongs S\H.:h as "Whislling Ru rus.'' '·i\ Jex,mcler's R ag­t ime Band.'' "Narcissus." "M,1s~a's i11 the Cold. Cold Gn1und." " Home. Swed Ilome" (S. E. 'l'unu~1 ·'s arrangc ­menL or this is ,t C g rade :;olo for plec­tr u m p lay ing). "P ilg ri m 's C!:or us " and rou r speci,ll arrangcmenls in "P le ctrum Play in ~ for ModPrn Ban ­joists ." A clo se ana ly:;is or these should ,1.(ivc valuable pointer s as to sty le . ,u1d ii' a partie; ul a r writ e r•~ com .­posilions appeal lo you th en the1·e is every cha1H'<' that his arran.~crn<'nls must be equ all y s. ,t isfying . ,Joe Mor­ley's snatches or songs in mun y ol' his so los an • wr itten i n .1 to ta lly cliffc ren l stvle Lo. shal I we sav. tho:;<' bv Tie1·­n,1rd Sheaff and E ;nil e Gri1~1shaw . and tlw only w:iy lo become sm:ecs.-;­:fu l i11 Lht· art of ai·i·nnging is Lo ''so ak " v ow· :;pll' i 11 the ,11Tai 11iemcn ts :if the mast<•rs and analyse the r easo ns [or their · ac tions.

/\s a beginning. try a w t·l.-wrn·n numbe1· such as "Sw<:e L a nd L(l\V ·,

a nd . wh0nt•ver po:;s ib le. obta in an eas.v <~dition of it. Tr :-'ou an : :;uc(·cs s­ful in producing a nice a1Tangemenl or a tlllll'. il wil l never be la id aside .

I nim1•mbt•r sp ending a 1:reul d eal of t irn e ,1nd pnli<'nce ov er tha t l it tl e gem .. B.v<·. Bye. 131ackbi1·d.' ' wh<!ll it linrt bt•came a ra g(' some fi rt1•c•11 yea i·s ago. That blackbird has 110L flow n from m.v banjo arm ,,et and 1s still a p r inw ravourik .

No tr oul>hi is too .~1·cat for a s 1te­c•ps:;f11I arr,11>;!<•m<•11t and \\'hilst l in ­variab l,· n·.i<l from the piano cop;, ' and add my own lilllc louc• :Hi:; as fanc y and ex pc-1·i<?ncc clict:1t t•. I fee l t hat. perhaps. this is not th e best method for the lwidn 11cr. To h im tl1C' wrili11g in pencil a nd trial an d crro.-

B.M,G. practice is the bett er method .

The play in g and arra nging of c:lnssics for the banjo is pu r ely a per­sonal conc ern. I h av e hea rd pla~ 'e rs pulling up a terr ible show with so los of th is des<:1·iption. but p1·obably the 1·csult wou ld be equally Jutile on a ny so lo when i these particular pla, 1ers w e re conc e rned.

Tf cmc? is hone st ab out one's own endeavours. an arrangt•mcn t that is 1>oor will soon manifp:;L itself an d then the player mu st ci ther sernp the lot and bei(in again or c-on<lemn him­st•II· to exclus ion Jrnm :1 fascin at ing pastime .

One word here st•<'ms ·imp ortant. Do avoid th(' c1·inw - on the in­('rcasr•---or ovcrdr<'ssing. /\ cultu red pcr:;on abhors even .1 tiny unn eces ­sary item to his apparel and the same clue rega1·d should hci show n hy the music ian. T he pe1·son who ,11Ta nges or dres:;es difkrP n tly sh(]WS palp able ig 1101·a 11ce ;rnd ;1 dcsit- e to l'oist lhe it· would-be knowled ge agains t a well­t.ried wall of experience and i::ood taste.

J•:schew t he mo notonous regularity o r rour- not e cho rd work. T he worth of a work is n ot mea sured by th e ink co11sumecl . Neither add fancy chords al: variance w ith the published copy: pn1·t.iculal'ly if you int end to use the piano accompani m ent.

Finally. if yo u do mak e an arran ge­me n t. post it to the publishers (with a sclf -ad d1·C'sscd envelope) for their· stu mp ing. IL wil l not c;ost .;rnythin_g hut. cv<-'i1 if the arr an ge ment i s on ly for you r private use. it m1lst bear ihc permiss ion of t h e copyl'ight owners.

P.S.-The happy p holog1·aph mcn­li oncd in last month's·• !3.M.G." (nnd ascr ibe d l.o Mr. Meck) shou ld have been Mi·. Minto.

THINGS HAWAIIAN I3y Ar.rmm KEAI.Oll,\ L 1F i,:

{i) ETRO SPE CTION in things Jl, H awai ian alwa~ •s p1·ovcs inter-

c-stin g. F or inst,mce, in a 1916 issu0 of t he "M id-Pa cific Mag,11/.ine" (Plt\J lished in H on olulu) we reud: .. The Iao V a llc.v Hawaiian Orchc s ti-a :;in~:s carols in Engl ish and Hawaiian. T he 01-ches tra is composed of two violins . one liv e-st1·ing Taropatch guil,1r- lidd lc. rour Spnnish gu itars .

The Edit or regret s Wh ilst the Ed it or ii only too ptc:..i c d to g ive info nn;i, tlon on ~n y m nttc:n ~onn cctcd with t he frette d in stn,.1 n1c n ts he rcs:r cts that lcttcl"s una ccomp:lni o tl by 3. st~tnpcd scif .. addressed env e lope cannot be answcr'cd.

7

one flute and a con d uc tor. " I am sur e the music this orc hes t r a playe d was v,rell wor th hearin g !

In a 1918 iss u e of t he sam e maga ­zine we read th at : "Yo u h ave to look ab out in mod er n Honolult1 for th<: real old Hawaii, but you can find i t. Over in the bi~ Alexander Y oun g H otel (op posite lhc R oyal Hawa iian H ote l) a bi t or o ld Hawa ii still l ingers . l<;nwsl Kaai and his Hawaiian Quin let arc on lhe main llour ancl fi·om Kaai you c:tn sec ure. i[ you wish . fo1· an evenin r: party 01· hnwu (;iativ e foast ) f rom 01w t o fj f'ty na ti ve J-fowaiian mu si<:im1s who play the ukulele as well ,is modern instruments and sini; native Haw aiia n songs ."

Later. Lh is sam e article s,1ys : ·' Ove r on lip -t o-ela te King S trC<!l. a doo r from Fort Str eet, .Joh n ny C uuha (o( the Honolulu Music Company) writes the 1·cal old Ha waiian so ngs that arc· :;11111~ by Kaa i's G lee Club. Not onl.v docs ·So nny ' Cunha w 1·itc mos t of' the J(ood l-fowaiian songs nowaday~. but th0 Honolulu Music Co. is the hcadquarten; fo1· the uku le le and all other Hawaiian in!:ilrumcnts."

T h is !>,1mc "Sonny·• Cun hu wa s also a play er of note for elsewhere in the ma _gazinc a paragrap h says that: ,; 'Sonny ' Cunha's Haw~1iians a1·e p layin~ in one of Honolulu's !)ar ks ."

Ye s ! th i ngs Hawai ian ai·e mos t in­terestin g. P erhaps other re nde rs can supply tit -bits from old maga1/.ines. I. and I a:n sure othe r rea ders . would like lo read them.

ENTHUSIASM JI JI RS. E . KNIGHT plays the

~J'l, man<lolin and attends t h e Monda y. We dn es da y a nd

T hur sday classes at the lslin gto n ln­

stitute. One week hist m onth an air rai d warn in g wt1s soun d ed during th e Mond ay class and Mrs . Knight did not leave the In stitute u nt il pas t four o 'clo ck the next mor n in g, This ex­P<!l'icnc e would have mad e anybody dsc think twice about attending the Wednesdny evening clas:;. bul Mrs. Knight turned up. i\g a in a w, 1rn in g was received during t h e ev<•nin.~. and again Mrs. Knight did nol lt:ave the Institute until p,1st four o'dock tlw followin.i:.: morning.

NothinH daun ted . Mrs . Kni ght (who w ill l'orgivc us saying sh e is no lon ger :voun g i:1 ye ar s) was at the Inst itut e ,11:ain on Thursday. This time no warninr~ was sounded until Ion.~ after the ('l;\ss had finished . Slw ave1·s that th e on l:v thin g that wi ll s lop her atl<'nding the Islington elass<•s is the cl osing of the Institute.

8

W e believe that Mr s. Knig ht is typi­ca l of fretted in strument players all over the country. A ir raid warnings will certainly ca us e them inc on ­venience, but they will not prevent players att endi ng Ins t ilu tc: das,ws and B .. M . ,rnd G. Club mcdings. We sa l ute them all and arc proud to be ass ociat ed with such an enthus ia st ic class of p layer.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUE ON THE BANJO (8th article in lhc series)

Gy ZAHi! M\'BON BICKFORD

(Conlin:twd Jrnm Uw SeJJLernber iss ue)

(7LJ\YDN 'S "Gipsy Rondo" has ~ been mor'.' _or less a s_h<;>w p iccl:

Jor amb1twus ban:io1sls (at least. in the U.S.) since Farland first publishrd hi s a rran ;{cme nt in 1895, ,md al l11ough thi,; was p ublish 0.d in the ,rnliqnate d A notalion I believe: A lbel'l Lyles and perhaps one o i· two other F.n:~lbh pub l ishe rs b1·ou;4ht oul editions in the standa1 ·d C notat ion . so that many " B.M .G." readers may haV<) pbycd or seen some of these anange­ments. or perhaps hav e made lh cfr own from the 01·igin,tl p iono solo . Haydn clws Q to write il i i: ihc key or G hut il seems to lit the banjo better in lhe key of C.

F'arlnnd's arrangc•meni is effe ctive and pradic; 1J (as arc all his works). but T hav c attempted a [cw imp1·ove­m c nls in cei·tain spots; since a pupil is always p1·ivi lcgt~d lo improve on the work o[ bis mas te r- if lw can 1

F01· ex amp le, I have La ken Llw fi rsl: t,vo !'":.~lr~; at: 1h(~ fift .h. hnr!'(~ inste;.,d of in the first position, as Farland had it (s ec tx, I ;;hiiivirlg ihc first fom bars). Th en t he opening theme (ninth bar) is repeated an octav e high er (sec 'J•'.x. :~) and th is pl ,111 or r01wati n g various strains an oct ave higher is followed throughout, practically l ike the piano solo .

Ex.:> il lustrates the use of both the thumb and fi.rst-fingcr sl ide (or glide) and these tw o bars in lhemsclvcs con­stitute a most exccllcnt nwd iurn for the deve lopment of bo th speed and accur,lC.V, not only in lhe contr ol of I.he s I ides. but in tlw ge neral co­ordination of the fingers of both hands.

The tr i ll (explained in last month's ,n ·tic-10.) is in t rod u ced in Ex. 4 (t h ird ba r) ; the extra mite s bein g wr itte n in as grace no tes. The not<'S com­prisini~ this b'ill rea-11~, travel :it a l ivcly cl ip when the metronome

B.M.G. (October, 1 U1H>

markin g ind icated foll owed!

over Ex. 1 is method or ,:durnin g to the fi rs t posi­tion after a l ivcl y sPssion anmnd the · seventeenth fret . The 13 and A just prec <"ding th e open firth st ring require a q ui ck and accurate sh i rtinrt of the ldt hand . but a li"ttlc c,11·du l practice w ill accomplish the resu lt. This pas ­sage occurs nea 1· the end of the so lo.

E x . 5 shows nn effect ive m clho d o[ playing grace notes, similar to a pas­sage in L iszt 's "2nd Hun gar ian Rhap ­sody" (to be introduc ed late1· in this series) . The strong .icce nt on th e two quavers. as marked, im p lies that the grace notes must consume n o appre­c;iable · amo unt of t ime ; be in g plciycd l ike a quick ly rolled ch onl (except for the s light reve rsal of ringc ri ng). Incidentally. this minor strain is re­peated an octave' hi gher and th e scc:ond section is m o re cffe c-tive wlwn pln,vccl as shown in Ex . 6 ralhe 1· lhan in Llw fi1·st. position. as l•'.11·lnnd h,1d it. This exmnp le (6) illust rat es th e ;,:c:1l('r;d pl, ,n I hav e Ilee n t r.vin.t.; Lo put fonv,t rd in this scri0 s of ,,rti c lc's: llia L of di v idiug th, · wnd, it S n1uc h as possible betwee n t\vo or more sll"in_[(s and w ,i ng the lhumi> in co nn cclion \\·it h lh l: fil·s t t wo / i 11ge1·s or llw 1i ,rd1t ha nd 1\ ·bt' llCV<'r it is fcasi i)lc and con ­veni c n l in rapid nms.

'.1.'hc Lhir cl ba ,· (s cclion /,) requires the [ourth li:1gp 1· or the lcl'L hand l o cove1· llw li:·~:t t.wo str it1.!.\s. t!H: sam e.• thin1~ n<·cu1Ting ;111 od.i vc• h ighc•1· nt. d . Tlw s<• lit t lt' l'XCL·rpts m alw e xccll<'nl tec:hn il',d mat<'l'ial !'or p l';1ct icC'. even i i' the soio as ;1 who ll' should ncve1· IJL• st ttdi('cl . llll l. T IH•! i:•v<• an:v b.111,io is t \\"ho aspires t.o ;1 br i ll iant , showy numb ,_•r (a nd . ,1L tlw s,inw tinw . dr­s ires Lo 1\·cwk on a st;md:.ird c l;1ssic lktL l1ns ,;Lorn! lh:• lc'sL or l imc sinc e l·J,_,>'dn's da.v) w i ll b e wel l repaid f <)l' addin r~ t hi s riun1bc 1· to his 1·c pcdo ir 0.

Ex . 7 sho\\'s a11ollwr minor ep isod e i i 1 wl1kh til e gra('c note) lip;urcs. ond i L wil l be much clea nei· and Jn<))"( ' dis­linct when pl:i:v·cd in 1.hc rna nnc, · ,;IH,\Vn rnthc,;· ~hnn with the slurs as J.•';_1\"la11d h;1d it:.

Ex . 8 illustrates a qu ick ond easy

Th er e arc ;1 n umber of instances in th is part icular solo wlH,rc the second fin t:0.r of th e r ight hand is used on tile sec;ond sl ring (as show n in Ex . !J) and w hil e tlwre arc ot he ,· fingci·ings that cou ld be us<:<i in this and s im ibr pas­sa .(•;c~. lh e on<> shown seems to the ,,Tiler to be the most Jogical and the 0 11<' .u.ivin_[( the g n, ,1tC'st speed with the knst effort - t he goa l lo be so ught in all r ,ipi d passages . Jn th is exam ple it w ill bC' noted that the t h ird finger nf' llie ldt h and is used kn the C ~ ;n1d it sho uld shi r t quickly t o th e E 011 lhe s:,me strin1; w ilho llt be ing lift ed. T hi s s liclin.!.\ of a fi11:~e1· along a st rin g ( in e ither cl irc ct ion) is on e or the primai·y rules of sh il 't in;{ which shoulu be sl.l"ictl.v ;,1cllw1·c·d lo.

'fli i:; p, 1rt.icu lar arliclc seems to h:1vc l1i1'ncd inl.o ,1 sort o.J' "co r respon­dcnc-c " h:ss on. but ther e' is so much fine technica l materi a l in this p «l'l icu ­lar· - numil( 'r that it s<'cnw d worth while to cov(•r it. i n a l'airl y comp n , ­lwnsive rn,l!H l"I'. Inc- iclentall y , it occurs to me' lh ,lL some of my read er s nw _v lie in tc, ·cs ll' d i 11 sonw o I.' Lhe spc­c ia I ,11-ra11.f.\<•mc,1(s o r so los from \\'hi ('l1 T li:i vt' quo l<'cl l'rnm Lime to linu• . H this is so. [ shall be g b d to g i v <i ,,ny r ,,rt l,c 1· in l'onnatiun t ha t ma:v be need ed since some of th en "\ ,n ·e avai lable . /\ddn•s s you r Id le r lo me c/o Th e Editor, hut as T liv e in the U .S .A . there· n1u s i i, e snmc' ci<' la_y be>-, fo r<' 111)' t·(•pl ics an : n'L·c i\•ed.

(To be con tinne d)

9

I "BM. o:' Supplement. Oct.-1940. j TAILS UP Banjo Solo

4th to D. JAS. CULLEN

Intro. 14B lOP Affettuoso con express

2B •! 7B J / f 2 6 p l!/ 7B -- -, 2PL. _______________ ... ··-····- ·····--·······-···-· ······ ····-·-··-············-···· · ···-·

~~; ff Lr 1· 1f nf !k!J I Uf U I arcectc 1 ~ iG 1

9P. lOP.. gp, 14B..... 13P 4 ----~19B. .... 5P... 2P 7B i 4 I 9B I SP .. ------· ~ 2 4 ·••• ••· 1 1 ,,.-;-: 2B .. ·····-- ,, 3

· ~## «r~PrPrir;.rrnttUE!ufii[.P, ,raru 1f cert, I

10 To Jfiss Una Hope-Bridges.

Song of the Pines BARCAROLLE ,

A.de VEKEY Mandolin Duo

Moderato

~y fi~~~~~r~; 1t¥fl.r)dwt~ !~~ ?1.p~ etste¥3r,~~1W,., ef i:zelady -m·ell marked r--f! ~r 1 .......,.. ~ ~

,~#>~~~~r~:~r$1~n~ 11~~ 1~fpi2~ ,r 0!'1F~ #I 2. Ji b p ~ ..hJ 1i 3 -+' ,~ r-:rn·p•-r~;r\;b~-" 11;f ~tpw v~r ~1f "P§LnFJlJH

& . ~

•%# 11=;f 4Pr-wr Dmf vr ¥ij µr R ,, t:@ u v,!,_D f\i;+ ·~ tf ,i,r ,~1 poco piu mossi, a tempo

'Mt f qar~rr,r v'flf fr i1for •v11r p.JJ1! pJJJ1J. 1@Jl1-JJ,l 'P f .._, thenTrio

11

Autumn Leaves Plectrum Guitar Solo

L.GREEN

Dm D7 G F~7 Dm E7

Ct1j)yriglit reserved /Jy the composer.

Underneath the MCXJn 4th to D Plectrum Banjo Solo ROY F. BRLL

Ex.

Fdim 07 .

Coh ·right mseri .•ed by tlw composer.

Octob er, 19 40 J

Tli~ Ma11cl~li11, . ,,' (j1J i tc1 I' .

(Plectrum, Hawaiia n and Spani sh)

al'ld U kvlele ~1u,uuro n- A. de VEKEY

a NS WERIN G M. L. (Morden). ­To try to ove rcome t he sh arpen ing of the strings on

your ma n dolin you co uld " stagger " the nut as you suggest . The "risk" to th e instrn mcn t woul d be p rnc­t 1call y ni l for if yo u spo iled the nut , the cos t of a new one wou ld be t rif ­lin g. You seem to have dec ided vie ws about the nut. b ut you app m-cn t.ly over look simil a r treat ­m ent of t h e bl'iugr.: . Hu wcv(ir. a s you al'e "co nvinced that the trnublc is due to the nut. " go ahead, alth ou gh do not be surp rised i[ wh ,tt yo u hav e in mi nd docs not produ ce the result s de sired. In an y case, writ e me again if (I mi ght a lmost say, when) you find t he idea outlined doc s not prnve (•ntire ly satisfactory .

f\n s\,veri ng F. B. (Wolv erhamp ton). -As yo u find it d ifficult to "g et the exact time" o f the cxam ple·you send. how ever much you play it. try the foll owin.t;' m e thod. Mark t he beat s un der the r espe cti ve note ; , th en stead ily count the ti me a nd tap th e not es in cOJT( 'd time. If yo u do this p rnp c l'ly a few times it will fur ni sh you wit h just what you ar c a fter. fo r th e correc t taps - eas ily m a de- will sh ow just how to prn d~c c t he not es in t he snmc tim e as playin g . '.3om<' pla yers can sen se a lm ost im mc di atcl:v syncop ated pa ssages, ho wever diITi­t'lilt: , I·Imvcv er . try the tappin g sys tem an d writ0 J'l'l<.' aga in i f further t roubl ed in thi s w;iy .

An swe ring G . 0. (Read ing). - As you s ug~est. th e ukule le mi .~ht be the more convenient to t,ake : especi al ly as you mainly feat ure vo cal num bers. You c.in play so los on th e small ulrn ­lelc , but I con sider it fa, · better to tu ne the fow·th si ring down to the writ te n note ; whether t he instru­me n t is used for solo or a ccompany­in g work (espe cially for th e for me r). Li ght gauge, cove re d-on- s ilk , strin gs suitabl e for thi s purpose arc on th e mark tit .

You ui·e qui te righ t ab(tu t this "everlas ting re -tuning ." It is not

B.M.G. necessa ry . It is ju st as eas y to play in a ll k eys while retain ing the sta nd­ar d tun ing (A , D, F :If. B) if proper ly studied. T'he tuni ng of th e guitar is not altere d to play in di!Ter ent keys and nei the r should the tu ning of t he u kul ele be a ltC'red.

Ir all playe rs of th e ukule le he ld such sou nd and sen sible view s as you do th e reso urces of t he in strument Woul~ be more w ide ly heard .

Answ eri ng D . W. (West Bro m ­w ich). -I agr ee thut some p layers " get b ~," qui t e suc cessf ull y in cer­tai n da n ce bands w it h on l:v a know ­ledge of r.h01·d symbols but. eve n so. 1 still recommend the plny in_q of the gu itar from m11s ic,1I nota tion as wel l a,;: pPrf <'rf.inf( a kn ow led.r!c of the i;ymbo ls. It is you1· affa ir. of cours e. hut h 0Kc'vc1· sma1·t one mi f~ht be with symbol work. a knowled ge of the ins tn1m('n t from notation is-. to say tlir: Jc,ast. V('1·y des irab le.

T cannot J'{O in to the ·why s an d w hcTefo l'<'S hel'e. but I w ill say that if you n t',!(lcct th e musi cal notatio n sid0 th e day will com e wh en yo u ·will regr et it.

Answering M. Y. P. (L on don).-A ban jo vel lu m aJTan gcd to func tio n on H f(uit:tr wo ul d css0ntin ll y produce a hanjo tone. alth ou gh possibl y mod i­fied 01· soft0nr•d h y t.h0 altcrC"<l con ­d itions of t lw \vooclcn ,quit,,1· chambe r and s u1Toundin,~ pal't-wo odcn sound ­ing boar d . This h11s been tr ied hc forc . hu t l hc ton<' wns d<'finitc ly a ba njo tone and not hi ng 0lsc. I-I0re I mi qht s:iy that the "surroun d " woul d be. in effect. lik e tha t of a resonator . J am su r e tha t you wc1uld lind th e qual ity of tone not mu(;h d ifferent 1.t"! t.hi: ba nj o-guit ar yo u have tri ed

Answeri n.~ G. M. (Gl tild for d) .·-I am fami l iar wit h th e make of ;~L1itar men tioned. It is not a n ins t l'ument t hat can count an y " perso na li ty " in its construction and the de a ler can ­not be held re sponsible fo r the t•No small cra cks t hut have appear ed in the upper bouts. As a matter of fact . this featur e has a ppeare d on a gr eat nu m ber o f these in strume n ts t ha t h ave pa ssed thro ugh my hand s. They ar c in vari ably enc ountere d at abo ut .l to ~ in ch in th e soun din g boa rd a long each s ide of the fingerboa rd and ex te nd to the ed ge of the sound -

13

hole i:-ilay. It is not w it hin my pr o­vince to explai n why this com es about in thi s one part icular make , but it docs and w ill be fou nd on mo st of these guit ars impo rted into the country and have be en in use for some li ttle tim e.

You coul d run a drop of th in glue in to the cra cks.

These in strumen ts ar e bu ilt for gut and silk st rings and should not be strun g wi th steel.

Answ er ing G. P . (Sal ford).-(1) ln·c spectiv e of the phot ograp h in the met hod you quote . the round steel is more ge nerally used today. (2) In m y opinion. no other inst rument of th e fre t ted fa mily lend s itself so admir'.lb ly t o "e lectric" wo rk m; the Ifo w~,:ian gui ta r. Its type of p lay ­in :.r ju st suits it perf ec tly. (3) As yo u arc famili ar w ith my v iews on th e met hod of wr it in g r,1,li tar mu sic there is no n eed for nw to 1·cpca t th em. I agree as to the "abs u l'dit y" of us ing both tre ble and bas s cle fs for writi ng Hawa iian f:u itur m us ic. The•! one cl ef has sufiic cd for so long for thes e )OW C): notc•s . (4) Tr y a heavier gauge i;tr ing. (5) You will be inte r este d lo know that' several pr omine n t p layers have been u sing a p lectr um in stea d of finger- t ips and thumb p ic-k lnt 0]~,.

Answering N . V. (Gla!'gow). -Th e fi,·st part of :vour le t ter wi ll be treated confid enti; 1lly as y ou wish. Rcgad ing th e th ird qu 0r y (to whi ch you req uest a rep ly in this corn er ) I can say t hn t a n idea si m ila r to yo u rs wa s sen t to me som e yea r s ago by a n Au st rnli a n l'cadcr w ho sug­gest<:cl a double s tr ing for th e Ha wa: ian guit ar first; eac h strin g bein g t uned to u di ITcren t note. The one furthest fr om the player ,vas to be se t lowe r in the nut and brid ge than lhe oth er. The id ea was that with the st ee l held flat t he pla yer cou ld us e t he nearer string with the oth ers . but in case s wher e the t wo first st r ings w er e requ ir ed the steel could be so pr ess ed or slightly tilt ed to br ing· in the extra note desi re d . Wh ils t I quite see the possibi lities of addhional harm ony a nd ad ded e ffects in cert ain solo s. it is obvi ously (fo 1' som e tim e) a matter for pers onal in terest and expe riment.

As we all know. seven -and eignt­str ing Hawaii .,111 guitars hnvc be en

·FOR EACH NE\'f "B,M .G." SUBSCRIPTION·,YOU SEND, 0.THER Tl;:IAN YOUR OWN, ANY COMPLETE SOLO YOU

. CARE . T(? ,-CHOO~E- FRO~ CLIFFORD ESSEX '& SON'S •' CATALOGUE WILL BE SENT YOU FREE OF CHARGE

14

made (apart from the double and triple neck instruments) but the instrument in general use, <,nd for which the library pl'Oper exists, has the standard six strings. Anyway, the deviations from the standard where comparatively new instru­ments are concerned arc always interesting. for it is a lwa ys possible that some idea of startling effective­ness may result.

L. M. B. (Woolwich) writes: "I am a nail banjo player and took up the study of the plectrum _l(uitar some time ago for dance ,vork, but no longer play in the dance band. I know all about gut and silk strings being better for finger work. but what I want to know is would il be all right if I played my guitar with the usual steel strings <rnd used my nails which are good and strong?

"I do not care a hoot whether it is the correct thing or not as I just wa nt to ,1mtise myself. but I do cer ­tainly want to play some of the beau­tiful solos written for the Spanish guit<1r.

"Could you give me any helpful tips to start with?"

An~tver.-Quite a few players T know play the plectrum gi;itar in this way, having fallen for the finger­style music. Some are not fortunate in having good strong nails and us e Hawaii<1n guitar finger and thumb _picks. On the other hand, some .:idapt Spanish guit ar solos to be played ,vith the plectrum ; with excellent results. Nevertheless, I would point out th<1t there arc a large number of Spanish guitar solos that can only be effectively pl<1ycd with the f111;(ers. However . continue as suggested and if in doubt on any point. writ,~ agn in.

Answering P. L. (Winchcster). ­Your friend may have played the plcc-trum guitar in "such-and -such" a band. bt:t he is all wrong· if his views and opinions nre as stat ed in your letter . Cert.iin chords are named differently although m<1dc of the :;anw noks. The chanc r~s of a diff erent tun ing for the plectrum guitar cve i- coming into v og-ue are so ccmote as to be unworthy of thou.!.?:ht. No music is likel v to he issucrl in th e Carl Kn :ss tuni .ng (this bcins( ,1 tunin1~ based on tcnor -b<1n:io intervals to suit his own particul ar styk).

Fin.1l ly. your friend's "exclusively six-string chord work" is not the ideal to aim -for. Six -st rinc; chords ~hould lx• introduced with discretion

B.M.G. and there are other lines to follow if you want to make your playing of th e plectrum guitar really effective and modern. Whether your friend c<n·es for single -string work or not, it is a fact that deft players in this style: are welcome in certain en­sembles and they contrib ute , in no small measure, to the general eITect. Your friend v_:ants to · reshuille his "ideas and gain m ore experience oI th ings as they aTe .

Answer ing C.R. (Doncastcr).-The tuning referred to is knm,vn as the A7th.

Ali COJTCspondcncc r<'lat ing to this Department should be addressed DIRECT lo A. <le Ve\ccy, 1:n4, Christchurch Road. 13oscomb c J•'.ast. Bournemouth .

R e1td l'rs ar e re mi>J.(lcd t/rn f. ii , is no( . J>O.s.sib!c to Hsi nil (he frett<'d itist-,·nmrnf .

[October, 1940

mistake that any system of fingering will do as long as the rig h t no tes are struck and they are played at the correct tempo . In th e beginning it is almost as easy to use one fingering as anoth er owing to the necessary simplicity of t he exercises ; neverthe­less, do not use incorr ec t finge r in g (even at the commencemen t of one's studies) if you wish to eventuall y be come a first- class pla yer.

A good techn ique depends larg ely up on absolutely correct fing ering in the early st ages of instruction and the development of speed at a la ter stage through careful, systematic practic e. The surest way to avoi d stumbling is never to hurry or incr ea se the speed bey ond the most perfect control of the fingers. The att empt to do t hi s is one of th e prin­cipal causes of faulty playin g among amateurs . Spee d w ill come as the natural re:mlt of patience and con­sisten t practice and can be acquired in no other way. -------p1·0,n·1tmmes t.o he l>rorukitsl dnr i nn U,e PLEASE YOURSELF

cn r rfl•nt ino-.1-t.h. 'J'hr11 wr<~ cidvi.•,w rl to con-.snU llH' "Rr,dio Times,. in whidt full ,-o th · T t d ·t · l'ttl clefni!, 0 ,r cnr,·en t: i» •of1,""l!11l"~ r,re qiven . , f · e un1n1 1a e 1 1s a 1 e Leu,. ... , or no.st.ca.rd, t o u,e B.B.C .. Rrn(ld- V known -fact that thous an ds of c11stin9 Tfm,s e. Lo11r/011. vokinp an banjos , mandolins and guitars amJrova,! of /r<'ll<'<l i11strnmrn1 1wo- are played in thousands of homes in urnmm,•s 1,,-r,,1<k'"' 1 wi. U '' 11"'rc' f w ri/i('r this country alone. T he real fretted s11"·h ur n tr, ·o.n1 1 11e.<..:.

Oct. 9th,- " Tlw 1-r:.wai ian fa\.Lndcrs,. (a instrument e nthus ias t is not demon-p, ·<>r'""mm•· of 1'r'lm opho,w record~ c:om- strat ivc ; he do es not consider pikcl b y /\. P. Shnrp,,) will he hromlc ;ist he is wasting his efforts if there is no in the Forc es nncl Home Se,·viee pr o - other person n ear who will li st en to gn,mmcs from 7.l 5 to 7.10 a .n1. d · h' fT I 11

Oct. 11th .- ." .J111,o Mal'iin<'z oy,ni, 2-,,,.C'n - an appreciate 1s e ·-orts. n a Sn;in i, 11 Guit:irist .. <n proriramnw nf probability the majori t y of real £!r;imonl1onC' rc-c,ords ('nmpiled by A . P . music lovers derive far greater pl eas­Sh;inw) will be broa<lcnst in lhc Ho rnc ure f r::im t heir instruments when s,,rvir: <) pn)1irnmmc from 10.~0 lo 10.4!i. ,1.m. pla yin g for th emselves than th ey do

Oct. 17th. -• T rois (, nnd TJis Bnn.ioli cr s will when playing for others, and it is an provicle the "Music whil<' yo n ·work" pro- und oubted fact that they certainly 1-(rmnmc in the Forte's nncl Home Se r vice play better when playing for them -prnu,·;immcs rrom l o.:io to 1 J.O a.m. selves alone.

Oct. 18th. - " Morning Sl a r- Ivo r Mnir-ants" ra p ,·ogrnmrne of rir nm ophonc Everything that is done exc eption-recorrls compiiccl by A. P. Shnqiel w i ll be ally well. everything that is r eally broadcast in 1 he Fm·cc s and llorn c Scr\'i('e gre at, is the res ult of an enthusiast progrnmmcs f1·om 7. Hi lo 7.30 a,m,

PROPER PRACTICE j JI ANY students hurry through

Jf'I., the ear ly stages of instruc-tion and thereby fail to

acquire a correct system of fingering . To "make haste" surely mean s to "make waste" in this instance for if the closest attention is not paid to the proper use of th e fmgers (taking care to always use the right finger in the right place) one of the most important ddai ls has been neglected and the faults contracted are difficult to overcome at a later stage.

Some would -be player s ma ke the

doing a thing pr inc ipa lly to intere st , please and satisfy himself. The tru e test of a novel. a painting, a m us ical compo sition, or any other work of art is in its sin cc ri ty . Th er e can be n o gre:at er critic of th e work o[ a r eal art ist tha n the arti st liimself.

Many fr ett ed instrum enta li sts play commercially, but it is im possible to say what perrentage of thes e players consider their instr u ments me rely from the point of view of e,1rning capacity as comp ared with t he othe rs who, in addi t ion to this. ar c rea l en­thusiasts. And here i t m ay be men­tioned that the real enthusias t- t he man ·who continues to practise an d keeps ab reast with all th at is n ew in

October, 1940}

his particular sphere-usually is the better player.

However, it is safe to assume, quite reasonably, that all the amateur players of fretted instrumen :s play principally to please themselves; they play in their own homes, possibly occasionally in the homes of friends, and they may find additional pleasure in comb ini ng ·with othe r instrumen­talists in ensemble playing.

Unfortunately for th e fretted in­struments gen era lly , all this acti vity is never heard o[ by the public which wrongly assumes that beccluse a thin g is n ot heard of, it does not ex­ist. Players thcmselve:-; can help to enlighten non-players by always tak­ing the opportunity of telling them of the pleasures to b<' ckriv1xl from playing the banjo, manddin or guitar.

AIDS TO MEMORISING (";' H_E successful playing of a

V fretted mstrumcnt 1s largely dependent upon the facility

of one's memory. One of the best ways of assis ti ng the memory is by the associa tion of two or more ideas. As an example, a student learning the names of the notes on the stave will remember those names quite easily by thinking of the word FACE. which is formed on the G staff by the notes in the spaces read upwards. The names of those note s that occur on the lines arc easily found by first thinki ng of those that occur in the spaces , and the notes on be bass staff are easily named by thinking first of all of those in the treble.

This is ·what I mean by associating ideas. Consl;,mt use of t he note,:; would , of cour se , make this proc ess of reasoning u nnecessary, but the initial difficulties of ac tually commit­ting the notes to memory will have been avoided just the same .

Some ad ditional ex amples of ;,sso­cia ting ideas which may , or may not, huve been made u:-;c of by readers of "B.M.G. " are as follows:-

Man y players cannot remember the names of the keys. The c·01Tc•c-t order of those with sharps are Gone sharp). D (two sharps). A (three shaips). nn d E (four sharps). The mandolinist is not likely to req uirc mon' than these . and what could be easier lh£:n to re­membe r them by thinking of the namci; of the strings on hi s instru ­ment: G. D. A , E.

In these sharp keys . th e lust note made sharp is alwa ys one note below the key note. F'or <:xamplc : the key of G has F sharp; th e key of D has F'

8.~.G. and C sharp; the key of A has F, C and G sharp, and so on.

Now, taking the flat keys, the one ·we mostly use is F (one flat); if we think of the word "BEAD " we easily fin d the rest, b ecause B flat has two flats, E flat three lluts, A flat four flats, und D flat five flats .

The above keys a re, of course, major keys. Suppos e we wish to nome the minor keys; well, all w e need 1·emcmbcr is that a minor key signutm·e has always three flats more, or three sharps less than a major key signature repn•sen t ing the same tonic (key note). For exumplc : A mujor key has th ree sharps as the key signature. then A minor will have none , B Hat major hos tw o Hats, so B /lat minor will have five llats.

One of the difrieulties of the banjo , mandolin. and guitar is in remember­ing the names o[ the notes on the fin­ger-board above the twelfth fret. If this were only done system at ically , there would be found no dilliculty whatever at any fret higher than the tenth .

Every pluyel' knows, or should know, that the names of the notes at the twelfth fret are the same as the open strings, and all t hat is neces­sary to find the name of a note at any fret higher than this is to subtract twelve from th e number of the fret. If you were asked the name of the no te that occurs at the fifteenth fret on the first or ony other string of your instrument. take away twelv e ; then think what no te occurs at the third fre t , which must of n ecessi ty be of the same name, but sounding an octave below.

A correctly "pearl-positio ne d" banjo fin1\0r-boa1·rl w il I b 0 mark ed at the sevc11teenth fr et , which corres­ponds w ith the fi[th; at the nine­teenth fret, corresponding w it h the seventh; and at the twenty-second fret. corresponding with tne ten th.

CAN HELP US '1'0 J:;N / 'JHT.,E "R.M.G." TO CARRY

ON IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

Wfi: NEED MANY MORE READF:RS.

WILL YOU INDUCE ANOTHER PLAVER

TO BECOME A REGULAR READER ?

15

A player can therefore (i f he chooses ) know the notes on the finger-board above the twelf t h fret imm e diat ely he has learned those below,

Many more ways cou ld be shown in which the memory could be assisted b y an association of ideas; how, for ins ta nce, ull intervals can be named without counting th e semi­tones. However, sufficient has been written to show what might be done in this wuy by the though tfu l stu­dent. The m ajority do not t hink far enough. It is n ot suffi cie n t t o call a clef a clef; find out what t he word clef means, and the moment this is realised it will prob ably be found that light has been shed up on other little difficulties that may have be en indirectly associated with the wo r d .

HINTS FOR TEACHERS*

a T some pause an intelligent student int er p ola tes a qu es­tion or mak es a comment . It

is seldom that suc h interruption in the smooth prog r ess of the lesson should be depr ec a led. For its occ urrence in­dicates inte1·est; shows tha t the mind of the student is awak e and widening. The good teache r will welcome such incidents.

* The process of recapitulation is a

nece::;sary and very impo rtant part of every good lesson. ·

If by an y chance or for any reason revision at the end of a lesson is omitted, th en it should take place a t the beginn ing of the next lesson. To mak e lesso ns a continuous process by link in;; the new one to the las t is an c xcc ll ,,nt proces s, if it is not. ~llowe d to occupy too mu ch time .

* * * One must see that everything one

wants during the less on is available and easily access ible. The read y avail ­ability of all nccc:-;sary material is as vita l to good teaching os is the com ­missariat o r the ammunition columns to successful fighting. It mak es th e d iffci·cnce between su ccess and failun'; und its neglect. at the lowest, leads to th e was te o [ the most val u­able of ull commodities, time.

Tcaehing, it cannot too ofte n b e re ­pea ted , is merely a process of ass ist­inf{. or inducing. or inspiring th e pu pi l to le((rn. .

• Takcn from " T lw Ar t of Te «diino '· by Dr. F'. H. Spencer.

_, ..... -----

16

nack1;round music to the Anglo-American Film Corporation's "This Is la nd Paradise," depicting love and life, in, on , around and undei· the Sulu Sea. w,os pn1-virled by ~'clix Mendelssohn"s Hawaiian Scren.1ders. Roland Peachey composed all the music and his playin1; of the electric Hawaian )(Uitar is well wm·th hearing in this film.

Alfred Kealoha Life is now teaching nt his London add1·css <see Teachers' Pngel ai1d we hear that he has sever,i'. Bruns­wick Sol Hoopii rccordin;,:s he would exchange for old native J"('t Ol'ClinRs .

Tarrant Bailey, .Jr .. ,if!C',· sc,·vinc in llw Special Constabular.Y anrl First Police He­serve since the outbreak of War. hns now passed first class for wireless operator in the noyal Air Foree.

E. L. Lar·~t', or Crc,v,~. \Vrit.cs: 11 I arn dclid,tcd with my "cClipp(•r" banjo w hich is tlw b,0 st v,ilu<•-[or-monC'V instrument that r h:w(• _vet S ('('ll or liearl"'

We hear th;it T,cn Fillis recently mack four titles for the Australian Columbia Co .. but .,..,c <:annol s,iy i r th ese r<'con:'ls \V(•n~ ni;1(k • 011 1hc lf :nvaii:111 or plcctnnn goit~,1·. Pe,·hap ~ one ot" ou1· /\ustrnlian readers can cnl itihkn us .

The i.tuitarist w .i1 h the new Stephane Grnppclly ouUit is our friend ,Jack T.1e'.veHvn. .lnck':,.; t<'chnjquc is now ~o mu<·h iikc Dj:,r)l!o Reinhardt's that. lw is r,-.,11ll(,ntly taken for the Frenchman on 1·ecen \ly bsuc<l records.

Tl.;1y llaillic was reat,11·<>d at the Tottcn­hnm · Court nond (London) Pn,·nmonnt Cinema one W('(•k last month. TT<-plnyNl "Tak,~ Your PiC"J.:: " ns :l 1.(•no, · .. b:!Jl.in t·()io accompanied by the Par,,mount orchestra.

I-Iaro1<1 Lanc;1s tc r is no\v a .Q"\uu1cr in tlie army and we hear that he and hi s ban.io arc- in fn .iquc•nt d<-'tnancl <d .. ca inp concerts.

Ilnwaiinn ,:uitarists should wekome tile n,!w album advc,-ti sc d elsew her e in this issue.•. It con ta ins 1cn populnr ~tnndnrd son.«s arranged as Hawaiian guitar solos in the slnnd;ircl tunilll-(. cor11plclc with c:honl symbo]s and plectrum guitar rlia~r.arns for aec:01npnni1ncnt.

\Vith London's /\./\. guns puttini: up an all-night bnrra.ac- 1110:::;t nig-hts jt ~cc,ns a strange c,oinddence tlmt orders fo1· the popular b,mjo solo. " Man the Guns," nrc on the increase !

"Curly" Ormc1·o<l ex-Nat Gonclla and .Sid Millwar<l. guit:i1·isl. is now in lhc, Royal Anny Pay Corps. ·

The pbycr of lhc p!ecl ru m guitai· in the ir Dreamy lhnv :-tii i, progTanunc~ broaclcns t every Sunday is ,Jac k Llewellyn.

Th<' non-broadcast of the Guillermo Gomez pro;,:nnnmc on SeptembC'r 16th w;,s throu1:h no f;n1lt of the Editor. The 1Tcord s were d eli vered to Brondcastinr! House on the previou s Snturday in1t th ey

B.M.G. [ October, 19,1,0

did not raach the brondcnsting studio in land" to commence a course o( tra ining tima for transmission. It is expec ted that preparatory to becoming an Infantry this programme will be b,·oadcast this Officer. month, but time and day have not been fixed at the time of /Win){ to press.

11. delayed-action bomb 1:-.nded in (ront of a well-known Lolldon music publishers and musical in~tn,mcnt dcall'rs last month. bu t aft e1· two clays it was snfely removed by the Royal Engineers with only little 6 damage to stock in the b.-isement of the• ·13 M (;••12• I

The new plectrum guitnr a lbum adv<:er­lis 0d elsewhere in th is is su e con tains t('Jl well-known tunes arranged for ,;ui tat by John Martell. Each solo hns a seco nd guit.ir part and piano ac comp an iment.

premises. Ncedl<,ss.to s::iy. the shop win- Ip omc1c dows were blown rn by the impact and • • • ·--=------ ~ sever.a) 1nusical i1n-·trun1cnts were dan)ngc-d by flying ,Oa~s. bltt we an' pleased to say that lt i::; now "business ns usu ~,l '' again.

When Madame Tussaud's Restaurant in Lo11don was hit by a heavy explosive bomb ('arly last month , an Epiphone guitar left in tht• band room had the front nnd back almost completely torn away. The instru­mc,nl was sue<,essf u!ly reJ}airNl in 1.h<' Clif­ford I~sscx workshops.

Pcle1· Ho,gl;inson called in µl the "D.M.G." ollicc.s one clay last month. lfo \:ti.tas on his \v;,1v to an Ofl'iccr Caclr:ts Train­ing lJnit B,n ·;·;:1cks "~on 1e,vhcr c jn Eng-

~

{ POSTAL DELAYS Prcwnt con diliom; mol<c it incviloblc thot f)osw l <lelivcdcs cannot of,prooch />re-wor re g11/ority w1c/ c(ficicmy. If you order by post

PLEASE MAKE ~ ALLOWANCES ,I/V\IVVV\/VVV..r,..,'\JV,.r,,.,V,1AIVV\-".l'VV\.A~

JOHN ALVEY TURNER'S

Used Instrument Bargains

BESSON " ARIS TO N-E " Gu IT AR' and cn,e. High f~l'{Hlc model. New con<Ht.ion £0 10 0 ESSEX jl ACE" GUITAll, with case . P(!rfctL condition . . £4 0 0

MARTIN COLETTI HAWAIIAN GUITAB, nnd C:"lSC. Excellent condition. Very powt·r!ul tono . . £4 4 o CAMMEVEB " NEW EllA" Rt:SONATOB BANJO. Hlr!h('"st fp·adc moclcl. out.fi t cost. .-£:38. !n pci·fcct order .. £18 10 0

CAMMEVE!l "VI BllANTE" ZITHER-BANJO in ~,,tinwocHl. Ll'tH. l1Cl' Cfl.~ (! .£13 10 0

DE MEGLIO MANDOLIN, dnt c<l 1901. Per-fect . . £7 7 O

Dt: MUBEDA MANDOLIN. 1-'ir.st class ord er . . £3 10 o

1•'11.U ptrrti<;.11/irr.~ of nti,1 Qj the abo t·c (llrully u :nt ,m ap1-1l.frafion..

SEND FOlt O1.m C:OMl'T,E'J'E CURRENT J.tS'l' OF llAHGAlNS.

JOHN AL VEY TURNER 66, NEW OXFOno STREET, LONDON, W.C.1

'Phone : Museum 4388.

A COPY OF THI<~ TESTS N ECE SSARY TO SECURF; "B.M.G." DIPLOMAS

can be obtained free of ch,\rgc by apply­ing to the Edi tor, "B.M.G. ," 90, Sha ftes­bury Ave n u e, London, W.l.

Tl1e following candidates hav e been ;,wn rdc< 1 Diplomas: -

Wanda Fern Lurchin , of Al berta , "B" Gracie (llawaiian guit;ir ) .

Rosemary Triffo, of Alberta. "B ·· Urn cte (Mandolin).

Marie Anne Schwarz, or /\lb c rla . · ' B" (;r<,rlc ( l iawaii:in ~uit. lr ).

Cary Mary McKenzie , of /\llwl"\ct. "J3" Grnde (Ilawaiiun guitar).

Lill ian Sinclair, of Alberta. ··A,. Gra d, ) (Hawaii an g uitar).

Leroy Edwin Menneer, or A lbc-da ... /1. •· Crack (Hawaiian nuilnr),

Lawrence Tessier, of St. P a 11I. "A" Grade (Plectrnm g uil.i!r). Exnmincr: Mi~s /\.. Tfok.

Kennctl1 George Henry Wnde, of L onrlon, "A·• G1·ade (llawaii:111 iiu il ar) . Teac:lwr : 1\ . F . l lctndsc·omb. l~xrunint•r: F~n, ilP (;ri1n!--:h:l\v.

Hi lda :<athleen Greengrass, or ·· B •· ::;,•Mlc (Plectrum-banjo). Teach er: G. A . .Johnso n. Exami rwr : Char l e., .Joh nson.

''13.M.'3"Notes ReccnJy-issued frcllcd instrume nt re­

cords ( in .irlrlition Lo tile llawaii;rn guitar album nwntion cd c lse wllcrc i n this iss ue) include: "You are My H<'a t'l's Dcliglit" ;,nrl "HN11 · My Soni!. Violetta " -· RO Y Smeck ,md His Hawaiian .Serenader, (Rex 9il52), and "Pag an Love Song" and "IIonolulu "- Ray Kinney and His lfowai­itlllS (Decca F7588).

Owi;,g to the air raids on London, nil cve nin.~ in~tilutc s l1ave closed, so the ·' Musical At)prceintion" clas ses .it the Islingt on Inst i t ut e, ai·e no longer being held. · The August 28th meetin,:( was a "pupi ls"" night; each membr,r being in­vited to bring along his in strument to play solos . '"J'hnt evening the ni1· activ it.y over Lond on was in t ense ,md l h<' <,lns~ did not d isband until after fo ur o'clock the [o llo,v­ing morning! Throughout the night , the Institute was filled with m usic pn,vincd by A\f1·ed Kealoha Li fe (dcctric Haw ;,iian guihw) ; Messrs. ii.dams and Slc ll inl-( (plec­trum gui t i,rs) and Mrs. Kni;,:ht nnd G. W. T hurlow (mandolins). Mnr1y impromptu ducts and trios w ere played and to many of the c~ass the ' 1 all dcn r " cn1n c loo .soon . The succes s of thcs(' " Musical Apprecia ­tion" cl.-isses is assured and there is no doubt that members will m eet a,:,:nin when the Ins ti tute reop ens . ··

Bertie Owen and his banjo arc still ill

October, 1940]

demnnd for troop concerts, etc . On August 21st be played at n concert given in aid of the Sireatham Mobile Canteen ; on Sep­tember 4th he appeared at a troop concert at Bcckcnham in ,t id of the Auxilinry Military Pioneer l•'orce; and on Septembe1· 5th he was playing at a troop concert at Burlingham. Ucrtie Owen's pleasing stage manner and undoubtedly masterly playi11g of the plectrum-banjo always brings him prolonged app lau se .

Community items played at the Septem­ber me e ti ngs of the Grimsby Club were: "Georgia Medley," "Mcn-y nnd Bric(M ," , c Ben l-Iur," .. England, 0

(j ·V[l}Sc Synl­palhie " and " Martial Momenb." Indi­vidual item~ incluclcd : Miss A. Pei,rt (banjo)," J,'anfarc des Dragons"; K. Coul­bcck (banjo). "Ru gby Parade"; J. H. Ellis (banjo), "~', ·c<,klc s"; H. Mathieson (banjo), "Cadet 's D ream" ; K. K Jackson (banjo), "Syncopatin' Shuffle"; n. E. Peart (banjo), "Tune Tonic" and Miss D. Grinthorpc and J. II. J•:llis Cbanjolin and banjo)," You and a Canoe."

The September meetings of tile Lewisham Club were held despite the air raids and yet another member (Mr. Laurens on , of Gravesend) w;is enrolled. Voluntai·y items included : Mcss1·s. Readman and Akery (banjos), "Spanish Romance"; Messrs. Yates and Sewell (p lectrum guitars), "s ·olitude" and "Lady Be Good"; G. Yates (pl ectrum guitar), "El Choclo" and "My Fancy"; Messrs. Aylot a:1d Yates (plectrum uuilars) , "Red He els "; Mcssrn. Akery, Prcsland and Smith <b,rn jos) , "Dark town Dandks" .ir1<l ·• Niggertown " : and Mr. l.'rcsl:111<1 (bass b;111jo), "/\sleep in the Deep." Community items were : "In a Persian Market ," "Ovcrtm·c Medley," "Blaze 1\way," "Community Medl<:y," "Spick and Spanish," "Show Bo;it." ,c Operatic Mc111orics ,, and Nigger Min~ sti·eJs ,"

are::-nrmm::m11a1~ -zn

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Lette1'S from, 1ilriyers intended for pttblicci­

tion should 1H, wri.tten on one sicle of I.lie Jl<'I'",. only ancl ns short a.s the snb­ject permil.s, reuc/d.110 this ojJice before 1.ile l~th of Ilic man/:/,. Pu1J('icntion of <t !ett.er cloes not imply e<Litoriai endorse ­ment of tlie 01rinions e:i:pre.,.,ect. No letter cun be 1,cce1Jted for 7Jublic11tion im!ess accomp<mied by the sender's name rmd futl acld.,·ess.

Dear S ir. Your editorial in t his monlh's "B.M.G ."

dealinu; with Chrislian D arnto:i's book "You and Music" is both interesting and enlightening ;is to how definitely slow one can be in absorbing musical knowledg e, ~md how definilcl_v more foolish it is to write c'ondcmnin g instrum ents the powers and b,•auties o( which a writer knows nothing beyond the names of lhc instru ­ments.

But how much more is the definite pan1ding of ignorance in one supposed to be a composer, orchestrator, exponent ,md

B.M.G. teachct· or music. This . in that Mr. Darn­ion docs not know if the banjo " still exists .''

Mr. Darnton. you have my sympat h y ! Heaven help us ! This man, Darnton ,

no t satisfied with his lack of knowledge of the banjo, has the temeri ty to poke fun at two more fretted instruments, both of which J1c evidently knows nothing.

Chrisiinn Darnt o n should get acquainted wi t h himself ; open his eyes an d use his cars . As for his pen and mouth, "silence is golden" seems a fitt ing epitaph .

Yo u rs faithfully, EDGAR C. BARNES

Dc.ir Sir, If Mr . Onrnton cares to look at pages

70 and 71 of Berlioz' " Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration" he will tind an example oI an orchcstniti on setting (o1·th lbc mandolin accompani­ment to the second act of "Don Giovanni" by no less a personage th::111 a cha p l,nown to all and sundry by the name of Mozart. Evidently Mr. Darnton docs not uerce with Mozart. or is it thu t Moz a rt did not J,now as much i,s Chr ist ian Darnton?

Next. Ml'. T)urnton shoul d turn to pages GG-70 inclusive. Th ese pnges concern an­other ins t rument he is not acquainted with , ihc guitar. Here Berlioz write s : " In order to have an idea of what the best perform ers arc ,1bie to produce, the com­positions of such cd i:/Jrat"tl i.uitar players as Zanni de Fc!rrnnti . Hu erta, Sor , etc., etc ., should be studied .

No, Mr . Sharpe,, af ter reading your edi­torial I have no wish to purchase Mr. Darnton's book.

Yoms faith fully, P. ESSLING

17

Dea r Sir, I am glad you ar e carry ing on as usu al ,

which is, o f course, only what we regula r readers expe cted you wo u ld do. Those who talk or "B.M.(;." ceusing public,-1-tion mi.:st belong to the class of rumour­mong e rs and jitterbu gs we all !mow so well. ·

Can-y on with the good work wh ich js ns important ;uid necessary as any othe r Job these days. .. Ji .MJ ; ." is smaller in s ize but not in quality, all the usual fea­tures being retai n ed.

Yours faithfully , - J . CLEGG

Dear Sir, I consider D. O'Donnc 1l's le tte r concern ­

ing the ne w "n .M h ." is d isgusti,igly mc,m. Pity him - and wish him good­night, and do not forget you still have your boot on t he ri gh t foo t 1

You nre carrying on as usual. good paper, good prin t , and good ing. Th(1t is nll I want and I get

Yours faithfully,

Neat , read­

it I

G. IVJcLJ,AN

Dear Si r, As a re ader of "B .M.G." ever sinc e I be­

cam e an ardent ban j oist some years ago , I sho uld like to voice my appreciation o f the articles cove rin g th is in strument in your very valuab le paper . Most particu­larly do ·1 appreciate U1c articles contri­bu ted by F. T. Lamb.

It has been my privilege to be a pupil of Mr. Lamb's and the fa ct that he writes in exactly the same w.iy as he teaches gives me a fcl:ling of in tense satisfac t ion every time I read his al'ti c les.

I canno t conc lude without saying how grc: -:tly I clcplorn the f act th at no ~olos

Dear Sir. 0 1· arrangc 1nc.:nls h<1vt\ so fur as I am Furthe1· to your comments on Mr. Darn- . awan'. ev er appL,arcd in "/ i. M.G ." from

lon's book. perhaps you may be interested the pen o( this g entleman . I do not ex­to know that when Sit· Thomas Be ec ham aggcr ::itc when I say that, from my own was conducling the opera ''Don Giovanni" kn o wledge. his solos and arrangements arc at Covent Garden last year the mandolin even bet ter than h is articles and there is part in tht , second act was plnyed by Ivor no doubt !.hat banj o players would be Mairants . richer for the public a tio n o f some of these.

Apnrt from the interesting fact that .i Yours faithf u lly, famous guit.trist was p layin,: the man- DENNIS FOWLER dol in, ii ~hows that S ir Thomas llcecham docs not relegate the instrument to the sphere that Mi·. Darn ton docs .

Yours faithfully, H. RYMER

Dear Sir . Reganlinr, Mr . Darnton's recent b ook ,

"You and Musie." I should j11dgc from your c,xlrad l;h-it" he possesses only super­lic i:>l lrnowled.~e of his subject . May I mention that Sir Arlhur Sullivan loved the bnnjo : Madame Adelina Patti was n o mean pe rfonnc,· 0 11 the same ins trument; and Sir He111·y 'Nooe! has used all our in­struments in his symphony orchestras. I have yet to lcno\v in \Vhich nigger 1nin­stn,l troupe these three world-famous 1nusicians appeared !

Truly .i little knowledge is a dan ge rous thing.

Yours faithfully, F. T. LAMB

De.ir Si ,·, "You and Music"!! The title is all

wrnng and so is the writer. What n pity Mr. Darnton docs not s tudy books instead of ,vritin g th em.

Yours faithfully, W. F. POWELL

Dear Sir, I hm ·,! just h ea rd what was, in my

opinion, the mosl interesting ,rnd enter ­taining progn1n1IrH: on the radio for ai!es. It was (I t hink) Geo ff Sisley playing w ith an acco:·dionist (or fiftee n minutes. A fter hearing th ese bo y s I had to write asking you Lo in c lud e in some future edition of "II .:\J .c ... .in article from the pen of t his _i:~uitar is~ on tl1c c\rt of accompani1nen t a long wiih some of the mu sic he played. Is the nusil , published of "Hot Finger s," becau se t h e ;witar w as swell in that number'!

I wish you wo uld in clu de some art icle s by Diel< S,td le ir in "/J. M .G." I used to en .joy J-.is only too occasi o nal solos and artic les in "Hhythm ."

I am a membe r of. a dance band and I think some good articles on d ance band work would b e popular. The gu itaris t is a much-malign ed man in ihe band and a series of progressive lessons might help to improve the stnndard of guitar-playing in bands . Good teachers are so very scarce tha t we poor provincials have to depend on books lik e "B .M.G." to he lp us out, so plc;1se c!o not let us clown.

Thanks for Jack Whi tficld's a rticles. If he just keeps progressing in fine easy stages he will help beginners and catch

18

up on guys like me and yet not leav e u s behind in h is futu re articles.

Le t me say tha t the " /J.M.r::.' is a boon nnd a blessin g to po or out-o f-t he-way guitarist~ lil,e myse lf.

Yours faithfully. DAN FOBY

Dear Sir, I ha ve j ust been to Watforrl for a holi­

day. H any fretted instrume n t playe r is in need of a toni c he should go the r e ancl listen to the resi dents t;1lking. They ar c tnll,ing ubout our instruments. and th e reason is the West Herl. s n .. 1\11. & G. Club. D ur in g the pas t year they hn vc been edu­cating the publi c in ,in efTectiv c manner an d th e result is a growing e:ithus iilsm th at suggests the club is going to be in inc reasing demand throughout the coming winter mo nths.

Surpr isi ngly, in the age of th e gui tar . it is th e banjo thut has made til e ){realest im pre ss ion and th e gloomy se er s who pr e­d icte d th<.' c-l.-rlinc~ of the inslrn me nl nn• due for a rude shock. Perhaps th" r e­spo nsi bilit y for th is prog1·c,ssivencss is Mr. Bi gne ll' :;. Possessively en thus iasti c· (w ith a w if e wh o i i- also a keen player) he or gnn iscs t he club. Though prima rily a ~ui tnri s t, he i::; eager to se e th e n~turn

o( · the, banjo to the dan ce band. l le ha , an ind ivid ua l sty le of plec tru m -ba njo pl ayin g lhat mnd t: his trio ( two ba nj oists and a ),(uitarisl ) such a suc ce ss when it was rcatl 1J'<•d cxl.(' nsivcly in r,ll tht i club's pc rform :i11ces before th e loss of \lw s,•concl b,mjoist ti u·uu gh being rnlkct u f> for scr ·­

v ice with H.M. F orc es. The war was th e rc:,l launc:hin ).! of lhi s

,1ew phase in llw clu b' s lir e . Th e nwm­ucrs wc, ·c in >-p in •ct with a desire to c-nter­lain the troops. With co mmenda b le: fore ­s ight they joinecl force s wit h a c•onccrl pa r ty. cpt• 11ing and closin /~ t'ilch perform ­anc e with sel ectio ns rrn,n thei r l'(:pc rtoin '.

Thc-y went from uni l to unit. T lw .v were a spo n taneous success ;111.d the ir fan H~

spn;ncl U11·oughout the loca l setvi cc,s. ln ­

sp in•c-l. by this . they l.Jel{an lo 1;i11,i c:on­c, •rls in a id of the Heel Crnss .

T hen <•;111w an offe r o f a Mu n icipal Con­cert. Tn ;i Bo rn u 1th o f thci size or Walford th;it sur e l .v is a crow nin i, tl'iumph !'0 1· an y club. Th ey pl ayc,d in the Town Hall on " Sun<iny nnd the re we r e ncnrl.v 400 at lhe art,:rnoon performance ,aHI over doubl e that numb e r i11 the eve:iini; . Un ­prc. iudi cccl peopl e in th e au dicn<:c said th e show was rc ;illy outs tanding ar ,c! I hc nrd il ra te d above ma ny giv, ·n by b ro:,ctcasl­ing combi nation s.

Ev en t he ·watr onl Scho ol of Mu s ic has taken an interest in th e c lub 1

H othei· clubs can pr od uce an equa l 1·eco rd o( n successf ul yen ,·, then surel y o ur in str ument s an , on th e up -g1·11de. It o nly n eerl s ,uwry reader of .. n .:\I .(:." to w rit e lo the B.13.C. :md d ema nd live pro ­~ram ,ncs or firsl-r ~tc ex ponents or ou1· instruments to ba ck up the work o f th e club s and individu a l play ers nnd we shtdl. once m ore , enjoy the lim e light an d see t he go lden age so rcm in isccc,t of the 'twe ntie s.

Yours faith fully , nOY r . BELL

Dear Sir . D. O' Donnell' s lett er in this month's

"JJ. M.G." is the kind or "tripe "· that is not wor th print ing. I know nothing a bou t pro du cing a mag az ine li ke ' ' B. M.r;. " <and .

B.M.G. [October, 1040

frankly , I am not inter es ted in how it '101". Hi.~ plw to grnp l1. <Cncl f u ll t>iogmpltiscil

co mes to life ), but I give you cred it fo r d.<'lc1ils will t>e i,i next m<milt's "B.M.G. "

not on ly ca rry ing on but giving us a - Eclitor.> m agazine t hat is ev en bette r than that iss ued be fore th e war .

I cannot think thnt Mr. O' Do nnell 's lett er cau!'e d you ony an xi et y (sure ly you wo uld not have p rinted it if it had ·n, l>ut I do think the proper pla r.e for it was t:1c w<1ste- papc1· basket.

You rs faithfully. F. CL INCHE

Dea r Sir. l am ).!lad to note th nt ;i n ew series or

articl <•s from the pen or Billy Neill is on t he way. Ariy hopes of it. sta r tini: soon .,

Yours faith full y. GE ORG E BANKS

(I lw/ic /11 .</art /lilly Nri/1 '., ""'• ' srric•s 11,·xt 111011tlt.- 1'ditor.)

Dea r Si1·, The August "11 .M.<;:· announced t he

iss ue of a 1:ecord made by Joh nny l<oanohi Pineapph: and his Native Isl anders. I have Just bou g ht thi s reco rd ,md 1 feel I must wri.ll' lo yo u about it.

" T he Moon of Manakoora .. sicl,• j ust ·· doesn 't mean ;'. thin_,:," but t he reverse s ide. "Nn Alu.' ' is n1·obablv th e best ll awaiian l'Ccord we h:wc bce ·n pl'ivik-1.("cl lo hear for a lon g time. I kee11 J)lay in l-( U,is sictc over :,nd over ugain :rnd lind :-:,unelhing nc,v cuc h tin1 c,

Tin , n:nso n for t his Jdtc : 1· is to know if tl1is pla y<•1· h~•s n1ade an.v other rc1<.:o rd s

a ncl. if so, wht:Ul<'I' Lhcy ;n·e likt•ly to I><' issned. r would a lso lik(• to kno w ~:,•nn :l.h in ,1,! ;11)oul hitn. C<tn yo u t{ i ve ;111y

<l<'l:dls '! Yours r,dthfull.v .

\V. STOC:KflHin<: 1•:

, .. ./ol 1m 1y Pi, wappl«" hns """''' M licr n ,c·cll·<t.s 1111/ i.t. ·will ctqw1H/ 0 1, t.iie .m!es of

tl<is first clisc: wllelher il<<'1J «no fas,ce(! o;-

NEW OF

STANDARD Conte nt s :

ALBUMS POPULAR SONGS

"A T SUN DO WN " "STUMB LIN G"

" LIN GER AWHILE " "PARA DI SE"

" GOO FU S " " MY BLUE H EAV EN "

"IN A LITTL E SPANISH TOWN " "RAMONA"

"SA M, THE O LD ACCORDION MAN "

" TH E WALTZ Y OU SAV ED FOR ME"

Av ailab le fo r HA W A II A N GUIT A R

wHh c11ord syml>o ls and ctiagrams tor a<:comunniment.

OR PLE CTRUM GUITAR

with ~u i1ar a,uf 1>iano rtcco mua ni m<:nh .

E:tch album ~c oarntc.

]f. EACH

• I"losLAIW 2<1. cxt.i-a,

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON L 1D,, 410. S haftesbu,-y Aven ue . London, W . I.

D<,;11· Si 1·,

Can you tell me if Johnn y Konnoh i Pine­apple, whose pl aying of " Moon or Ma na­koor a " a nd .. N n Alu " cm Regn l-Zono ­pho ne record MR :l:ll8 in terc~ ts me greatly, Jives in this coun try'! If h e does I sho u ld like to Wl"ile to him .

Yours fa ithfully. t<. BED DING'l' ON

(" } 11/1111<y /'i,11·a/ 1/1/,,'_, " ri:o,rd w11.< m(/(l!!

in / l int:ti t:11; :11w /?i,gal-7-0110/,ho,1<, d i sc b r.ing

" ri:-issttl!. S ec also rep/31 to ~V. Stock ­/,ridge.-1:'ditur .)

De:11· Sir, I am int ensely inte rested in th e genu in e

Hawa iia n 1·ccords and ,, !t ho ugh hundreds of tlws e a rc issu ed in th e U.S . the English ca talogu es onl y co ntai n .i few . All we see m lo ){cl an , lhe curr ent popul :1r c·n tu ne s, in<1iff(•renUy plnyed. Is there no ,vay we cu n indu ce lh<: c:rn1nophonc com

pan ics to is sue lhl.) records or the i,e11u i nc

a rticle '! Yours faithfully.

H. GOWEH (Re(ul ,t 1·s int ,<?rc?~ted in t.lu~.-..e r<tc.:onls

1·01t!cl. wri.te W r!u: Co f1w11.>i.a Gmm <>plt011.e Go .. Lt<l .. Bl y tli Ro « c!. /-la!JCS. Mic/ cl/.cse .i;,

wut ask for th<' i.,sue of tltc• otluu· li!!es m«ci<' f,11 ".Jo lm nu /'ine(lpple.' ' This might /,c, it SH I>'(. • J•:clifO r.)

nc,11· Si,·, I shou ld like to t ;i kc adv a 11l.,gc of your

ct1"c..\r to c:ornrncnt c,n your lc~\din.~ arlicl0 in this mo nth's " li . .1-/.(;: ·

f hnd p reviou s ly read Clil'istinn Da n1 -to11·s I;ook. ·· You ancl Music." :1n(l when I came lo the para )!raph in which he rck -1.tntc s lhc b~\njo lo n i~~e r tn inst rcls I \Va:-:..

Hi. flrs l most indi i/11.int. l>ul a ft.er a whih· I LholH)ht : .. W,•11, riOt'S lhe ba njo n,ally cft·!'-erve any furUlc 1· n ... fcrcnce in :l. treatise wh ich rs intend,·d to in t rodl 1ce the ord ina ry IHll:-i ic-l ov or to U1t· :--i gniD CHllCC of i.\ wide 1·a11gc of nrn , ic. old and new . ou tside the Ll'adilio11al re p c 1tory of sl\1 11ri~11·<1 da!--­

s ic·s ·t ., 1 Ii-re I w:1s forced lo hcsilak. and, look in :: ;1t it f rom the poi nt of vi ew of :, ha n.io ,·nLlwsiasl. I shoul d say: "Yc s--­most defin itely'.. Lookin 1t nt it i11 a n im ­p,u·t ial 1llunnc1 ·, I <:o u ld on ly :>a.v : · · \Veil.

what ha s t he bnnj o d one to de sc r v<i fur­t iler comme nt? " ;\lld lwrc l was l'o rccd to ac!.ir it : ·· very l itllc.' ' I know Ih a•. b,111-jois ls will object lo this and point oul

th.i t the banjo is as popu!,11· lo cfay as it ever wns ; tha t it is pl ayed by just as m;,ny p eo p le for their own ,11nuscmenl who ob ta in cou ntl ess hour s of enjoyment from it. I3ut whil e H is most sa ti sfy ing lo kn ow thnt the va ~t mnj ority of banj oists 111·,, r e(I/ en thu s ia st s who p lay fo1· t he love oC it , th at docs not in any way g ive ;in answer to the qu es t ion .

Th e fact th at S:r ll c111·.v Wood ha~ on more th,rn on e occns ion in cl ucted th e ban jo in hi s or ch es tra d ocs n ot. of iisd l". make th e banjo into a mus ical i,1stru m ent: and despite nil the exc e llent work wi th wh ich Pau l Whiteman ha s been cre d ited (and wh ich I grc, ,tly ndmirel I do fe el that, in thi,; matt e r . he a nd Christim1 Darn to n nrc " tal k i!'lg diITe1·enl la n guage~."

Your own ref e rence to the banjo being. or having been. ,111 intcgr ol p a rt of th e rlance b and is , in my opin ion, unfortunate, for if you ag ree with Mr. Dlir nt on's s tate­ments in Chapter 8 of hi s book on "Th e

October, 1940]

Great Schism'' you ;1t onc e justify his attitude towards the banjo. A:so. I can hardly imagine that your reference_ to quite a 'number of professional_ i:nus1c1ans earninl,( quite a comfc,rtablc Jiving ft-om playing the banjo is put forward as a serious justification for the instrument: if you do, you must automatically iListif_y <for example) housc:brcaking, as presumably. quite a few people make a comforh1ble living f rom that also!

No, Mr. Sharpe, I stibmit that the work that h-is been done on the banjo in the past is worthy of no furthc1· 1·c(c1·cncc in a book such as Mr. Darnton·~ . but I do not suggest for one morn<Jnl that we should be content to lc.ivc it al that . As you pointed out in your article. the banjo of today is a considerably imprnved in­st1·utncnt over iti:; prcdcccssc.>r j so cannot w e- the players of today - do someth ing to improve its musical appeal. In n,y opinion, Ken 1-IarvPy is tl·,._, only player ol' lhc, bnnJo wl10 is doing :-rnytl1ing on the instrument that is an adv.ince on whal tlu~ been donu lJl!ftJn :: and it i~ to hi1n Lhat I look ro,· the gn,clual elevation of the banio lo the statu:i of a mus .ical instru­ment.

In any case . q uite apart from whether or not the banjo becomes "n instrument worthy of further consideration by such people as Christian D(1rnlon. I hop e lhal I sltnll continue to derive even grc<1tei· pleasure out or my banjo than I do now

Yours .faithfully. n~:rrnE OWEN

Deni· Sir. I ean 11ol re1ne111bcr t: vcr· ~cuinj.! your

pholo1 .in1ph in "li. ,\/.1;:· We nrc treated ('!) to all kinds or p ictures or people •,vllo snn1ctin1 cS- nH.~a11 '.~ontvl.hing to we pro­v .inciuls. but 1nciy 1 su:.u:·c~t that your O\Vn

pic:tw· c wo~lld int.e 1·csl most readers ol' your t..:xcell cn l n1,t.lf\t z inP.

You rs f.>ilhfully. L . (; _ WARD

( Ui u/ ,:J' />ro/1•.•.;f. my /)!10/0/traj>/1 "t;Jfl."- r1·­/•nul 1!nu l. iu · h' .. 1/,(,','' a /1 '.W y1tt!YS ago. . ·IJ J/tt'. /n•,·_,.,,,,1. tn11,~ I <-~msid(~J' (liul sj,a,· ,· 1· /111 /,,- IN: lf,•r ,•w/>/oy,•d. - 1,dilor.)

Dc·ar Sir. Persona lly I arn satisfied with" l!.M.<: .··

an<l am not unduly wm..-iect in what form it nppc..'ars so Jon~ as I can t.~ct H cucli 111onl\1. I cannot unde rs t;i nc\ tlw mentality or players who write to you compl:dning.

Yo ur ~ faithfully. J .. J. FLACK

(So rtno(//, ·r f >,•rsnu r·111nto( u>itlrrs{a11d ii ,·ilil<'>' !· -- 1-:dilor.)

B.M.G. Directory of

B., M, & G. CLUBS with the names and addresses

of their Secretaries

The c•ac to.- cwclvo con~cuti ve insartiona under this hci\dine: is Sf-

TEACHERS & THEIR ADDRESSES •Before a Teacher's name denotes an

Examiner for " B.M.G," Diplomas.

71 • per annu.m for 2 lines;

3/6 per line fo,· extra lines or part of line.

LONDON AND SUBURBS PARTICULARS OF MEMBERSHIP AND DATES •Edwards, T. H. (B .• T-B., P.G., H.G., U.) OF M:CETINGS CAN BE OBTAltlED ON 119, l'oro,i Rl,o, W•l•hom,tow, E.17. APPLICATION TO nu;_ SECRETARY,

Br ig hton. s,,c.. Capt. C. E. S tevens, 51. Wilbury CrcH:ent. Hove 4.

Croydon. Sec. , J. F. Masters, 47 , Down­lands Road, Purley, Surrey.

East London, Sec., James W. Pearce, 27, Saxon Road, East Ham, E.6

Glasgow (The Banjolie?S) . Sec., J . Hynd, 8. Nith Street, Riddrie, Glasgow, E.l.

Grlmsby. Sec., K. J:ickson, 53, Yarbornugh Road, Grimsby.

Haokney and District. Sec., G. H. Sagrott, 319, Amhurst Rond, N.16.

Islington. Sec., A. E. Dowsett, 41b, Peabody Estate. Essex Rond, N.l.

Leeds. Sec., Miss M. D. Scott, 31 , Woodlcn Place, Bccston, Leeds, 11.

L ce<1s Philharmonic Mandolin ancJ Guitar Orchestra, Sec .. Miss Irene Taylor, Ebor House. 32, Burton Row. Hunslet Moor , Leeds, 11.

Leigh-on-Sea, Sec .. W. Rcndma n . 10, Leigh Hall Road, Leigh -on-S ea .

Lewisham, S.E. Sec. , Arthur 3. Waller, 1G, Elsinore Road. Forest Hill. S.E.23.

Liverpool (Premier). Sec., C. F'. Cooke , 7,

•Fairs, Edward, (B., T-B., P.G., H.G. ) 51, Suffolk Roa d. Nort h Harrow.

•Grimshaw, Emile (B., M., G., T-B.). - 54/5, l'iocadilly, W.1. 'Pbonci: lt.Q&eo~ 6~71.

~Handscom\l, A. F. <B., P.B., P.G., H.G., l' ., V .) ~O:f, llii.;h IM, , W w Jcl (: \"l•cn , N.2t.

"Johnson, G, A, <G . ., P.O. , H .G., B., JH., U. All at:rlu. 12. B\1toroe Ave., };.u. ' Phon•: LA.Jt HU.

•Johnson, Chas. (G ., P.G ., H.G., B., M. , U.) Ck,uoct tuition, Plll 1\1\.yles. 94. Chelmlford nc•d., li:.17.

Lile, Alfred Kealoha, (G ., EUl .G. , u., (ip!e S:. /i1 rr111111t·h). Plav H::twa i i ' . ..:; t~a t.ion; l t iu:i.t ru­mc-nis tikc tlH.~ · Hnwaiians . Also Hnwa iinn lanl{Ua g<· (~ours e . Priv a te lc:-;:-.o rn; 10:'-. S])<:c i a l, l t.(ll . 'Phot H:~ Vic. 75G7 .

•Palumbo, Angy (H.G ., B., ! M. & V.) 10, N,._va.rlno Ho11,ri, E.6. 'J.~olephone: 0Uuo1d lUT.

•Sheaff, Bernard (8., Z-B., G.l 68. New Oxford Sl.n1ot, W.C.1. 'Phoni> : Muu,um. 43i8.

•southgate, G. (B., T-B., G ., H.G.) All stylo,, 123, llrudo• ell nd .. Upper 'l' oollnc, 8.IV.17 .

•Stanley Arthur (B.. M., G., & H.G.) 10, \\.'at.er L•no, S. \V .2. · 1>hone: 'ful. (9,Hf.

ABERDEEN •stordy, J. W. (8., M., J<.., & P.-A cc.).

39S, Kine Stra.et. .

ABERYSTWYTH • Mi lvorton,

'J'uit.inr . {o.ny A. All fret ted ins truments.

Culmc Hoad, Mu .irl1cad /1.v,•ntl<', Liver- BECKENHAM pool, 12. s· I G ff G

L d s G /1. K l 106 K IS ey, eo ( ., P-G. & H.G.) 125, High On On ... Cc. , , · ee er, , 1ngs- Stro et. (.)r CliNc,t'd E,Be.x Studios. 'Ph one : 1n:c 0037. wood Hoctd, Goodmayes, Essex.

Manohcstor & Salford, Sec., S. Higgin­bL>lto,n. :{a. Siade Lanc 1 Longsight 1

M;1nchcstcr . North London. S'cc., G. H. Bates, 9, Dun-

BEDFORD Salmond H. A, B. (B., Z- B. & T.B.)-BPgin-

aer1 ur,0flllly &:rounded. 60, Cba11~er U.o,ul.

BELFAST holme Rd., Edmonton, N.9, North Wales, Sec.. Algernon H. Lacey , •Campbell, Leslie (B., T-B., ILG., & M.)

J5, Bruokv:\lc A•Jct H lC. "F'airflcld," Woodland Avenue. Hhos-on­Sca, Colwyn Boy. BIRKENHEAD

Oldllam, Sec., J. Taylor. 14, Crescent. Oldham.

Werncth •Hurst , Harry (B ., Z.B., T.B ., G. & H.G.) 286. Olev&la~d lkr.et..

Orrell Mandoliers B,M.G. Society. Sec. , A. Edwards, 43, Markfleld Road, Bootle.

South-Wost London. Aston Banjo Ck.lb. Sec., H. · 0. Winch, 117, Hartfield Road,

BIRMINGHAM •Bailey, Tarrant, Jr. (All fretted i11st1U

76, Primrose Lano, Hall Grcon,

Slllclll !cJl,ertistments· w:i'ti:~::;:: :~~:1

\om Edward6, 119, ft Forest Rise, E.17.

•Kapua, Ken. (Specialist on Hawaiian Gui­tar ,ud Ukui,h. 1:1, Gol1nore .Avonue, Kin,::·a Ue..th.

Kirby, Alfred. Bnnjo Soloist. Tui t ion on lh,010 and Guitar, 10:S, It.ow H ta tb Rd., King, Nort.ou.

•Mart ini. Hi gh grade tuition only . Warrington and o istricts. Sec.. Mrs. M.

Tile retie fo,· ac/ve,·t-i.~i no under this Weaver. 20, Alexandra Road, Stockton lieaclinu is 5 / - per half-inch, 01· less.

TAaoer space, pro rate.. Heath. Nr. Warrington. Watfor<I. S,•c .. K D ow~on. BO, Queens

"Prcmiervox" ELECTRIC GUITAR wilh amplifk1·. Pc i·rcet condition. .1~9. or Road, Wat1,1rd. Tc,iephon c : Wat . :J279. nenr offer . Also two HawHiian Guitars. West Herts (Watford). Sec., W. Bignell, cheap. P. I-Inrdy, 24, Alb<c:rt Road. Brighton. 236, Watford Road, Croxley Green,

Hawaiian guitar (A7, E7, C~m, and A tunings) Ukulele. M. 198, Mansel Road.

•Pidoux, John (B .• M., G. & T -B.) Scotch ­t r ', C'.la.rDbeu, ~9, Corpora.tfon St. ' l 'h ono: C.ni.r~ 1301.

0 Rioh, Sydney J. (Z -B. & BJ---4 5, Hannon R,d., King'• Heat.b. (J:::xa.mi.l:ler lot ·• B.M.0." Dlp,)

Jf you ar,· looking for a good second­hand instrnmcnt. send for the C.E. "nar­gain List n: all instnnncnts taken jn pa rt exchange a nd ovcrlmulcd. Write today . C lifford Essex & Son. Ltd., 90, Shaftesbury Avcm1c. London, \V.l.

*Thomson, F. (P., G. and B.l Instructor Kay \'r~oetwortb'a School ot Modern Mu,io, I,

Watford, Herts. Wor co,t<r Slroet.

Western District (St. Marylebone and Wagstaff, W, (B. , Z -B. , l-I.G.) 1.12. Bil.l's Paddington). Sec., A, G. Binks) H Sans Lan e , Shirl<·_\", :\"t Birrnin~lmm.

Souci," 19, West Way, Ncasden, N.W.10. BOLTON Willesden (The Maodoliers). Sec., J. H. •Harker, Tom (P.B., P.G., H.G. & Sax. )

Scrutton, 71, Townsend Lane, Kings­bury, N.WJI.

8pKia'.ht in inod•rn •bi• &. arr&Di'.11:1(. B.n.c. 9olol"" , ltnq11irle1: Boo\h'• School of Lhufo, Chnrch1at.e..

20

BOURNEMOUTH B.M.G. LLANELLY

[October, 1940

WIDNES •oe Vekey & Sons, A. (B., M., G., Ukultle •Jones, T. E, (B., Z-B' M., T-B., G., H.G,, •oaviea, Fred (B .. Z-B., M., G., & Theory).

&. Jfownifort O·uilar.) 135-i, Chri s lchutc::h '}t(J&d, .-"-.1. {{.) (Examiner for·• n.M.O." Dip.). 18► T e.mple 8ttHt, ~6. llal~ia.te Ht)a.d, ll&lebank. Cortlb• East. 'l'olcphono: Clnistchurch 21 L

BRADFORD MALVERN LINK ~Ratcliffe, W, <B., Z-B.) Harmony. Finger Smith, Frank <B., Z-B., G., H.G.) "Lons-

or Plcc. style . ! , Rarnsden Ave .. Lid@ct o, ·n. dal•," Crom,,-e ll H,·ad.

BRISTOL •craddy, Horace. <Banjo and Guitar)

-32, V fol.or it. J>a.rk, Fhlqrnn<ls. rl'al. : I-"i,!\p<md• 526.

BURTON-ON-TRENT •Griggs, F, 0. (B., T-B., H.G. & G.) The

Croohlit., ll<>lle!;ton Roe.d.

CARDIFF "Allen, R. CB., M., G.)-12. Northcote St.,

( l!.xa.mini.::r for " RiU. c;:· Diplomus.)

CHELTENHAM Turner, Sid E. <B., T-B., G., H.GJ-1.

St. Mark":11 Ernp1)rhun.

DERBY •Dawson, Mrs. 1:1s1e (1:1., NE.. G., & H.G.)

All St}·lcs. Di~trict. V.:Kaininor fnr "/J.JI.Q."' Dipluma1 atlentl!I the, Studio, lde!en. Wish~r &. Snt1i, 7, J.(,ndon noad. Pth•iite Address, "Holly )lynt;• 83, Derlt1 R.d. 1

Sam,lia.crt::, 'P h'1ut : ~Q.ndincre 3394.

DEWSBURY •Lyles, Albert (B.M.G.) (Examiner for

"11.i'll.G .'' Diplotnu). 9, Pa-rk lld. Hu.dd11nfl• ld vhlted..

DUBLIN & BALLYMENA •MacGarvey, Jaok <B., Z-B., ll.G.) Ex -

aminer foT " !J.M.Q." Dip~ma, lor [nland. .&9. ooma.. ~1. Ballym(l'D.OY S~.. Ballrmeaa , Oo. Anhiu...

EBBW VALE, MON. •eesasni, Leno (B., P-B., T-B., P.G ., H.G.,

l 1• Ar.n1t·cli1rn). 1.\:rsoua. l ol' Prn, t..:d 'l\1it.. io11. I•:.-.:,uuin, ;r fo\· "/l..11.(:." Diplom:;1,-s, K:..:ari~iu;d,icm ln :n,ur own }rnrnc i[ pniforn. :d. Rh.,·lhrriic\ :-;winK arnl :,.t.rcd1;IH .. ~Lyles (l( p!ayi !t~ .-3G , V .1!k;• H();l li.

FALKIRK "Macboth, Will (B., '1'-f3., G.,

•· St.udlo," H, Orchard ~treet. M., U.) .. -

MANCHESTER and DISTRICT Greenall, Jos. (B., P.G., H.G., U.) 2, Fir

Road. Swinton, near ~trmcllcstcr.

Howard, Don (B., M., G., P.G., H.G.) Plec. 11,.ml f,ngar at..y lo&. (l'upil of l~nlile Grimshaw, Lond.) 'J'cn.cher for }hollts . Unoscy & Ile.wku 1 !iil3i O::a::ferd ltd.

Mathieu, Sam (B. & Z-B.) Finger and Plec. 30, Turnbull Road, Reddhb Le.ne, Gurlon.

MIDDLESBROUGH •Blacklock, Alan (G., H.G., and T-B.)­

u-,, E.~-~cx Street.

NELSON (Lanes.) •1..und, Wm. (B. & Z-H.)-·Fingcr a,id

Pll'.l<:trum. IS, 'ferry SL:r•et.

NORTHAMPTON *Bruce-Dundas, c. F. (B., P.B., JI.G., P.G.)

Uro11.dcri.r.Ung artht. Dol~r in all fretted lnstro. mont~.~.188, Kingsley lto11,<l.

NOTTINGHAM •papwort-h, Sanders CB., M ., G.. Saxo­

vho"e, lJkt,j(e.l,:, JJ.O.) l.c~al A~ei;i..t for Clifford E,nx •1u t 8on . (lli.!itrict !.nd Linc oln •nd Man16eld ltxam.• irrnr for" n.M .U." Diploo:n.a.) :ii, Allrot.on Road, Clty.

"Richardson, Edward (B.,M.&G., u!! style:) Ov•r 20 yea.'r1' prorea.1ional eJ:!ll!ITie1)~•. 41 PoTtl•nd Rd.

PRESTON •Earle, Eugeno (B., M., G., Tlleory)-"Radio

k Heconllnt J\:i:tht." lS. Ce.noon .!5treot. 'Phone li31 .

•Taylor, Ernest, T. (13., M., G.l Special Co•chin6: fur Cont.i,.ah, at.c. lO. Cron St.rut.

READING

ABROAD AL TOON A, Pa, (U.S.A.)

Si11es School of Musio <G., M., T-B., il.G., 6lc.)-11arrnooy a.nd 1.'hnor)', l.ll, Lnic1ta:c,. A..veau-..

BLOEMFONTEIN, O.F.S. (S.A.) •Penny, R. (Il.G.), Radio, Stage.-8, Falck

St.r~bt,.

EDMONTON, ALBERTA (Canada) •Huie, Miss A. (B., T-B,, G., H.G, , M.)

Albert.& Co l h1ge, JO.OU, l 0lel:. Strcot,

JOHANNESBURG (S.A.) "Kudsoe•s, Gao. B.M.G. School, 162, Cen­

tnl Al'i, .. Mayf air, 'Phitn& 35-3576. .. Charlii> Macrow :s Studios (B., M . & G.) ,Joh~inncsburg, Gcrmlston, Bcnont. For pal"ticu­bus writ:: Lo P .O. Dox 1410, Gcnnlston.

JOHNSTOWN, PENNA. (U.S.A.) •Mo~so, J. B, <G., P .G., H.G., T -B. l , N,rn t:,

UI,,., l 1,,11na.

KITCHENER, ONT. (Canada) •voung, Bernie Do <B .. T-B., G., H.G., M.,

I). tmd 'l'hc:or,v}.-30, El i::in St re ot.

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. (Canada) •Harper, J. G. <F., P. & T-B.). Direct-Or

l,ethbr.id&:o C.:uuacrvataTy of Mu■te. F.oumb l• Clauta Cor, lll.h Streot •nd 6th .Anuuo, 8 .

NANAIMO, B.C. (Canada) •Kushner, M. L. <TI.G., V.. P.)

MachleaT) 8 tr ooL. 'Plh>D• 7U. 217

NEW YORK CITY, (U.S.A,) • Gibbs, Geo. A. <B .. M., G.) U nited Orches­

tral Sd1 0:)ls, i,,.i.;-,, lh•(\;\dway.

PARIS (France)

GLASGOW ROSSENDALE VALLEY .

•Taylor, Norman. siwci,tlist Mod"rn Atkins, Bertram. <Classical Guitar) ~1tibr tniUon. '.JIJ2-, Ctn. rkc -lfolmo Tort. Watorfoot. Blv\l, H iui ia..ll, P•ri,. V 1.

118,

McKeolmio, Alex. (H , T-f3., G .. I!.G., M.) •ll •tJ!flt. 15, Garturk 8trc~t. Crouhlll .

•Merten, Frank <School o[ ~yncopnlion). Uir-tctor, Frxuk Mc1·too' 1 Orchutra1 (It., 'J'.IJ., 0,, IJ.0., ill .• Seu,, />., / 1 -Aa.L C.1-:. mus. :c i;l•1r:knd. All Jrio d:i ,·i:pain . 551, Sn u<'.hi11hit ll St., Chsrin" Croi-~.

GUILDFORD and DISTRICT

PENTIOTON (B.C.) ROTHERHAM •staokhouso, Mel. (l/-G.). E,rnmincr for P!lrker, J. (B., M., T-il., 7.- IJ.)-211, Well- " IUI.O ." Jllp lornM. •-llox 171.

~ato. CIUlu rd Ea .,cx acccuorlu1 1uppllod.

SALFORD

L A W (B ,., p G H G u t ) Shawcross, Jo0 (B. & Sa.-,;.)- 28, Good-ano, , , ., "'·• - ., - ·• ., e c . wi• 8treot.

PERTH (W. Australia) •Everson , G. F. (M. & Bn.) Nicholson'5

M U1iit-.. \\'n.r<'lho,n,f':, Bn.rr ack 84.ncL. • Hinchcl iffe, G. (Specialist on M ., Bn.,

on rl 'l'h c.Of)II. 18. Dauo St. , V ir-toria. l'ark. •Matson, Glen. <Specialist or. Hawaiian

(h1il~r. [>u11il of l)ri, ·ill f\.. Ka Ui , 17b, Pi er 8tretit. •Webster, G. H. < 13n., M., H.G. & U .)-

1tr,0111 39. Hon :Marc ho Lh{Hdini.:a, UM ra ck Stnd.

171 W !_:\t.n111tJ A, •it.nue. Wi}kini:. •r~I.: \VoUni 1:'15. --------------- -- ---

HALIFAX •Warburton , H. (f3., Z-B.) Finger & 1'lect ..

J50, <:ll>bet Sl..uct.

IPSWIGH •Gough, Bornard (B., Z-B., M .• U. & V.)

151, \Vuodbrl<l~• Road.

LEEDS •Taylor, Madam, A. (M., Bn., B., G.)­

l£bor llom", 32, U,1rton lt ow, llunalot. M~.

LEICESTER •Chamberlain, J, (B., T-B., M., G., H.G. '"

¥.~!o} • & \~q1:~ln1 g~~~i!~r 7'?rc•). rfft(i," 1~111?01:!::J

StucH,>11 at. Luui;:bboro,iih, lllncldey ~nd C,:,a,h-111•.

STOCKPORT Howard, Don. CB .. M., G., P.G., H.G.) 251.

~ ·cllin1:ton Rd . Sth. 'Phone: 2127.

• Linley, Wm. (B_ & Z .B.l. Fin1tcr or Pie<·. by l' r ovcd Mctbods.-3 , Spencer Slrcct, Rcddlsh. -

STOKE-ON-TRENT •Pearson, Fred (B., G., H.G., M., U.). AU

•~YlH, U, Ha.yea Stre-cit, nn.cleteiy, Dun lam. l'llnol -

~~~eei~M~{~~t:;. '"~Ph~:!: 1r0\~0~\~~.'. H. OI~ llal1

Woodhead, Miss N. (l'J .G.> 8, Brind ley St., !i-fi<ldleoort. Dul"llom.

WEST BROMWICH (Staffs.) Johnstone , A. <B., T-B., M .. G., H.G., P ..

V., V,1.-ll, Lo<lge lto~o.

WEVBRIDGE

REGINA, SASK. (Canada) •Harvoy , G. F. Teacher of fretted ins tru­

r11 ent,. N•tio,1al Schrn>l vt Music , Wutero TrGa\ !)Id <.

ST, PAUL, MINN. (U.S.AJ •Bellson, Albert (B., M., G . and P-Accor­d ion). Virt11Mo, tcacl1er an d dc n.lor.-3 76. St . I1eter St..rcet (.Al!:io Minneapolis, Minn.)

SYDNEY (N.S.W., Australia) •Hine, A. (B ., Z-B.. M., G. & H.G.)-.St.udiQ■, 326, l'arrt.rnatta RQt.d . P ehra ham . Ar••' lol' CHffvrd :&'■1"0:t & Son·• intL r urn,nh and mude.

VANCOUVER (B.C.) LINCOLN

Littlewood, Tcronco (H.G ., B. 2~3. Burton H.011.<l.

• Fletoher, F. (Teacher o! all trcitte d in-& l'-B.) Cator , E. (B ., P.G. & Z-B .) Beginners care- strumen·;s). c/o Music.inns· Union . Room Ill . 553.

hdl;r 5:ro1111,l~d. 3, Old Pa.lac~ R.01.d. Gnuwlllc St.

ATIDRl•:VlATIONS.-" n." Bacjo. "B e." Dtmiulclc. "/Jn." lb ,njoHn, "nnl a." Ma.n<lola. "G.to Guitar, "11.G." lf&wa.Hau Ouit..a.r. 0 1,1," Mandolin. "f>.•• Piano. '"P .B." rtectrnm-Banjo, ·• P. G."' P IN•,trum.Guil -sr . "3." Singing. •· Sa~.': Saxophone." T.U." rre nor-Dsn jo ." U." UJtufoJc ... Y," Violiti "Xyl ." Xylophon e." z.n ." Zither Banjo .

Octoher , 1!) -:1!0 J

The most /JOJ>ular J>lectrum in use today

USED BY PLAYERS OF TH E BANJO, MAN• DOLIN AND GU I TAR A L L

O V ER THE WORLD.

TH E

"NICK LUCAS" Can be supp11ed ln lm ltn t lon shell or Ivory flnlsh .

PRICE 7 d. EACH

(Postage extra) CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON L TO .

90 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.1

PLEASE NOTE Owing to present cond it ions, all prices advertised and printed in the

Clifford Essex price li s ts are

SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

FELT UKULELE PICKS (SQUARE OR PO I NTED ENDS)

6d . CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON Ltd. 90, Shaftesbu r y Ave.,

U'o .-:w uc c-2:tra ) Lo ndon . W . l

Have YOU Elliott's

heard George record ing of the

Plect rum Guitar Solo

"RED HEELS"

I- " llED 111 r, ~-:-:-,s PU/JL/SHt:D ran PI.ECmUM \

GUii AR (WIT /I GUif AR At C.) PRICE h.

- .

Ask your local dealer for H. M. V. Record BD. 5160

FOR AND

BETTER LONGER

TONE WEAR

USE CLIFFORD ESSEX

LONG-IJFEJ~I? DURA-[!FE4~ ·rh c bes t. wir e-c ov ere d 3rd ,,ncl 4t,h bnnj o

s t.r ln ~s now obtnlnnh lc . 'l'W O GAU G J-;.<; PIN O l•:1i o r l'L1-:c;·11 VJ JV

MADE F l!O M A SPEC IAL HARD $TEEL, HAND BURNISHED TO PftEV ENT " WHIST• LING " AND SO HAl!D THE FRETS HAl!DLY HAVE ANY EFFECT UPO N THE M.

L~L~J~r:.> D~L~41:~ 7d. 9d. Each Each

(T'ns t110, c.x trn}

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LT D. 90, Shattcsh ury Avenue, London, W.1.

B.M.G. A LBUM OF EVERGREEN

Favourites for Plectrum Guitar

S(>Cciolly orrongl'<I by

IVOR MAIRANTS CONTENTS:

"Sweet Sue," "I Ain't Got Nobody ," "Honeysuckle Rose," " l f l H ad You," "Mean To Me," "Goodn ight Sweet•

h ea r t/' Eacll with _r:uiw r accom/)oniment

PR ICE

2s. (Postoiie 2d . exu a)

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD., 00. Shattcsl>ury Avenue, London. W .1.

Have you tried

"CREMONA" the on1oz ing new polish ond reviver ? It will br ing bock o/1 the lustre LO your banjo. mandolin, guitar . etc.

Prices 1/ 6 and 2/ - per bottle (Postoge 4d. extra )

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD ., 90 , Sh aftOSbU FY Avenue, London, W .1.

H u N

THE PERFECT MANDOLIN

ARRANGEMENT Thi s rc;,Uy b rilli:intly :a.r•

ranied medley of Brahm s ' Hun garian Dances is a l• ready findine- favour

with player s of the mando l in all over the

country. ft is a n ar­rangement the m:..n .. do l ini $t will enjoy p layi ne and is

G idea.I for public perform a nee. •· H une a ria."

is far from difficult but

really effect• ivc ei ther a s a. solo or cnsemb I e A

R I

numb e r

'Hungaria' is published fo r : Solo :ind lnd ma.ndolins, m:'l.n• d o I a , m an d o­•c.e llo. guit :lr and piano, so that a ny mandolin family in­st r u me n ta t i o n is cate r ed for.

Pr;cc 2/6 Comp lete

l M;"tndolin s ......... .. .. . . 1/. 'Dola, 'C ello & Cu itar . .. II ~ Pi:..no Acc . .. ....... .. .. ..... fl.

CLIFFORD ESSEX A & SON, LTD.

90 SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, LONDON, W,I.

Ill

~~

:.:~~;;!,".:!~E'.. ~~~,r~ I tlw m.1dwt. W1 U, . fl.it .1nd .1clju .. t.1blt·. ·11w top is rn.1dt· from : 1n. "I n noi tJ, · ' hiJ:hly poli sh f'd, .and 11w fitt inr.s (whic. h ,I f ~ m.1dc adjustable t o fit .uay in slrnnwnt) MC ,,1.1dc from h(':tvy bras'S. hir,h ly nickc l•p!.11ccl. A ,; fittc·d to th,· •·NtW

P/\H J\GON" ,11)(1 " HI.GAL " h.mjo -;.

I Pri ce Sf-

(Poswgc 1d. cxtw) CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON Ltd . 90, Shaf tesbury Ave nu e , London, w.1.

~,./'o./\/V\IV\,'

VELLUMS

Th e easiest and most trouble•frcc wny or re» lacin t; a banjo vellum is by nurchasinJ.: o,,e r e ady stre tched . It rcouircs ,10 c.Jamp­ing , and fi ttin g is a s s imu tc as outtinJ: a lid

on a box .

Send for CU RRE NT PR ICE LIST CLIFFORD ESSE X & SON LTD. 90, Shaftesbury Avenue, London , w.1

PIPES c.,,I PITCH

I A, B,Sin~: N;t e or G

Is. each EtlCh ,,. tch f)lt)C SUf)l)lied con11Hetc

in dusturoot con tainer-.

SETS of PITCH PIPES IOF

BANJO , TENOR-BANJO,

MANOO L IN . C UI TAR ,

HAWAIIAN GUI T AR,

UKU LELE. /' l-:U ,Sf; T

116 Sta te for what instrument re• <tu ired whc ,, ordering.

r-,i r-1 l J L

(Postage 3d. C'xtrn) CL I FFORD ESSEX & SON, LTD ., 90 . Sha1tcsbury Aven ue, London, w .1.

~ ~Y'.'.;>~- The finest banjo that money can buy ! ! ~~~­~~~~ .s: ..... ~.,,,__

U ~-. ~ ·~ .(.1ho,,..._ ✓-.....,._,"'- ""- Let us tell you more at,out this truly ~ .. ~:~~~. V •'\ nmru:in,:; in strwncn t , or arrange a tree

<li;l';i ;,,• ' \ ••,:1'1',•lt_."h , , '",·· •G, ·m, '°"."t·~. 1,;,~•l( · ,~ tri a l If you wish. Just send a post•

1,r,:~ 1:.11~, i / card asking for n copy of th o new c~ .. PARAC ON" Banfo Fo lder - It is free

Tit(' choic r of (,lie play er · ... ,~., tor tho aski n$; and entai ls no obli~at ion

w ho 101tn ts //w IJ,,s t.

Mcirio <I<> P ie tn, 7Jlll11s

" P<tr(l gon T eno r - banj o .

on your pnrt .

\Vo :iro the act.u a l manufa ct ur er s. CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD.,

90. Shaftesb ury Avonuo, Lon don . w.1 .

rv

tfie lldi6,t

The "Maest ro " g11i tar

is cm instr11.ment tlrnt

corn l>in1•~ thC' skill of

moclern craftsman­

ship and the old­

world methods of

constnu:tion em plo11-

ed /Jy such masters

m; Lacote. Panormo

and Torres . An in­

strnment that will

earn the approval of

the most critical of

cirli.~ls rrt <t price

with in the reach of

B.M.G. [Octoher. In J.I)

V\JVVV\IVV\~ /\/V\f' -

:J,~'i tfie llmateWt

£19 : 10 : 0 Com JJlete with Cas e

-.a See the cut -aw ay heel !

This is cm inslrnmenl for tile

Spcmi,h r,nilarist who demands the /Jest. Thi• sides and bode

are made from Ute finest rost'­

wood and top of specially selected straiyht-orain spruce

with rosette and edges inluid

with b!ctclc and white purjling .

A special flat bridge with inluid

mot her-of -pearl is used with fingerboard filled with wide flat

frets. To facilit .ate finoering in

the higher positions the heel is

cut-awu,J. Machines are tile

best obtainable with bone

" We are the ac tu a l m anuf ac tur ers "

CLIFFORD ESSEX & SON LTD. , 90, Shaftesbury Ave nue. London, W . I

5v1,tv'\J_'-_:__" _..,, _v _v _"'_"-_.,, _.,, _v -"'-" _:__" _..,, _v _v -"'-"'_:__" _.,, _"'_""'~~~~}::;~ ~:!::~JV\f\,-'\J\--'\Jv~-"VV'\i'V\JVV _v _"-_"'_:__"' _..,. _"'_"'_:__" _,, _v _v _":___"" _:__·"_'-:___; P l'inlcd by Pcvcrleys Ltd .. 32-36. Fleet Lnne. London. t·:.C.4 for the Pub lish e rs .-ind Proprietors. c r,11ord Essex and Son Ltd .,

!JO, Sha[tcsbu ry /\venue. London . W. l.