(There's a lot of wisdom contained in these writings. I urge you to read each section through and
digest the information. These writings were sent to me from an unknown source and I am making
them available to anybody interested. I do this in good faith, for I am sure each author would be
pleased that their work is helping somebody else to better their prospects of becoming a more
accomplished banjo player. I have included the author's names were possible...
[Tony Geoghegan]....e-mail: tony.geoghegan@ic24.net )
N.B.
[Since writing the above I have come by additional information pertaining to some of these works
Special thanks to Bob Kensinger for allowing the use of his left-hand exercises to be included on my
Banjo Hollow site: www.banjohollow.ic24.net/index.htm Also for information and corrections to the following
articles. You can visit Bob at: http://www.s-w-b-a.com
If
you have anything useful to say or contribute in the bluegrass idiom, e-mail Bob
at:
banjobob@earthlink.net ]
NOW READ ON!
How
Hard Is It To Learn How To Play The Banjo? (Author
unknown)
This is one of the questions most frequently asked by someone who is considering taking lessons. There is no set answer to this question as it depends on the following factors.
1. Previous music experience.
A person with previous music experience might find it a little easier to learn to play the banjo since they may have already gained experience in timing, rhythm and reading musical notation.
2. Psychomotor skills, aural discrimination and natural rhythm.
The first is just a fancy way of describing the ability of getting your body to do what your brain wants to do. The second means that you can hear and tell the differences between the notes and lengths of notes. The third refers to getting the feel of timing and rhythm of a song. Everybody has these skills to a different degree. Playing will come easily to those who have a high degree of these skills. However, most people must work a little bit harder to develop them. This is where the next two factors come in.
3. Practice. There is no magic sign that any teacher can give to a student to help him/her play better. Practice is the only way. A minimum of 1/2 hour per day is required if you expect to make progress. If you do not practice, it is a waste of money every time a lesson is taken. Also, it is very difficult to give a full lesson if no practicing has been done to prepare for it. If you do not practice, you are cheating yourself and you are not fooling anyone. An experienced teacher can usually tell when someone has really been practicing.
4. Desire. Ask yourself: "How much do I really want to play this instrument?" It doesn't matter what your abilities are. If you want to play the banjo, you will. You may not become an Earl Scruggs or Alan Munde but you will learn to play it. If the desire is there, you will find time to practice. If if is not there, you will find a hundred excuses for not practicing. As you can see, how fast a person develops his/her playing ability depends on the combination of the above factors. Don't get discouraged if you aren't learning as fast as someone else. Don't try to compare your progress with someone else. Everyone learns differently.
Lessons. This is where your teacher comes in. Depending on the above factors, some people may need only a few lessons to get them going and an occasional lesson when they get stuck or want to learn something new. The majority of the people need regular weekly lessons for a number of reasons. Whatever category you fit into, your teacher is there to help you to develop your natural abilities and enjoyment of the banjo to the maximum. He/She has spent years developing the necessary banjo and teaching skills, is excited about the banjo and wishes to share this excitement with you. Because of this. if you decide to take lessons it is expected that you Practice regularly and show up for your lessons every week. If you do this you will be rewarded with the fun and satisfaction experienced by so many people who have learned to play the banjo.
The 12 Rules of Practicing (The Wynton Marsalis 12 Steps were given to Bob Kensinger by a teacher. Reproduced here by permission)
1. Seek Out Private Instruction. It could take years to figure out what a good teacher could show you quickly.
2. Write Out A Schedule. Include fundamentals always.
3. Set Goals. Chart your development. Challenge yourself.
4. Concentrate. Develop the ability to FOCUS. Do not "just go through the motions."
5. Relax, Practice Slowly.
6. Practice Hard Parts Longer. Confront your deficiencies.
7. Play with Expression. Give yourself over to what you are doing. Do everything with the proper attitude. Do not be a cynic. The expression you play with is your style.
8. Learn From Your Mistakes. Do not be too hard n yourself. Resolve to improve each day.
9. Don't Show Off. Expression, not tricks or gimmicks. Showing off misses the point of group playing.
10. Think For Yourself. Respect your teacher, but think things through for yourself.
11. Be Optimistic. How you feel about living is who you are.
12. Look For Connections. The more you discover similarities in things that seem to be different, the greater the world you can participate in.
Left Hand Finger Exercises. ( by Bob Kensinger.)
Note: These exercises are written here for banjo but apply to any stringed instrument
Spider walk exercise:
Put all four fingers of your left hand on the high D string each one fret apart. For example index on the 5th fret, middle on the 6th fret, ring on the 7th fret, little on the 8th fret. Then, at the same time, lift your index and ring fingers up leaving the other two fingers on the fretboard and place (plant) them both, at the same time, on the next string down (the B string). If you can't lift the fingers at the same time, with your right hand touch the fingers to be moved so your brain can feel the fingers. Remember lift and plant. Now lift your middle finger and little finger at the same time and place them on the B string. Continue alternating these two combinations until you reach the high G string, then return down the strings. You will feel real spastic at first and your fingers will hurt a little. Do this only a few minutes a day and in a months time you will be amazed at how your left hand responds. BTW this exercise is for creating finger independence, making it easier to grab chords and change finger positions more quickly. Also this exercise does not include any right hand rolls so your better half will love this one. :-)
Finger Spacing Exercises:
Put your left hand fingers on the fret board higher up the neck somewhere with index on the D string, middle on the B string but one fret higher, ring on the G string but one fret higher than the middle finger, and little finger on the low D string one fret higher than the ring finger. Your hand position should look like the chord position for a Major Seventh Chord on the guitar. Then, and this is important, move your index finger down one fret not letting the other fingers move and being sure to have a space between the index and middle fingers. If you can't move your index finger reach over with your right hand and move it. This is ok to do as the important thing is to have a space. Follow with the middle finger then move the ring and then the little. Keep moving down the frets until the you reach the nut. Then reverse and go up the neck. The important thing here is to have a space between your fingers. At first these two exercises will feel very weird but will pay off big time.
Notes On Jams And Jam Etiquette (by Edward I. Pollak, Phd.)
Appropriate jam etiquette should ALWAYS be observed. If you're a novice, stay in the background & play quietly until you get the hang of it. (This is the musical equivalent of "lurking.") No one is impressed by a newcomer (or old timer) who insists on playing over everyone else's vocals and breaks. Rules of etiquette tend to differ from jam to jam and especially between Old Timey (OT) and BG jams. In BG jams, all pickers are expected to vamp or chop or play back up licks behind the vocalist or whichever instrument is given the nod to take a solo break. In OT jams, it's common for all banjos and all fiddles to play the melody in unison. This behavior would quickly make you persona non gratis at a BG jam. Many OT jams frown on banjo players with finger picks (and possibly resonators) because such instruments overpower the more traditional-style pickers. Playing Scruggs style at some OT jams is liable to get you ridden out of town. Some "Folky" jams are not jams at all but "open circles" where participants take turns singing and playing. It always pays for a novice to stay in the background for a half hour or so until you can deduce the rules. BG jams will often welcome an OT banjo player and even offer him/her solo breaks but you must obey BG etiquette and not keep frailing, etc. over other people's breaks. The key here (and in most group playing) is to maintain eye contact with whoever is leading that particular song. This is usually, but not always, the vocalist or in the case of instrumentals, whoever kicked off the tune. I see lots of novices wondering why no one gives them a solo break. There are usually three answers: 1)The leader tried to give you a break but you were too busy looking at your fingerboard. (Dobro players are notoriously guilty of this particular sin.) 2)The leader didn't feel you needed a solo break since you'd already (effectively) taken your "solo" break(s) albeit while the vocalist was singing or the mandolin was trying to be heard for his solo break. Sometimes I get the impression that new jam participants try to play too loudly and too much so that those standing around will know that the newcomer has some ability and is, therefore, deserving of a solo break. Rest assured that you can give people a feel for your skill level just as easily with a few well chosen back up licks as you can with a raging "solo break" played over the vocals. 3)The final reason you may not get a break is that the jam leader(s) are being insensitive boors. Sometimes this is a momentary lapse and sometimes it is a persistent personality flaw but don't jump to conclusions too quickly. I have heard people say "that jam doesn't like new comers" when I know for a fact that is not true. Give a jam a couple of tries before deciding that the participants are simply too inbred to deal with. Another truly annoying habit (not necessarily restricted to novices) is evidenced when someone continuously "noodles around" on his/her instrument between songs. People are often trying to TUNE between songs and do not , therefore, appreciate such an activity. If your noodling around is a (not so) subtle way of suggesting the next tune, then just go ahead and suggest the next tune! If your noodling around is just a way of showing others how good you are, it is unnecessary, and just plain annoying. If your noodling around is an attempt to practice a particular tune or lick, move away from the group and practice in a corner by yourself. Last but not least, a note for long time jam participants: Go out of your way to be welcoming and helpful to new comers. They represent the future and growth of the music and jam sessions we all love. I hereby give my permission for anyone to copy, edit, distribute, etc., these notes for the betterment of BG. Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D.: Professor and Chairperson Department of Psychology - West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383 Husband, father, biopsychologist and bluegrass fiddler...E-Mail - epollak@wcupa.edu
Aches and Pains. (By Henry D. Childs, MD From a post on the BGRASS-L:)
Dan Mazer raised the issue of musculoskeletal syndromes in musicians, and there have been a number of helpful commentaries from other people on this thread. Since I work with these problems professionally (in the course of a preventive medicine/sports medicine/internal medicine practice) I thought I'd weigh in with the following two cents worth (oops - in the current managed care climate that's now 1/4 cents worth...): There's a new entity - actually old as the hills, but the label is new - called "Repetitive Strain Injury." (RSI). It's growing by leaps and bounds because of the tremendous increase in the past decade alone in the amount of computer keyboard usage in our society at large, both at work and at home. Hours and hours of nonstop work, mostly in a fixed position, concentrating intently much of the time, causes a fair amount of tension in muscles, tendons, fascia, joints, etc. Depending upon a number of highly variable factors, such as ergonomics (often really poor), the individual's age, overall physical condition, other stress levels, level of expertise with the work, prior injuries or not - something finally decides it's had it, and inflammatory symptoms develop. We're seeing all kinds of: low-grade muscle strain with or without spasm, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, cervical nerve root compressions with pain, numbness or motor weakness or all of the above, fatigue, irritability, etc., etc., etc. Although the workplace is the prime focus for this currently, you can readily see that the above definition applies perfectly well to playing musical instruments. I'll bet there's hardly a one of us who hasn't emerged from a jam, inspired practice session, or a late night of field picking at a fester without numbness, cramps, spasm and tremor in assorted limbs (but happy nonetheless). Most of us manage to shrug it off, but now and then, for all those assorted individual reasons, things snowball. Then there's enough persisting symptomatology that the denial threshold is crossed and we realize "Hello there - we gotta problem!" This is actually very well known among the ranks of top-end professional musicians, especially violinists, cellists and the few others who have particularly high tension levels inherent in how they play, and how much they practice. There are a few physicians who specialize entirely in treating this very unhappy, demanding and usually well-to-do clientele, which is why they don't advertise among bluegrass musicians... Short of trekking to New York City, Paris or London with a satchel full of money, there are a few basic principles which can help us more humble (but sometimes equally afflicted) folks not fall prey to these troubles so badly. First, on the prevention side of things: build and maintain a near-daily aerobic exercise program (this is literally the best medicine I know after 23 years as a practicing clinician!); this burns off a lot of that tension which will otherwise cause a lot of RSI symptoms, helps tone and condition all those picking muscles and tendons better, actually helps you play (and sing) better for physical and emotional reasons. Try to take frequent breaks while you're practicing and even if playing onstage or in a jam, and this kind of break is the kind where you stop picking, shift the instrument around, move around for a minute, stretch out neck, back, shoulders, arms, etc. for a full 60 seconds. Cultivate stage patter and a big smile (I'll bet Ron Thomason hasn't had a lick of RSI in his life!) If you're multi-talented, play more than one instrument during a session. Be sure you're eating properly and maintaining a good fluid intake (aside from firewater) because dropping energy curve (more complex than just blood sugar) and dehydration can help deplete physical reserves and set you up for trouble. If symptoms do develop and something is beginning to hurt persistently or progressively, or get all weak or numb and tingly, etc. - PAY ATTENTION!!!! Persisting pain or disability is meaningful, especially if you're doing all the right preventive stuff. Basic initial treatment of inflammatory symptoms which we can all do (and often don't, or do it only sporadically) is hot soaks 20-30 minutes once or twice a day, also icing 10-15 minutes 3-4 times a day, resting the afflicted area as much as possible (meaning avoiding any painful motions, whether they are musical or anything else). Anti-inflammatory medication is often a good idea, and we use enteric-coated aspirin (such as Ecotrin or generic analog) a lot in sports medicine and Rheumatology because aspirin remains the gold standard in anti-inflammatory Rx to this day, as long as it's used in high enough dose; also because enteric-coated pills are designed not to dissolve in the stomach, but as they travel through the small intestine, which means much less likelihood of stomach irritation or ulceration as well as a time-release effect so that there's a more sustained blood level within the therapeutic range. Because anti-inflammatory doses of aspirin (three standard 5 grain tabs four times a day) or ibuprofen (800 mg three times a day or 600 mg four times a day) are fairly high, there's definite risk of stomach irritation or bleeding or other organ damage if these meds are used for longer periods of time, and it's not super smart to use these for very long in any higher dosage without discussing it with your doc. An important fact that I've found many of us don't fully understand is that pain is only a symptom, and while we can treat pain with lower dosages of meds and a few other gimmicks, it's usually much more important to treat the underlying cause. That's why true anti-inflammatory effect requires much higher doses than simple analgesia, and why it's IMPERATIVE (in my experience, anyhow) to do all of the right stuff, all together, and long enough. If you gang up on the problem with enough synergizing modalities, you've got a far better chance of getting the problem settled down quicker and better. Lest anyone doubt the importance of doing it right, I'll mention that I have in my own practice several young adults who are permanently disabled from their jobs (computer users all) due to tendonitis of their hands and forearms which was neither prevented nor treated adequately when it first appeared. I've learned to respect tendonitis particularly, as it can be for some unfortunate people a really nasty affliction, and extremely difficult to treat when it's gained a foothold. I don't yet have any bluegrass musicians in this category, I'm glad to say, but it could easily happen. Nerve root compression syndromes (either in the neck or the low back) are worth a separate comment. When the spinal cord or more commonly a nerve root begins to get pinched enough to cause irritation and then swelling (either by a partially ruptured disc, facet joint arthritic spurring, or spinal stenosis, or combinations of the three) pain and often numbness or tingling will develop in a neurological distribution. Sciatic nerve root irritation causes pain radiating down into the butt, and often down the outside of the thigh, sometimes all the way down the leg and into the foot; with numbness in the area of the great toe quite common. In the neck, nerve root pinches will often cause pain radiating into the top of the shoulder or down the upper and outer arm, sometimes down the forearm and into the hand. Though the pain is unpleasant, a good deal more serious is weakness: if your foot starts flapping on the ground, or you can't raise your arm or move certain fingers so well that usually warrants more vigorous testing and treatment, because you don't want permanent damage to develop. It's easy to understand how a marginally compromised nerve root can get more unhappy when its owner is lugging around twenty or thirty pounds of banjo, or standing for long periods of time (weight of upper body compressing vertebral openings further), etc. Hope all this is helpful, and in case anyone's wondering, yes, I do practice what I preach! Far from being immune, I've had a terrible time with sciatica, finally requiring surgery two years ago, so I've learned the hard way. I don't carry the banjo so long, sit more, have wheels on all my luggage, etc. And I do play better than I used to, even if it's nothing to brag about... (Hank Childs)