Ducks On The Millpond

Friday night, its cold outside, staying in..might as well learn a new tune. How about Ducks on the Millpond! I have know about this tune for some time, and it keeps coming up at jams , so I better learn it. I also love it. Here is a great version by the Master Bob Carlin



Bob Carlin - Ducks on the Mill Pond

GOLD TONE INSTRUMENTS | MySpace Music Videos

Learning Nancy

So, now on to the tune of Nancy. I accidentally came across this tune on Youtube and instantly fell in love with its catchy, upbeat tempo. It definitely has a melodic lilt to it and surprisingly, it wasnt that hard to learn. I would love ot say I learned this one by ear, but alas, I learned it through the patience of Joel Wennerstom. Here is a video of Annie & Mack playing the version I learned.

So, I first heard this song a few years back off a wonderful CD by Nieman & Coole. I could be wrong about the spelling, but frankly, I am just to lazy tonight to look it up. Anyway, I figured out a simple version to play, but it left me flat. Well, leave it to Rhys Jones to show me a beautiful version in G tuning. Of course, right after he left, I couldnt figure it out Fortunately my edirol recorder was running and I shall have it down before the weeks end!

Darling Nelly Gray

Slaves were bought and sold at the whim of their owners with no regard for family or friendship ties within the slave community. “Darling Nelly Gray” tells the story of two young lovers whose romance ended when Nelly was sold and taken to a plantation far away from that of her young man, Ned.

The two had planned to escape together to Canada and then to Owen Sound. Ned and Nelly lived on plantations close to each other. Due to the plantation owners’ practice of keeping slaves segregated, they met through an intermediary, an old Scottish professor. The professor was to help Ned escape to Canada, with a small amount of money and food. Ned was to find work, make enough money--$200—to send to the professor, who would purchase Nelly’s freedom and send her on to Canada to be with Ned.

However, on the night before the plan went into action, Nelly disappeared. Upon some careful enquiring, Ned discovered a stranger had visited the plantation, leading one empty horse. He looked over the selection of slaves, made Nelly his choice, and paid a substantial amount of money for her purchase. As no one recognized him, it was believed he was from a fair distance away and tracing Nelly’s whereabouts would be impossible. To complicate matters, slaves were known by their owner’s names, not their own, i.e. Jim Thompon’s Joe, So and So’s Maggie and so on. Nelly would have a new name in her new home.

To express his and Ned’s sadness, the professor composed a little verse, and then added a melody. Sung sorrowfully by his glee club, it soon became very popular and he eventually added more lyrics to create a full-blown song. The sheet music was soon for sale on newsstands, and, not long after, was sung, whistled and hummed in every state.

It is believed this little song was a major force in shaping public opinion on the issue of slavery, leading to the great Democratic victory of 1860 and the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States.

The Lyrics:

There’s a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore,
There I’ve while many happy hours away.
A-sitting and a-singing by the little cottage door,
Where lived my darling Nelly Gray.

Chorus:
Oh! My poor Nelly Gray, have they taken you away,
And I’ll never see my darling anymore.
I’m a sitting by the river and I’m weeping all the day,
For you’ve gone from the old Kentucky shore.

One night I went to see her but “she’s gone,” the neighbors say,
The white man bound her with his chain,
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away,
As she toils in the cotton and the cane.

Chorus

The picture and story of Nelly Gray was taken from a wonderful website called Owen Sounds Black History.

Needlecase

So tonight was my first lesson with Rhys Jones, an accomplished banjo and fiddle player who just happens to live right here in NYC. My goal for the first lesson was to make sure I fix my technique for my right hand. I knew I was not attacking the strings the way I wanted and needed to make some adjustments there. With a mix of Zen philosophy and blunt talk, Rhys straightened my form right out. It was similar to my lessons in bluegrass i.e. I needed a better arch to my wrist for an almost 90 degree attack on the strings. It was a big improvement. Now I had already learned a basic version of Needlecase, a tune in the key of D, but we worked on a new version that was more basic, yet sounded cleaner and more complicated. Two weeks of hard core practice ahead before the next lesson

Old Time Took Hold

As my playing progressed, I began to play out more and more. One of the best bluegrass jams in the city is run by Sheriff Bob every Wednesday night at the Grizzly Pear in Greenwich Village. It moved there from the venerable Baggott Inn, a place loved by many. I also launched a bluegrass website, listing all things bluegrass, old time and roots in NYC. Things were going great, but something happened. I heard great clawhammer banjo at a jam and just loved the sound. I tried it and found that I really enjoyed the time spent practicing more than playing Scruggs style. My friend Kari convinced me to go to Ashokan Southern Week in the Catskill Mountains where I could get some great instruction from the likes of Bruce Molsky. I was officially hooked. So that is the condensed story of how I got here. Now join me on my continued journey.

Urban Clawhammer

In the Summer of 2008, I embarked on a journey to learn how to play old time banjo. Known by many names including Clawhammer, Rapping, Knocking, or Frailing to name a few, this style of banjo is played predominantly in Old Time Music. Ill get into describing what old time is further down the road. This blog will take you on my life journey of learning this wonderful, annoying, beautiful and frustrating instrument.

My quest to learn banjo began September 26th, 2003. It is easy to remember the exact day because of two main reasons. First, it was my Sisters birthday, but that was not the reason I took up an instrument. It was on this day that Robert Palmer died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 54. Now, I was never a huge Palmer follower. I enjoyed some of his music and thought he was a good singer and songwriter. It was none of those traits that pushed me towards the banjo, but the fact that he was only 54. Now being 40, I recognized that 54 was not that far off for me. I began to think about the things I had promised myself I would do before I die (Yes the cliche bucket list). I had always wanted to learn to speak a language fluently. Five years of Spanish in high school and I all I can tell you is how to open a book or window and that El Cid was a very charismatic leader. I also had wanted to learn how to really play an instrument. Growing up on Long Island, my parents dutifully plopped me in front of our upright piano, secured lessons for me and my Sisters and said "Play" The very idea of doing scales and learning such classic tunes as "The Wigwam Song" did not sit well with me. Those lessons lasted less than a year and I was back to riding my bike and watching too much television. In college I did pick up the guitar. I did stick with the guitar for a few years, taking some lessons and trying to learn how to play Dust In The Wind, Landslide and tons of Simon and Garfunkel. I learned some basics, but quit being dilligent about it after a year or two. I have to say , it did come in handy later on in learning banjo, so all was not wasted.

Well, back to good old Robert Palmer. My state of mind was that I needed to do something about sticking with one of my lifelong goals. A few days later, walking on sixth avenue near 8th Street, I noticed a sign posted in the bulletin board of a local bagel store. "Learn to Play the Banjo" was written in bold letters. Wow, the banjo that is a cool instrument, maybe I could learn that, I thought to myself. I had always loved the sound of the banjo. Back in the day, when I was growing up, there was a Woolworth store in my hometown. In the back they had this 99 cent bin where you could pick up a record that was just not that popular. I remember finding an album called "Hey Mr. Banjo" in there and quickly scooped it up. I loved it and listend to this for hours on end. So why not play the banjo. I tore off one of the tabs with the instructors number, put it in my wallet and quickly forgot all about it. About a month later, I was invited to a party by my friend. There was a band called Citigrass playing, a name that sounded so familiar to me. Than it dawned on me. There in my wallet was the sliver of paper with the words "Citigrass" on it. I walked up to the banjo player and asked "Is this you?" Of course it was and my journey of banjo began. It was not old time clawhammer banjo, but three finger bluegrass style banjo that I took up in the beginning. I took lessons from Sandy Israel of Citigrass for a few months as well as many other instructors including the great Tony Trischka. I became adept at it, if not quite great, but I truly loved it.

Enough for now. Next post on to Old Time!