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Paul Roberts - Posted - 02/03/2011: 13:25:59
I've been listening to Tom Berghan's rendition of Kitchen Girl and think there are some noteworthy things going on here.
banjohangout.org/topic/192336
There are several obvious attributes that distinguish Tom's playing. Here are two of those attributes which I'd like to use to start off this conversation:
1. What became readily apparent to me (after the 3rd listening) is the varying dynamics that are constantly changing throughout the piece. There's a certain flow, an aliveness, which keeps unfolding - the opposite of the approach of rattling a tune off the same way over and over; not that there's anything wrong with the latter. What Tom is presenting is a highly sophisticated musical approach to orchestral-quality playing.
2. The way Tom plays into the "ring." The sustaining ring of the instrument takes on a significant tonal interplay in the music.
What are you're impressionistic impressions?
PauL banjocrazy.com/
UNYBP - Posted - 02/03/2011: 13:33:55
I listen to Tom's stuff a lot, in fact he's among a few from BHO who are on my ipod. I think the thing that draw me to his playing is just the relaxed sound that comes out. I totally agree with your statement about the varying dynamics and the flow but the overall feel I get is just a very nice relaxed smooth playing. It really can set an entire mood. If I can ever play 1/2 that well I'll be thrilled.
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/03/2011: 13:48:20
I agree with your assessment. And I wouldn't hesitate to say that, for me at least, it's much more interesting to listen to than hearing someone "rattling a tune off the same way over and over" (as you put it).
trick420 - Posted - 02/03/2011: 13:56:47
This is one of the reasons I don't like to "stuff" my banjo. Everyone seems to get so hung up on getting that choked up, plunk, that you loose so much dynamic range and musicality. Sustain is king for me as long as you practice controlling it. I love the open, ringy sound he gets on this. His banjo sounds so open and free... And it still falls squarely into old time clawhammer!
I also think that dynamics use in playing is a sign of musical maturity, and it's something many of us either dismiss, or just plain don't even think about practicing. As a classically trained violinist, it was more or less beat into me to practice the notes, but only at the correct dynamic marking - I don't think I've ever seen a tab with dynamics marked on it! Now, I'm nowhere hear Tom's league on the banjo, I'm as guilty as anyone! So, if you aren't taught to worry about the dynamics, I think it's more or less lost until you reach that level that you start fine tuning what you know, and it comes along as a natural progression.
I also think song familiarity has a lot to do with it - there are tunes that I play so much that I can hold a conversation and just let my fingers work. At that point, I think you can really work on dynamics and artistic inflection. If the song is unfamiliar then you spend a lot of energy just trying to get it right.
Tom is an amazing player. You may also want to chalk some of it up to pure, raw talent on his part. He's got that in spades.
jbalch - Posted - 02/03/2011: 14:01:17
Tom is a first-class musician and a great fellow too. I love his banjo playing and a very pleased to have met him on a recent trip to Nashville.
"Sophisticated" is a very good descriptor of Tom's music. BTW....if you have not heard his lute playing...check it out here: cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/tom/#listen
Tom seems to really be in-touch with the wide range of tonal and sustain capabilities of his various banjos. I think he uses all of those capabilities deliberately and with great skill. The result is very musical...and beautiful.
Edited by - jbalch on 02/03/2011 14:07:58
Rob MacKillop - Posted - 02/03/2011: 14:41:31
People find themselves listening instead of hearing. That's rare on any instrument. We are lucky to have him play our beloved instrument.
bluemule_77 - Posted - 02/03/2011: 15:32:38
And if I'm not mistaken... he's a clawhammer newbie! Amazing.
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/03/2011: 16:02:46
quote:
Originally posted by bluemule_77
And if I'm not mistaken... he's a clawhammer newbie! Amazing.
Yeah, but he's a stringed instrument oldbie ... and he sure knows and feels music to the depth of his soul!
Paul Roberts - Posted - 02/03/2011: 20:03:42
I take it the reference means that Tom was in that band?
"Tom seems to really be in-touch with the wide range of tonal and sustain capabilities of his various banjos. I think he uses all of those capabilities deliberately and with great skill. The result is very musical...and beautiful."
"tonal and sustain capabilities" - that's a nice description.
PauL banjocrazy.com/
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/03/2011: 21:23:42
quote:
Originally posted by BrittDLD1
quote:
Originally posted by jbalch
"Sophisticated" is a very good descriptor of Tom's music. BTW....if you have not heard his lute playing...check it out here: cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/tom/#listen
Yeah... And here's the FLIP-side:
myspace.com/201376070/music-pl...eat=false
Best-
Ed Britt
(I'm a sucker for rock-a-billy!)
AND: rockabilly.nl/artists/magnetics.htm
Well, you gotta admit...the guy's got range...enormous range! (Thanks for posting these links...They're soooo cool!)
Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 02/03/2011 21:26:09
Don Borchelt - Posted - 02/04/2011: 03:15:08
Tom plays with amazing skill, elegance and grace. A true gifted musician.
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 02/04/2011: 06:02:38
quote:
Originally posted by Marc Nerenberg
... Well, you gotta admit...the guy's got range...enormous range!
(Thanks for posting these links...They're soooo cool!)
He's a cool guy, too!
source: pnwbands.com/magnetics.html(If you can tear your eyes off Ravenna, long enough to figure-out
which one is Tom!)
Best-
Ed Britt
Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 02/04/2011 06:03:59
stevel - Posted - 02/04/2011: 06:05:40
quote:
Originally posted by trick420
This is one of the reasons I don't like to "stuff" my banjo. Everyone seems to get so hung up on getting that choked up, plunk, that you loose so much dynamic range and musicality. Sustain is king for me as long as you practice controlling it. I love the open, ringy sound he gets on this. His banjo sounds so open and free... And it still falls squarely into old time clawhammer!
.............
Tom is an amazing player. You may also want to chalk some of it up to pure, raw talent on his part. He's got that in spades.
Believe it or not, Tom says he often stuffs his banjo... I think he uses a "Shamwow".
Regarding Tom's playing, there is nothing I can say that hasn't been said. And as John Balch stated, Tom is a genuinely nice guy. I've had the pleasure of speaking with him a few times over the past year or so, and he's always happy and willing to provide advice, tips and whatever you need to become a better player.
In fact, Tom helped me get my Chuck Lee Vintage Ovilla. Back when I first heard his recordings, I fell in love with the tone of his banjo. The sounds he was pulling out of his instrument just blew me away. Shortly thereafter we became friends here on the BHO as he had offered me some help and tips for installing a skin head. A friendship was born!
Then about a year later I was on a mission to find/get a Lee Vintage Ovilla (with just the smallest of hopes that one in my hands might sound somewhat similar to Tom's as he plays his). Long story short, I saw that Dusty Strings in Seattle, WA had a used one for sale. Being that I live in Maine, there was no way I could go down to the shop to check it out. I happened to email Tom and mentioned that if he was bored over the weekend, that he should go down to Dusty Strings and try out the banjo for me (because he lives in the area... even though I was only half serious with my request, I proposed it anyway).
Tom replied that he was in Italy on business, and wouldn't be home for a week or so. A few weeks had passed, and I had basically given up about trying to persue the instrument in Seattle, when all of a sudden I get an email from Tom. He had gone down to Dusty Strings and not only played it, but gave it a thorough review and inspection. It was one of the most detailed descriptions about an instrument I personally had ever seen. Not only that, but he had attached about 15 or so pictures of the banjo so I could see it in all its glory. I couldn't believe it. Here was someone I had met only over the internet, had occasionally communicated with every now and then, that had gone out of their way to do something for a friend (even if only a "cyber-friend".)
About two weeks later that Ovilla was in my poessession, and I've been thrilled ever since.
I've always wanted to share this story, but didn't want to put Tom in the spotlight. However, his musical talents are turning a lot of heads around here, and this just seemed to be a good time to not only rejoice in Tom's beautiful music, but to elaborate on what a wonderful guy he is as well.
Cheers to Tom!
steve
majikgator - Posted - 02/04/2011: 08:25:30
He's not all that newbie but his background in music definitely shines through in his playing, this is music not just rattling off notes as fast as you can muster. Dynamics, yes including volume. i have been keeping up with Tom's playing and thoughts on playing for a good bit now and am consistently impressed with both. i didn't catch this great recording of Kitchen Girl before though, thanks for bringing it to my attention Paul.
R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 02/04/2011: 13:30:55
Lovely, introspective playing.
Tom is a master.
bluemule_77 - Posted - 02/04/2011: 16:09:13
I hope no one thought I was being negative in saying Tom was a relative "newbie!" Far from it. i was trying to emphasize his musicianship, as evidenced by his "quick" mastery of clawhammer.
tomberghan - Posted - 02/04/2011: 16:35:45
Dear Friends,
As the great Minnie Pearl said, I am so proud to be here. Your kindnesses and compliments are truly a treasure for me. Thank you so very much.
Yes, that is me in the above photos holding that 1954 Gibson L5-CES (a VERY fine guitar!) . . . and yes, it took almost an entire can of Aqua Net hairspray before each performance. (Oh the glamorous life of a rockabilly)
Now . . . I guess it is OK if I join in on this discussion too? A lot of words have been written in this thread about “dynamics” . . . but I think we should rather talk about phrasing.
Food for thought:
First, what is musical phrasing? Well, it is completely analogous to speaking. If we speak at a constant tempo with no punctuation (no commas, no accents, no periods, etcetera) then the speech is rendered nearly unintelligible. It is almost painful to listen to. It is exactly the same when we play. We should (according to the taste of many listeners) use various tools as punctuation in our musical lines to communicate ideas in our musical performance (love, anger, melancholy, sadness, joy, excitement, and etcetera)
Dynamics is only one of the tools we use as we build a musical phrase.
Here is a list of “tools” for us to consider for building a phrase.
* Loud / Soft (dynamics: forte & piano)
* Faster / Slower (tempo)
* Call and Response (like an echo)
* Accents (stressing one or more notes more or less than others)
* Attack - Long / Short (staccato / legato)
* Swing (making a series of otherwise equal notes unequal, meaning to play every other note just a little longer or shorter)
* Ornamentation (approaching a note from above or below, slurs, mordents, trills, appoggiatura, etcetera)
* Rubato: This term generally means to expand or contract the time, typically within a measure
* Speeding up (Accelerando) / Slowing down (Ritardando)
There are more tools, but this is a very good list to begin with.
I hope this will give all of us something to consider in our playing as we build our musical phrases.
Best Wishes,
Tom
(And by the way, yes, I am a newbie!)
dbrooks - Posted - 02/04/2011: 19:08:13
Great thread about a fine player. Lots of comments here to make us better listeners and, ultimately, better players.
David
tomberghan - Posted - 02/07/2011: 04:07:23
What happened? I start talking about "phrasing" and everyone leaves the room?!
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 02/07/2011: 05:05:47
ME...
(Sorry...) 
Back to our regularly scheduled program.
Best-
Ed Britt
GMB - Posted - 02/07/2011: 06:40:46
Tom, Do you find that once you learn a song and have it down cold and then add phrasing, it becomes part of the way you play the song? Or is it something that evolves as your playing does? Or is it something that you apply differently each time you play as it suits your mood that day? Great to be a multi-instrumentalist...gives you a better understanding of the music itself I think. Jerry
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/07/2011: 06:52:02
quote:
Originally posted by tomberghan
What happened? I start talking about "phrasing" and everyone leaves the room?!
I've been too busy working on my phrasing to talk about it!
Rob MacKillop - Posted - 02/07/2011: 06:54:28
Ditto everything about Tom...
Phrasing - I always sing my solos. I have a TERRIBLE voice, but that doesn't matter. By trying to sing the tune or parts I get closer to the phrasing. Everyone has heard the comment, 'He makes the instrument sing' - well, to do that you have to sing through and with your banjo. I even sing the intervals of chords. The pitch, curiously enough, is not so important as finding out the energy that is contained in a chord or melody, the distance between a series of intervals, packed together like a kernal. If you sing it one way, and play it another, something is wrong.
tomberghan - Posted - 02/07/2011: 08:11:49
quote:
Originally posted by GMB
Tom, Do you find that once you learn a song and have it down cold and then add phrasing, it becomes part of the way you play the song? Or is it something that evolves as your playing does? Or is it something that you apply differently each time you play as it suits your mood that day? Great to be a multi-instrumentalist...gives you a better understanding of the music itself I think. Jerry
Great Question! OK, so the following is my basic approach.
The particular instrument I am playing has almost
nothing to do with the process.
The melody is everything. The very first consideration is to decide what it is that I want to communicate. To this end, I gather as much historical information as I can.
What is the title? What does the title convey? Is it based on a dance-type? (Reel, Rag, Cakewalk, etcetera?) What are the characteristics if that kind of dance? Is it from a song? What is the song about? Is there a story that goes with the tune? For instance, the story that goes along with the tune “Coleman’s March.” The story is about a man going to the gallows to be put to his death, so, playing the melody with a bright happy feeling would be inappropriate. Likewise, playing Rebel Raid like a dirge would be inappropriate. If the tune is about a battle (about war) then what does a battle (a raid) sound like?
So, after I have gathered such information, the images I wish to convey in my performance become pretty clear to me fairly quickly.
Then, the attributes such as tempo, timbre, attack, and ornamentation just fall into place.
I always try to start practicing the melody slowly because I think the human brain is very impressionable and I want the first impressions to be the correct notes and fingerings! So, when I am first learning to play the melody it sounds a bit mechanical because I am simply training my hands and brain.
Afterward, I bring it to tempo and add all of the phrasing that will use to convey the feelings I wish to communicate.
NOTE: I personally find this process works best if I play JUST the melody first and not concern myself with all the other “clawhammer” stylistic stuff that will be added later. The first order of business is just the melody. Does that make sense?
Well, that is my process. I hope that helps some people and at least provides some food for thought.
Best Wishes,
Tom
Edited by - tomberghan on 02/07/2011 08:14:55
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/07/2011: 08:33:42
So Tom, do you ultimately settle on a definitive version, or does it keep varying with every playing?
My own personal process involves constant varying, I find I never play anything exactly the same way twice - in terms of phrasing, ornamentation, dynamics, etc.
This was a constant source of frustration when I was in a band: two of us were that way, always changing what we were doing, and the third member wanted everything highly arranged and set in stone. (That particular configuration of the band didn't last too long!)
Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 02/07/2011 08:34:26
slc - Posted - 02/07/2011: 09:44:40
I love to think about this stuff - what makes a tune *work*? What makes a tune different than just a pile of notes? One idea that I always think of is that each tune is like a unique person - a personality unique to itself. Like getting to know a real person, it takes time to know who they really are, and the ability/awareness to give that person space to show who they really are. Sometimes a tune seems to *want* glitzy/gimmicky tricks all over it, other tunes have a more spare and introspective feel to them. Others are ponderous and bombastic. Also the relationship to the tune changes over time - you might first think that a new friend is a fun/outgoing type but as you get to know them you discover there are 'deep waters' there.
And there are tunes you hate and if you're lucky you might get to know them in a new way... but that thread has been handled very nicely already :-)
And of course the tune doesn't exist as an objective thing in itself, separate from the player. It's a relationship, and the tune as its played really evolves out of the relationship between player and tune.
Obviously, Tom is really good at this stuff (and only a couple years playing? sheesh)
farmer bob - Posted - 02/07/2011: 11:08:46
Great job Tom, I like all your music you upload this site...phrasing is 99% of the song after all the the foundation is no more than 5 notes. The phrasing makes those 5 notes sound like the tune we identify as Kitchen Girl... Bob.
GMB - Posted - 02/07/2011: 13:10:19
Tom, Thanks for the reply. I start off playing a new song slowly and after I can play it pretty well I start playing more attention to the embellishments. I've been playing clawhammer for 7 months now but don't approach your skill level yet. I remember hearing Tony Bennett explain his approach to a song...first he tries to understand what the composer was saying/playing, then he would focus his full attention on conveying that to the audience; the feeling of the song...different genre but the application is similar I think. Thanks for the explanations! Jerry
tomberghan - Posted - 02/07/2011: 17:20:16
quote:
Originally posted by Marc Nerenberg
So Tom, do you ultimately settle on a definitive version, or does it keep varying with every playing?
My own personal process involves constant varying, I find I never play anything exactly the same way twice - in terms of phrasing, ornamentation, dynamics, etc.
This was a constant source of frustration when I was in a band: two of us were that way, always changing what we were doing, and the third member wanted everything highly arranged and set in stone. (That particular configuration of the band didn't last too long!)
Another great questionGo back and re-read my expanation of how I build the phrasing (first page, my post before this one). What I am describing is how I form my interpretation of what the melody means to me . . . what I am trying to communicate. Once I understand that then the phrasing comes easily.
So, no I do not play it the same every time going forward . . . but in general, my interpretation of the melody stays fairly constant (the tempo, the character, and so forth). It is like telling a story . . . if the story is sad, then it stays sad . . . if it is romantic or wistful, or joyful (whatever) then the "story" stays the same . . . but divisions, the accents, the ornaments will constantly change to some degree.
Take for example any great Jazz artist. I don't know . . . lets say Dave Brubeck . . . and his most well known composition is "Take Five." Now, whenever Mr. Brubeck (now 90 years old) plays "Take Five" he plays the head with the same feeling as we all know, but then he starts in on the variations and the jamming . . . and so it constantly changes with each performance of course, but some elements remain
constant.Now, there are two basic ways to go here. We can actually play divisons and variations on the melody . . . or we can depart from the melody altogether and just jam over the chord changes. And either way is cool and acceptable. But . . . I think it is
most impressive to actually play variations and divisions. I can jam on anything, but I still have to work out my variations in advance somewhat, and I am always getting better at playing divisions, but, we have all heard some brilliant musician who can freely improvise true variations on the spot . . . and I am not quite one of those yet (I'm still working on that!).
Example:
Have you ever heard Mozart's variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" If not, then go find it on YouTube. Now that cat was
AMAZING!
Edited by - tomberghan on 02/07/2011 17:22:45
