gdoc - Posted - 06/20/2011:  09:00:23

My first try at recording and posting a tune.

This is a tune my brother played on the piano back in the 60s.  Not really a ragtime tune, more of just a rag I think.

Edited by - gdoc on 06/20/2011 09:02:19

VIDEO: Rustic Dance by CR Howell (click to view)

banjomikey - Posted - 06/20/2011:  09:19:22

Wow! I really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting!

copron - Posted - 06/20/2011:  09:38:25

That was good ,I like that.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/20/2011:  09:53:20

Well done!

I know that tune...but cannot recall anything more about it. I know it was used as a stock bit of music on TV back in the 60's... Now I'll be going nuts until I ID it!

Not really a Rag, more like a typical bit of classic-era (1890's) popular music. It wouldn't surprise me to find it arranged for classic banjo, which is exactly what you sound like.

gdoc - Posted - 06/20/2011:  09:57:29

Thanks for the comments.

Trapdoor, I also remember it from cartoons back in the 50s and 60s.  Usually something like Buggs Bunny dancing around with Elmer or something.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/21/2011:  08:46:19

My poor old memory finally surfaced a sequence from a 1930's cartoon featuring "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit". I have the soundtrack but have never seen the whole cartoon (and don't know the title). Basically, these old cartoons used 'stock' music to suit the action. If the characters were dancing frivolously (back then it would have been "dancing gaily"), they got "Rustic Dance" (and they re-used tunes over and over). Cartoon maestro, Carl Stalling, was a master of this and he was well known to have an encyclopedic memory of ancient tunes to draw on.

I've asked the gurus on the classic-banjo forum if anyone has a period arrangement of it. Also, I've found a very early edition of the piano score on ebay for just a couple bucks. If someone doesn't come up with a period banjo arrangement, I'll crank one out.

Thanks for waking me up to this tune!

gdoc - Posted - 06/21/2011:  17:16:27

Trapdoor2,

I'd like to see a version by someone else, just to see how different it comes out.  There is another banjo player on YouTube who plays the tune, but only the first 2 parts. youtube.com/watch?v=XWalsaL0F14 

I have had a few people request the tab to this tune, and I have it done in a one line format (very easy to read), but I will try to have the 5 line format done in the next couple weeks.  If you want the one line tab I can send that by 6/22 as I have a couple corrections to make first.

Gary

gdoc - Posted - 06/21/2011:  21:20:15

The one line tab is ready, but I seem to have lost the emails from the people who wanted it.   ?????????

dgill - Posted - 06/22/2011:  02:37:15

  Fine job Gary.  I enjoyed the bounce to this one a good bit.  Your timing is spot on and the banjo sounds mighty fine too.  Great job over all.  Keep em coming.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/22/2011:  21:22:22

quote:

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Originally posted by gdoc

Trapdoor2,

I'd like to see a version by someone else, just to see how different it comes out.  There is another banjo player on YouTube who plays the tune, but only the first 2 parts. youtube.com/watch?v=XWalsaL0F14 

---

 LOL That's a good friend, Tim Twiss ("banjosnapper" here on BHO)...master of the fretless (early) banjo. He saw our discussion and posted his TAB to the classic banjo group just the other day. I had no idea he had a video of it out. Note that he is playing it 'stroke style' rather than fingerstyle. Only Tim would attempt such a thing.

It will be a week before the sheet music comes in...I have to hold myself back from trying to play it by ear.

gdoc - Posted - 06/23/2011:  00:26:55

quote:

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Originally posted by trapdoor2

quote:

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Originally posted by gdoc

Trapdoor2,

I'd like to see a version by someone else, just to see how different it comes out.  There is another banjo player on YouTube who plays the tune, but only the first 2 parts. youtube.com/watch?v=XWalsaL0F14 

---

 LOL That's a good friend, Tim Twiss ("banjosnapper" here on BHO)...master of the fretless (early) banjo. He saw our discussion and posted his TAB to the classic banjo group just the other day. I had no idea he had a video of it out. Note that he is playing it 'stroke style' rather than fingerstyle. Only Tim would attempt such a thing.

It will be a week before the sheet music comes in...I have to hold myself back from trying to play it by ear.

---

 Well, you can tell Tim is a lot more relaxed about playing, and it shows.  His version bounced along with no effort, just having fun with the strings.  I like his banjo too.

gdoc - Posted - 06/23/2011:  00:43:04

quote:

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Originally posted by dgill

  Fine job Gary.  I enjoyed the bounce to this one a good bit.  Your timing is spot on and the banjo sounds mighty fine too.  Great job over all.  Keep em coming.

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 Thanks Donnie

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/28/2011:  19:32:29

OK. I uploaded my TAB for "Rustic Dance" just a minute ago. I'll go back and upload the .tef version in a minute or so.

I took the piano score and keyed it directly into TablEdit using a lowered version of the Classic "C" tuning (gCGBD). Since the original was in Bb and Eb, I tuned fBbFAC and just put it all in. Once the tab was set, I simply retuned the banjo up to gCGBD (in the software). Now we're in C and F. If you wanted to play along with the piano, I suppose you could tune down to fBbFAC and have at it.

This turned out to lay nicely above the 5th fret with just a couple of excursions upwards. It is a very simple arrangement with just some odd chords in the Trio (the minor part). I had to re-harmonize some of those chords as a few of the piano chords are impossible to play in the written inversion...and a couple I couldn't identify, so I simply gave 'em the "ear" treatment (sounds good? put it in!) and moved on. The grace notes from the 7th and 8th fret are simple pull-offs, btw. Also, I added a big 8-4 slide on the 4th string...because I liked it.

gdoc - Posted - 06/28/2011:  22:54:54

Post your playing of this version as soon as you can, I want to hear how it will differ. Table edit? Here I'm tabing everything out in Excel, and that's a job! Guess I best catch up on the times.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/29/2011:  07:36:40

TablEdit is an amazing program for the price (around $60). I've been using it for about 10 yrs and still find features I've never explored. It takes some time to figure it out, but it does a great job and produces clean TAB (for nearly any instrument).

I'm working on my version...I'll post a video when I get it ready. Thankfully, this piece is marked "Allegretto" (about 117bpm) which is not terribly speedy...except for the last time thru the main theme, which is marked "faster". It will be fun!

gdoc - Posted - 06/29/2011:  09:35:05

I didn't have the music anymore to refer to the bpm, but all the youtubs players played it about 120 to 126 beats per minute. I think on the banjo 126 is about perfect. For some reason, I played it at 132bpm. That seemed to work because I didn't have all the other notes avaiable for fill that the piano has.

At around 120, on the banjo it sounds like a nice little bouncy tune, kind of like walking home when after kissing your first girlfriend for the first time. It looses something when played fast.

JanetB - Posted - 06/29/2011:  09:47:16

Fun listening!  What banjo are you playing in the video?

Edited by - JanetB on 06/29/2011 09:48:45

trapdoor2 - Posted - 06/29/2011:  10:15:39

quote:

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Originally posted by gdoc

I didn't have the music anymore to refer to the bpm, but all the youtubs players played it about 120 to 126 beats per minute. I think on the banjo 126 is about perfect. For some reason, I played it at 132bpm. That seemed to work because I didn't have all the other notes avaiable for fill that the piano has.



At around 120, on the banjo it sounds like a nice little bouncy tune, kind of like walking home when after kissing your first girlfriend for the first time. It looses something when played fast.

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 Far better to go at a speed that "feels right" than to strictly adhere to some marking. I also thought it sounded good in the 120bpm range. There is no real std. for translating the Italian tempo terms, they're simply interpretations based on classical theory. I couldn't even find a setting for Allegretto, it is simply defined as "faster than 'moderato' but slightly slower than 'allegro'." I chosse 117 because it is right in the middle of the two. You could argue for 120 easily...but in reality it doesn't mean much: play it the way it speaks to you. That's what I do.

Exercises like this make me wish I knew more about harmony. If I could reliably write out the chord progression, I think I would be better able to flesh out the arrangement and make it sound like something special. (whatever that means, it is pretty neat just as it is).