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banjola1 - Posted - 12/21/2023: 13:05:46
"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself."
Johann Sebastian Bach -
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"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."
Ludwig van Beethoven -
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"It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception."
Albert Einstein -
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"Sound is what drives my solos, not verbal concepts. I never think, 'I'm going to use a Lydian Dominant scale and then go up a half-step', even though that might be exactly what I end up doing."
John Scofield -
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"Many musicians are fabulously skilled at playing the black dots on the printed page, but mystified by how the dots got there in the first place and apprehensive of playing without dots. Music theory does not help here; it teaches rules of the grammar, but not what to say. When people ask me how to improvise, only a little of what I can say is about music. The real story is about spontaneous expression, and it is therefore a spiritual and a psychological story rather than a story about the technique of one art form or another."
Stephen Nachmanovitch -
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"Ya jus' mash these here wires down on the handle."
Anonymous Banjo Player -
Edited by - banjola1 on 12/21/2023 13:11:15
BobbyE - Posted - 12/21/2023: 13:17:45
>>"Ya jus' mash these here wires down on the handle."<<
Yep, that's all I do. LOL.
Bobby
banjola1 - Posted - 12/21/2023: 13:42:38
quote:
Originally posted by BobbyE
>>"Ya jus' mash these here wires down on the handle."<<
Yep, that's all I do. LOL.
Bobby
And put another log on the fire...
Texasbanjo - Posted - 12/21/2023: 14:43:43
Getting away from tab and/or musical notation and playing with others is what I consider the main necessity for learning to improvise, play by ear and by emotion.
It took me many years to learn the above, lots of parking lot jammin', lots of festivals, getting together with a band, playing gigs and becoming comfortable with the knowledge that I could play just about whatever I heard.
banjola1 - Posted - 12/21/2023: 14:50:09
quote:
Originally posted by Texasbanjo
Getting away from tab and/or musical notation and playing with others is what I consider the main necessity for learning to improvise, play by ear and by emotion.
It took me many years to learn the above, lots of parking lot jammin', lots of festivals, getting together with a band, playing gigs and becoming comfortable with the knowledge that I could play just about whatever I heard.
Hi Texas,
Merry and a Happy!
patcloud.com
banjered - Posted - 12/21/2023: 15:23:12
"Can you read musical notation?"
"Not enough to hurt my music."
(Old Time player)
banjered
banjola1 - Posted - 12/21/2023: 18:16:49
Q. How do you shut up a banjo player?
A. Put sheet music in front of them.
patcloud.com
Edited by - banjola1 on 12/21/2023 18:18:10
Laurence Diehl - Posted - 12/24/2023: 08:55:16
I’m sure there are banjo players who read music just fine. I’m not one of them 
but I don't think it's going to hurt your playing!
rcc56 - Posted - 12/24/2023: 09:50:04
The ability to read and a reasonable understanding of theory can make it possible for one to pay off their house by playing an instrument.
But probably not with a banjo.
Edited by - rcc56 on 12/24/2023 09:59:49
rcc56 - Posted - 12/24/2023: 10:19:44
[Present company excepted. And Bill Keith and Allison Brown. And some guy named Seeger.]
banjola1 - Posted - 12/24/2023: 10:23:47
quote:
Originally posted by rcc56
The ability to read and a reasonable understanding of theory can make it possible for one to pay off their house by playing an instrument.
But probably not with a banjo.
You could afford a decent banjo with a monthly house payment at the current mortgage rates. And music theory is anybody's guess. That's why they call it "theory." If I go to the beach, I want a suntan. I don't need to know exactly how the sun shines.
Edited by - banjola1 on 12/24/2023 10:26:28
rcc56 - Posted - 12/24/2023: 10:43:29
I'll note that I have made dozens of dollars [!!] playing banjo on gigs which required reading music in standard notation. [But only dozens].
I teach theory also. My first lesson: Theory is just theory, and doesn't tell us what we must do, it only tells us some things that we might do. And there are things that are "musically correct" 
that don't sound good, and there are many things that aren't "correct" that sound very good.
And yes, when I teach improvisation, which I believe is something that can't really be taught, I start 'em with a little theory, or at least some geometry, but then I also say "ok, now forget about that stuff and just play."
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Debussy got thrown out of the Paris Conservatory because he wouldn't write the way his instructors told him to. And the critics went after Beethoven upon the premier of his First Symphony, saying "you can't do it that way." His response: "Yes I can, I just did, and I'm not going to change it." And five years later, they were kissing his feet.
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As far as house payments and current prices, I just had to junk my ancient old van and buy a plain model lightly used car that cost $400 more than my first house. I'm glad I paid the house off when I did. Things are getting tough out there, especially for young folks who are trying to get started.
Edited by - rcc56 on 12/24/2023 10:56:26
banjola1 - Posted - 12/24/2023: 11:09:24
quote:
Originally posted by rcc56
Debussy got thrown out of the Paris Conservatory because he wouldn't write the way his instructors told him to. And the critics went after Beethoven upon the premier of his First Symphony, saying "you can't do that." His response: "Yes I can, I just did, and I'm not going to change it." And five years later, they were kissing his feet.
Sounds like the book, "Lexicon of Musical Invective" by Nicolas Slonimsky. It's described as, "Critical Assaults On Composers Since Beethoven's Time." One critic characterized a Beethoven piece as, "the upsetting of a bag of nails here and there..."
Nobody remembers the names of all these past music critics. Deaf ears abound.
Edited by - banjola1 on 12/24/2023 11:13:42
'Gibson TB-11 uncut' 30 min
'Good Saturday Morning' 8 hrs
