50 SOLOS FOR IRISH TENOR BANJO. O' Connor. SHEET MUSIC BOOK WITH CD & TABLATURE
A unique collection for C G D A and G D A E tuning.
LIBRO DI MUSICA IRLANDESE CON CD.
SPARTITI PER BANJO CON:
PENTAGRAMMA E TABLATURE.
This collection of fifty jigs, reels and hornpipes is arranged for two types of tuning; the standard C G D A used by Gerry O'Connor, and the traditional G D A E tuning used by David McNevin. The first 25 tunes are played by Gerry O'Connor, whose creative and individual style has earned him the reputation of being one of Ireland's finest banjo players. The remaining 25 tunes are arranged and played by David McNevin, an extremely skillful player in the traditional style, who has received major awards for his achievements on the banjo. As David McNevin's solos are arranged for traditional tuning, the tablature may also be used for the mandolin.
In Irish traditional music playing it is not unusual to start a tune with an introductory note or two which are not part of the tune. It is also quite common to finish a tune with a long note or chord which is not part of the tune. If the tune was played in the middle of a set these notes would not be used. Usually they are not written, but in an effort to have the written music as close as possible to what is played on the companion CD they are included in this book. A finishing flourish is written as a note or chord in a small open-ended bar after the end of the tune. This note or chord does not indicate any specific duration for the finishing note or chord.
Product Description:
This book is the most comprehensive collection of banjo tunes currently available by two of the finest banjo players in Irish traditional music. Contains 50 tunes, featuring jigs, reels, and hornpipes arranged for E,A,D,G and A,D,G,C tunings. CD included.
The early origins of the instrument, now known as the banjo, are obscure. That its precursors came from Africa to America, probably via the West Indies, is by now well established. Yet the multitude of African peoples, languages and music make it very difficult to associate the banjo with any specific African prototype. From various historical references, however, it can be deduced that the banjar, or bangie or banjer, or banza, or banjo was played in early 17th-century America by Africans in slavery, who constructed their instruments from gourds, wood and tanned skins using gut or hemp for strings. This prototype was eventually to lead to the evolution of the modern banjo in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Until 1800 the banjo remained essentially a black instrument, although, at times, there was considerable interaction between blacks and whites in enjoying music and dance - whites usually participating as observers. What brought the instrument to the attention of the nation, however, was a grotesque representation of black culture by white performers in minstrel shows. The very essence of minstrelcy was black-face caricatures, which became increasingly popular towards the end of the 18th century, leading to fully fledged black-face skits and songs on stages throughout white America by the middle of the 19th century. It was during this time that the banjo, in all probability, was introduced to Ireland, when the Virginia Minstrels toured in England, Ireland and France in 1843, 1844 and 1845. The leader of the Virginia Minstrels was Joel Walker Sweeney, who was born in Buckingham County, Virginia in 1810. Sweeney, whose antecedents came from Co. Mayo, has become one of the most controversial characters in the history of the banjo, having been credited with introducing the 5th string, or chantarelle, to the instrument. In fact, there are early watercolour paintings well before Sweeney's time that show the 5th string in plantation banjos. So Sweeney most certainly did not invent the 5-string banjo. What he did, however, was extend the popularity of the banjo to an enormous audience all over the United States and Europe. This leads to the question of what kind of banjo was initially introduced to Ireland. The overwhelming likelihood is that it was the 5-string banjo of the minstrels 4 and not the earlier 3- or 4-string variety which was common on the plantations. This is supported by a late 19thcentury sketch in Captain Francis O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians of piper Dick Stevenson and banjoist John Dunne, where the 5th string and peg on Dunne's banjo are clearly visible. By this tilll<' the banjo had undergone several transformations of a technological nature. Instead of tacking the skin head directly to the wooden hoop or gourd body, a thin metal band had been added, which sat on top of the wooden rim over the head by means of hooks and nuts which fastened through 'shows' mounted around the side of the body. The tightness of the skin could be adjusted. Factory-made gut string replaced the old homemade strings and round wooden hoops were used instead of hollow gourds, giving the instrument more durability. The minstrel banjo also lacked frets and as a result, playing above the 5th-string peg position posed a lot of severe intonation problems. It wasn't until 1878 that frets were added to the commercially produced banjo, a development credited to Henry Dobson of New York State. It took three decades of animated controversy for the idea to catch on. So the earliest Irish banjos were, it would appear, definitely fretless. Up to the turn of the 19th century banjos were plucked and strummed by the fingers. So the evidence, though it is circumstantial, would indicate that the banjo was used in Ireland for rudimentary accompaniment of songs and tunes with, perhaps, some of the simpler melodies being plucked out by the fingers. This all changed dramatically at the turn of the century when steel strings were invented. Influenced by the use of the plectrum in mandolin playing, banjo players started experimenting with different plectral playing styles. The idea of tuning the banjo in fifths, just like the mandolin, caught on around this time as well. Many players started to remove the short drone 5th string from the banjo, and before long banjo makers started manufacturing 4-string banjos, originally called plectrum banjos, which were full size 22-fret banjos just like the 5-string banjo, but lacking the 5th string. Then around 1915 the tango, or tenor banjo, was invented, coinciding with the popularity in America of this new dance form imported from Latin America, which was sweeping America at the time. The tenor banjo had 17 or 19 frets, a shorter neck tuned in fifths, just like the mandolin or fiddle, though not necessarily at the same ...
Song Title: Composer/Source:
An tAthair Jack Walsh, An
Bag of Spuds, The
Bill Harte's Jig
Boys of Blue HIll, The
Collins' Reel
Contradiction Reel, The
Crehan's Reel
Eddie Kelly's Reel
Entertainer, The
Fearghaill O'Gara
Finbar Dwyer's Reel
Flogging Reel, The
Flowers of Red Hill, The
Galway Hornpipe, The
Geese in the Bog, The
Glenbeigh Hornpipe
Groves, The
Harding's Jig
Hornpipe in G
Independent Hornpipe, The
Josie McDermott's Reel
Kelly's Reel
King of the Pipers
King's Fancy Jig
Kitty's Wedding
Lark in the Morning, The
McDonagh's Reel
McGann's Reel
McIntyre's Hornpipe
McKenna's Hornpipe
Mist Covered Mountain, The
Moloney's Reel
Moving Cloud, The
O'Dowd's Reel
Paidin O'Rafferty's Jig
Pay rthe Reckoning
Peacock's Feather, The
Peter's Street
Richard Dwyer's Reel
Roche's Reel
Sally Gardens, The
Silver Vale, The
Sonny Brogan's Jig
Star of Munster, The
Strand Jig, The
Swedish Jig, The
Three Sea Captains, The
Tipperary Hornpipe, The
Tom Ginley's Favourite
Tom Ward's Downfall
Italiano
English
