[Dixielandjazz] So what's wrong with banjos, huh!

[Rob McCallum]

Hi Bill and everyone,

What makes the banjo routine that the Boondockers perform so funny?  Would
that bit work if everyone in the band picked up a trumpet or a bass and
tried to play it on stage?  I'm not sure.  Maybe it's because it's such a
"folksy" instrument and it seems that at least one person in everyone's
extended family picked up and tried to play a banjo at one time or another.
My father tried to play a banjo for years, and he only ever tried to play 2
songs--Black Velvet Band and Cripple Creek.  They were, quite literally, the
only 2 songs he ever tried to play in all that time, and he never seemed to
get any better.  But, of course, he was from Scotland so he obviously was
trying to play the wrong instrument!  Perhaps I should count my blessings
that he didn't attempt the bagpipes : )

All the best,
Robert Bruce (yes, that's really my name) McCallum


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 9:25 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] So what's wrong with banjos, huh!


> Hi all (herewith arguments with which many of you will find fault),
>
> Craig Johnson writes:
>
> >When you have a good(!) banjo player they are a pleasure
> >to hear, and I've been lucky enough to play with a few.
>
> Isn't it true that the same thing could be said for any instrument?
>
> But nobody ever says:
>
> "When you have a good(!) violin player they are a pleasure to hear"
>
> or
>
> "When you have a good(!) piano player they are a pleasure to hear"
>
> or
>
> "When you have a good(!) cornet player they are a pleasure to hear"
>
> Ok ok ok ok
>
> But you get my point . . . there seems to be an automatic reaction that
> banjos are somehow inferior and/or unlistenable and/or annoying and/or not
a
> standard musical instrument . . .  blah blah blah - yada yada yada.
>
> So -
>
> If any of you have some compelling argument as to why a banjo is only
> acceptable when played by a "good" player (as opposed to all other regular
> players?) please offer it here.
>
> Or, lacking such an cogent proposition, please provide me with a list
> reasons why a banjo is less than acceptable than, say, a trumpet or a
piano
> or a bagpipe (well, maybe not a bagpipe).
>
> Craig's sentence  - "When you have a good(!) banjo player they are (sic) a
> pleasure to hear . . ." - while ostemsibly offered in support of the
> instrument, it is, in fact, a slap at the instrument because it implies
> rather strongly that unless the performer is unusually gifted the
instrument
> has no merit.
>
> Now I know that Craig really didn't mean that . . . but the nuances of our
> language are pretty subtle and Craig's sentence, in street language,
really
> means "banjos normally suck."
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bill "I got your banjo right here" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
> ps - actually I think a bagpipe should be included.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>