"We Must All Cultivate our Garden." - My Visit with Frank and Mary

What a great day!  I started with a sleeping late, a delicious breakfast and then Frank and I got down to some of the work of cultivating the garden.

I brought both instruments (banjo and guitar) with me, but this has definitely been a week of banjo.  One thing I've been working on is getting out of clawhammer style (which I still love), without going right into bluegrass (which I only like).  The answer?  Pete Seeger style!

Frank as been so generous in giving me the keys to the kingdom of this style of banjo playing.  We've both been so excited by it that we decided to make some videos, and maybe others can learn this stuff also.   It's all recorded.  I just have to edit it a bit.

What follows is the first of what I believe will be six videos featuring short lessons on banjo playing, taught by Frank.



Wait!  Don't go grab your banjo without finishing this post!  There's more!

Then we went into Atlanta to meet Bill Rutan.  This guy is awesome!  He is the banjo player that sings and plays in the video of the dixieland jam in my previous post.  Bill is incredibly knowledgable about banjos, but isn't a show off.  He's very humble.  I like that.

Frank, Mary and I hung out with him for about an hour or so.  We played banjos, conversed about banjos, thought about banjos, looked at banjos, took banjos apart and put those same banjos back together again.

Here is a video of Bill singing a song called "When that Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam."





We've got to find a way to get this guy up to Chicago.  I have a feeling that he's a great teacher.

From Bill's place we went to have lunch at a place called R. Thomas'.  That is some good food.  Best part?  Raw veggies and fruit shakes for Frank and Mary.  Burger with cheddar cheese and a pint of organic pilsner for me!   Oh, that tasted good.

From the restaurant, we went to the Martin Luther King historical site.

I was touched by the words enscribed on the plaque under the monument called The Eternal Flame.

"The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles."

Maybe it sounds silly, but my presonal commitment is to continue to give children a voice and have them actively take the lead in their own musical education.

I have a feeling I'm going to be thinking about this plaque a great deal when I get back to Chicago.  There's a lot of work to be done.

Lastly, Frank and I had another great chat tonight.  Gosh, I have learned so much over the last few days.  Questions have been answered and new questions have appeared.  I mentioned how I feel like, over the past couple of years, I've built a beautiful garden with my music, my teaching and my life, but, like many projects, I didn't always think about how much work it would be to take care of the garden.  Frank layed this quote from Voltaire.  "We must all cultivate our garden."

Thanks so much for your great perspective, Frank.

OK, everyone.  Thanks for reading the whole post.  Now you can go get your banjo.

Well, That Didn't Take Long. - My Visit with Frank and Mary

As you may know, I'm in Decatur, GA visiting Frank and Mary Hamilton.  Frank is the co-founder (withe Dawn Greening and Win Stracke) and first teacher at the school.  I'm here just to visit and get a way for a bit, talk about the history of the school and folk music in general.

Here's some information about Frank's role in founding the school.  

I knew there would be a lot of music making on this trip, but, boy, that was fast!  I went right from the airport to a dixieland jam that Frank is part of at the Atlanta Federation of Musicians.  I got there at 3:00 and by 3:05 they had me joining in.  I didn't know name, the tune, the key or nothin'.  By the end of the song I had learned that i was in Bb. That's about it.  They were a very welcoming bunch.  Lots of smiles and lots of dixieland.

The jam was great.  More on the actual content once I figure out where my camera is.  I hope I left it in the car.

It's been a inspiring evening.  We watched an awesome documentary called Karoo Kitaar Blues all about marginalized musicians in South Africa.  If you have Link TV I think it's available on-demand. I want to watch it again.

We ate at a place called Your Dekalb Farmers Market. This place is inredible!  Whole Foods - eat your very expensive heart out.  You've got nothin' on this place.

We also got down into some "Pete Style" banjo picking and my ears and fingers have been opened.  Turns out, it's not double C tuning that I need.  It's single C.  That changes everything.  I can't wait to dig in and get all my new tricks under my fingers!  Here we come songs in minor keys!

Onward to tomorrow!
Jason

Nonesuch and Other Folk Tunes - Pete Seeger & Frank Hamilton

I spent most of the day doing my best to relax around the house and stay off the computer. I listened to the album Nonesuch and Other Folk Tunes by Pete Seeger and Frank Hamilton a few times. What a great record! Super-musical. From the first notes of Meadowland, these instrumental roar through my stereo. The first song, "Meadowland", is a beautiful demonstation of dynamic tension right out of the gate and the energy never lets up. Then, as if they want to prove just how much fun they are having in the studio, Pete and Frank team for for an incredible vocal rendition of The Battle of New Orleans. The power of their voices on lyric "Well . . . " ,which opens every stanza, practically knocks me over every time.

I always love the liner notes from Folkways. Here are a couple of selections.

Pete writes, "[The album] is influenced by the folk traditions of hte American south, popular music of the air waves, and recordings hear of ethnic music fromAfrica, Russia, Asia, the Caribbean and, and also of the symphony and concert hall . . . The selections together tell, we hope, of our love for many peoples, our neighbors in a small world. May our various languages be better understood."

Frank writes, "We attempted to explore the uses of instruments that were not necessarily related to the culture backgroud of the songs."  If you know me, you know that this is a sentament that is very close to my heart.

The liner notes also include this awesome picture of Frank playing the guitarrón.  The photo is by David Gehr.

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We also had a very good Young Stracke All-Stars practice today. I'm feeling a bit rejuvinated after a very long week of struggling musically, idealistically, emotionally, etc. It's good to "hit bottom" once and a while. Partily because it gets easier to shake it off each time it happens, and also, once you hit there's no where to go but up. Onward!