Banjo lesson — "The Poor Wandering Boy" Irish jig from "Buckley's New Banjo Method" (1860)

Описание: "The Poor Wandering Boy" played (very nearly) as written in James Buckley's "New Banjo Method" published 1860 with some embellishments of my own and a slight deviation from the original melody in the 10th and 11th measures (one of those habits which creeps in after many years of playing a tune). Irish Jigs, entirely absent from the earliest collections of banjo music (Elias Howe's Complete Preceptor for the Banjo (1851), Briggs' Banjo Instructor (1855), and Phil Rice's Banjo Method (1858) make their first appearance in Buckley's 1860 Banjo Method and are prominently featured in Converse's 1865 Banjo Method, no doubt reflecting the influx of Irish immigrants to the United States which took place in the preceding decades and during Mr. Lincoln's War. The original publication indicates James Buckley himself as the composer of this particular jig.

For this piece, I adhere as closely as possible to an alternating index/thumb or thumb/index pattern. (In some parts, the melody lends itself more readily to thumb lead; in others, the more conventional index lead.) My long time mentor, Joe Ayers, distilled this approach from the early banjo methods. While many describe this as "Ayers Style," Mr. Ayers argues that it is in fact the original "banjo style" in its purest form having been passed down from African sources. In this style of playing, which facilitates the playing of complex and ornate melodies, the outside of the index fingernail and the pad of the thumb can almost be thought of as alternate sides of a pick. There is no up-picking involved.