Hi Folks. I've just received an IT250F here down under. It's a real cannon! I like reinforcing the fiddles in our large string band group and the GDAE tuning allows fiddle fingering as I've been playing these tunes on fiddle for a long time. Love to hear from any IT250 owners and does anyone use the tenor for Old Timey Music?
5 Comments |
 | writerrad says:
8/30/2014 2:59:16 PM
In real old time music tenor banjo were used much more than the average old time enthusiast thinks. Gail Gillespie the former editor of the Old Time Herakld did a survey of a collection of hundreds of OTM recordings that ultimately became the basis for the Sugar inthe Gourd web radio site, and found about 15 to 20 percent of the recordings used tenor banjos. This has to be supplemented by the fact that most of the use was in rag time or pop influenced tunes rather than in fiddle tunes.
There are few instances of people tuning a tenor banjo like a five string and replicating five string banjo playing, but that is pretty hard and unusual for old time tunes because of the decisive role of the fifth string in playing the rhythm used in OTM.
Tenors do work in Irish or more northern or Canadian style music, but to me the usually sound just plain wrong in Southern or black oriented OTM.
However, music is what you make it. If you can make the sound you want using a tenor banjo, make it. But for real old time music you need a five string banjo
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 | robmac07 says:
8/30/2014 5:45:49 PM
Thanks for the reply. I mostly play 5 string in clawhammer style for OT as well as some OT 2 and 3 finger style. Interesting how much the tenor was used but as you say, largely in Rags etc. I started out using the tenor in rags and country blues where it works well. Our Jam group is large over 30 players with lots of fiddles and we've found the clawhammer style gets 'lost' in the many Fiddles (up to 7 - 8). The punch of the IT250f cuts through and helps to punctuate the fiddle melodies. When we do solos or small string band tunes (2-4 players) I'll play 5 or fiddle. Thanks again. Any others out there use a tenor?
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| writerrad says:
8/31/2014 9:04:10 AM
the tenor banjo is an offshoot of the mandola banjo which is one of several banjos such as the mandolin banjo and the melody banjo (a single string version of the mandolin banjo which you find a few old ones now marketed as uke banjos) designed specifically by manufacturers to take in violin family players to play the banjo by having similar fingering. I am not a fan of jams with 20 30 people because it requires skills that are not part of what I play old time music for, so I think anything that works goes. There is loud stuff I do on the guitar in such jams that people I play with normally would hit me for that really worked well at jams like that at Mars Hill and other festivals. Might bring a stratocaster to one of those LOL. In 2012 I worked a bit with the Ebony Hillbillies who shared management and some billings with a traditional Irish band from Ireland that had a tenor player. He had his tuned like a violin too, and really did some nice chordal work including on the American fiddle tunes we played together. You were talking about 3 fiddlers, 2 accordians, a flute player, twio percussionists from our band, a percussionist from their band and me playing clawhammer banjo or guitar. I did find it easier on some of the Irish tunes to play the five string with a plectrum than trying clawhammer. I have heard very nice tenor work by English Canadian and Quebecois and Maritimes banjoists on Canadian fiddle tunes as well
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| writerrad says:
8/31/2014 9:07:19 AM
Also just the the Wl250 in any configuration is a superb instrument. I have 4 other banjos that I play including a wonderul 19th century Fairbanks and a very nice custom built tubaphoen to outloud all tubaphones, but I find myself coming back to the WL 250 for my own playing and for playing at festivals, or work shops, often leaving home banjos that cost 2 or 3 or 4 times as much for it
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| robmac07 says:
8/31/2014 6:48:33 PM
Yep. The WL250 is a nice instrument. One of our Jam folks has one. I have a GT BC350+ Carlin with 12"pot. I really like the tone and playability for clawhammer and it's one of my favourite banjos.
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