Wakefield Banjo Club is based in West Yorkshire, England. Everyone is welcome to join.

22 Members, Created 1/28/2011 -

Administrators: Beer Junky (owner) , T1T2 , Wardjrz

Banjo Club Relaunch?

From Wardjrz on 4/22/2012 12:47:11 PM

Ayup Fellas

I know a few of us have been talking to Tim about starting up the Banjo Club again.

Like some of you I think this would be a great idea. I really enjoyed the meetings and have missed them since they stopped.

It must have been a real pain for Tim to sort the venue, cart his pa gear and kit to sell and then have to think what he will do to keep us entertained. I know many of you have taken part by performing at the Club, and that is to your credit, but lets be honest without Tim sorting it out it wouldn't have happened or been worth attending and I'd like to thank him for that.

I think if the Club were to start up again on the same basis then it would only be fair to pay Tim a performance fee. After all, we play for fun – even though it doesn't feel like fun at times- and music is Tim's job. If he wasn't at Banjo Club he could be earning.

Having thought about it for a while now I'd like to propose a slightly different set up for the Club but this is only a suggestion for you to add to or change as you see fit.

I would like Tim to be part of the club because he wants to be there, for him to have the opportunity to bring stuff to sell for when we need supplies. I'd rather that he didn't feel that he had to perform to keep the evening going and us entertained. Maybe we could set up the club so that Tim would want to be part of it but that if he fancied a night off it would still happen.

I have played alongside others in the past and it really helped me with my timing and with keeping track of where I am with the music. With this in mind I'd like to propose that we include a jam session as the main part of the evening. Of course we would have to cover music that everyone could play along with and maybe we could start from Janet's book before progressing onto other things. No doubt Tim would be able to lead the jam, offer guidance when we go wrong and advice to help us play better. We'd also need to make sure that the room set up was well for a jam session.

I would also like those who want it to have the chance to perform to the rest of us – though this isn't something I am confident enough to do yet.

It would be great for Tim to play for us as well but I'd like this to be if he wants to not because he feels obliged to.

I know that I attended a few Club nights and have not taken an active part by performing. I also brought other spectators along. I think on reflection that this wasn't necessarily the right thing to do so I'd be happy to limit attendance to those who play if everyone else wanted.

I suggest this so that everyone, me included, can play without fear of having our performance viewed or criticised by a non player. After all, we know what it is like to be learning to play banjo and I am sure it comes easier for some of us than others. We could be a sympathetic and supportive audience because of our shared experiences.

So the reason for the posting is to see what interest there would be in restarting the Club, what views you have on how it should run, when you would want to meet and where e.g. are we all happy to stay at the same venue if they are interested in hosting us?

There weren't many of us at the events and not everyone could attend every month and something that concerned me was how we could sustain the Club when not everyone can attend every event so I'd be interested in your views about how we could increase attendance with the right sort of people. Though I think with a jam session even a meeting of 2 could work....sort of.

Let me know what you think and we can go from there.

John

11 Comments
andrewp says: 4/23/2012 3:20:18 AM I will be happy to come to any banjo meeting. What you suggest sounds fine. Given the number of members present, a P.A system is probably not necessary. A jam session could help players attend...you can hide from the spotlight in a crowd! There are many banjo players around. Once established we could scout the local Folk and Irish clubs to let players know of our evening. I'm supprised the George Formby followers did not find us last time, although we dont want a whole night of banjolele. The Red Lion was OK as a venue. Will all interested players post their comments so that we can judge numbers and plan a venue for the relaunch. Last Tuesday of the month was good for me. Any other suggestions? Cheers Andrew
	Lonesome Len says: 4/29/2012 2:05:10 PM It would be good to have another club meet. I am pretty relaxed about what the preferred format may be and am happy with what has been suggested. It would be good to have Tim as a guest artiste. I would gladly pay money to hear the heavenly notes he teases out of his instrument - although I'm not sure that the same comment applies to his singing!
	The Pierced One says: 5/10/2012 2:19:27 AM Hi guys, I was just wondering if there would be room at your club nights/jam session for a below average clawhammer player? I live over in Bradford so would be over on Public transport. Is the pub easy to get to? I've only been playing about 8 weeks but really getting into it and loving my lessons. I hope that playing with other people might help me progress a bit quicker. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Symon
Wardjrz says: 5/10/2012 5:01:49 AM Hey Symon Everyone is welcome once we get this moving again. If you come you will see that we have a real variety of experience, confidence and ability. But hopefully all are welcoming and friendly. As for public transport I'm not sure but maybe others can advise. Keep watching here for news. Interesting username... Cheers John
	The Pierced One says: 5/10/2012 6:30:32 AM Thanks for the reply. If I come to a session the username will become obvious! lol! I am very interesting in coming along as long as the bus/train etc will allow. I will warn you now I am just starting out so I can only play very basic stuff at the moment but I am practising hard (much to my wifes annoyance!) But when it comes to Playing "she'll be coming round the mountains" I'm your man! haha! I hope to meet you all soon, it'll be nice to meet other Banjologists (I may have just made that term up!). Thanks again Symon
Wardjrz says: 6/25/2012 12:44:40 PM Well we don't seem to be having much luck at this do we? I'll give it one final go. I am prepared to meet up with anyone who is interested to discuss a relaunch of the Wakefield Banjo Club. I'd suggest meeting at the same venue for starters. I am yet to find a replacement teacher and who knows maybe an active club might remove the need. If you are interested maybe we could target meeting on the last Tuesday of July, say 8pm. If there is interest then I will contact the Landlord to see if he is OK with us turning up (and bringing banjos). Why not make suggestions for a couple of Jam tunes for the session, then we can practice beforehand. How about Blackberry Blossom for starters. Given Tim's live performance and recording commitments there must be another 15 or so people in the same position as me so let me know. C'mon you know you want to.............. John
andrewp says: 6/27/2012 3:07:31 AM I will be there all being well if it is tuesday 31st July. Count me in as a positive interest. Thanks. Andrew
	Lonesome Len says: 6/30/2012 12:51:22 AM I a keen to meet up and can make the 31st at 8. Personally I think I need practice at playing with other pickers rather than actual lessons ( although they can come in handy as well!). There may be some pickers who want to come, such as Ray?, who do not come on this site often, so may be worth contacting them too.
andrewp says: 7/17/2012 12:06:13 AM Hello eveybody, I have seen Ray recently, he knows about the relaunch, and is interested. Has anyone spoken to the Landlord of the Red Lion yet? Cheers Andrew
Wardjrz says: 7/17/2012 9:26:47 AM Andrew I've spoken to the Landlord, he was expecting us to make contact in October when he took over!. I didn't realise it had been that long since we'd met. He's happy for us to meet at the pub on the last Tuesday of each month starting 31st July. Nice feller, I think we'll get on with him. He doesn't work Tuesday's usually but said he'll call down to see us. John
andrewp says: 7/17/2012 1:19:56 PM Great work John. I'll see you on 31st. I will let Ray know. Thanks Andrew
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