Elk Creek Warm-up '13

As I am recovering from the late night jamming and fellowship that I had at the annual  Grayson County Fiddler's Convention (better known as' Elk Creek')   I feel pretty good about our
latest effort to offer basic instruction in the playing styles we dubbed "Elk Creek Warm-up".
One week ago, began the course which focused on clawhammer banjo.  Four individuals
signed up and came here on Monday evening to began a 3 day experience aimed at improving
their skill at playing their banjos in a jam or performance setting.
As with our weekend camps, participants are able to get a good start with great meal while getting to
know us and their fellow participants.  The great weather allowed us to gather out on our deck
instead of in the house as our previous workshop weekends have been during chilly times of year.

After supper Students were treated to the music and comments of 83 year old Rhoda Kemp,  a woman whose been known locally for her great musicianship in the region but has been perhaps overlooked and underrated for her traditional style of banjo playing.  She's basically a secret 'treasure' who we hope to help gain more recognition for.
Rhoda, while best known for her banjo playing with the prize-winning Original Orchard Grass band,
is a wonderful autoharp player, bass player, and singer to mention a few of her talents.  On Monday
we wanted to offer a "Rhoda' experience since we couldn't offer the Floyd Country Store experience
of playing dance music on stage with Mac and his band for the dance party held every Friday night.
Rhoda was her wonderful self  playing her own style of 'knockdown' claw hammer banjo that
she developed as a child living in Roanoke Virginia.  As with so many mountain people, her parents
moved from a rural area to a place with steady jobs to raise their family.  Rhoda was very
informative about how she searched for a type of 'sound' that she wanted in her music and made
conscious changes and adjustments to her technique until she was happy with her own playing style.
Seeing and hearing her play on her Vega #9 tuba phone was interesting too.  Mac accompanied
her on his fiddle.   She also played Mac's special comemorative
75th banjo, a birdseye maple 12" Whyte Laydie with an elaborate original inlay pattern that
challenged Mac's engraving skills.  Photos can be seen on  mactraynham.com


Monday evening was even more special when immediately following Rhoda's playing on it
 Mac made a special presentation of #75 to  participant Terry Cartensen on behalf of
her husband Hans who was also present having secretly arranged to purchase this banjo and
have it be a surprise 43rd anniversary gift.  It was indeed surprising to Terry who couldn't believe
it at first but graciously accepted and vowed to love it and never neglect it. The looks on her face were priceless.

Tuesday began with an intense session of reviewing the fundamentals of basic claw hammer
and the rhythm that the local style is built upon.  The simple one part tune 'Skip to my Lou' was quickly shown to help reinforce the point that a banjo in the local style for dancing to should sound full and be played with regular  brush thumb intervals.  The point was to super-impose the melody over a basic
rhythm template, subtracting certain brushes for melody notes while bringing back the strumming
and lower drone notes especially often to get a full 'stand' alone sound.  Such a style was developed
before guitars came to the region in the early 20th century primarily for dance parties. According to local master, Dent Wimmer,  dances in Floyd County in the early 20th century were often held with only one banjo or several banjos being played.   Guitars have since become standard in dance band music and have taken on the role of rhythm and time keeping that claw hammer  banjoist used to only provide.  The evolution of  string band music along with flatfoot dancing in this region is a fascinating study.

 Clawhammer styles of today often have dropped the backbeat emphasis and low drones from the sound as most jamming involves other instruments which also strum, therefore, minimizing the banjo player's role to provide a full sound.   A discussion and demo of what 'drive' is was presented with talk of foot tapping with precision and right arm coordination to comparison to driving nails with a 'hammer' on the backbeat.

 Another one part  local tune 'Hawks & Eagles' was presented with mention of a possible
short hike that all could take later to Buffalo Mountain where buzzards soar like 'Hawks and Eagles'.
Tuesday after lunch  time was spent mainly with all  practicing  in remote locations in and around Mac's banjo/furniture shop where Mac gave individual attention to everyone to reinforce the class presentation.  Later Mac took the class on short  hike to the top of 'The Buffalo', a local mountain nearly 4,000 ft  tall where the  breath taking  360 view included the soaring buzzards and distant lightning as the weather quickly deteriorated.

Tuesday supper and fellowship was followed by more playing of the tunes of the day.  Mac played fiddle and Jenny joined in on guitar.  

Wednesday was similar with a morning banjo intensive learning the technical details  of  how to
play the tunes Lost Indian and Merry Mountain Hoedown in A/G  tuning.  Simple foot patting
was encouraged to help keep time and rhythm flowing through the body as one played.
A trip to Floyd for a late lunch and a visit to County Sales for CD's were the highlights of Wednesday
afternoon.  Mac even got a long over due haircut.

Wednesday after one of Jenny's fabulous suppers
everyone headed to the shop for more playing and practicing and another simple one-part dance tune in D from the Blue Ridge called 'Going across the Mountain' (with a Banjo on my Knee) or simply 'Saro'.

Thursday AM all met and we began a review of the tunes and their details.   The session ended just before noon and all gathered for a fabulous brunch before departing for Elk Creek where the
annual fiddler's convention was about to happen on the weekend.   We'll more than likely do it again next year!

Rhythm & Repetiore Floyd County style

We held another in our Spring 2013 series of weekend workshops helping others learn to play

 basic fundamental old-time music better as we have come to understand it from our

experience.  Rhythm & Repetoire can mean different things to different people based on

their experience and who has led it at summer week long music camps like Mars Hill.   In our local area a vibrant freestyle flatfoot dancing tradition

has evolved and existed for several generations along with lively dance music played on

banjos, and fiddles primarily.  We have come to realize that old-time music played with a sense

 of rhythm and a strong beat is what gets the most dancers excited when they hear a group or individual play.

A major part of the weekend musical experience that we are offering to participants

the opportunity to be on-stage at the famous Floyd Country Store and actually play their instrument before

 a crowd of enthusiastic flatfoot dancers and listeners.   

Our hope is that participants who choose to play along behind the band on the stage will actually realize the importance of matching up to the  beat that is coming both from the old-time band that Mac leads  as well as that coming from the feet of the best dancers.   A good dancer can easily sense a good beat and deliver it  back for the band to respond to in their steps.  Therefore, it is important for 

 the music played by the band  to have a good pace and a solid rhythm to set up a  steady beat. 

 As a musician its so much fun to play music that just cruises along powered by

 the rhythm of experienced  dancers who can latch on to  this  beat and give it

back to the band in the sound  of their  feet hitting the floor.  We don't take this for granted

as we are so fortunate to have such a venue in our part of the world that promotes 

such a deep rooted American tradition.  Good flat footers develop their skill and steps by 

 being around  lively dance music.

The Friday workshops in our latest weekend  (May 2-5 on Rhythm & Repetorie)  were about getting ready

 to play for dancers at the Floyd Country Store's Friday night Jamboree. More important than 

what tunes to play, instead,  we worked on just how to 'feel'

the beat with a foot pat that hits the floor on the downbeat and remains pressed against the

floor until the back beat or up-beat has passed.  Pressure builds up this way so that the

next downbeat is rushed to and felt with more of an emphatic snap.  Coordinating one's strum

and to this is a secret to success in becoming more mechanical and energized while keeping

time.    Fast  and slow  tunes were discussed, chords shown both on guitar and banjo, and melodies played

that would be part of the program during the 7:30 - 9 PM set.  We next set out for town as the we had the

early set starting at 7:30.  Not much time to warm up the rest of the band. 

The program we presented  included  some young JAM (Junior Appalachian Musician) students in addition to the

R & R students that had come for the weekend.   Luckily, there was an abundance of good dancers  keeping   good time so everyone got a good sense of what fun can be had when everyone, musicians  and dancers  really get on the beat and cruise.   What a party!!  This very  unique band  was creatively coined  Mac & Cheese for one night anyway.   

Back at our class in the cabinet/ banjo shop on Saturday  we worked on some regional

favorites of ours like Old Molly Hare, Carroll County Breakdown,Shoo Fly, Hawks and Eagles and others  stressing

 good timing, danceable pace  and  interesting chord patterns.  Good basic guitar runs

while keeping a strong sense of rhythm was reinforced in tunes like Barlow Knife, Sandy River Belle

and Last Chance.  The alternate G tuning of gDGDE was used for the banjo on those tunes to give a more low

drones in the sound while driving the beat.

We took a break to watch a video of Hick and Sue Edmonds playing fiddle and guitar at their home in Smyth County.  The participants were directed to note Sue's impeccable timing in her guitar strums and minimal but very effective use of runs in the key of G.  Country guitar at its best from a true country musician.

Looking, as well as,  listening

is so important to one's progress in understanding  and appreciating the music of other 

musicians.  Patterning after older sources is a great way to get musical ideas to incorporate

in  one's own playing to sound better overall. 

Thanks for your interest in reading all this. Please this pass  this blog or any of our contact info on to anyone you think might be interested.