Murphy Henry
Last month I started a new student, a young boy maybe eight years old named Mike. He plays one of those short-neck Deering Goodtime banjos (lightweight with no resonator) which fits his shorter arms perfectly. Last night he asked, “Am I going to be playing this banjo the rest of my life?” “No,” I said, “you’ll grow out of it.” He nodded thoughtfully.
At this week’s lesson we were finishing up the second half of good ole Banjo in the Hollow. (Beginning Banjo Vol. 1) He’d learned the A part very well, so to teach him the B part I simply played each lick slowly to see if he could hear it and play it back to me. I was pleased to find out he was able to do this fairly easily. When it came to the only new lick in the song (open first, then pinch) I played it and he watched closely. Then he said, “Play it again.” I did. “Play it again.” I did. “Play it again.” I did. Then, “Play it one more time.” I could see him watching my hands intently. Then finally he had a go at it. At first he played the second string but immediately heard that was wrong. Then he played the first string and did the pinch. Bingo! He said it had taken him so many times because he couldn’t tell if I was playing the second and first strings together for that first note.
Then when I was playing the whole song through for him, so he could hear how the parts fit together (AA, BB) he said, “So. For the second part you just take licks from the first part and put them together randomly.” And, although the order is not actually random, I understood what he was saying and gave him a great big YES! Excellent ears, Mike!
The only real problem we’ve encountered so far is that he doesn’t want to keep his fingers anchored on the head. Now, I’m not a stickler for keeping two fingers planted (like Bill Evans, bless his heart!), but I do insist that you keep either the ring or little finger down. Mike, as he himself pointed out, actually plays better with his fingers flying. I was sorely tempted to let him slide on this (at least for the present), when I noticed that he was anchoring his wrist on the head above the bridge. Well, in the long run, that simply won’t do, so I told him he’d have to keep trying to keep at least one finger down. His mom who was sitting nearby suggested that he move his whole hand away from the bridge and closer to the neck. Although I was about to say “no” to this, it did somehow make it easier for Mike to anchor a finger. Go figure! What do I know?
Mike’s older brother Chris is also taking fiddle lessons and doing quite well. In this first month he’s learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (in three keys!), Mary Had a Little Lamb (also three keys), and Cripple Creek from our Beginning Fiddle DVD.
I’m delighted to have these two brothers taking lessons. If they stick with it they will, in the immortal words of Ferrol Sams, Go Far.
“Play it again, Sam.”
I was 11 when you started teaching me. I could have been like 9 but noooooooo you thought I was a brat and told me to go somewhere else hehe