MORE RESOURCES

The intent of this web site is to instill an interest in the classic banjo by allowing others to hear the music that was played at the height of the banjo's popularity.  As a result, the pages at this site present MIDI files of Classic Banjo arrangements only. For further information on Classic Banjo, please visit the sites below.

• The American Banjo Fraternity has a web site where you can obtain information on the organization and how to join it.

• J. Rutkowski's web page.  contains the following information on Classic Banjo:
  • History - a short, but concise, history on the classic banjo.
  • Composers and Performers - information on the prominent figures during the period classic banjo was popular.
  • Instruments - prominent banjo makers of the period.
  • Organizations & Newsletters - a short listing of interest to classic banjoists.

• New Criterion Banjo Orchestra is a group of Spokane, WA musicians.  They performed at the American Banjo Fraternities 50th Anniversary Rally and were extremely well received.  Hal Allert has constructed a web site which includes RealAudio performances of the group.  This site is well worth checking out!
• David Wade maintains a Joe Morley website containing photos and articles on Joe Morely as well as an ongoing compilation of his compositions.

• Chris Ware's Ragtime Ephemeralist is well worth checking out. Click on the old Victrola cranking away and you can hear some old banjo recordings of Vess Ossman, Fred Van Eps, and Ruby Brooks.

• The National Library of Canada has some nice old recordings of Fred Van Eps that you can play. You may have to page down a bit to find them.

• Elderly Music carries recordings of classic banjo by a number of contemporary performers.
• Chris Sands has a CD out, Mel Bay's Banjo Classics, with a companion book that features annotated and fingered music and tablature of the pieces on the CD.  This CD/Book is available from Geoff Freed of Black-Tie banjo.  Geoff also has Chris' nylon strings as well as CD's of Black-Tie banjo.  Contact Geoff for further information.
• The Library of Congress has sheet music from 1870 - 1885 on line. If you search on "banjo" you come up with 90 pieces or so. It also has some ragtime and other music that may interest you.

• Another site worth looking at is the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music at Johns Hopkins. Not much arranged for banjo here, but there are quite a few rags and a lot of minstrel pieces arranged for piano.

• If you would like to discuss Classic Banjo with others, or download Classic Banjo music in tablature format, consider joining the Classic Banjo discussion group at Yahoogroups.com.

• Although it is not a Classic Banjo resource, Transkriber may be of interest to you. It is a software product developed by Reed Kotler which assists musicians in transcribing recorded performances.  It slows down the speed of the music without changing the pitch.  This is a real boon to those who are into transcribing music, you can slow the music down to a crawl and maintain standard pitch.  Now you can finally identify that mysterious note, or string of notes, in your favorite recording! Check out Reed's site to learn more.