"The Banjo"

[Shagdac]

I recently heard Gottschalks's "The banjo", and absolutely loved it. Different from alot of classical music. I have yet to see the score for this piece and wondered if anyone had played this, and if it was a difficult piece. It doesn't sound very hard, just a very rapid tempo at times. Also, does anyone know any sites where I can download the score. I have found several with the midi to play, but not where I can actually download the printed music itself, and am having trouble getting in the music stores I frequent, without special ordering.
Thanks for your help.

Shag

[ted]

Have a look at


I have bought a few things from this site and they are very quick and reliable. Search on Gottschalk, he's now in Schirmer. I don't know where free downloads are but chances are if you like one of his you'll probably like the others too.

Ted.

https://www.sheetmusicplus.com

[joell12068]

The music can also be found at this web site:
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/smhtml/smhome.html  .                                                                                         You can search keyword  Gottschalk  and find "the Banjo".  The individual pages can be downloaded as TIFF images.

[Shagdac]

Thank you so much both of you...I just got done looking at the music. Tell me, is some of this played by 4 hands?
Is this optional, the way it is written? Again, thanks for your help.

shag

[joell12068]

When a third staff appears in the score (actually the top staff in the group), it is just an easier alternative to the middle staff.  

[Shagdac]

Thank you Joel. Have you played this piece? It really sounds fun...alot of sharps! Thanks again for your help.

shag

[joell12068]

I haven't played it in about 1o years.  When I played it, I opted to play the simpler right hand (black key) downward run of notes (this occurs immediately after the third occurrance of repeated note triplets).  I think it is just as exciting as the more difficult passage.  Eugene List also played it in his recording.

[liszt1022]

I played the Banjo a few years back. It's really fun, but a few really tough leaps are in it. If worse comes to worse, you can always leave one note out of an octave on those big leaps. The ending is great, you get to play on only the black notes so you don't worry so much about being inaccurate. It's a real crowd pleaser, I recommend it highly. There are alternate parts for some of the tough bits, and it's not played with 4 hands though it sounds like it sometimes.