From: Shadow.Spear@f236.n271.z1.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: alt.music.filk
Subject: More sexy banjo stuff
X-Sender: newtout 0.02 Nov 17 1992
Date: 22 Dec 92  11:59:00

<We have witnesses who say Joseph A. Ellis Jr. spoke to All
about More sexy banjo stuff on 12-19-92  13:57>
 JAEJ> Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
 JAEJ> From: be726@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph A. Ellis Jr.)
 JAEJ> Message-ID: <1h05siINN9q5@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
 JAEJ> Reply-To: be726@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph A. Ellis Jr.)
 JAEJ> Newsgroups: alt.music.filk


 JAEJ> In a previous article, Sherman.Dorn@p6.f715.n273.z1.fidonet.org ()
 JAEJ> says: 
 >On <13 Dec 92  11:37>, Joe Bethancourt scribbled the following to Usenet:
 >
 > JB>  But take a look at it: it is strings
 > JB> mounted on a drum-head....and this
 > JB>  should be a pretty good indicator that the banjo is a PERCUSSION
 > JB>  instrument as well as a STRINGED
 > JB> instrument. The banjo should have a good
 > JB>  -strong- rhythmic beat, accenting and driving the rhythm of the song's
 > JB>  tune and lyrics. Pay attention to that!
 >
 >Of course, any jazz musician or afficionado must note that drums, guitars,
 >basses, and pianos all are considered "rhythm" (and thus percussion) for the
 >purposes of jam sessions.  We know a piano is percussion.  A guitar *should*
 >be considered also a percussion instrument, as well as basses when not
bowed. 
 > Well, I guess that means drums are the only non-percussion family of
 >instruments in a rhythm section, right?
 >--- via XCS 1.00
 >

 JAEJ> Sorry, only the drums and piano are considered percussion instruments.
 JAEJ> Guitar and bass are strings. It has to do with normal mode of play.
 JAEJ> Percussion  instrumments are struck to produce sound. Obviously drums
 JAEJ> are struck, and the hammer inside the piano strikes the strings.
 JAEJ> However, a harpsichord's strings are plucked, as are the guitar's and
 JAEJ> the jazz bass... so they're still strings. "Keyboard" covers all the
 JAEJ> synthesizers for now... but that has more to do with the control
 JAEJ> mechanism than how the actual sound is produced. Interestingly enough,
 JAEJ> the old Fender-Rhodes piano was also a percussion instrument... it had
 JAEJ> metal tines inside that were struck by hammers. 
 JAEJ> That brings to mind what Joe Bethancourt said about banjo the other
 JAEJ> day,  when he called it a percussion instrument. I would have to
 JAEJ> disagree. While it has a percussive _sound_, it's still in the string
 JAEJ> family, as is the dulcimer, even when played with fiddlesticks. The
 JAEJ> Hammer Dulcimer, tho, _is_ percussion. 
 JAEJ> "Percussion" and "rhythm" are _not_ synonymous, the efforts of grade
 JAEJ> school 'rhythm band' teachers notwithstanding. "Percussion" defines
 JAEJ> _how_ the sound is made. "Rhythm", in the case of "rhythm section",
 JAEJ> defines the _function_ of the section in the group as a whole. The
 JAEJ> "rhythm section" provides the rhythmic foundation upon which the rest
 JAEJ> of the band builds, and serves to accent and 'set up' major rhythmic
 JAEJ> points and contrasts.  
 JAEJ> (btw... this is based on about 19 years experience playing in jazz
 JAEJ> bands) (Now, isn't that more than you ever wanted to know about the
 JAEJ> subject? <<grin>> ) -- 

	Thanks for clarifying that. I was going to post about this, but as
I do not have your experience, I am glad you did.

Robert


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