A review: Bach for Banjo: 20 Pieces Arranged for 5-String Banjo, by Mark Phillips, Jon Peik and Jim Schustedt ($9.99, Hal Leonard, 2013). Music scholars agree: Johann Sebastian Bach never composed anything for the banjo.[i] A virtuoso on the pipe organ, Bach also played the violin, viola, harpsichord, clavichord, and even a prototype of a newfangled instrument called a “piano,” although he never composed anything for it, either. Even so, Bela Fleck, John Bullard, Jens Kruger, Michael J. Miles (clawhammer), Rob MacKillop (tenor banjo), and many others have demonstrated that Bach’s compositions lend themselves well to the four- or five-string banjo. (Keep this in mind when friends and…
Posts published in “From the Archives”
My nephew Michael Lewis is spending the year trekking across Australia. While diving recently on Agincourt Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef, Mike — understandably spouting WTF? bubbles — came across this big fish, a Maori Wrasse. Look familiar?
DAVID HORSEY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER I have a perverse habit: I listen to AM radio whenever I’m alone in the rental car while visiting family in Texas or the Midwest. I start at the low end of the AM radio spectrum, 535 kiloHertz, and methodically scan my way to the opposite end, 1705 kHz, usually in 10 kHz increments. Over thousands of miles I’ve concluded that AM radio in the heartland consists of five major categories: Right-wing talk radio Christian radio Country-western music Ranchero music Sports If I can’t get good reception on a baseball game, I search for right-wing talk…
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