My first banjo book has just emerged into the light. It consists of 27 tunes from 19th-century sources.

Check the info, contents and some samples HERE   

It comes with a CD of my performances on a gut-strung banjo, played with the flesh of the fingers (not metal picks). The sound is very different from the banjo of today, but the music can be played on modern banjos. Some great music in there!

From the publicity blurb:

Here is the Forgotten Heritage: Great Banjo Music!

Discover the birth of the American fingerstyle banjo in this collection of 28 of the finest tunes culled from banjo publications between 1860 and 1887. Learn amazing banjo music by some of the early leading players, James Buckley, Albert Baur, and the great Frank B. Converse, the greatest virtuoso of his day. From folk-style dances to parlor dances such as the Polka, Mazurka and Schottische, to advanced Romantic-period classical-style solos.

Can be played on modern banjos or period-style instruments. The CD recording by Rob MacKillop features a gut-strung banjo, and is played with the flesh of the fingertips, in the old American tuning. For modern instrument players, Rob has provided TAB and a Standard Notation stave at modern banjo pitch. Clawhammer players will find many of the pieces in the book suitable for their technique, and bluegrass/fingerstyle players will be able to play all the pieces.

Rob MacKillop provides a fascinating introductory essay, placing the music in its historical context, while his CD of performances can be viewed as a stand-alone recording by a leading player in the revival of this great American banjo heritage.

Here is the first video I’ve made with my new Malcolm Prior 13-course lute. 

Robert de Visee was a chamber musician at the court of Louis XIV. He wrote this funeral lament on the death of a very famous lute player of the day, DuBut.

Stunning craftsmanship from Malcolm Prior.

Click on photo below for access to 24 photos:

13c Lute by Malcolm Prior

I have been busy this week making six new videos for my Plectrum Guitar page:

https://robmackillop.net/guitar/jazz/plectrum-guitar/

The main source for the scores has been Masters Of The Plectrum Guitar from Mel Bay Publications. This introduced me to the music of Harry Volpe, a name unknown to me before. His music crosses the classical-jazz divide, with much of it published in the 1930s. I have since tracked down (via Abe Books) a couple of old books by him, which should be with me soon.

Mel Bay, himself, turns out to be a fine arranger. Check out his beautiful versions of Sweet Lorraine and Mighty Lak’ A Rose.

Trying to get as much guitar playing in as possible before my new 13-course baroque lute arrives from Malcolm Prior in a week or two…

My latest publication:

Gaspar Sanz (1640 –1710) is the most famous baroque-period guitarist. His works are tuneful and memorable, with fiery cross-rhythms and cascading scale passages. He published three books of guitar music.

The baroque guitar could be viewed as a close relative of the ukulele. Indeed, the two instruments have much in common. The smaller four-course guitar actually had the same tuning as the ukulele, for example, although it was largely double-strung.

Sanz enjoyed playing scales in the campanella style, with the notes of a scale set out on different strings, sonically overlapping slightly in the style of little bells. This is a technique the ukulele excels at, and is used to good effect in these arrangements.

Sanz’ music for baroque guitar transfers exceptionally well to the uke, as these arrangements demonstrate. It is hoped that this repertoire will bring a refreshing addition to the repertoire of the ukulele, just as the little instrument can bring a freshness to these old but lively pieces.

Check it out online here: http://www.melbay.com/product.asp?productid=22128BCDEB 

My latest recording has just been released as a Download-Only album:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/robmackillop2 – preview extracts available.

The recording features popular art music from the period 1910 – 1930.

On Saturday the Scottish Classic Banjo Quartet was joined by two great banjo players from France, Eric and Pat Stefanelli. Eric made my main classic banjo, as well as his own and his wife’s. We managed to get rehearsal space among the treasure-trove of historical guitars, lutes, citterns and banjos in the Laigh Room, St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh University.

Here are some photos and videos. Comments welcome, and sharing with Facebook, etc… If you can’t see them, go to robmackillop.net

My first (of four) ukulele books has just been published by Mel Bay Publications. Twenty studies in different styles – Blues, Minimalism, Jazz, Folk, and even Serialism. Tab and Standard Notation.

http://www.melbay.com/product.asp?ProductID=22126BCD

Any questions, ask away…

The 19th-century guitar specialist publisher, Tecla, have placed my mp3 performances on their website:

http://www.tecla.com/catalog/0100.htm

These pieces by Fernando Sor are very beautiful studies and should be studied by all guitar students. My performances are on a copy of a guitar from Sor’s time, a Panormo, with gut strings at the lower pitch thought to be used at that time, and played with the flesh of my fingers, not with nails on nylon strings. The sound is very delicate, and most unlike performances on modern-day guitars.

Enjoy 🙂