School of Mandolin: Bluegrass Soloing

This book teaches the intermediate mandolin player how to improvise the Bluegrass way.  Joe Carr teaches how to show off in style  using  melodic variations, scale soloing, arpeggios, and non-melody based soloing.  A CD is included that demonstrates these techniques and gives examples as applied to several Bluegrass standards.

If you play mandolin, and have been wanting to know how to spice up your playing, this is just what you need!  For other mandolin sheet music or Bluegrass music, please email us, visit our website or call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC.

We Remember: Earl Scruggs

(from The Associated Press)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs, who helped profoundly change country music with Bill Monroe in the 1940s and later with guitarist Lester Flatt, has died. He was 88.

Scruggs’ son Gary said his father died of natural causes Wednesday morning at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital.

Earl Scruggs was an innovator who pioneered the modern banjo sound. His use of three fingers rather than the clawhammer style elevated the banjo from a part of the rhythm section – or a comedian’s prop – to a lead instrument.

His string-bending and lead runs became known worldwide as “the Scruggs picking style” and the versatility it allowed has helped popularize the banjo in almost every genre of music.
The debut of Bill Monroe and The Blue Grass Boys during a post-World War II performance on The Grand Ole Opry is thought of as the “big bang” moment for bluegrass and later 20th century country music. Later, Flatt and Scruggs t eamed as a bluegrass act after leaving Monroe from the late 1940s until breaking up in 1969 in a dispute over whether their music should experiment or stick to tradition. Flatt died in 1979.

They were best known for their 1949 recording “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” played in the 1967 movie “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” from “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the popular TV series that debuted in 1962. Jerry Scoggins did the singing.

After the breakup, Scruggs used three of his sons in The Earl Scruggs Revue. The group played on bills with rock acts like Steppenwolf and James Taylor. Sometimes they played festivals before 40,000 people.

In a July 2010 interview, Scruggs said in the early days, “I played guitar as much as I did the banjo, but for everyday picking I’d go back to the banjo. It just fit what I wanted to hear better than what I could do with the guitar.”

Scruggs will always be remembered for his willingness to innovate. In “The Big Book of Bluegrass,” Scruggs discussed the breakup with Flatt and how his need to experiment drove a rift between them. Later in 1985, he and Flatt were inducted together in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“It wasn’t a bad feeling toward each other as much as it was that I felt I was depriving myself of something,” Scruggs said. “By that, I mean that I love bluegrass music, and I still like to play it, but I do like to mix in some other music for my own personal satisfaction, because if I don’t, I can get a little bogged down and a little depressed.”

He said he enjoyed playing because “it calms me down. It makes me satisfied. Sometimes I just need to pick a few tunes.”

At an 80th birthday party for Scruggs in January 2004, country great Porter Wagoner said: “I always felt like Earl was to the five-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball. He is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.”

In 2005, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” was sel ected for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit. The following year, the 1972 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band record “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” on which Scruggs was one of many famous guest performers, joined the list, too.

Scruggs had been fairly active in the 2000s, returning to a limited touring schedule after frail health in the 1990s. In 1996, Scruggs suffered a heart attack in the recovery room of a hospital shortly after hip-replacement surgery. He also was hospitalized late last year, but seemed in good health during a few appearances with his sons in 2010 and 2011.

In 2001 he released a CD, “Earl Scruggs and Friends,” his first album in a decade and an extension of The Earl Scruggs Revue. Over 12 songs, he collaborated with an impressive stable of admirers: Elton John, Dwight Yoakam, Travis Tritt, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Vince Gill, John Fogerty, Don Henley, Johnny Cash and actor Steve Martin, a banjo player, were all featured.
Scruggs, born Jan. 6, 1924, in Flint Hill, N.C., learned to play banjo at age 4. He appeared at age 11 on a radio talent scout show. By age 15, he was playing in bluegrass bands.

“My music came up from the soil of North Carolina,” Scruggs said in 1996 when he was honored with a heritage award from his home state.

He and Flatt played together in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, then left to form the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1948.

Their popularity grew, and they even became a focal point of the folk music revival on college campuses in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Scruggs’ wife, Louise, was their manager and was credited with cannily guiding their career as well as boosting interest in country music.
Later, as rock ‘n’ roll threatened country music’s popularity, Flatt and Scruggs became symbols of traditional country music.

In the 1982 interview, Scruggs said “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” broadened the scope of bl uegrass and country music “more than anything I can put my finger on. Both were hits in so many countries.”

Scruggs also wrote an instructional book, “Earl Scruggs and the Five String Banjo.”
In 1992, Scruggs was among 13 recipients of a National Medal of Art.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought of rewards and presentations,” he said. “I appreciate those things, especially this one.”

Louise Scruggs, his wife of 57 years, died in 2006. He is survived by two songs, Gary and Randy. Gary Scruggs says funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Digitally Download Sheet Music

Do you ever need sheet music in a big hurry?  Check out Stanton’s Digital Delivery to browse our digital sheet music library. There are pop songs, Broadway songs, sacred songs, guitar tabs, and much more!

You’ll need to download a free Scorch program that allows you to see the first page of each song you look up, and it allows you to print on your own printer.  Many songs can also be transposed to whatever key you need! Just pay with a credit card, download and print.

This service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Happy browsing!

Taylor Swift for Ukulele

The ukulele is a hot little instrument, so why not play hot songs on it?  Here is a book of 20 of Taylor Swift’s best songs arranged  for ukulele in easy keys  and medium vocal ranges.  Included are “Our Song“, “White Horse“, and “You Belong to Me,” all of which are also available for instand download and print through Stanton’s Digital Delivery.  There is far more sheet music for ukulele these days than there used to be, and Stanton’s works to keep a wide selection of uke music in stock.

To find out more about this Taylor Swift collection and other collections for ukulele,  email us or call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC.

Get a real, LIVE person on the phone!

We’re always talking about our knowledgeable staff—you’ll find that very phrase on much of our printed advertising, as well as on our website. Stanton’s sales staff is separated into departments to ensure that each staff member is well informed about a specific area of the wide variety of music that we carry. So when you call and ask about music for trumpet, you’ll be speaking with someone who has first-hand knowledge of repertoire, not just a phone operator with no musical experience. Here’s what you’ll find in each department:

CHORAL DEPARTMENT (ex. 1)
Church Choral Music
School Choral Music
Elementary Classroom Music
Classical Solo Vocal
Handbell

BAND DEPARTMENT (ex. 2)
Concert Band
Marching Band
Jazz Ensemble
Orchestra
Solos for all concert instruments
Instrumental Method Books
Music Software/Technology

POP/KEYBOARD (ex. 3)
Sacred & Secular Piano
Organ
Piano Method Books
Popular/Broadway Solo Vocal
Contemporary Christian Vocal
Guitar Solos and Methods
Music for Folk Instruments

BILLING AND ACCOUNTS (ex. 4)

You can direct emails to the exact department you need by clicking the links above, or press the appropriate extension when you call 1-800-42-MUSIC (1-800-426-8742). If you’re unsure of which department to choose, we’re always happy to direct you to whoever can best address your needs; press “0″ to have your call directed, or send a general email. At Stanton’s, it is important to us that you receive the most educated answers to your questions and the finest music recommendations.

Rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard…

What song hit both #3 on the rock charts and #1 on the country charts and featured the violin, of all instruments?  The year was 1979, and the group was The Charlie Daniels Band.  Yes – it was “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which won the group a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance that year.  We were all saddened to hear that one of the co-writers of that song, and the keyboardists for the band for 40 years, Joel “Taz” Gregorio, was killed in a car accident in October, 2011 on the way to meet the band’s tour bus for an upcoming performance.  Perhaps a special tribute is in order!

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” has been a frequently requested song at Stanton’s.  The story line, which is more spoken than sung, involves a challenge by the Devil to a fiddle playing contest with a young man named Johnny.  If Johnny wins, he gets a fiddle of solid gold.  If he loses, the Devil gets his soul.  After each of them plays, it is obvious that Johnny is the better fiddler and wins the golden fiddle – ’cause he’s “the best that’s ever been!”

There are three sheet music formats in which this song is currently available.  There is a Piano/Vocal Sheet that comes with a pull-out violin part.  It is also available in a Marching Band edition arranged by Michael Brown that features the mallet percussion on the “fiddle” solos.  There is also a Concert Band edition arranged by Michael Brown that features a soloist on the “fiddle” parts (solo parts included for flute, violin, clarinet, alto saxophone or mallet percussion) as well as an optional narrator to tell the story.  All have been best sellers for years.

So why not pay tribute to one of the writers of this famous tune and get your copy of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in whichever format suits your situation.  Then you can do your part to become the “best that’s ever been!”

Best of Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is the oldest daughter of Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. She is a singer/songwriter in her own right, beginning her career in the 1970′s.

Best of Rosanne Cash is a collection of songs written by her from 1979 to 2006. If you have enjoyed her recordings, and would like to play her songs for yourself,  this book of 17 of her best songs is for you. From the introspective “Western Wall,” to the poignant “September When it Comes,” this is indeed a collection of her best songs.

For a closer look at this collection, you can find more details on our web site, or call us at 800-42-MUSIC to talk to one of our sheet music specialists in the keyboard/popular music department here at Stanton’s Sheet Music.

Just for Fun – New Pop Instrumental Play-Alongs

Are you looking for ways to keep your students motivated and get them playing more?  Based on the number of parents and students that stop by our store looking for ‘fun music’ to supplement their school materials and remain enthused, we know you are.  To that end, two new pop music instrumental play-alongs have been released by Hal Leonard. 

The first features 15 hits from country crossover star Taylor Swift.  The song list includes Back to December, Fearless, Love Story, Our Song, Today Was a Fairytale, and White Horse.  The other collection features 10 well-known songs from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s ever-popular Broadway show West Side Story, which will be playing Columbus’ historic Ohio Theatre April 17-22, 2012.  Songs in this collection include America, I Feel Pretty, Maria, Somewhere, and Tonight. 

Both collections feature play-along CDs with recorded accompaniments and are available for flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trumpet, f horn, trombone, violin, viola, and cello.  They retail for $12.99 (CD included), and are a great way to keep students playing and experiencing different types of music on their instruments.

Hal Leonard Banjo Method Book 1

Hal Leonard has a new banjo method! There are plenty of tunes to help you learn how to play the chords, read tablature, learn to “roll,” “hammer-on,” and other banjo techniques. There is a CD included to help tune your banjo and to play examples of the strums, chords, etc.
The tunes include “Rye Whiskey,” “Cripple Creek,” “Hard, Ain’t it Hard” and more–all songs good for a jam session!

Call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC to inquire, email us or visit our website to have a closer look.

Heartaches and Highways by Emmylou Harris

At last, Emmylou Harris has published a book of 20 of her best songs from 1956 to 2008!

The last time we saw an Emmylou Harris songbook, it was about 20 years ago. From “Boulder to Birmingham” to the bouncy “Two More Bottles of Wine”, this book has the best of Emmylou Harris.  The  book has the piano, vocal and guitar parts for all the songs included.

Check it out on our website or call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC.