Were Jules and other Hawaiians good readers?

basilh · From: United Kingdom

In a conversation with John Marsden this morning, the question of Hawaiian players being "Readers" came up.
We both decided that there wasn't enough information on this subject and decided to elicit the "Forum's" vast database of the combined knowledge in the field.

SO.......
Who was good at both playing by ear and reading ?

To start it off, I think that Jules MUST have been, the reasoning I use is that he could NEVER have been booked for the session with Felix Slatkin and his orch on the album "Paradise Found", or held down the job with "Hawaii Calls" for so long if he wasn't an excellent reader and ear player
........please correct me if I'm wrong.

Basil Henriques

www.waikiki-islanders.com

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c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

I don't know the answer pertaining to Jules but when Speedy was recording with the Paul Weston orch behind Jo Stafford I believe, the arranger simply put"Speedy Plays". Later on when I did a little studioo work I noticed the other guys had their parts all written out but min e said "steel adlibs". I asked about this and the arranger said " all you guys adlib anyway". Other arrangers said "how would I arrange for this instrument. What Tuning? I imagine later on they added "what pedals". Later still I asked the son of a close friend that was in his senior yr at Tx Tech in music and he said that there were several instus that students were not taught to arrange for and steel was one of them. I asked what they weer told to do if there was a steel in the band and they were told the best thing to do was to consult with the player and they assign him 4,8,16, whatever, to play. CC

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Billy Hew Len could definitely read music. I suspect many of the early Hawaiian guitarists in the first part of the century could read music as well because notation was widely taught before multiple tunings and tab became more widespread in the 30's.

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 29 December 2002 at 10:52 AM.]

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

I recall, many years ago, speaking with (the late) Benny Kalama on this subject during an intermission at the Halekulani. You will recall he did the arranging for the latter 20 year series of the "Hawai'i Calls" shows. (This radio show ran from 1935 - 1974. It was briefly revived in the '80's under the direction of Bill Bigelow however, it didn't last very long). Not all the music was written or arranged for the two steel guitars. Benny, from what I could gather in our short converstaion, did indicate he wrote occasional parts here and there.(Presumebly mostly intro's and/or endings, etc.) I am not sure if Jules could read music however, being the extraordinary musician he was, it follows he would have had a fairly good knowledge and ability towards reading. I never met the man. As for Barney, I am reasonably certain he too, was familiar with reading music.

The steel guitar in it's many forms is probably the most difficult and complicated instrument for any arranger to score. It has never been "standardized" as has for example, the plectrum guitar. I am doubtful it will ever reach that point. There are just too many complications, tunings and styles of interpretation, etc., which makes our instrument so unique.

If you analyse the pitch of the instrument, in reality it should be written utilizing both the treble and bass clefs. That would be totally impractical, of course. To offset using the bass clef where the majority of the strings are actually pitched, steel guitar methods and teachers over the years usually wrote the steel charts in the treble clef...(8va)...which means one octive above the actual pitch. This puts everything in the upper leger lines. Confusing ? Sure is! But that's the precise method by which I commenced reading music ... (as did so many steel guitarists, especially back in the forties). However being around brass, reeds, etc., soon made me realize reading music at actual pitch was the sensible and obvious way to go. My students, (those who show a desire to learn notation), are taught to read actual pitch. The rest of my students depend solely upon tablature. Here again, can you just imagine any professional orchestral arranger attempting to write a "chart" using tablature, or even having any conception or comprehension about what tabs, tunings, and/or pedals, etc., are all about? Not very likely. Which is probably the reason "Speedy plays" was inserted in the chart as CC mentioned above.

On gigs, when necessary, I usually read the vocal chart line, while glancing at the accompanying chord symbols to determine the proper harmony.

[This message was edited by George Keoki Lake on 29 December 2002 at 01:44 PM.]

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

George, Jerry Byrd told me Barney could not read music and that he had to teach him tab to complete a session they were once together on.

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c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

I heard the same thing from Jerry. This was on the album he,Barney and Alan Akaka did together CC

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Well, that's news to me. You guys are probably correct. Whenever I spoke with Barney about reading music, he never said anything to indicate he couldn't read notes. No beeg thing really, is it ? Thanx for cluing me in.

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

Ralph H. Moorehead · From: Las Vegas, Nv. Clark

For What It Is Worth. Eddie Bush Insisted That all His students read music. He could read and/or play by ear. Although C6th was what he taught when it came to teaching students to read

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