Frog Banjo Music — SONG OF BOB

In late 2014, Amy and I introduced Japhy to Kermit the Frog, and in the process showed him a video of Steve Martin and Kermit the Frog playing “Dueling Banjos.” Almost two and a half years old and completely mesmerized, Japhy dubbed it “Frog Banjo Music” which he would request often. He also enjoyed Flatt and Scruggs, Steve Martin’s solo CD, Nickel Creek, and all kinds of bluegrass, all of which was “Frog Banjo Music.” (Eat your heart out, Bill Monroe!)

This inspired me to get a used banjo, which I endeavored to teach myself, mostly by screwing around, and at times cracking a banjo book by Pete Seeger or the afore-mentioned Earl Scruggs.

Of course this led to some songs… such as the one above, recorded April 3, 2016. I was trying to respect Japhy’s concurrent interest in train songs too—my mix for him included all kinds of them, from Peter Paul and Mary to the Clash), and I thought we could make one of our own. Japhy would be turning four in a few months, and his birthday was on his mind. MY birthday—number 50, for which we were going to have a fairly big party, was also on his mind, and with the improvised song talking about having a ball (“play baseball!” Japhy shouted) and “inviting the squirrel” (“I want to invite Owen and Emily”) Japhy responded with a real plan to bring distant family together.

He had a detailed scheme for this, envisioning an elaborate welcome of his Ohio cousins Owen and Emily to the apartment (we had purchased our new house, but wouldn’t finish moving for another month). Japhy’s scheme involved flying houses, airplanes, cars and a system of ropes and pulleys, eventually exceeding his vocabulary—or perhaps his capacity for excitement exceeded his vocabulary—thus the sound effects. Isn’t it interesting that he had not seen his Ohio cousins in two years (half his life!), but had such specific plans for them to visit? We would travel back to Ohio that July, and in fact celebrate Japhy’s birthday with Owen and Emily in real time— joy!

Another thing to note, however obvious, is how completely amateur I am as a musician, and how rough these shared recordings are. For instance, I have to audio record stuff I want to flesh out, because I don’t know the chords on the banjo to annotate (or else they are all “G”). And in this one, in fact, I give up playing altogether. So very zen, ha! But yes strictly amateur and that is on purpose…. most of what we do, we fail, and so here’s an opportunity to embrace that. (Side note: how I explained to Japhy that the Cleveland Browns, my favorite team, are the best team in the NFL… best at losing. Go Browns!)

While some pursuits like beekeeping and haiku have exacted my professional attention, others, I maintain, should remain completely heart-driven and without an outcome-based agenda. With music especially, I do hope to maintain the spirit of “anyone can do that!” Music should be so integrated into our daily lives, our culture, our family time, our every day. And while symphony, jazz, bluegrass—well, all professional musicians, from opera to punk—blow me away with their dedication, practice regimens, commitment to craft and lifestyle, I also believe in the fundamental engagement of all people to musical expression. Even if we all aren’t trained chefs, we all gotta eat, right? And therefore we cook, create. Just so, I find the daily necessity, the life and breath, the ineffable joy of music necessary. It brings out the 4 year-old in me, and generates—as Japhy puts it—the simple question “do you want to…. play?” Even when the banjo is down, these things hum through my heart and come babbling out.

PS - is Kermit really left-handed, or does he just play the banjo that way?