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Momma Don't 'Low is a newsletter to support home-made and roots-based music in general, as well as the readers of CreekDontRise.com, SchoolOfTheRock.com, and ClassicTrainSongs.com.

Written by Paul Race for Creek Don't RiseTM, SchoolOfTheRockTM, and Classic Train SongsTM

Momma Don't 'LowTM is a newsletter to support home-made and roots-based music in general, as well as the readers of our music articles on various web pages, including SchoolOfTheRockTM, Creek Don't RiseTM, and Classic Train SongsTM.
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In this Issue - November, 2015

Many months back I wrote an article about Brand Bigotry - the tendency of wannabes to judge other musicians based on the brand of instruments they were playing or to try to establish their own "cred" by what they owned, not what they could play. One suggestion in that article was to stick with an instrument until you've learned everything you can with it. Then when you upgrade, you'll make better choices because you'll already be a better player.

But sometimes finding a good price on a pro instrument leads me to upgrade when I'm really still learning on the instrument I have.

And I have to be honest, I've discovered that better instruments give me a lot more "instant cred" when I walk into a room of folks who haven't heard my music yet than the student instruments do. That is very sad, but true.

So it's with mixed emotions that I have parted with two redundant student instruments and placed an order for one oldie-but-goodie "pro" banjo that I really don't - technically - need. Am I upgrading my banjo to become a better player, to earn instant cred with the other wannabes, or because I'm becoming a brand bigot myself?

The lightly used pro instrument didn't cost much more than a new mediocre Chinese instrument, and less than the instruments I just sold. So hopefully I've made the right choice. Certainly it should be the last Bluegrass-equipped 5-string I will ever need.

Once I've got it in the workshop, set up and cleaned up, I'll let you know if I still feel a little guilty about it. If it's as nice as I hope, I may not have to remember to grin the next time I pick. :-)

Of course when you buy any instrument used you run a lot of risks. And that's especially true for folks who don't really know what they're looking at. That's why there are two articles in this newsletter about fraudulent instrument sellers. Also, if you want to see our original article on Brand Bigotry, click the following link:

On a happier note, I certainly hope you are each finding a way to do something musical and fun this holiday season. If you play traditional folk instruments (recorder, fiddle, hammered dulcimer, Irish banjo, mandolin, etc.), you should get a charge out of this year's Kitchen Musician's music selection.

In the meantime, keep playing, keep singing, and keep sharing!


"Kitchen Musician's" Christmas Music Downloads

My friends from Kitchen Musician have loaded up a bunch of free Christmas music downloads for folk instruments, including classic fiddle tunes that sound great on any picked or hammered instrument. When you click on the link, sometimes it jumps right to the Hammered Dulcimer Ring. If that happens, just hit your back button. You'll be glad you did.

For more information, click the following link:

Beware of "Dumb Like a Fox" Instrument Sellers

The internet is full of people who misrepresent what they have, and act like it's an "honest mistake" when you call them on it. One question I have, is "Why don't the 'honest mistakes' ever work out to the BUYER'S advantage?" Here's a new blog inspired by a reader who was about to spend way more money on something than she should because a fellow told her that a run-of-the-mill old student saxophone was a classic vintage piece. Unfortunately the scams extend to guitars, banjos, basses, and every other kind of instrument.

To jump right to the article, click the following link:

Fake Chuberry Saxophones

This article goes into detail about the saxophone that inspired the article above. Leonard Brown “Chu” Berry was a tenor sax player who made a name for himself in a series of swing bands, including Cab Calloway’s. For much of his very short career Berry played a “Transitional” Conn New Wonder II tenor saxophone. Nowadays sax players who own similar instruments tend to call them "Chu Berrys" as a sort of shorthand. But they're not labeled Chu Berry, so you really have to know your horns to know whether it's even close.

All of which makes it easy for anyone owning any beat up old Conn student horn to say it is or "might be" a Chu Berry, and add $100-$400 to the asking price based on that assertion. Buyers who have heard the term "Chu Berry" and don't know what it means still think it means a horn must be good. And, sadly, they sometimes shell out the extra cash.

For more information, click the following link:

More Free Career, Performance, and Songwriting Tips Online

A few months ago, I started providing links to other folks' career and performance tips on my CreekDontRise.com forum page. One contact led to another, so I've been adding tips by Leanne Regalla, Rick Barker, Dave Kusek, Carlos Castillo, and several others. Plus I've added links to a bunch of the free guides from companies who depend on independent musicians for their cash flow, like CD Baby. Each of these people and resources have their own strengths, and their own "take" on the most important things young musicians need to work on. In fact, if you download, read, and watch all the resources on our career and performance forum, you'll get more really good advice than you will have time to put into practice.

To see the links to other folks' Career and Performance tips, click the following link:

Initially I had the songwriting tips in the same forum, but the forum grew so large I decided to break songwriting out into a separate forum. Besides that, I have encountered too many folks who are doing everything they can to promote themselves online, etc. but don't have many (if any) songs worth hearing twice. So this improves your chances of having something worthwhile to sell before you spend hundreds of hours trying to sell it.

To see the links to other folks' songwriting tips, click the following link:

To sign up for the forums so you can participate, click the following link:

How do you keep from getting overwhelmed? Try this: Buy a notebook and divide it in half. Read ONE article a day from the career and performance links and take notes. Also read ONE article a day from the songwrangling links and take notes. If you have time, try one thing from each article. If you keep moving forward, you'll eventually figure out where the experts' opinions converge, and that may be a good place to put your focus. But the point is to keep moving forward.

Exiled Nigerian Prince still "On the Move"

As announced earler, I get so many e-mail spams, scams, and phishing attempts, that about six weeks ago I thought it would be fun to turn the tables on the spammers, scammers, and phishers. I started a "discussion forum" that published their e-mails to me and adding a not-so-helpful reply based on other spams, scams, and phishing attempts I get in the same period of time.

Mostly my replies featured the totally fictitious Exiled Nigerian Prince, one of the most notorious internet scams of all times. I started adding little details, like where he was last spotted, etc., telling a sort of story of his attempts to reach the US through Central America with at least part of his ill-gotten gains intact.

To my surprise, the thread has gone bacterial (well, I can't really say it has gone viral, or you would have already seen it on Facebook). A number of folks who dial in every day to see how the Exiled Nigerian Prince is getting along.

In fact, that forum was attracting so many followers that I registered the domain name ExiledNigerianPrince.com to keep someone else from getting there first and taking advantage of my hard work (it's happened before on other sites that were far less popular). Immediately I started getting spammed by fake SEOs who promised to put the new site on the first Google Search page for a few dollars. Of course what they really want is access to my FTP passwords so they can saturate my web site with adware and malware that other creeps are paying them to install. The irony is that by the time the fake SEOs started contacting me, the discussion forum and the fake "contact page" we link to were ALREADY on the first page of Google searches for Exiled Nigerian Prince. So I keep adding more and getting more hits. No, I don't expect it to make me rich and famous, but it has been fun. Click on the following link to see the current status of the exiled Nigerian prince's efforts to help the downtrodden and disadvantaged.

More to Come

If you've spent any time on any of our music sites, you know that we have a lot of topics to share about.

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In the meantime, if you want to see October's newsletter (the one before this), please click the following link:


Paul Race playing a banjo. Click to go to Paul's music home page.Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you enjoy your music and figure out how to make enjoyable music for those around you as well.

And please stay in touch!

- Paul Click to see Paul's music home page Click to contact Paul through this page. Click to visit the Creek Don't Rise discussion forum. Click to see Paul's music blog page Click to learn about our Momma Don't Low Newsletter. Click to see Paul's music page on Facebook Click to see Paul's YouTube Channel.

Paul D. Race
http://CreekDontRise.com
http://SchoolOfTheRock.com
http://classictrainsongs.com


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Visit our other music pages:
Heartland-inspired music, history, and acoustic instrument tips.
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.
Visit musings about music on our sister site, School of the Rock With a few tools and an hour or two of work, you can make your guitar, banjo, or mandolin much more responsive.  Instruments with movable bridges can have better-than-new intonation as well. Resources for learning Folk Music and instruments quickly Check out our article on finding good used guitars.
Carols of many countries, including music, lyrics, and the story behind the songs. X and Y-generation Christians take Contemporary Christian music, including worship, for granted, but the first generation of Contemporary Christian musicians faced strong, and often bitter resistance. Different kinds of music call for different kinds of banjos.  Just trying to steer you in the right direction. New, used, or vintage - tips for whatever your needs and preferences. Wax recordings from the early 1900s, mostly collected by George Nelson.  Download them all for a 'period' album. Explains the various kinds of acoustic guitar and what to look for in each.
Look to Riverboat Music buyers' guide for descriptions of musical instruments by people who play musical instruments. Learn 5-string banjo at your own speed, with many examples and user-friendly explanations. Explains the various kinds of banjos and what each is good for. Different kinds of music call for different kinds of banjos.  Just trying to steer you in the right direction. Folks with Bb or Eb instruments can contribute to worship services, but the WAY they do depends on the way the worship leader approaches the music. A page devoted to some of Paul's own music endeavors.