Janet Beazley, Interview by Mitch Finley

She has toured extensively with CS&B throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East. Janet has taught bluegrass banjo, harmony singing, music theory and song writing at the British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop, California Bluegrass Association Music Camps, Midwest Banjo Camp, American Banjo Camp, Augusta Heritage Center Bluegrass Week, Banjo Camp North, Munich Banjo Camp, and Sore Fingers Week in the UK. She produced and engineered all three of the CS&B albums as well as solo projects by Chris Stuart and flatpicking guitar virtuoso Eric Uglum. Janet Beazley's solo CD, 5 South, spent eight months on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Survey Chart. Janet earned a doctorate in Early Music Performance and performs and teaches Renaissance and Baroque music at the University of California at Riverside. She also manages an acoustic music store and music school, New Expression Music, in San Diego.

Mitch Finley: Janet, how did you get into playing the banjo?

Janet Beazley: My background is classical music. I started flute in school at age 9, which became my primary pursuit for many years. I graduated with a degree in Flute Performance, and I freelanced as a flutist and taught private students in Los Angeles; I also taught part-time at USC. Eventually, I became interested in early music—performance of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music of Western Europe on historical instruments. I finished graduate school at USC with a Master's in Music History and a doctorate in Early Music. For years I held down three adjunct teaching jobs at USC, UC Riverside, and Claremont Graduate University, spending tons of time and energy commuting. I was a real "freeway flyer," as we call mega-commuters out here.

BNL: None of this has anything to do with the banjo, so how did the banjo work its way into your life?

JB: I noticed the sounds of bluegrass banjo playing when I was 12 or 13—"The Beverly Hillbillies," "Bonnie & Clyde," "The Smothers Brothers Show," Steve Martin's comedy bits with banjo. This stuff made a huge impression on me. I remember telling my parents that the banjo sounded really cool. But I was a band and orchestra geek in those days, and my parents were music snobs. They didn't play instruments themselves, although my mother sang in a church choir that performed Handel and Bach, but they listened to music all the time, mostly classical and some jazz.

Just after starting grad school, in my early 30s, I finally got my hands on a banjo. A friend took me to a Doc Watson concert at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica and I went nuts for his music, which reminded me of those traditional sounds that peaked my interest as a child. I came back to the store the next day and bought a good banjo—a Deering Maple Blossom—and immediately signed up for lessons with the banjo teacher there, John Schlocker. I took lessons with him every other week or so for two years.  John was still in love with the banjo after decades of playing professionally, and he shined with such spark and glee every time he picked it up. I got really into it, just couldn't believe how much fun playing banjo was, and I practiced a lot at a time when I should have been focusing on grad studies. I joined a local band after about two years and since then I've played in two professional regional bands: Copperline and Chris Stuart & Backcountry.

BNL:  Have the ways you learned to play banjo influenced how you teach?

JB: I've been fortunate in that I got into decent bands relatively early in my banjo playing life. That's where the real learning took place for me, and it continues to be my primary motivation for improvement. I'm a good team player and I love being part of what makes a good band sound. I have always tried to adapt my playing to what the band needs and to what a particular song needs: good timing and appropriate, tasteful backup and solos. Many of Chris Stuart's songs are not bluegrass, and it's an especially fun challenge to figure out what I can do as a banjo player to enhance the impact of a non-bluegrass song. It takes all of my musical experience, including many years of careful listening, to make these kinds of judgments, and I do my best to impart these kinds of musical values to my students.

BNL: How might you summarize the basic pedagogy or philosophy of learning that you use in teaching?

JB: I emphasize fundamentals: technique—solid rolls, crisp, clean Scruggs licks, etc.—as well as musicianship: timing, tone, phrasing, groove. I especially want my students to acquire the skills to play music with others as soon as possible.  For that reason I also lead a slow jam co-sponsored by the San Diego Bluegrass Society. It's become very popular simply because that's what most people want to do, enjoy the social aspect of playing music and learning together. I want to share with my students the skills and tools that will help them learn on their own as well under my guidance. I really enjoyed that aspect of bluegrass when I first started playing banjo, and I still enjoy it—the opportunities to learn in a variety of contexts: lessons, jams, picking parties, festival stages, workshops, DVDs, tablature, online instruction, etc.

continued in the print edition of the December 2011 Banjo Newsletter