Franks Converse's wife.

[Carl Anderton]

Frank Converse had an interesting wife, to say the least. Here are
two PBS blurbs about her life and work on behalf of Native Americans.

http://www.pbs.org/warrior/content/timeline/circle/ElyAndHarriet.html
http://www.pbs.org/warrior/content/bio/converse.html

[Joel H.]

I find it odd that Mr. Converse has not been hailed as the significant
historical figure that he is. That is, outside of the small Banjo
history community. His musical writing skills were so good it is
downright weird. We also know of his brother's arrangements for the
guitar and pianoforte, so he must of come from a talented family.
Frank's contribution to music in general seems to have been
overlooked. That is the strange part to me. It just stands to reason
that he would marry a great lady. Joel Sweeney was no doubt important
in the history of the banjo, but perhaps without Converse, the Banjo
may have never become the craze of the late 1880s-1900. Perhaps
without his help, the Banjo could have fallen into obscurity early
on. Our hobby may not even exist. Sorry, just thinking out loud.
Thanks for the links.

[Carl Anderton]

Joe Ayers put it rather pithilly when he said "the enigma of passing
eras has put him just out of earshot."

He's referring to the fact that Converse wasn't recorded, when the
technology was available, but I think it applies perhaps to Converse's
place in history. He was acknowledged as the most polished and
artistic of the early stroke-stylers, but that style sort of fell into
disrepute by the 1880's and although Converse was a brilliant
fingerstylist, he was kind of an "old fogey" to the young turks that
set the pace at the turn of the century.

Also, he was never content to rest on his laurels from the footlights,
spending most of his by the 1880's writing and teaching. Maybe that's
what he really wanted his legacy to be, on the printed page.

[trapdoor2]

Many players refused to record. Remember, it was a totally new
thing. Not "iphone" new but perhaps "personal computer" new. No one
knew if it would be a lasting technology and the sound reproduction
was pitiful at best. Converse died in '03, right? By then, Edison
was just bringing to market his "gold moulded" process. Prior to
that, cylinder making was a 1:1 thing. You arranged as many machines
in the room as you could get and played your piece. Change cylinders
and play it again. Imagine creating thousands of cylinders, 15 at a
time...same song played about every 10 minutes...eight to ten hours a
day. In the 1880's, many tunes were done with only 2 or 3 machines!
1902-1903, Edison's team figured out how to mould cylinders from a
single (or several) masters and mass production took over.

No wonder only a select few studio musicians existed early on.

Some musicians flatly refused to record anyway. Sousa famously
refused, saying he would never make "canned" music. His favorite,
trombonist Arthur Pryor, would take willing band members over to the
studio to make recordings of the band.

===Marc

[Tim Twiss]

Boy, wouldn't that be a finding of the Holy Grail...a Converse
cylinder!

[J.A. (Tam) Carter]

Just wanted to say what a very interesting conversation this is, and
how much I'm learning (as usual) from you great folks. Thanks VERY
much for the history, and for the humanizing of the history!

The Tom Briggs Group rules.
Aurelia