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Daily Nebraskan
Thursday, February 9, 1984
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Dawn WetsonDaily Nebraskan
Sharon Johnson sights along a bow to
gauge if the hairs dn a newly finished bow are
drying straight
By Dawn Watson 9
Sharon Johnson graduated from Kansas State
teachers college planning to teach home economics.
Instead, she ended up in Nebraska, teaching banjo
and repairing violin bows.
Johnson instructs approximately 20 banjo and
guitar students individually from her home base
ment studio. She also gives group lessons through
Southeast Community College. The class meets one
night a week at The Violin Shop, 1641 S. 17th St.,
Johnson's daytime violin bow workplace.
Although she grew up in the Western Swing-rich
Oklahoma-Kansas border region, and lived in Nash
ville for a few years, Johnson didn't meet up with
bluegrass until she moved to Lincoln in 1970.
In 1 97 1 , Johnson signed up for guitar lessons. Her
'Grey Fox' predictability
a pleasant surprise
From Out of th3 North ...
The Grey Fox. directed by Phillip Borsos; screenplay by John Hunter;
produced by Peter O'Brien, Barry Healy and Phillip Borsos lor United Artists
Classics. At the Sheldon Film Theatre, 12th and R streets. Rated PG.
Bill Miner Richard Farnsworth
Shorty Wayne Robson
Kate Flynn Jackie Burroughs
By Steve Absrictea
Richard Farnsworth has been working on Holly
wood movie sets for more than 40 years. He began
his career as a stuntman and has doubled for some
of the biggest film stars. He has played bit parts in
Film
Review
The Cowboys, Tom Horn and Comes A Horseman. He
is also one of the best reasons to see The Grey Fox.
Farnsworth plays Bill Miner, an outlaw who
spends 33 years in San Quentin for robbing stage
coaches. Miner is alledgedly the western hero who
originated the "hands up!" command.
The film begins with his release from prison
around the turn of the century.
One of the primary themes of Vie Grey Fox is how
a cowboy from the 19th century deals with the
changes that come along in the 20th. The answer:
Since there are no longer any stagecoaches around,
he decides he might as well rob trains. ;
Westerns have always had predictable plots and
Tnc GrcjFox is no different. We see everything com-
ing from a mile away.
teacher, a classical guitarist, introduced her to
Merle Travis-style fmgerpicking, after 1 xh years the
instructor ran out ofTravis pieces and sent Johnson
to Steve Hanson, her teacher for the next six years.
Sometime during 1974, Johnson recalled, she saw
the movie Deliverance and like the banjo sound
track. "I remember hearing it and thinking, 'What? What
are they doing here?' And I wondered if I could do
it."
Soon afterwards she bought a banjo, and from
that point on the guitar took a back seat, she said.
Johnson loved the bright, shining sound of the
banjo. Playing the banjo felt natural. It seemed to
combine the dexterity which piano study had given
her with the snare drum rhythms of her high school
band days she said.
, Instrument repair, another side of Johnson's
bluegrass career, began at about the same time she
took up the banjo. She worked in London Stringed
Instrument Repair Shop for four years, learning
how to rehair bows and build guitar bridges. She
also learned some violin repair, including glueing
seams and bridge set-up.
Meanwhile, Johnson was working hard on her
banjo technique. Two friends asked her to teach
them banjo and Johnson reluctantly agreed. Word
got around and other students tracked her down;
Johnson found she enjoyed teaching. In 1978 she
decided to go with it full-time. She quit her instru
ment repair job and rented studio space above
Thomsen Music. Then Southeast Community Col
lege called her about starting a banjo class.
Although Johnson enjoys group instruction, she
prefers individual instruction. Group teaching is
sometimes hard, because "you can't really tell what
everybody's doing. You can't give them full atten
tion," she said.
From the student standpoint, though, group les
sons are cheaper and sometimes more comfortable
for shy types, Johnson said. They can also be a lot of
fun because the students get to play together, she
said.
Johnson also enjoys playing with the class.
"It's fun to get up in front of a group and work with
them and get to know people," she said.
Johnson rarely plays in public, though. When she
does perform, it's important for her to feel that she's
giving something.
"I didn't want someone just to send me on an ego
trip," she said.
Johnson's fourth job, raising two teenage boys by
herself, is another reason she rarely performs. "Peo
ple want me to come out and 111 say, I can't, I've got
children to get to school.' "
r
Dawn WetsonDslly Nebraskan
Johnson places a wedge in the frog of the
bow to spread the hairs evenly.
Four jobs private lessons, group lessons, violin
bow work and homemaking mean Johnson is
busy. But she makes time for banjo practice.
Melodic style picking is her favorite, but she has
also done a lot of frailing style within the last few
years, she said. The melodic style challenges her
more, she said.
Banjo playing is both a means of self-expression
and excape for, Johnson. She plays banjo for 15
minutes or a half hour "more at a shot if I can get
it before facing stressful situations.
The banjo sound is mood-elevating, she said. "I
really think it's true what Steve Martin said. I mean
how can you get sad out of a banjo? It's bright and
it's cheerful."
"Not to say it's all cutesy," Johnson warned, laugh
ing. "Especially jazz."
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Television
E.L. Doctorow, the author of Ragtime and Loon
Lake is the subject of E.L Doctorow and the Ameri
can Myth (8:30 tonight on Channel 12). This hour
long special probes the way America and Ameri
cana have influenced Doctorovs writing.
Eugene Ormandy is the guest conductor on
tonight's edition of the Philadelphia Orchestra (8
p.m., KUCV, 00.9 FM). Pieces featured on tonight's
broadcast are two Beethoven compsitions, "Leonore
Overture No. 3" and "Symphony No. 6 in F" and
Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra."
Philip Borsos' The Grey Fox opens for a three
day engagement today. Shows are at 7 and 9 p.m.
Admission is $3.
Around Campus
John Landis' An American Werewolf In London
will be shown in the Rostrum of the Nebraska Union
tonight and Sunday at 7 and 9:15 p.m. The film,
which stars David Naughton (aka the Dr Pepper
guy) and is directed by John Landis, is being pres
ented by UPC's American Films Committee. While
not a stupendous film, Werewolf s main claim to
fame is Landis' use of special effects, which inspired
Michael Jackson to hire him as director of his
"Thriller" clip.
Daniel Heifetz, who will appear in concert at
Kimball Hall Friday night, will give two slightly more
intimate performances in the lobby of two dormito
ries. These "mini-concerts" will take place at 6:30
p.m. in Harper Hall Lounge, 1140 N. 14th St., and
Sandoz Hall Lounge, 820 N. 1 7th St., at 8 p.m. There's
no admission charge.
Around Tov.ii
Blues harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite will
aPeVuight through Saturday at the Zoo Bar,
li r l c u St Th? cover charge is just $3 tonight,
$3.50 for the remainder of the engagement.