It’s about time! Banjoist Roger Sprung, after years and years in the business, was finally inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. He came along at just the right time in my life when I lost my band, failed in music school, and had pretty much lost all confidence in myself as a musician.
At 23 years old, knowing nothing about him except for a brochure that my brother-in-law passed to me one day, I decided to take a chance with banjo lessons from him. I dialed up his number and he answered the phone in his inimitable greeting, “Roger Sprung.” Wow! He already sounded like someone who knew what life is all about!
I went on to tell him that I knew a couple of tunes on the banjo, but in all honesty, I really didn’t “know” what the heck I was doing. He followed that up with, “Well, I tell ya Jeff, I’m one of the best banjo teachers in the world, and I’m SURE I can help you out.”
Normally, I would think, “What’s this guy trying to feed me,?” but somehow I KNEW that he meant what he said with crystal clarity! In the two years that followed with my trips to Newtown, CT (Yeah, sadly, that’s the place where the horror later happened), I had become a professional music instructor, with a far deeper understanding of music than what I had learned in my four years in music school. Roger’s mentoring had turned my life around!
Not only that, but he built the banjo that I still own and play to this day, and inspired me to write an award winning banjo piece called “Reverie” – see my earlier post about that: https://jeffbelding.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=595&action=edit
I think we all experience some form of synchronicity at various moments in our lives. It’s hard to notice it happening IN those moments. It’s only when you look back a decade or more in the rear-view mirror that you realize the significance of the right person, coming along at the right time, and pointing you in just the right direction.
Roger Sprung was that person for me at that time when I stood at the crossroads of music as a “sideline” or music as a “way of life.” I probably wouldn’t have chosen the latter if that brochure had never been handed off to me on that fateful day so long ago. My life has been SO MUCH the richer for taking that plunge into Roger’s musical universe.
I’m sure I speak for many of his students that came before me and after me when I say, “Well done Roger! Your contribution to music will stand the test of time for ages to come!”
Enjoy this video tribute to Roger!
