Since getting its start in the early 1970s, the group entertains by playing ragtime, showboat, ’50s tunes and patriotic songs. They’ve entertained crowds in New Orleans, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In fact, three past presidents of the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City are members of the Kettering group.
“We’ve played on every Tall Stacks Riverboat that’s come by,” said Susan Pfeiffer of Kettering. “We’ve played all over the place; it’s really fun.”
Banjo Society members practice every Monday evening at the Milton Athletic Club in Riverside.
Once the group boasted 55 members; there are 31 listed on the club’s roster now.
You would imagine that a group called Banjo Society would naturally have mostly banjo players, and they do. However, six women members of the group play other instruments. Pfeiffer has played keyboard for the group for the past 14 years.
“I remember when I was really little, climbing up on that piano bench because I wanted to play so bad,” said Pfeiffer, who grew up in Franklin. “I played by ear until the age of 9, when I started lessons with a Juilliard-trained tutor, Joyce Eldridge.”
There are two other women keyboardists, two ukelele players and one who is a baritone and plays banjo, and another who plays banjo.
Pfeiffer is also busy as pipe organist for Covenant Presbyterian Church in Springboro, and a member of the U.D. New Horizon Band.
Several male members of the group play guitar, clarinet, accordion, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica or baritone/brass horns.
Dick Allen of Springfield is president and music director of the group. He’s a vocalist who plays plectrum banjo. He’s also in charge of bookings and has been a member for the past 29 years.
“I started playing banjo in 1962 when I was 16, and the guy across the street gave me and my brother lessons,” Allen said. “I had to buy my own banjo; I happened to have money in my school bank account. A brand new Vega cost $375, which was a lot of money back then.”
It turns out that guy across the street, Bob Wagner, was a good friend of nationally known banjo player Eddie Peabody. Allen now plays a $3,000 Philadelphia Mummers Special.
Allen will be playing that special banjo at tour events coming up this year:
Polk Grove United Church of Christ in Vandalia on July 23, and Clifton Opera House in Yellow Springs on Aug. 20 and Oct. 1. There will be two private shows for Milton Athletic Club Members on Nov. 11 and Dec. 10.
“It’s just plain fun to play a banjo,” said 20-year member Ted Bon of Miami Twp. “You enjoy the instrument, the music, and of course there’s great camaraderie in the group itself.”
For more information about the banjo society or request a booking, call Allen at 937-631-2640 or go online to www.ketteringbanjo.org.
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