Banjo
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The banjo is a stringed instrument of African-American origin. The defining characteristic of the banjo is the use of a stretched membrane, originally an animal skin, to amplify the vibration of its strings. This arrangement creates the banjo's characteristic sound and differentiates it from instruments of European origin known in the Americas. Early banjos consisted of a gourd body topped with an animal skin for the sound chamber and a fretless wooden neck.
The etymology of the word "banjo" is the subject of scholarly inquiry. It is possibly derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza or from a dialectal pronunciation of bandore (pronounced "banjore"). Recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.
Modern banjos come in a variety of forms. Four string banjos, used in the performance of jazz, include plectrum and tenor models. Five string banjos are sibdivided into "resonator" banjos principly used in bluegrass music and "open back" banjos principally used for folk and old time music. Five string banjos feature a short string mounted at the side of the neck. This string can be fretted and used for melody, but is used mostly to produce the complex rythms associated with bluegrass, folk and old time styles. Other instruments in the banjo family include hybrids such as banjo ukulele, banjo mandolin and banjo guitar.
The modern banjo's sound chamber consists of a wooden or metal rim with a plastic or skin "head" stretched by means of metal brackets. Jazz and bluegrass banjos often utilize a resonator which encloses the open end of the rim and reflects the sound forward. The neck mounted to the side of the rim across from a tailpiece which secures the ends of the strings. A wooden bridge sits on the banjo head and transferrs the string vibration to the head. The woods used in construction vary. Maple, walnut and mahogany are commonly used for necks. Rims are mostly made from maple. Banjo fingerboards are usually ebony or rosewood.
Until the latter 1800s banjo necks were fretless as were like the African instruments that inspired them. A revival of interest in older banjo styles has caused a resurgence in fretless and antique-style instruments, but the vast majority of banjos produced today are fretted. Banjo strings are commonly metal, although nylon and gut are sometimes used.
Five-string banjo
Until the late 1800s there was little standardization in the production of banjos. Most banjos were hand crafted individually. They differed in rim construction, scale length and the number of strings employed. A common arrangement was a four string instrument with a short-scale drone string at the position of the fifth or seventh fret. Some standardization began to emerge with the popularization of minstrel shows which featured virtuoso banjo performances. The sudden popularity of the minstrel show called for the production of higher quality instruments. The gourd gave way to a round rim of drum-like construction that could be tightened or loosened depending on how humidity in the air affected the skin head.
By 1860, five string banjos were the rule. Preeminent banjo player of the period, Joel Walker Sweeney, an American minstrel performer did not, as many assert, invent the short-scale fifth string. It is likely that he popularized the use of the bass string string which gave the banjo more range. The playing style of Mr. Sweeney and his contemporaries involved a downward motion of the hand using the fingernail to strike the strings. This basic motion is the origin of old time styles called variously frailing, clawhammer, knock down, rapping.
The first major departure from these styles appeared in the late 1800s. By this time the banjo had become popular in urban centers like New York, Boston and Philadelphia and was acceptable as a parlor instrument to be played by women as well as men. This new sophistication called for "European" styles of play which called for strings to be plucked upward as they are on a guitar. To support these new styles, the banjos began to feature smaller diameter heads and "tone rings," metal rings of varied design that sit between the banjo head and the rim. The late 1800s and early 1900s companies like Vega in Boston produced ornate banjos featuring engraved metal parts, fancy pearl inlay and floral carved necks.
The Civil War exposed the banjo to soldiers from rural areas who may never have seen a minstrel show. The banjo was popular among Union and Confederate soldiers alike. Small impromptu minstrel groups formed from among the troops featuring banjo, fiddle, bones and other instruments. It is likely that the appearance of banjos in rural areas, such as appalachians, can be traced back to this exposure. Regional styles of banjo playing that developed after the civil war were popularized during the folk boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Master clawhammer players such as Clarence Ashley and Hobart Smith were honored at folk festivals around the country and featured on numerous recordings.
In the 1940s "three-finger" emerged principally in North Carolina. Early masters include Snuffy Jenkins, Don Reno and Earl Scruggs, but it was Earl Scruggs playing in the ensemble of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe whose name is most closely associated with the style. Three finger style incorporates two metal finger picks and a plastic thumb pick and features a rolling and an upward motion of the fingers against the string. The picks allow for speed and a ringing tone. As had occurred at different junctures, banjo construction was modified to accomodate new styles of play. The Gibson company developed a banjo with a resonator and a heavy bronze tone ring that is ideally suited to bluegrass and three-finger style.
The five string banjo, depending on the style of play, can utilize many tunings. Most bluegrass music is performed in open G tuning (gDGBd) and less frequently in "drop C" (gCGBd) or D tuning (aDF#Ad). Clawhammer players also favor open G and drop C, but add "double C" (gCGcd) and "G modal" (gDGCd). Numerous other tunings exist. Banjo master Doc Boggs was famous for playing in exotic tunings to suit the mood of his songs.
Four-string banjo
Four string banjos are used as a principally as a rythm instrument in jazz music, particularly in the "dixieland" style jazz. The advent of the electric guitar and changes in jazz styles relegate its use to older jazz forms. It has also been employed as a solo instrument by four string virtuosos. Four string banjos may be either "plectrum" or "tenor" banjos.
The plectrum banjo has four strings, lacking the shorter fifth string, and 22 frets; it is usually tuned CGBD. As the name suggests, it is usually played with a flat guitar-style pick (that is, a single one held between thumb and forefinger), unlike the five-string banjo, which is almost always played with a set of three fingerpicks, or occasionally with bare fingers. The plectrum banjo evolved out of the five-string banjo to cater for styles of music involving strummed chords. A further development is the tenor banjo, which also has four strings and is typically played with a plectrum too. It has a shorter neck of 19 frets is usually tuned CGDA, like a viola, or GDAE, like a violin (but an octave lower), and has become quite a standard instrument for Irish traditional music where is mainly used in its shorter 17 frets variant. Eddie Peabody (plectrum) and Harry Reser (tenor and plectrum) are regarded as two of the best four string banjo players of all times.
Other uses of "banjo"
- 'Banjo' was the nickname of Australian poet A.B. Paterson.
- In baseball, a "banjo hitter" is a hitter who lacks power.
- Banjo was a classic Rareware computer game character in the 1998 game Banjo-Kazooie
See also
- List of banjo players
- Prewar Gibson banjo
Further reading
- Gura, Philip F. and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century, The University of North Carolina Press, 1999 (ISBN 0807824844). The definitive history of the banjo, focusing on the instrument's development in the 1800's.
- Seeger, Pete, How to Play the 5-String Banjo, Music Sales Corporation, 3rd edition, 1969 (ISBN 0825600243). The seminal instruction book, still in print decades later. Seeger has since recorded an instruction video, available on DVD.
- Tsumura, Akira, Banjos: The Tsumura Collection, Kodansha International Ltd., 1984 (ISBN 0870116053). An illustrated history of the banjo featuring the world's premier collection.
- Webb, Robert Lloyd, Ring the Banjar!, Centerstream Publishing, 2nd edition, 1996 (ISBN 1574240161). A short history of the banjo, with pictures from an exhibition at the MIT Museum.
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