The History of the banjo?

Subject: The History of the banjo?
From: GUEST,Music Newby
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 10:13 AM

I have seen several threads here and elsewhere regarding the history of the banjo. I am more confused than ever.

Where did it really start?

Who added the fifth string?

What do the old banjos( pre Civil War) look like?

Who do I go to for more information?

I recently bought a CD from Rounder called "Minstrel Banjo Style", I like the sound but want to learn more.

Thanks

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 12:17 PM

Music Newby, try this post for starters.

Jon

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 01:02 PM

this history looks quite good"

Jon

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 02:46 PM

Music Newby--

The second site Jon posted is interesting; the first one in my opinion is too shallow. A good standard source on any music history question is Grove's Encyclopedia of Music, a multi-volume goodie found in the reference section of many a decent library. From there and a few other sources, I have this to add:

The banjo came to America as early as 1675 in the minds of those Africans fortunate enough to have survived the "Atlantic Passage." When able, they built instruments which they had played at home, which may or may not have spread from the Portuguese settlements, Angola and Mozambique. These banjos were five-string, fretless, and gut-stringed and had bodies made from gourds.

About 1830 a planter, Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice observed some of his stable hands doing a song-and-dance thing called "Jump Jim Crow" (Fireside Book of Amercan Ballads, etc.). Rice decided that had more entertainment value than just something for the slaves to amuse themselves with, and out of this, the white "blackfaced minstrel" troupes were born.

Having more resources, the whites decided they could improve the instrument. The gourd was replaced by a wooden hoop to which a hide was tacked, using carpet tacks with large, ornamental heads. Hence the name "tackhead" for this generation.

The tackhead lasted for only about a decade; it was replaced by the modern system of screw-down clamps holding the rim which in turn holds the skin to the head. Smithsonian has an example of this construction from no later than 1846.

Next major change was the steel string. This was a serendipitous off-shoot of the first efficient wire-pulling machine, not invented until the 1880's. The purpose was to make cheap steel barbed wire to sell to sodbusters, to keep the longhorns out of their turnips. Some bright lad suggested setting the diameter smaller and making cheap, strong steel strings to replace the gut and the occasional brass strings, which had been cold-hammered. (I cannot imagine sitting up late at night hammering a string into shape, but there you go.)

The wire-puller "drew" heat-softened steel through the adjustable aperature between industrial diamonds, hence the brand name (no laughter, please) BLACK DIAMOND for one early metal string manufacturer.

The steel strings seemed to beg the question of frets, which were added, or at least more commonly added, after the steel string. The fretted steel string changed the style, because it was no longer necessary to "knock down" on the whole battery of strings in order to be heard. Syncopated arpeggios etc. became more feasible, and banjo players changed from two-finger/clawhammer to three-finger styles, inventing all the various "rolls."

The only thing missing from that point was the clamshell resonator, which was added for the same reason the Dobro was invented--more volume.

I think anybody who said he "invented" the banjo is blowing smoke, like Jelly Roll Morton saying he "invented" the blues. Synthesized, maybe; invented, maybe. There is also a "White Supremacist" version of the history of the banjo, which credits an unnamed Confederate general with ORDERING the addition of the fifth string. In fact, the 4-string tenor became popular only in the Ragtime era.

As I say, go to Grove for the Pure Gospel, but the above is pretty solid, as my group does "trad" stuff and we have been over this ground a lotta times. (Actually a time, two times and half a time, but that's from another thread.)

Oh, I left out picks, aka "thimbles." I can't ever remember who gets credit; 'bout 1840-50, I think. Don't quote me on that part.

Chicken Charlie

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 03:33 PM

A Swedish banjoist, Ulf Jagfors, has discovered historical and modern facts that make it appear likely that the direct ancestor of the American slave banjo was an instrument called the akonting, very similar to the early banjo in the US, which is still played in Africa, and played with essentially what we call frailing technique. Historical slave trade records show that a large percentage of the slaves in the appropriate time came from the area where the akonting is/was prevalent, and more important, that it was common to have an akonting player in each shipload. Seems they found they arrived with a healthier load if they periodically brought the captives on deck and had a dance for the exercise value. This, if true--and I'm convinced, for whatever it's worth--would directly explain the transportation of both prototype instruments and skilled players to America.

DAve Oesterreich

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 03:44 PM

Dave--

Awesome. Got a citation for that??? CC

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: GUEST,Bill
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 04:54 PM

You all might want to look up George Wunderlich. He turned me on to Ulf's work on the akonting as well.

George has restored more early banjos than anyone in the country. I was in his shop recently where he had about 15 early banjos for repair and documentation. He also has the only data base that I know of that relates only to early banjo design and construction.

The way he tells it, tack heads lasted in one form or another from the 1820's to about 1880! The tension heads came in around 1845. Also, the akonting was made from a bamboo like plant in western Africa that the locals call "banjoe"!!! He can fill you in on more.

I think his web site is www.wunderbanjo.com. If I can get in touch with him, I will have him replay to this thread in person

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 06:25 AM

Your all full of (???????)
I suppose this israther rude, so forget I wrote it. (but I won"t erase it)

I hate experts, anyway. The now defunct Fraternity of 5 string banjoists of America which estimated that there were 400 or so banjo players in the whole world, (200 known) swho's membership included me, Roger Sprung, Tom Paley, Pete Seeger, Marshal (Grandpa) Jones, Uncle Dave Macon, String Bean, Earl Scruggs,Don Reno, Ralph Stanley etc, etc, etc, in 1953. Had rooms full of Documentation as to the following:

The Banjo was the outright invention of Joel Walker Sweeney, a classical. guitarist of Appomatox, Virginia who knew the sound that he wanted and set about acquiring it. He wanted an instrument with greater intonation and volume than was afforded with the guitars of the day. His invention, he freely admits, was inspired by an African Instrument called a Banjya. Sweeney's banjo has a body like a more sturdily constructed tambourine with a calfskin head, fastened down with brackets like on a drum, so the skin head could be stretched evenly and accurately over the wooden,. circular frame AND COULD BE TUNED TO "C". Today's bamjo's should, also, be tuned to "C". It has a frettless neck and like today's banjo's a shorter 5 th string which was also the lightest guage. The shorter, lightest string more evenly distributed the pressure exerted on the head by the bridge and precluded the necessity for bracing and/or struts. The Two instruments are constructed quite differently. The African Instrument had a hollow square box with a doghide head tacked over it. the head could not be adjusted once installed. It had a long slender neck with three strings, very much like the Japanese Samisen, which no one in the Western World had seen at that time in history.
There was no gradual evolution from the bajnya to the banjo. Sweeny got the idea for the banjo from the bajnya but placed side by side,there is no doubt that the banjo is an outright invention. Sweeny invented his instrument in 1853. Furthermore, he was left handed and the 5th string of the first banjo WHICH IS ON DISPLAY IN A PRIVATE MUSEUM IN lOS aNGELES cALIFORNIA, is on the opposite side of the neck than is customary.

Joel Sweeney, during the American Civil War, was an Officer in the Confederate Army, and was a member of Jeb Stuart's regiment. There are many accounts preserved in l;etters and logs of how much the soldiers enjoyed Sweeney performances of Mozart and Bach as well as contemporary music. Joel Walker Sweeney survived the war and lived to be an old. old man.

Don't ever trust an expert, dig out the facts for yourselves Both the Enclopaedia Brittanica and Americana have material supporting this .
The "Banjo has 5 strings, the "Banjorine" also has 5 strings, but the neck is much smaller and pitched 5 half tones higher. The "Plectrum Banjo" Arthur Peobody's instrumenthas 4 strings, the same length as the Banjo, but, as you'd suppose is played with a plectrum. sThe "Tenor banjo" has a short neck and is tuned in 7ths (as opposed to 5ths for the others) and is primarily a rhythm instrument. The Banjo Mandolin (My first instrument) has a mandoline-like neck on a banjo frame.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Butch
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 08:30 AM

What the heck, as my real name has been used here in a post above, I will jump in.

The information quoted to Ulf above comes from an Affrican Akonting player named Daniel Katta (SP?). I heard him present his evidence in Lexington Mass last fall. He is well researched and well read. When you look at the physical structure of the akonting vs the Khalam and molo, this makes the most sense notwithstanding previous claims. The akonting is in fact round and the bridge sits directly on the head, not on the dowel as in the khalam. With the exception of tuning "pegs" it is made almost exactly like an early gourd banjo.

So far as Sweeney goes --- I hope that I am not so dense as to miss the post above as humor. If it is not meant as humor (which means I am that dense) then I must appologize. Sweeney, of Va.learned banjo from the carrage maker slave of Dr. Walker. Dr. Walker owner a nearby plantation and in fact was the very doctor that brought Sweeney into the world. This is how Joel got the middle name Walker. Accoding to family histories, Joel made two banjos out of gourds in the style of the local slaves. His mother destroyed the first when she discovered that the skin head was from a family cat! She found the second but relented for fear that even more cats would meet the same fate. There will be a new biography of Sweeney comming out soon by Bob Carlin. He has gone as far as England to research Sweeney's life accurately. When it comes out, anyone interested should read it. He died about the time of the Civil War. His brother Sam raod with JEB Stuart in the Confederate Cav. and died in 1864.

Banjos of Sweeney 's time and later were tuned one of two ways (commonly) from the first string down a f# d g D and the second tuning was the same only one full tone higher. These tunings are shown in all of the period instruction manuals from 1848 ( Jumbo Chaff [Ellias Howe]) to the to 1872 (Frank Converse ). Frets were not common until after the Civil War (about 1875 from currect reasearch) BUT in 1859, the Buckley's manual encourages the use of frets on the banjo. The math used to place the frets however was fafulty and the early fret jobs require a small fret under the 1st string only 1/8 inch up from the real 2nd fret. Only two or three known examples of this fret work is currently known. Most banjos from the period are indeed frettless.

On the subject of the banjo in the Los Angles County Museum, it was made by Sweeney from a commercail hoop made by William Boucher of Baltimore MD. It is a left handed banjo made for Sweeney's niece who was left handed. Sweeney was right handed.

Just a quick note also on tack heads. The tackhead banjos can be found in sales sheets as late as the 1880's. These were cheep beginners instruments. The early tackheads used mostly small tacks (brass) or even wooded pegs similar to thoses used in shoes of the period. There are several gourd fiddles that are still around useing that method. Most of the early tackheads I see use plain headed tacks of brass and just a few in steel.

For more information get the book "America's Instrument: the banjo in the nineteenth century" Univ. of NC press 1999. There has been quite a bit of new research in the last few years, the old myths are being replaced with new and correct history backed by well documented souces. If your history is more than three of four years old.... it is outdated to one degree or another.

BTW, my data base and researchis open to anyone who wants to travel to my shop. Don't taske my word for it, look at the evidence for yourself. Besides it's lonely in my banjo shop, I need the company!

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 11:41 AM

Wow! This is a dangerous place to claim knowledge of banjos. Maybe, you should have a meeting, play a few tunes, and get the story all together so the rest of us can better appreciate it. My banjo is an S.S. Stewart's Orchestra model from around 1895 and fortunately I have a reprint of their catalogue that tells me what they thought they were building. So there!

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 12:25 PM

Chicken Charlie:

As to documentation, I can only say that I know what I know through Banjo-L, postings by Ulf Jagfors, and nowhere else.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Butch
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 01:20 PM

Actually, there is a group of banjo scholars who do just that once ayear. Unfortunately, we are not getting the word out as quickly as we would like. Also, we have years of myth and folklore to push away before people are ready to accept the research, but there is hope! More books areon the way in 2001 and 2002 and there are banjo history museum exhibits in Pa this year and Boston this fall to push the cause forward.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 01:29 PM

Butch, do you have any of your stuff on the internet? I presume you are in the US and much as I would like visit your shop, I can't see myself coming over from the UK to do so.

Jon

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Butch
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 04:03 PM

I'm working on it. There is a man in Whales that also follows this information. His name is Cyril Wickham. If you e-mail me off list, I can give you his contact information. Catch me at [e-mail].

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 22 Apr 01 - 09:53 PM

Well, Cpt. Cranky; we meet again! It is beginning to appear that you are none other than a certificated educated consecrated Grand Expert, Wizzard, and omniscient Potentate of all subjects, forign and domestic. Is there any body of knowledge of which you are not the acme of expertise? Alas, the Mudcat is one place where you seem to be routinely encountering other "Experts" who have done their homework and speak with authority, credibility, and experience. This is the second time I've seen you popped off of your exalted perch down a peg or two, and since I don't open but about 2% of the threads, I've got to wonder if it's a regular occurance. If so, you seem to be getting used to it & taking it pretty well, as you keep resurfacing a-blowin' and a-spoutin' for more.

According to Bob Flesher and at least one period instructor, (BRIGGS; Ditson; 1855) the old Gut-strung banjos were typically tuned about 2 1/2 steps below our current "Bluegrass" tunings per "Butch"s post. When you are dealing with friction pegs, good luck holding anything much sharper with gut strings!

Somebody mentioned picks; it has been my experience that guts had best be played barefingered as was apparantly the tradition through the ACW. Picks will tear up the strings faster than anything this side of a chain saw, and in case you have not purchaced a set of real, good gut strings lately, let me assure you that they are not cheap!

To again concur with "Butch", (who by the way not only restores old instruments but handcrafts the finest replicas I have ever seen) the "tackheads" were the instrument of choice for the Banjoist on a budget, and could be constructed at home out of commonly available materials (Here, Kitty-Kitty) by the average Sharecropper. No doubt we could still find them being played in Appalachia or in remote backwaters of the deep South. I have heard some mighty fine pickin' comin' outta one of these dandys!

I have seen plans in an 1870's book for a British 6-string banjo, and an 1880s Banjo Instructor book in my collection advises to use gut violin strings, but intimates that some banjos were starting to be made with steel strings.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 23 Apr 01 - 03:09 PM

Cranky Yankee--

If Sweeney "invented" the banjo in 1853, how do you deal with the one illustrated on page 119, vol. 2 of the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians? It's five-string, right handed, with six clamps holding the rim around the round, wooden head. It's attributed to William Boucher of Baltimore, Maryland, 1846, and is at the Smithsonian.

I have sometimes made mistakes in haste to do a post in a short window of opportunity, but this one I checked AGAIN and my memory was right. Anticipating a flame war, I'm off this thread; I have to deal with enough people who want to make ignorance a virtue. P.S. May the Lost Cause stay Lost.

:) CC

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: GUEST,long time banjoist
Date: 23 Apr 01 - 04:45 PM

Don't worry Charlie, there's no need for a flame war here. I really wish Cranky Yankee hadn't started of with "You're all full of ?????" but maybe the odd punctuation meant he was joking. I hope so anyway, because obviously his information is way out of date. Which is my point actually. Back in the fifties, there really hadn't been much research done on the banjo, and even Pete Seeger printed a lot of stuff in his "How To Play the Five String Banjo" that was later discredited, simply because new information had come to the fore. I doubt if Pete minded being corrected.

I think most of us who consider ourselves "banjo fans" have eagerly devoured each new historical tidbit, and goodness know there's no shortage of current info. Maybe "Cranky" simply hasn't kept up. No problem, it's not classified CIA documents, just banjo stuff. Come back "Yankee", all is forgiven.

Just remember how little we knew about the origins of the Kentucky dulcimer until serious research was done. It's French, German and Scandinavian background was never touched on til Jean Ritchie started the ball rolling.

J.C.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Bert
Date: 23 Apr 01 - 05:06 PM

Terry Golden said something like... "Read one book on the history of the banjo and relax with the confidence of an expert. Read another and be doomed to eternal confusion"

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Apr 01 - 05:12 PM

Well, I'm willing to learn, painful process that it is. Keep it up!

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Rex
Date: 24 Apr 01 - 11:07 AM

As Charley said, keep it up. Thanks to C. C. as I've been trying to find a reference to any surviving William Boucher banjos. That was just what I needed to find.

Rex

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 24 Apr 01 - 12:29 PM

Thanks Butch;
As I said, Dont trust experts. Including me.
sWhat I wrote previously was mostly from people telling me what they supposed. As of this period in time, I'll accept what you suppose, as it makes the most sense.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 24 Apr 01 - 12:34 PM

I just decided, I don't really care where the instrument came from, so I'll just enjoy playing it and listening to others. Thanks again, Butch.

Subject: RE: The History of the banjo?
From: Butch
Date: 24 Apr 01 - 05:34 PM

Enjoy it no matter the history! What really counts is what the instrument means to you.