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the university daily kansan
monday ◄
8.30.99 ◄
eight.a ◄
strings of steel
The plucky banjo thrives in American music culture despite a backwoods reputation
story by todd halstead • photos by sarah osbern
"The banjo is the lowest and most beautiful instrument at the same time."
Down in South Park,
under trees not with rain, the
remaining competitors in the 19th Annual Kansas State Picking and Fiddling Championships sat in groups playing music and spinning yarns about previous experiences and shows.
The scene could have been the same 100 years ago.
The banjo, one of the Aug. 22 festival's featured instruments, has long been the subject of scorn and ridicule because of its rural southern roots.
But several local troubadours who still wrinkle its strings of steel reflect upon why this hallowed musical heritage has survived.
"The banjo is the lowest and most beautiful instrument at the same time," said Ric Averill, Lawrence resident and banjo player of 25 years. "Most classical musicians would look in disdain at the banjo because they think it's a crude instrument."
He said that although classical musicians often dismissed the banjo, it frequently had been utilized in respected shows including Cabaret and Three Penny Opera.
The sounds emanating from the banjo express a history and timelessness not found in many instruments.
The banjo evolved from an African instrument made out of gourds that had skin stretched over them. In antebellum America, the slave trade introduced this instrument to the new world. Through years of modification, the banjo has become a creation of America and is synonymous with southern culture.
There are two common types of banjo, the tenor and the five-string. The tenor has four strings and is usually used in Dixieland Jazz and more traditional forms of banjo music. The five-string banjo is used for bluegrass music. The fifth string is shorter and is attached to a peg halfway down the neck. The resonator on the five-string is a round dish that sits around the head of the banjo. It ensures that vibrations coming out of the back are refocused and projected back through the head. This is in contrast to the open-back banjos that allow the body to absorb much of the sound, making it softer.
"The first reason people play banjos is that a guitar makes a lousy jam session instrument," said Steve Mason Lawrence resident. "To start with, it is not very loud, and you tend to show up at a jam session and there will be eight or ten other guitar players."
Luthiers repair or build instruments and must become proficient in any instrument on which they intend to work.
"These guys who play banjo tend to be more or less brains kind of people," said Mason, a luthier. A lot of them are mathematicians, a lot physicians, and a lot with Ph.D.s."
Mason, whose father was a professional violin maker and brother a guitar prodigy, learned to play the banjo
in 1968 to begin repairing them.
"The banjo is very scientific and mathematical," Mason said. "It takes a lot of practice and figuring out. It's very difficult to play."
Jim Rome, a judge at the competition at South Park, said playing the banjo was analytical and similar to a foreign language in that you had to learn the rules and the small details before you could put everything together.
"You can't just put it down and pick it up a year later and still be able to play well. Jerry Garcia called it a practice intensive instrument," Rome said. "You have to be fine tuned and kept tuned."
Rome, who has tinkled out bluegrass tunes on the banjo for 20 years, said the greatest satisfaction was to hear himself play and watch his fingers move.
"It pulses and pulses continuously throughout the music," he said. "I find that just lovely the way it rolls and continues to roll."
Rome teaches the third grade at New York Elementary School, 936 New York St. Often, he brings his banjo to school. In front of his class, he sits and strums musical scales to teach the children listening skills and how to pick out tones.
"I want to show them that the banjo is worthwhile to listen to," Rome said.
"I want them to see that they know a real person who plays music and that it's really fun."
Like Rome, the festival also sought to educate. Mike Rundle, the director of the competition, said that the goal of the festival was to inform people about acoustic music in an age of so many options
The music that comprised the South Park competition was produced by a wide variety of folk artists wishing to perpetuate acoustic instruments in an age in which modernity has left its mark on the music world.
When the rain finally stopped at the festival, a winner of the banjo competition was selected.
Rome, the judge, said:"He is a great player, very lovely to listen to. Bart was a clear winner in my mind and of those of the other judges."
Bart Smith, Lawrence resident, stepped on the stage to accept his award.
Smith, humble in his victory, said: "It's a very pleasant surprise. It sounded like everyone played really well to me. The audience was great; they seemed to appreciate the music."
Play on words: banjo lingo
Banjeaurine: A banjeaurine is a short-necked five-string banjo used as the tenor voice in banjo orchestras at the turn of the century.
Boomalacka: A word that describes the sound of one of the common clawhammer rhythms. The boomalaka rhythm uses four eighth notes with an accent on the third.
Clawhammer: A banjo-playing style that consists of a downstroke, where the top of the finger nail of the index or middle finger strikes a string or strings and the thumb catches on the fifth string. The thumb releases, sounding the fifth string on the offbeat.
Scruggs style: This style is the basic bluegrass threefinger style of banjo-playing. Named after Earl Scruggs, it involves working the melody into a near constant stream of notes called roles. For emphasis, the melody notes are usually played with the thumb.
Picolo Banjo: The smallest member of the banjo family. Turn-of-the-century banjo orchestras used the piccolo banjo as the soprano voice.
Whyte Laydie: The A. C. Fairbanks Whyte Laydie is probably the most highly sought-after old-time banjo. They were first made in 1902 and continued to be built into the 1920s.
Source: The Banjo Glossary, http://www.radix.net/~jchumley/glossary.htm
Banjos on the web
Banjo Newsletter
Banjo Newsletter
http://www.tiac.net/users/bnl
This magazine makes the 5-string banjo its monomania.
http://www.visuallink.net/murphy/wib.htm
Mugwumps
http://www.mugwumps.com
This is a magazine dedicated to discussion of vintage stringed instruments.
How to Buy a 5-string Banjo.
http://www.billpalmer.com/banjobuy.htm
One man's advice on how to find a good instrument.
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