Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-07-11
THE BANJO IN 1884.
0eld in BETTER Esteem Than 1t Was
Five Years Age.
New Y OK sun.
The laalar in mnSical instr,1nnon.

The dealer in musical instruments
was strummlng Oh protusely orna-
mentcd BANJO. We can gye You q
more strictly professional ona," lie re-
marked to his customer, but this style
has the call for parlor use. The diff
ference is that the stage ban o is even
more heavily ornamented than this one
has more side screws and jewelry; but
thctone is the same"
why do the stage Ian.os sound
louder
because professionals pound them
with thimb'e which they wear upon
their right fore!n nser; that practice
would not he good one while playing
for small party"
The customer decided ON the parlor
banjo, bought bag for it and extra
strings, and left 81. 80 with the dealer.
"Ill carry it home myself" he said as
he took h S departure.
The dealer turned to the re. orter
"Ten years ago." said he, You wouldn
catch such nan carrying a banjo in
the daytime, bnt to day this yonng
fellow is proud to do it. The instru-
ment is now in high favor, and to be
able to rattle off 'Babvlon is Falling
or the 'Rattie-Snake Jig, is just the
thing. Several fellows have carrie d
ban os abroad in the past three years,
and Parisians take to them. Some of
oar Young ladies of society are very
far players, and the picture of an
American belle picking the banjo for d
gro ip of fashionable listeners is by no
meals a caricature This small style of
instrument, which c,untrymen always
take for boys banjo, was gotten up
expressly for ladies', though gentlemen
very often use them. 1t is the fact of
women playing banjos which has so
largely increa ed th,ir popular .ty.
They are the fasLiYn. A gentleman
doesn t like to take his ban. o toa larty.
but when a lady produces one he
considers It a fine opp Drtunity
to show his strength concerning the
= -uwanee Eiver' or 'Nicodemus John
son. If ladies had no banjo in the
house these chances would not occur.
Another reason Tor the popularity of
the instrument is that it makes fun /;
people get tirel OF the stiff, technical,
finished piano-playing which lalies
have carried to such an extreme. 1t
bores them to make the effort to show
discriminative appreciation of classical
nue.. Yes, sir: the banjo fever has
been raging all through the winter, AMI
now that the serenading season is COM
mencing, we are having another squirt
in the business. There are many styles
and forms of banjos. til nix there is
little real difference in them The main
point is to have fin, strings of good
quality, and good parchment heal,
stretched as tightly as it will bear. You
can make almost any properlv-propor
toned banjo take if the skin is tight
and hard. We can give you very
good banjo for 81 as good as those sold
Tor $50.
1T is considered quite q nee thing
for young man to make small banjo
for his sweetheart. He buys the ma
terials and works them up to suit his
fancy. In these cases the article is likely
to cost him about so. The latest idea
in getting up presentation banjo for q
girl is to buy one ready made and inlay
it with colored wools. There was a
good deal of this done last winter, and
some of the results were very pretty.
If you buy $5 banjo, properly con-
structed, and pegs and tail-pieces of
ivory, and do little inlaying and carv-
ing, you will have an instrument worth
from $40 to $50.
"The idea that the banjo is q prime
favorite among our colored people is q
popular error. The colored man will
go around with banjo for business
purposes. He knows that people con-
meet him with the instrument. and is
willing to give way to their notion. But
in his family the colored man plays
something else. We sell tfem ten
guitar rings to one banjo string. 1t
is curious cons :deration that the his
toric instrument of the trolbadour
should have almost ceased to lie o
society music. making machine, while
the once lowly banjo is heard in the
drawing rooms"