Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-01
FACTS ABOUT THE BANJO.
How It Came to be Developed From ,
Calabash to Its Present Form.

now IL Camo 20 De developed From 0
Calabash to Its Present Form.
The swell negro minstrel was tuning nm
banjo Of the most gorgeous description, elicit
ing plaintive tinkle- tinkle from the strings
with the finger and thumb Of one hand. while
with the other he manipulated the finger board
from fret to fret and now and then screwed
one of the little ivory keys trife tighter. It
was in his handsomely furnished apartment at
an uptown hotel that he sat, humming snatches
of new popular song in an undertone
while he toyed with the instrument caress-
ingly-as well he might, for it was beauty,
presented to him, doubtless, as a tribute to his
skill as professional troubadour by some adj
mirers. The circular rim inclosing the head
itself disk of sheepskin SO fine as to
be almost transparent-was of gold over
laid upon wood with brackets all around
of the same preciuos metal to hold the
drum taut; the finger board was deliberately
inlaid and ornamented. and nothing seemed TO
have been omitted that could possibly add
to the cost of the tintinabulatory contriv-
ance. For burnt-cork art in these days
Is exhibiting a persistent tendency to-
ward the decorative. Counterfeit dar-
kies to crafty the stated public taste must
WELD the tambourine and bones i'll Monte
Cristo dresses of black satin and jewels. while
little Lord Fauntleroy reclines gracefully at the
front of the stage. smuggling his curls of best
quality tow in the foot lights, with other things
to correspond.
The banjo is decidedly better instrument
than it was fifteen years ago" said the trouba-
dour, sweeping the strings to tuneful chords
while he talked with The STAR writer. who was
making him a visit. And the reason of ii has
chiefly to do with the head and the strings
The brackets better made and more of
them are used, so that the sheepskin is kept
tighter stretched. In the primitive banjo as
few as four brackets were employed, while tins
your knuckle and observe how firm and reso-
nant it is. Now too, the strings are made
thinner and more carefully twisted. How are
they manufactured? Why of sleeps intestines
cut INTO line strips and twisted together. 1t
Is very skilled process Poor strings
may not be composed of more than
four or five strands of gut. whereas first-rate
ones have from fifteen to eighteen. After they
have been twisted they are polished OF with
pumlce stone and other things so that they
| are made quite round and the twisting cannot
be seen, though in the cheap ones il remains
visible. Banjo strings are all imported; they
are manufactured in Germany and Italy Most
people suppose that the smells attached to fish
| hooks are of the same material, but happen
to know that they in reality made of the
bodies of silk worms taken in an immature
state and stretched out. Seems wonderful,
doesn't it?"
HOW ABOUT the heads!'
'Ihey are made of ordinary sheepskin
carefully cured, stretched and scraped to the
proper thinness. Sometimes hide is split
into two layers for the purpose. the part next
the hair being the more desirable. Banjo
heads are made in this country, as. indeed, the
banIos themselves are also. The best inStru-
ments come from Philadelphia though they
are made in great numbers also in Chicago.
Boston and New York. One other important
Improvement on the banjo in latter years has
been the addition to the finger board of raised
| fretS, which do much better than the marks
| that were meant to serve the same use form
| eriy. Aitogether-ti-tum-ti- tum- iddle-ti-tum-
TINS Is wonderful case of evolution from the
! original African thrumner."
THE ORIGIN OF THE BANJO
''You refer the banjo to an African origin,
| theni'
Without doubt. The original banjo was a
calabash with strings of some sort across it, II
| you travelled in Africa in the year 1890 YOU
would find this same primitive instrument still
III use at savage festivities, as it has doubtless
| been for ages. The negroes brought to this
country as slaves fetched the idea with them
| and century ago. or even much less, gourds
! cut IN half were employed for the purpose by
| the blacks in the south. Nobody knows eX-
! actiy how the first steps in the development of
| the banjo were taken but it is recognized that
| 1t owes its present form to the applica-
! tion-tum-ti-tum- the guitar principles
10 II. In all likelihood the negroes
| themselves made the first improvements upon
1t, taking suggestions from the guitar. and
white folks took it up afterward. ANYWAY it
| Is as perfect an instrument now as it will ever
be. Musicians say that it isn't really musical
instrument at all. but only barbaric thing. to
| be classed with the tom-tom. However | don't
agree with that. 1t is rather curious to notice
that all the instruments originally identified
with negro minStrelsy have come from Africa. "
OTHER NEGRO MINSTREL INSTRUMENTS
"The bones and tambourine, too?'
eyes. Both tambourine and bones or cas-
| tanets were brought into Spain from Africa
by the Moors. They are both savage instru-
ments. almost unmodified. The funniest and
most primitive musical instrument | ever
heard of, however. L saw used by darby
down in Florida who laid one horny and pre-
vlously licked forefinger on the edge of a
table and sawed across 1t back and forth with a
round stick. The table served as a sounding
board, and at each stroke of the stick across
the finger long-drawn, lugubrious note of
some ioudness was produced. 1t did the bass
for an orchestra at negro party-tum- ii fiddle
tum-consisting besides of a banjo and a
tambOurine."