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BANJO

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 319 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BANJO , a musical See also:

instrument with strings plucked by fingers or plectrum, popular among the See also:American negroes and introduced by them into See also:Europe. The word is either a corruption of "bandore" or "See also:pandura" (q.v.), an instrument of the See also:guitar type, or is derived from "bania," the name of a similar See also:primitive Senegambian instrument. The banjo consists of a See also:body composed of a single piece of vellum stretched like a See also:drum-See also:head over a wooden or See also:metal hoop to ensure the requisite degree of resonance; the See also:parchment may be tightened or slackened by means of a See also:series of screws disposed See also:round the circumference of the hoop. Attached to the body, which has no back, is a See also:long See also:neck, terminating in a See also:flat head acting as a peg-See also:box and See also:bent back slightly at an obtuse See also:angle from the neck. There are five, six or nine strings to the banjo; they are fastened to a tail-piece 'as in the See also:violin, pass over a See also:low See also:bridge, on the body, and are strained over the See also:nut or See also:ridge at the end of the neck, where they are threaded through holes and See also:wound round the tuning-pegs fixed in the back of the head in See also:Oriental See also:fashion, as in the See also:lute (q.v.). The strings are stopped by the pressure of the fingers against the See also:finger-See also:board which lies over the front of the neck; the correct positions for the formation of the intervals of the See also:scale are indicated in some banjos by frets consisting of metal or wooden bands inlaid in the finger-board. The vibrating length of the strings from bridge to nut is 24 in. for all except the highest in See also:pitch, known as the " chanterelle," " See also:melody " or " thumb See also:string," which is only 16 in. long; its tuning peg is inserted See also:half-way up the neck. The chanterelle is not, as in other stringed See also:instruments, in its position as the highest in pitch, but is placed next the lowest string for convenience in playing it with the thumb. In the tables of accordance here given, the chanterelle is indicated by a X. The five-stringed banjo is tuned either 5 4 3 2 = 3 2 : The six-stringed is tuned X 6 Sr 4 3 2 The nine-stringed banjo has three thumb strings thus X X X gene -we g 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 The G clef is used in notation, but the notes See also:sound an See also:octave See also:lower than they are written. The banjo is usually a transposing instrument in the sense that, when playing with other instruments, the A corresponds to the C of the piano or violin; the See also:key of A See also:major is therefore the first to be mastered. The chanterelle does not See also:lie over the finger-board and is always played open by the thumb.

The banjo is held so that the neck is even with the See also:

left See also:shoulder and the body rests on the right thigh; the front of the instrument is held inclined at an angle, allowing the performer to see all the strings. When played as a See also:solo instrument, a plectrum may be used with See also:good effect to produce rapid scale and See also:arpeggio passages, or to produce the tremolo or sustained notes as on the See also:mandoline (q.v.). The best results are obtained by means of a See also:tortoise-See also:shell plectrum about the See also:size of a See also:shilling,' having the contact-edges highly polished, bevelled and terminating in a point. The See also:tone of the banjo is louder and harder than that of the guitar, Chords of two, three and four notes can be played on it. The banjo or bania of the See also:African See also:negro having grass strings is still in use on the See also:coast of See also:Guinea. The banjo was made known in See also:England through companies of coloured minstrels from the See also:United States, one of which came over to See also:London as See also:early as 1846. (K.

End of Article: BANJO

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