Talk:American Banjo Museum

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CC-BY-SA; I've removed the following text and refs from the article because it's either off-topic for this article, repeated or redundant test. I'm leaving it here in case its removal breaks any refs in the article and for the benefit of later editors.  Baffle☿gab  02:32, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

Classical era, 1880s-1910s
As early as 1861, the banjo began to permeate mainstream American culture through a popular movement among youth labeled a "banjo craze" or "banjo mania".

Banjo innovation which began in the minstrel age continued, with increased use of metal parts, exotic wood, raised  metal frets and a tone-ring that improved the sound. Instruments were designed in a variety of sizes  and pitch ranges, to play different parts in banjo orchestras. Examples on display in the museum include banjorines and piccolo banjos.

New styles of playing, a new look, instruments in a variety of pitch ranges to take the place of different sections in an orchestra — all helped to separate the instrument from the rough minstrel image of the previous 50-60 years. The instrument was modern now, a bright new thing, with polished metal sides.

Competition between manufacturers in the late 19th to early 20th century was strong. Two major competitors were Samuel Swaim Stewart of Philadelphia, and A.C Fairbanks and William A. Cole of Boston. Fairbanks and Cole operated together, but later separated into different companies. The Philadelphia  and  Boston instruments are regarded by collectors today as being among the best banjos ever made. The market was stiff, however and other manufacturers existed from large manufacturing centers such as Chicago and New York.

Ragtime era (1895-1919) and Jazz Age era (1910s-1930s)
The instruments became ornately decorated in the 1920s in order to be visually dynamic to a theater audience. The instruments were increasingly modified or made in a new style — necks that were shortened to handle the four steel (not fiber as before) strings, strings that were sounded with a pick instead of fingers, four strings instead of five and tuned differently. The changes reflected the nature of post-World-War 1 music. The country was turning away from European classics, preferring the "upbeat and carefree feel" of jazz, and American soldiers returning from the war helped to drive this change.

The change in tastes toward dance-music and the need for louder instruments began a few years before the war, however, with ragtime. That music encouraged musicians to alter their 5-string banjos to four, add the louder steel strings and use a pick or plectrum, all in an effort to be heard over the brass and reed instruments that were current in dance-halls. The four string plectrum and tenor banjos did not eliminate the five-string variety. They were products of their times and musical purposes—ragtime and jazz dance music and theater music.

The Great Depression is a visible line to mark the end of the Jazz Age. The economic downturn cut into the sales of both four and five stinged banjos, and by World War 2, banjos were in sharp decline, the market for them dead.

Some of the most expansive instruments in collections today are expensive because production dropped in the 30s and because World War 2 kept metal parts from being made in the early 40s. Instruments that were made include some that collectors now call "floor-sweep" models, assembled from pieces scrounged from factory inventories or improvised.

Bluegrass and Folk era
Pete Seeger "was a major force behind a new national interest in folk music." He wrote a book, How To Play The Five-String Banjo, which was the only banjo method on the market for years. Seeger modified his banjo's neck making it longer to get more range, extending the neck from 22 frets to 25 frets. His modification was imitated, as other folk musicians took up elongated instruments, such as Dave Guard of the Kingston Trio and Erik Darling of the Weavers and Tarriers. His modified banjo was reproduced with models  by Deering Banjo Company, Vega Company, and luthier John D'Angelico, all of which are displayed in the museum.

Earl Scruggs was seen both as a legend and a "contemporary musical innovator" who gave his name to his style of playing, the Scruggs Style. Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, "playing the banjo with heretofore unheard of speed and dexterity," using a picking technique for the 5-string banjo that he perfected from 2-finger and 3-finger picking techniques in rural North Carolina. In September 1945 he appeared with the Blue Grass Boys on the Grand Ole Opry, and by 1948 was performing with Lester Flatt. His playing reached into the living rooms of Americans who didn't listen to country or bluegrass music, through the theme music of the Beverley Hillbillies.

Steve Martin
Martin has been playing the banjo on the stage for years. His fame has given the instrument a large platform from which to be seen, and his serious dedication to the banjo over years has helped to refresh to image of the instrument for some people. Martin used the banjo in his early acts, playing in "3-finger style." Since the turn of the 21st century, he has worked mainly in music, playing and promoting the banjo with the Steep Canyon Rangers. In 2010 he created the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, awarded every year since to banjo players or groups that have brought "outstanding accomplishment" to bluegrass music or music using the 5-string banjo. Recipients of the prize receive a bronze sculpture by Eric Fischl and $50,000. In 2019 Martin received the Mark Twain award, and the Kennedy Center had a special banjo commissioned from Gibson to serve as the award. The banjo is a "one-of-a-kind," with gold plated armrest, laser etched image of Mark Twain on the back, and an inlay-image on the fingerboard of the Kennedy Center. Martin donated the instrument to the American Banjo Museum in January 2020.

 Baffle☿gab  02:32, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

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 * Kermit the Frog at the American Banjo Museum.jpg