Bungee instrument. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: biography, video, interesting facts, creativity

The same word in a sentence can have several definitions, which can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. With non-union communication commas separate only homogeneous definitions, and between heterogeneous definitions no comma.

I. The definitions are uniform:

1. if indicated distinctive signs various items, characterizing them on the one hand.

  • ...at a great distance the city lay out and quietly flamed and sparkled blue , white , yellow lights.(V. G. Korolenko)
  • (Some lights are blue, others are white, others are yellow.)

2. if indicated various signs of the same object, characterizing it on one side.

  • Loved Chapaev strong , decisive , hard word.
  • (D. A. Furmanov)

3. if they characterize an object either only with positive sides and they can be assessed with a “+” sign, or only with negative sides and they can be assessed with a “-”.

  • ... I saw a woman young , beautiful , kind , intelligent , charming.
  • (A.P. Chekhov)
  • Has arrived rainy , dirty , dark autumn.
  • (A.P. Chekhov)

4. if they represent figurative definitions (epithets).

  • Dry , metal His inflamed gray eyes sparkle.
  • (According to D. A. Furmanov)
  • Met us empty , abandoned house. (Adj. + adverb.)
  • I love strong mornings, hot , awakening coffee. (Adj. + adverb.)
  • That was first , not clouded by any fears the joy of discovery. (Adj. + proverb.)
  • (D. A. Granin)

6. if they are standing after defined word.

  • On both sides of the clearings there were pine trees high , ship .
  • (Wed: high ship pines.)

7. when describing appearance .

  • Almost at the house she met us modest , shy , rustic girl about eight years old.

8. if are opposed other definitions related to the same defined word.

  • We were passing through then small , deserted stations, then nodal , lively.

Each of homogeneous definitions directly related to the word being defined.

II. Definitions are heterogeneous:

1. if relate not directly to what is being defined, but to noun combination with the definition in front of it.

  • Can you imagine bad southern county small town?
  • (A.I. Kuprin)
  • (Cf.: county town - southern county town - nasty southern county town.)
  • Holly dressed up in amazing tight lace dress.
  • (S. Ahern)

2. if they characterize an object With different sides.

  • Blueberry is a shrub with small round fresh black and blue berries. (Size - shape - taste - color.)

Heterogeneous definitions can become homogeneous if they acquire some common feature in the context.

  • Has begun small , pricking rain. (General sign these definitions are an unpleasant feeling.)
  • Bought as a gift Beautiful silk handkerchief.
  • While working here, he acquired huge political experience.

III. Some cases allow ambiguity:

  • Wed: She dressed new , mink fur coat
  • She dressed new mink fur coat

Comma placement V first case means that second definition explains the first(She put on a new one, namely a mink coat).

Missing comma in second case means that the definition of new refers to the combination of a mink coat (She wore a new mink coat, although there is another mink coat, apparently already old).

Banjo is a stringed musical instrument with a tambourine-shaped body and a long wooden neck with a neck on which 4 to 9 strand strings are stretched. A type of guitar with a resonator (the extended part of the instrument is covered with leather, like a drum). Thomas Jefferson mentions the banjo in 1784 - the instrument was probably brought to America by black slaves from West Africa, where some Arab instruments were its predecessors. In the 19th century, the banjo began to be used by minstrels and thus penetrated into the early jazz bands as a rhythmic instrument. IN modern America The word “banjo” denotes either its tenor variety with four strings tuned in fifths, the lower of which is up to a small octave, or a five-string instrument with a different tuning. The banjo is played using a plectrum.

The banjo is a relative of the well-known European mandolin, similar in shape to it. But there is a sharp difference in sound between them - the banjo has a more ringing and harsh sound. In some African countries, the banjo is considered a sacred instrument that can only be touched by high priests or rulers.


Origin
African slaves South America gave the earliest banjos the shape of their relatives African instruments. Some of the early instruments were known as “pumpkin banjos.” Most likely, the leading candidate for the ancestor of the banjo is the akonting, a folk lute used by the Diola tribe. There are other instruments similar to the banjo (xalam, ngoni). The modern banjo was made popular by minstrel Joel Sweeney in the 1830s. The banjo was brought to Britain in the 1840s by the Sweeneys, American minstrels, and quickly became quite popular.


Modern views banjo
The modern banjo comes in a wide variety of styles, including five- and six-string versions. The six-string version, tuned like a guitar, has also become very popular. Almost all types of banjo are played with a characteristic tremolo or arpeggiated with the right hand, although there are a large variety various styles games.


Application
Today, the banjo is commonly associated with country and bluegrass music. However, from a historical point of view, the banjo ranks central place in African-American traditional music, as well as 19th-century minstrel shows. In fact, African-Americans made a strong impact on early development country and bluegrass music - through the introduction of the banjo, as well as through innovative music technician playing the banjo and violin. IN Lately the banjo began to be used in a variety of musical genres, including pop and Celtic punk. Even more recently, hardcore musicians have begun to show interest in the banjo.


History of the banjo

Back in the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson described a similar homemade instrument called a bonjar, made from a dried pumpkin cut in half, a mutton skin as a top, strings from mutton sinew, and a fret board. And many sources mentioned that similar instruments were known on the island of Jamaica back in the 17th century. Many scholars of the history of American folk music believe that the banjo is a Negro folk instrument either smuggled out of Africa or reproduced on an African model in America. Therefore he is much older than Russians ( Tatar origin) balalaikas and Russians ( German origin) harmonicas (but not gusli, horns and some types of folk bowed instruments, almost forgotten now). Initially there were from 5 to 9 strings, there were no saddles on the neck. This is due to the peculiarities of the musical scale of blacks. There is no precise intonation in African black music. Deviations from the main tone reach 1.5 tones. And this has been preserved in the American stage to this day (jazz, blues, soul).


Not everyone knows the following fact: North American blacks did not really like to show whites the pearls of their culture. Gospel music and spirituals were literally dragged out to the white public from the black community by force of pincers. The banjo was pulled out of the black environment by the white minstrel-show. What kind of phenomenon is this? Imagine cultural life in Europe and America around the 1830s. Europe is operas, symphonies, theater. America - nothing but home singing of old grandfather's (English, Irish, Scottish) songs. But if you want some culture, give a simple American a simple culture. And so in the 1840s, a simple provincial white American received mobile, nomadic musical theaters with a troupe of 6-12 people, showing to the common man simple repertoire (skits, skits, dances, etc.). Such a performance was usually accompanied by an ensemble consisting of 1-2 violins, 1-2 banjos, a tambourine, bones, and later an accordion began to join them. The composition of the ensemble was borrowed from slave household ensembles.


The dance on the minstrel stage was inseparable from the sound of the banjo. From the 40s until the end of the “minstrel era,” the stage was dominated by two inextricably linked artistic figures - the soloist-dancer and the soloist-banjo player. IN in a certain sense combined both functions in his person, because, in anticipation of playing and singing, as well as in the process of playing music itself, he stomped, danced, swayed, exposing and exaggerating (for example, with the help of additional sounds extracted from a wooden stand in circuses) the complex rhythms of Negro dances. It is characteristic that the minstrel piece for banjo even bore a name that was associated with any dance on the pseudo-Negro stage - “jig”. Of all the variety and diversity of instruments of European and African origin that took root on American soil, minstrels chose the sounds of the banjo as the most harmonious with their dominant system of images. Not only as a solo instrument, but also as a member of the future minstrel ensemble (band), the banjo retained its leading role...”


The sound of the banjo supported not only rhythm, but harmony and melody music performed. Moreover, subsequently the melody began to be replaced by virtuoso instrumental texture. This required extraordinary performance skills from the performer. The instrument itself came to a 4- or 5-string version, and frets appeared on the neck.

However, black Americans suddenly lost interest in the banjo and categorically expelled it from their midst, replacing it with the guitar. This is due to the “shameful” tradition of portraying blacks in white minstrel shows. Negroes were depicted in 2 forms: either a lazy half-fool-idler from a plantation in rags, or a kind of dandy copying the manners and clothes of whites, but also a half-fool. Black women were depicted as full of erotic lust, extremely dissolute...


Later, from 1890, the era of ragtime, jazz, and blues came. Minstrel shows are a thing of the past. The banjo was picked up by white ones, and a little later by black ones brass bands playing syncopated polkas and marches, and later ragtimes. Drums alone did not provide the required level of rhythmic pulsation (swing), a moving rhythmic instrument was required to syncopate the sound of the orchestra. White orchestras immediately began to use a four-string tenor banjo (tuning c, g, d1, a1), black orchestras first used a guitar banjo (tuning six string guitar E, A, d, g, h, e1), later retrained to play tenor banjo.


During the first jazz recording in 1917 by the white orchestra “Original Dixieland Jazz Band”, it turned out that all the drums except the snare drum on the record were poorly heard, but the banjo rhythm was even very good. Jazz developed, the “Chicago” style arose, recording technology developed, better electromechanical sound recording appeared, the sound of jazz bands became softer, rhythm sections needed a more harmonically flexible guitar, and the banjo disappeared from jazz, migrating to a jazz band that had been experiencing a real boom since the 20s. last century country music. After all, not all whites wanted to listen to jazz.


Based on the melodies of English, Irish, Scottish songs and ballads, country music has also formed its own instrumentation: guitar, mandolin, fiddle, resonator guitar, invented by the Domani brothers, ukulele, harmonica, banjo. The tenor banjo got a tuner on the 5th fret, a 5th string as thick as the first, and changed the tuning to (g1,c, g, h, d1). The playing technique has changed; instead of playing chords with a pick, arpeggiated playing with the so-called “claws” - Fingerpicking - has appeared. And a new child was named - American or bluegrass banjo.

Meanwhile, Europe recognized the tenor banjo. The great composers mostly died out, and Europe was suddenly drawn to the medieval-Renaissance song roots. The war slowed down this process, but after the war skiffles music appeared in England.

Then the famous Chieftains and Dubliners and Celtic music appeared. The Dubliners, for example, had both a tenor and an American banjo in their lineup. After the war, some jazz musicians wanted to return to their roots; the Dixieland movement arose in America and Europe, led by trumpeter Max Kaminski, and the tenor banjo sounded again in jazz. And it sounds now even in our Dixielands.

“George was holding in his hands some strange package wrapped in oilcloth. It was round and flat at the end, and had a long, straight handle sticking out of it. - What it is? - asked Harris. - Frying pan? “No,” George answered, looking at us with some dangerous gleam in his eyes. - This year it is very fashionable. Everyone takes them with them to the river. This - banjo».

The quote from the popular book “Three in a Boat and a Dog” by the English classic Jerome K. Jerome is probably known to everyone. But what exactly is this “fashionable” late XIX century, an instrument called “banjo” is now known to few. (English banjo) is a plucked string musical instrument, related to the guitar. Its body resembles a flat tambourine with a leather membrane stretched on one side. With the help of a plectrum, the banjo produces a very sharp, sharp sound that fades almost immediately.

Initially, the body of the instrument looked like a flat drum open at the bottom, covered with a leather membrane, with a long neck with a head and no frets. The banjo was stretched from four to nine gut strings, with one of them plucked thumb and was melodic, and all the rest were used for accompaniment.

The future 3rd President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, gave a description of a similar homemade instrument, which was called "bonjar". It was made from half a dried pumpkin, on which a lamb skin was stretched as a soundboard. The strings were made from mutton sinew, and a board served as the fingerboard.

Historians who study American folk music, believe that the banjo is an instrument of black nationalities, either exported from Africa around the 17th century, or restored to an African model in America. Initially there were no frets on the fretboard. This is explained by the fact that black music did not have precise intonation. Permissible deviations from the main tone were up to one and a half tones. In American pop music this has survived to this day (jazz, blues, soul).

From the black environment, the banjo found its way into the white minstrel show. The dance and the sound of the banjo on the minstrel stage were inseparable. From the 1840s until the advent of the first jazz bands, the main actors on stage were two soloists - a dancer and a banjo player. At the same time, the musician to a large extent performed both functions, dancing and beating with his feet complex rhythms characteristic of black dances.

It is no coincidence that of all the various Old World instruments that appeared on the American continent, minstrels chose the banjo. This instrument perfectly performed the role of not only a soloist, but also became an indispensable member of the future minstrel ensemble (band).

The banjo stands out among other instruments due to the clarity and power of sound that its head produces. Therefore, in jazz groups, the instrument performs both rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment. The four-string version is used here.

In the 19th century, the instrument was improved: one more string was added to the four, and frets appeared on the neck. The five-string banjo is characteristic of American folk music. On it, chords are played with the right hand using a plectrum (the thumb is used for bass).

The development of country and bluegrass styles actually began with the spread of the African-American banjo and fiddle, as well as the constant improvement of technology musical performance. Nowadays, the banjo is increasingly used in a variety of musical styles, including pop, hardcore and Celtic punk.

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From West Africa, where its predecessors were some Arabic instruments. In the 19th century, the banjo began to be used by minstrels and thus found its way into early jazz bands as a rhythmic instrument. The banjo is played using a plectrum, the so-called “claws” (three specially designed plectrums worn on the thumb, index and middle fingers right hand) or just your fingers.

The banjo is a relative of the well-known European mandolin, a direct descendant of the African [[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]][[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]] lutes But there is a sharp difference in sound between the mandolin and the banjo - the banjo has a more ringing and harsh sound.

A design feature of the banjo is its acoustic body, which looks a little like a small drum, on the front side of which a steel ring is attached with two dozen adjustable ties-screws, tensioning the membrane, and on the back side - with a gap of 2 cm. A slightly larger diameter wooden removable half-body is installed -resonator (removable if necessary to lower the volume of the instrument or to access the anchor rod that secures the neck and regulates the distance from the strings to the plane of the neck). The strings are tensioned through a wooden (less often steel) “filly” resting directly on the membrane. The diaphragm and resonator give the banjo a purity and power of sound that allows it to stand out from other instruments. Therefore, it found a place in New Orleans jazz groups, where it performed both rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment, and sometimes short, energetic solos and transitions. The four strings of a jazz tenor banjo are usually tuned like an alto ( do-sol-re-la) or (less commonly) like a violin ( sol-re-la-mi).

American folk music most often uses a bluegrass banjo (sometimes called a western banjo, country banjo) with 5 strings, a longer scale and specific tuning. The shortened fifth string is not tensioned on the peg head, but on a separate peg on the neck itself (at the fifth fret). Chord playing with a plectrum, which existed initially, was later supplanted by arpeggiated playing with “claws” worn on the fingers. Playing without the use of “claws” and various percussion techniques are also used. The 5-string banjo appears in traditional American music groups along with the fiddle, flat mandolin, and folk or dobro guitar.

The banjo is also widely used in country and bluegrass music. Prominent banjo players include Wade Meiner and Earl Scruggs, who are known for their innovative playing techniques. In Europe, the Czech band Banjo Band of Ivan Mládek became famous.

The 6-string banjo is a relatively rare instrument; it is popular with guitarists because its tuning is completely identical to that of a guitar, but not in the classic E tuning, but a tone lower, in D (D-A-F-C-G-D).

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Notes

  1. In Australian slang, the word "banjo" means 10 Australian dollars.

Literature

  • Banio // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
  • Encyclopedia young musician/ Igor Kubersky, E. V. Minina. - St. Petersburg: LLC “Diamant”, 2001. - 576 p.
  • Everything about everything (Le Livre des Instruments de Musique) / Translation from French. - M.: AST Publishing House LLC, 2002. - 272 p.

Links

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Excerpt describing Banjo

Almost a month has passed since my first visit to the cellars. There was no one nearby with whom I could even say a word. Loneliness oppressed more and more deeply, planting in the heart an emptiness, acutely seasoned with despair...
I really hoped that Morone still survived, despite the “talents” of the Pope. But she was afraid to return to the cellars, because she was not sure whether the unfortunate cardinal was still there. My return visit could bring upon him the real anger of Caraffa, and Morona would have to pay really dearly for this.
Remaining fenced off from any communication, I spent my days in complete “silence of loneliness.” Until, finally, unable to bear it any longer, she went down to the basement again...
The room in which I found Morone a month ago was empty this time. One could only hope that the brave cardinal was still alive. And I sincerely wished him good luck, which, unfortunately, the prisoners of Caraffa clearly lacked.
And since I was already in the basement anyway, after thinking a little, I decided to look further and carefully opened the next door...
And there, on some terrible torture “instrument” lay a completely naked, bloody young girl, whose body was a real mixture of living burnt meat, cuts and blood, covering her from head to toe... Neither the executioner nor the more - Caraffa, fortunately for me, there were no tortures in the torture room.
I quietly approached the unfortunate woman and carefully stroked her swollen, tender cheek. The girl moaned. Then, carefully taking her fragile fingers into my palm, I slowly began to “treat” her... Soon clear, gray eyes looked at me in surprise...
- Quiet, honey... Lie quietly. I will try to help you as much as possible. But I don’t know if I’ll have enough time... You’ve been hurt a lot, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to “fix” it all quickly. Relax, my dear, and try to remember something kind... if you can.
The girl (she turned out to be just a child) groaned, trying to say something, but for some reason the words did not come out. She mumbled, unable to pronounce even the shortest word clearly. And then a terrible realization struck me - this unfortunate woman had no tongue!!! They tore it out... so as not to say too much! So that she wouldn’t scream the truth when they burn her at the stake... So that she wouldn’t be able to say what they did to her...
Oh God!.. Was all this really done by PEOPLE???
Having calmed my deadened heart a little, I tried to turn to her mentally - the girl heard. Which meant that she was gifted!.. One of those whom the Pope hated so fiercely. And who did he so brutally burn alive on his terrifying human bonfires....
- What did they do to you, dear?!.. Why did they take away your speech?!
Trying to pull higher the coarse rags that had fallen from her body with naughty, trembling hands, I whispered in shock.
“Don’t be afraid of anything, my dear, just think about what you would like to say, and I will try to hear you.” What's your name, girl?
“Damiana...” the answer whispered quietly.
“Hold on, Damiana,” I smiled as gently as possible. - Hold on, don’t slip away, I’ll try to help you!
But the girl only slowly shook her head, and a clean, lonely tear rolled down her battered cheek...
- Thank you... for your kindness. But I’m no longer a tenant... – her quiet “mental” voice rustled in response. - Help me... Help me “go away.” Please... I can't stand it anymore... They'll be back soon... Please! They desecrated me... Please help me “leave”... You know how. Help... I will thank you “there” and remember you...
She grabbed my wrist with her thin fingers, disfigured by torture, clutching it with a death grip, as if she knew for sure that I could really help her... could give her the peace she wanted...
A sharp pain twisted my tired heart... This sweet, brutally tortured girl, almost a child, begged me for death as a favor!!! The executioners not only wounded her fragile body - they desecrated her pure soul, raping her together!.. And now Damiana was ready to “leave.” She asked for death as deliverance, even for a moment, without thinking about salvation. She was tortured and desecrated, and did not want to live... Anna appeared before my eyes... God, was it really possible that the same terrible end awaited her?!! Will I be able to save her from this nightmare?!

Musical instrument: Banjo

The culture and way of life of the population of any country is always reflected in folk art, distinguished by its originality and original inimitable flavor. In the United States of America, one of the most common and popular varieties national music is an incendiary and cheerful country music that has absorbed many styles and trends of the country's emigrant population, both white European settlers and African Americans. The main musical instruments for country music are the fiddle, the guitar and, of course, the banjo. This tool is musical symbol and an inherent value of the American people, among whom he is very popular.

Banjo is a very interesting musical instrument with an original, unique sound. It is not difficult to play at all, and if you have a little knowledge guitar, then mastering the banjo will not be difficult for you.

Read the history of the banjo and many interesting facts about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

Banjo sounds very cheerful and perky. But if we describe the voice of the instrument, it cannot be called anything other than sharp, ringing and sharp. Due to the special membrane it is very clear and sonorous. The source of sound on a banjo is the strings; by pressing them on the frets with the fingers of the left hand, the performer receives the desired height sound.


The technique of playing the instrument is similar to that of the guitar. The main methods of sound production are plucking and striking the strings, performed using special plectrums that are worn on the fingers and are very similar to claws. Performers can also play like a guitar with the fingers of their right hand or using a regular pick.

Particularly used performance techniques on the banjo are tremolo and arpeggiation.

The banjo has a range of almost three octaves. The tuning of the most popular five-string banjo is G; re; salt; si; re.

Photo:

Interesting Facts

  • In some African states, the banjo is revered as a sacred instrument and is used exclusively by high priests or rulers.
  • A musician who plays the banjo is called a banjo player.
  • Legendary guitarist worldwide famous group The Beatles John Lenon could play the banjo.John was assisted in his initial mastery of this instrument by his mother, Julia. However, after the banjo, D. Lenon could not play the guitar for a long time, as he muffled the 5th and 6th strings with his thumb.
  • The famous American comic actor Steve Martin, known to our audience from many films such as Father of the Bride, The Pink Panther, and Cool Guy, taught himself to play the banjo in his youth. Having created his own group “Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers", he successfully performs performing his songs in the bluegrass style.
  • At the end of the 19th century in England, an instrument called the banjo became so fashionable that English classic Jerome K. Jerome mentioned this very prominently in his famous work“Three in the boat, not counting the dogs.”
  • The famous American composer D. Gershwin used the sound of a banjo in his opera " Porgy and Bess ».
  • Frank Converse, who made a significant contribution to the popularization of the banjo, was called by his friends “The Father of the Banjo.”
  • The sound of the banjo is very often used in various television shows, for example, in the world-famous children's television educational program"Sesame Street".
  • The four-string banjo is widely used in musical performances, staged on Broadway. He can be heard in such musicals as “Cabaret”, “Hello Dolly”, “ Chicago ».
  • Commercial production of the banjo began in the USA at a factory that produced musical instruments William Boucher. Three instruments that were made in 1845 are exhibited in one of the museums Smithsonian Institution Washington.


  • The production of banjos is mainly carried out by manufacturing companies guitars . The leading manufacturer among them is the American Fender. Also very popular among professional performers and music lovers are instruments from the South Korean company Cort, the Chinese company Veston, and the American company Washburn and Gibson.
  • The first five-string electric banjo was developed in 1960 by Wilburn Trent and David Jackson.
  • The six-string banjo, which has also become very popular and is tuned like a guitar, was invented by an Englishman by birth, William Templett.

Performers


Originally used primarily by the African-American population of the United States, the banjo gradually attracted the attention of white players. One of the first banjo players who not only successfully brought the instrument to the concert stage, but also made a significant contribution to its improvement, was Joel Walker Sweeney, a true banjo enthusiast.

Subsequently, the instrument, gaining more and more recognition among listeners, brought more and more talented performers- virtuosos, among whom A. Farland especially stood out, who became famous for performing transcriptions of works of European music on the banjo classical music, such as sonatas L.V. Beethoven and overtures by D. Rossini.

As the banjo became very popular not only on the American continent, but throughout the world, more and more performers proved their love for this instrument.

E. Peabody, D. Bayer, B. Lowry, S. Peterson, D. Bandrowski. B. Trent, R. Stanley, S. Martin, H. Williams, T. Taylor, P. Smith, K. Douglas, D. Garcia, D. Crumb, P. Elwood, P. Seeger, B. Mandrell, D. Gilmour, B. Ives, D. Lennon, B. Mumy, D. Osmond, P. Seeger, T. Swift, P. Tork, D. Dyck - just to name a few famous musicians, which delighted the audience with their skillful performance.

Since the instrument has found application in various genres, special mention should be made of the performers who adorned jazz compositions with their performances. On early stage It should be noted D. Reinhardt, D. Saint-Cyr, D. Barker. Today, very famous jazz banjo players are K. Urban, R. Stewart and D. Satriani.

Story

The banjo, which appeared on the American continent, has a very interesting story, which can be traced back to 1600, although the ancestors of this instrument appeared in West Africa long before this time, about 6 thousand years ago. To date, studies of West African music present more than 60 different instruments that have some similarity to the banjo and may be its probable predecessors.

The first description of the instrument was made by the English physician and naturalist Hans Sloan in 1687 after visiting Jamaica, where he saw a banjo among slaves brought from Africa. Early instruments, according to the Englishman, were made from dried gourd or a wooden body, which was tightly covered with leather on top. On a wooden fingerboard, in addition to the main strings, one or more drone strings were added. And the first mention in the press about the banjo, which for a long time was considered a tool of black slaves, in North America appeared in « New York Weekly" by John Peter Zenger in 1736.

Banjo with early XIX century along with violin was the most popular tool in African American music in the United States. But then whites also began to take an active interest in him. professional performers, showcasing the banjo to a wider audience. In the 1830s, Joel Walker Sweeney was the first white musician to not only master the instrument and bring it to the stage, but also received great recognition as a banjo player. D. Sweeney is also credited with a significant modernization of the banjo: he replaced the pumpkin body with a drum body, delimited the neck of the neck with frets and left five strings: four long and one short. Since the second half of the 19th century, the banjo has become very popular not only in concert venues, but also among music lovers.

In 1848, the first manual on how to independently master the instrument was published. There is information about various banjo performance competitions. The first workshops for the manufacture of these instruments opened in Baltimore and New York, where smaller banjos were produced especially for women. Manufacturers experimented with the design of the instrument and replaced gut strings with metal ones. In the last quarter of the 19th century, banjos of various sizes were constructed, such as the bass banjo and the piccolo banjo, from which banjo bands were subsequently formed. Similar musical groups began to appear in colleges, one of the first was the Hamilton College ensemble. By the end of the century, the banjo craze had reached its peak. Professional musicians on concert stages even performed works by classical composers, for example such masters as L.V. Beethoven and D. Rossini arranged for banjo. Last decade The 19th century was marked by the emergence of new styles, such as ragtime, jazz and blues, in which the instrument occupied an important place. However, in the thirties of the 20th century, due to the advent of electric guitars, which had a brighter sound compared to the banjo, interest in the instrument began to wane. However, this did not last relatively long. In the 40s, the banjo again successfully returned to concert venues.