Old Time and Bluegrass Music

African Origins of Banjo

● Akonting, played by the Jola people of Senegambia region, west Africa

● Commonly used 400 years ago and during slave trade

● Living tradition continues today, though scarcely

Shared Design Features

● Frame drum body● Top string begins at

middle of neck

Daniel Jatta of Gambia Plays Akonting

● ‘oo’teck’ technique nearly identical to some American banjo techniques

● strings struck with back of index finger (downstroke) or plucked with thumb

“In the daytime they [slaves] were not allowed to remain in the place where they had slept, but were kept mostly upon the open deck, where they were made to exercise, and encouraged by the music of their beloved banjar, to dancing and cheerfulness.”

George Pinckard, abolitionist, 1796Describing transport of slaves from Africa to Jamaica

“They [slaves] cut lengthwise through the middle of a calabash [gourd]...They stretch upon it the skin of a goat...then a piece of lath or flat wood makes the handle of the guitar; they then stretch three cords [strings]...They play on this instrument tunes composed of three of four notes which they repeat endlessly.”

Richard Tussac, 1810 describing Banza instrument of slaves of French-controlled Saint Domaine (Haiti).

Drawings published in 1707 showing African slave instruments in Jamaica

“The Old Plantation” c. late 18th century, depicts slave dances to banjo-like instruments in North Carolina

Slave Populations in 1860

High density down east coast, through deep south

Low density in mountain regions of eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, and western North Carolina and Virginia

Minstrel Shows● Minstrel Shows: travelling

variety shows. Most popular form of entertainment in America c.19th century

● Typically white entertainers performing for white audiences.

● Humor defined by racist stereotyping / parodying of black culture○ performing in blackface

“Blackness” and Minstrel Characters< Jim Crow - a happy simple-minded slave

< Zip Coon - freed slave who tries (but fails) to pass as upper class, sophisticated, educated

< Black Buck - strong, defiant, aggressive, hypersexual, attracted to white-women

Excerpt from “Old Folks At Home”Popular minstrel show song by white composer Stephen Foster

Banjos and Minstrel Shows● Minstrel Bands

○ Banjo, fiddle, tambourine, and bones

● Early minstrel banjoists visited plantations to learn slave songs

● Shows travelled to all corners of country, including mountain regions

The Virginia Minstrels ignited the Minstrel craze in America in the 1840s

19th century Banjo performances with percussion added by bones

Banjo Craze● 19th century

instructional books detailed ‘Minstrel-style banjo’ techniques

● Nearly identical to Akonting technique of oo’teck○ Involved only thumb and

index finger○ Used back of index finger

in downstroke

Scotch-Irish Settlers in the Mountains● Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scots

ethnic/ religious group from N. Ireland

● 18th century - immigration from Ulster to American colonies○ Migrated to Appalachian

mountains for cheap land● Remoteness location preserved

Ulster culture, promoted stereotypes of impoverished, backwards people.

Scotch-Irish Music● Ballads

○ e.g. Gypsy Laddie/ Gypsy Davy

● Fiddle-driven dance music of British Isles ○ Jigs/Gigues○ Hornpipes○ Reels

“Ms. McLeod’s Reel” performed c.1930 for a rural dance

The Banjo in Mountain Culture● By 1880s Fiddle and banjo duos

common● Minstrel techniques develop into

Clawhammer or Frailing techniques in mountains

● Other playing styles based in guitar-like fingerpicking

● 19th century banjo & fiddle played in unison style

Dick Burnett (L) & Leonard Rutherford (R) of Kentucky perform ballad “Willie Moore” in 19th century unison style. Banjo uses guitar-

like fingerpicking

Old Time Fiddling Conventions● 1913 annual Georgia Old Time

Fiddlers’ Conventions begins in Atlanta

● Talent pool for early commercial recordings of rural music

● Furthered re-evaluation of mountain culture○ “Appalachia became a living

museum honoring white people” - Gavin Campbell.

‘Turkey in the Straw’ a popular reel accompanies some Flatfooting, a Scotch-Irish influenced dance, at a southern

fiddle convention c.1930

Ku Klux Clan sponsors fiddle competition in Johnson City Tennessee

African instrument, playing techniques, repertoire

The Skillet Lickers● Definitive Old Time Stringband

assembled by OKeh Record ○ fiddles lead all the time○ guitar accompaniment○ sometimes banjo, mandolin

● The Hen Cackle (1928)○ Features three favorite fiddlers of

Georgia conventions● Recorded repertoire influenced by

○ Scotch-Irish fiddle ○ Minstrel show○ Popular Song (sheet music tunes)○ Ragtime

Gideon ‘Gid’ Tanner, perennial favorite of Georgia fiddle conventions, and leader of Skillet Lickers

Ragtime InfluencesScott Joplin, African-American composer pioneers ragtime music with distinctly African rhythms. “Maple Leaf Rag” of 1899 most popular piece of sheet music of the time

Charles Johnson, white composer writing in Joplin-inspired ragtime style. “Dill Pickles Rag”, of 1906, the second most popular piece of sheet music.

The Texas Nighthawks, a string band, records Dill Pickles Rag in 1929 with a band including fiddle, banjo, and guitar. They called it the “Crazy Rag”

Strains of Old Time Music

● Scotch-Irish fiddle music● Minstrel show

○ African techniques○ African melodies

● Popular Song (sheet music tunes)● Ragtime

○ African-American compositions

● ‘Hillbilly’ = southern, derogatory term for mountain people

● Urban, northern record execs use term as genre title for record catalogues

● Record companies shape image of musicians to maximize sales via stereotypes○ Top: “The Hill Billies,” named by record

exec, they wished to be photographed○ Bottom: official press photo as posed by

Peer

Hillbilly Records

Development of Bluegrass● Named for style developed by Bill

Monroe in 1940s○ Mandolinist and bandleader from

Kentucky, ‘The Bluegrass State’○ Called band ‘The Bluegrass Boys’

● Distancing traditional music from ‘Hillbilly’ stereotypes○ Increasingly virtuosic

■ Virtuosic soloists■ Virtuosic ensemble: fast tempos

○ Increasingly arranged / stylized○ Serious / sophisticated presentation

Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys

perform c. 1954Notice their ‘no-

nonsense’ presentation and carefully planned sequence of solos

Study the studio recording of this tune in assigned

listening

Bluegrass Style● Expanded instrumentation

○ Less fiddle-centric○ Fiddle, Banjo, mandolin, guitar,

dobro featured equally as soloists

● ‘Scruggs-Style’ Banjo playing○ Named for Earl Scruggs of

Monroe’s band○ Highly syncopated, fingerpicking

style (no Minstrel downstroke)■ Influence of ragtime music

○ Played with metal fingerpicks for brighter, ‘ping’-ier sound

Earl Scruggs’ highly syncopated style and ‘ping’-y sound might be Bluegrass music’s most distinctive sound

Influence of Blues & Jazz● Monroe held sincere

appreciation of black music○ Was taught as child by black

fiddler Arnold Shultz

● Incorporated blues forms, lyrics, melodies into

● Improvisational approach of jazz becomes central to bluegrass musicianship Mule Skinner Blues: Modern bluegrass fiddling often

incorporates a great deal of improvisation, taking influence from Jazz

Vocal harmonies● Indebted to protestant hymnody / singing school history

covered in earlier lectures● Stanley Brothers’ 1955 recording of hymn ‘Angel Band,’

composed in 1862○ Background image from shapenote tunebook popular in

regions near Stanley’s native Virginia