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Show flngerooara or raised frets, wfiicU do much better than the marks that were meant to serve the same use formerly. Altogether ti-t'um-ti-tum-tiddle-ti-tum this is a wonderful case of evolution from the orginal African thrumer. "You refer the banjo to an African origin, then?" "Without a doubt. The original banjo was a calabash with strings of some sort across it. If you traveled in Africa you would find this same primitive instrument instru-ment still in use at savage festivities, as it has doubtless been for ages. The negroes ne-groes brought to this country as slaves fetched the idea with them, and a century cen-tury ago, or even much less, gourds cut in half were employed for the purpose by the blacks in the south. Nobody knows exactly how the first steps in the development of the banjo were taken, but it is-recognized that it owes its present form to the applicatiou-tum-ti-tum of the guitar principles to it. In all likelihood likeli-hood the negroes themselves made the first improvements upon it, taking suggestions sug-gestions 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 a musical instrument at all, but only a barbaric bar-baric thing, to be classed with the tomtom. tom-tom. However, I don't agree with that. Washington Star. CTS ABOUT THE BANJO, - T It Came to Be Developed from a Caiabuh to It Present Form. swell negro minstrel was tuning " ;injr of the most gorgeous descrip-eliciting descrip-eliciting a plaintive tinkle-tinkle ) the strings with the finger and ' b of one hand, while with the other anipulated the finger board from o fret, and now and then screwed r.f the little ivory keys a trifle " t. It was in his handsomely fur-- fur-- i apartment at an uptown hotel ie sat, humming snatches of a new lar song in an undertone while he with the instrument caressingly 11 he might, for it was a beauty, pre-1 pre-1 to him, doubtless, as a tribute to till aa a professional troubadour by admirers. - circular rim inclosing the head a disk of sheepskin so fine as to be t transparent was of gold overlaid wood, with brackets all around of ime precious metal to hold the drum the finger board was elaborately in-ind in-ind ornamented, and nothing seemed A that could possibly add to the -f the tintinnabuiatory contrlvanca unit cork art in these days is ex-ng ex-ng a persistent tendency toward the ative. Counterfeit darkies, to grat-e grat-e sated public taste, must wield the murine and bones in Monte Cristo of black satin and jewels, while Lord Fauntleroy reclines gracefully 8 front of the 6tage, singeing his I of best quality tow in the footlights, 't other thin banjo is a decidedly better intent in-tent than it was fifteen years ago," the troubadour, sweeping the strings wful chords while he talked with 7riter, who was making him a visit 3 the reason of it has chiefly to do fte head and the strings. The etsare better made and more of 1 re used, so that the sheepskin is fighter 6tretched. In the primitive o as few a3 four brackets wereem-'A wereem-'A while this one, you see, has thirty. 4e drum with your knuckles and how firm and resonant it is. ' too. the strings are made thinner mre carefully twisted. How are manufactured? Why, of sheep's :ffles cut into fine strips and twisted It is a very skilled process. toings may not be composed of 'han four or five strands of gut, reas first rate ones have from fifteen poteen. After they have been 'w, they are polished off with pumice ; &ad other things, so that they are - quite round and the twisting cannot . though in the cheap ones it re-sible. re-sible. Banjo striDgs are all im-; im-; they are manufactured in Ger-T Ger-T and Italy. Most people suppose shells attached to fish hooks are e same material, but I happen to 'that they are in reality made of cdies of silt worms taken in an im-e im-e state and stretched out. - Seems .JWfal, doesn't it?" r,0 about the heads?" m-de of ordinary sheepskin, lJ cured, stretched and scraped to ijfoper thinness. Sometimes a bide 1 into two layers for the purpose, eitthe hair being the more We. Banjo heads are made in this " as, indeed, the banjos them- re also. The best instruments " ''on Philadelphia, thouRh they are 10 great numbers also in Chicago, and New York. One other im-M im-M improvement on the banjo in lat-"lr3 lat-"lr3 has .been the addition to. th |
