The Banjo

The five-string banjo is often called an instrument of American invention, a claim usually based on the asumption that Joel Sweeney, a 19th century minstrel show entertainer, invented the fifth string in 1835.  Sweeney's claim is more a convenient tradition than accepted fact.  Probably no one will ever know who first put the fifth string on the banjo, but it probably was not an American.

The banjo had active use in the West Indies and on the North American mainland from the late 17th century.  The earliest known reference to the instrument was in 1654 when it was reported as being used to accompany a Creole dance.  At that time it was called a banza or a "strum-strum".  In 1781 Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia referred to a Banjar that was "brought hither from Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, it's chords being precisely the four lower chords of the guitar."  Based on these and other references, the banjo is generally assumed to be an African instrument or, at the very least, certainly not of American origin.

Much of the development of the instrument and its current popularity is due to its use by white musicians.  Nineteenth century minstrel show entertainers (most of whom were white) are largely responsible for broadening the instrument's audience.  Amateurs seeing the banjo constantly being used in minstrel shows began to take it up and soon it was one of the most popular amateur instruments.  It was at this time various styles of playing the banjo began to develop of which the most significant as far as traditional Ozark music is concerned is the clawhammer style.This method of playing takes its name from the shape of the right hand (the right hand is roughly held in the shape of a claw) and the motion used in playing (the right hand hits down on the strings somewhat like a hammer).

The banjo entered traditional Ozark music in a large way during the latter half of the 19th century and after the fiddle was the most popular instrument used by folk musicians.  Often a string band consisted of just a fiddle and a banjo, the latter being used basically as a rhythm instrument.  There were people who accompanied their singing with a banjo, but this was uncommon.  In the 1940's a new style of playing the banjo was called "Scruggs style" which basically used only three fingers of the picking hand and involved rolls and picking upward on the strings in contrast to the clawhammer style.  The name came from Earl Scruggs, a prominent bluegrass musician, but the style was definitely not invented by him and had even been used on records by such pre-Scruggs musicians as Dewitt "Snuffy" Jenkins of North Carolina.Various old time musicians like Charlie Poole, also from North Carolina, played in a similar style.  "Scruggs style", however, probably goes back no further than the turn of the century.  At one time it was so popular that it threatened to drive out other styles, but in recent years older styles have gained in popularity.

The Fiddle

After the human voice, the fiddle was the first instrument to play a significant role in Ozark folk music.  Although derived from ancient "bowed lutes", the fiddle as we know it today emerged about 1550.

The same instrument actually had two names: violin and fiddle, the difference being how the instrument was adjusted and played.  A violinist uses a bridge with a high arch in order to cut down the possibility of playing more than one string at a time.  A fiddler, on the other hand, makes great use of playing two or even three strings at a time (this style is known as double stops or triple stops) and therefore flattens the bridge so that just enough arch is left for single string playing when required.  Also the violinist uses standard bowing techniques, tunings and methods of holding the instrument whereas the fiddler holds the instrument in any one of several ways, using various bowing techniques and tunings.  Nowadays most fiddlers and violinists use steel strings rather than the gut strings formerly favored by violinists.

The fiddle first made its appearance in the South in  the mid-seventeenth century, and came to the Ozarks with the first European settlers.  As a musical instrument it had several advantages that undoubtedly contributed to its preservation and perpetuation.  For one thing, it was a small instrument and therefore relatively easy to transport from one region to another.  More importantly it was less delicate and had greater volume than such instruments as the dulcimer.  Finally, it was an instrument that could be used in a variety of ways and could serve not only as the melody instrument for country dances but as an accompaniment for singing as well, although there were few fiddlers who sang while playing their instrument.

Until the late 19th century, when a host of other instruments came into widespread use, the fiddle was the only non-rhythm musical instrument to enjoy any great popularity in the Ozarks or in the southern mountains in general.

The Autoharp

The only folk music instrument that can be definitely claimed as an American invention is the autoharp.  It was developed sometime around 1880 (varying dates are given ranging from 1879-1885) by Charles Zimmerman of Philadelphia.  He had produced a new system of musical notation and invented the instrument to demonstrate it with.  The notation system did not catch on, but the autoharp did.

Basically an automatic zither, it was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with folk, popular, and classical musicians.  Symphony orchestras regularly had parts written for autoharp.  Then around the time of the First World War, the instrument began to fall out of popularity with all but folk musicians.

It received perhaps its greatest boon in 1927 when the original Carter family (Sara, A.P., and Maybelle) used it on their recordings.  In this trio, the autoharp was usually played by Sara who used it to accompany her singing (she was, on most of their recordings, the lead singer).  Sara held the instrument in an upright position, which was one of the two preferred folk styles of holding the autoharp, and her use of this position soon made it the preferred way to hold the autoharp.  However, playing the instrument while holding it flat on one's lap is equally traditional.

Basically a chording instrument, the autoharp arrived in the Ozarks not long after its invention in the late 19th century, it's popularity being aided by its appearance in Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and other mail order catalogs.

The Dulcimer

"Dulcimer" is a word derived from the Latin word dulce and the Greek word melos, which taken together mean "sweet song" or "sweet tune".

There are two types of dulcimers--the hammered dulcimer and the plucked dulcimer--both of which were found in the Ozarks during the 19th century, but were rare.

Generally, the hammered dulcimer is found in the northern United States while the plucked dulcimer is more common in the southern mountains.  The hammered dulcimer is generally considered to be the forerunner of the piano and is probably the instrument referred to in several Biblical passages.

On the other hand, the history of the plucked dulcimer has never been traced with certainty.  Some people believe it was derived from various stringed instruments of 18th century Europe, while others believe it was developed spontaneously in the Appalachian Mountains.  It is fairly certain, though, that the plucked dulcimer came to the Ozarks from the Appalachians although it was never a particularly popular instrument here until relatively recent times.

The Mandolin

It is unknown who made the first Mandolin, but the instrument is relatively late in origin.  It is generally thought to be of Italian origin,  and there is no doubt that Italians were responsible for the instrument's initial popularity.  The instrument was derived from a small lute and first became known throughout Europe in the second half of the 18th century.  This was essentially the instrument that came to be called in folk terminology a "tater bug" mandolin.  It consisted of four courses of wire strings tuned like a violin and played with a plectrum.  The instrument soon became popular with composers of classical music and men such as Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Beethoven wrote several pieces for the mandoline (as it was then known)

It was only in the latter half of the 19th century that the instrument became popular with southern mountain musicians.  Mail-order houses were responsible for this new found popularity and with rural musicians the instrument became widely used, both as a rhythm and lead instrument.  It was an instrument of great flexibility on which one could provide fast, rhythmic flourishes or sad, wistful accompaniments, and this flexibility made it peculiarly well adapted to southern mountain folk music.

These mail order houses were also responsible for several interesting hybrid instruments including the mando-cello, banjo-lin, ukelin, and the banjo-mandolin.  Most of these instruments had only a short popularity with folk musicians and found almost no favor among other types of musicians.